For three long years, Desiree Fortin cried more tears than she ever thought possible.
Month after month, the pregnancy tests came back negative. She would lie on the bathroom floor feeling completely empty. The hope that started each cycle slowly turned into dread as another period arrived. She and her husband Ryan had been college sweethearts. They married in 2009 and dreamed of building a family. What they got instead was a painful diagnosis: polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), hypothyroidism, and low progesterone. Their bodies were not cooperating.
“It wasn’t just that I couldn’t get pregnant,” Desiree later wrote. “Infertility brought me more tears than I ever thought I could shed… I had to endure shots, bruises, and all kinds of meds… It is expensive and exhausting physically, emotionally, and mentally.”
The Long Road to IVF
After years of trying naturally and enduring the emotional toll of failed cycles, the couple turned to in vitro fertilization. The process was grueling — constant appointments, hormone injections that left bruises, blood draws, monitoring, and emotional whiplash. They prayed. They hoped. They prepared themselves for more disappointment.
Then came the news that changed everything.
Their first IVF cycle worked. Not only was Desiree pregnant — she was pregnant with triplets. Two of the embryos took, and one split, resulting in identical twin boys and a girl. Because both Desiree and Ryan are twins themselves, the news carried an extra layer of meaning.
Doctors were cautious. Desiree was told she was too thin, too short, and that this was her first pregnancy. Carrying three babies to term would be extremely difficult. Some warned it might not be possible.
“However, my hope wounds proved her wrong,” Desiree said.
She spent the final two months of the pregnancy on bed rest. At 34 weeks and one day — farther than many doctors believed possible — she delivered three healthy babies by C-section on August 17, 2015: Sawyer Reed, Jax Ryan, and Charlize Hope. Each weighed just under or around five pounds.
Delivery Day and the Unexpected Turns
The joy was immediately complicated. After the babies were born, Ryan went with them to the neonatal intensive care unit while Desiree was sent to recovery. Complications and heavy bleeding led to emergency surgery. For a time, she could only see her newborns through FaceTime.
“I’ll never forget my delivery day,” she recalled. “Like all things involving parenthood, there were unexpected turns.”
The triplets spent 15 days in the NICU before coming home. The real work of parenting three premature babies began.
Key milestones from the journey:
- Three years of infertility diagnoses and failed attempts
- First IVF cycle produced triplets (identical twin boys + one girl)
- Delivered at 34 weeks + 1 day via C-section
- 15 days in the NICU
- Postpartum complications requiring additional surgery
Life With Triplets: Beautiful and Brutal
Home life was beautiful and brutal at the same time. The babies had severe reflux and colic — times three. Sleep became a distant memory. Getting into any kind of routine felt impossible. Maintaining a marriage while caring for three tiny, crying humans was a constant challenge.
“We are blessed,” Desiree said, “but parenting is also a hard job filled with the greatest of responsibilities — caring for tiny humans… Getting into a routine is difficult, as is maintaining your relationship amid crying babies, sleepless nights and a new routine.”
Yet through the exhaustion, the couple kept going. They leaned on each other. They celebrated the small victories. And slowly, life began to find its rhythm.
Years later, Desiree also opened up about postpartum body image. After carrying triplets, her stomach carried stretch marks and extra skin she affectionately called “hope wounds.” She posted photos celebrating those marks, writing that they were proof of strength after years of an empty womb.
She also experienced postpartum depression and anxiety in the early months, a reminder that the emotional challenges of infertility and high-risk pregnancy do not always end at delivery.
Finding Purpose in the Pain
Desiree eventually shared her story publicly. She wrote an open letter titled “Dear Infertility, Thank You.” She posted on social media. She spoke about the loneliness, the fear, the financial and emotional cost, and the unexpected joy that followed.
What surprised her most was how many people her story reached.
“I never imagined God would use our story to reach so many people. It has been an incredible experience,” she said.
Her Instagram became a place where other women walking through infertility found someone who understood. The same tears that once left her empty on the bathroom floor were now helping others feel less alone. A gender-reveal video that surprised friends and family with the third baby also went viral, bringing messages of support from around the world.
What her story teaches:
- Infertility is isolating, expensive, and physically demanding
- Hope can coexist with deep grief
- A high-risk pregnancy and multiples bring their own unique challenges
- Sharing vulnerability can turn private pain into public encouragement
- “Hope wounds” — physical and emotional scars — can become sources of pride
The Family They Fought For
Today, Sawyer, Jax, and Charlize are thriving. The little babies who once needed NICU care and constant attention have grown into energetic kids filling their home with noise, laughter, and the beautiful chaos of a big family. The Fortins later expanded their family further, continuing their journey of faith and persistence.
Desiree’s path was never linear. It was a true roller coaster — long stretches of heartbreak, sudden peaks of hope, terrifying drops, and finally a destination she once only dreamed about.
Infertility tried to define her. Instead, she used it to fuel something bigger: a story of persistence, faith, and the messy, exhausting, overwhelming love of motherhood.
For anyone still in the middle of their own waiting, her message remains simple and powerful.
Hope is hard. The process is painful. But sometimes, after the longest stretch of darkness, the light arrives in the form of three tiny miracles at once.