A polyamorous ‘throuple’ with three children want to add more kids to the family and are open to taking more lovers in the future.
Technician Cody Kurkowski, 28, from Ohio, and dance teacher Kayla, 27, are high school sweethearts with three children.
In 2016 Kayla started chatting to call centre representative, Katherine Zepernick, 27, on Facebook and immediately felt a connection.
Soon they arranged a coffee date, inviting Cody along, and the three of them hit it off, eventually becoming a throuple.
The following year they officially became a polyamorous triad.
Three months after becoming exclusive, Katherine moved in with Kayla and Cody and they became a family.
In that time, Kayla gave birth to their third child, the first one to be parented by all three adults.
The other kids, the oldest of whom is five, know about the nature of their relationship. Cody, Kayla and Katherine who plan to marry in 2022 also want more children.
And while they’re committed to each other, they are not opposed to the concept of an open triad, meaning that they could each date other people.
‘There have been bumps and learning curves in the road just like any relationship, but we’ve always done everything we can to make our family work,’ says Katherine.
‘It was love at first sight for all of us. There was a special feeling we got that we knew meant there was something special between us.
‘To us, polyamory gives you the ability to construct the relationship structure that really works for you. A triad formation is what is working for us right now.
‘We don’t have any plans to change that in the future, but we also aren’t against expanding our tribe in the future. But we are happy how we are now.’
The throuple is an open triad, which means they can date separately, dyadically, or as a triad. However, with young kids and busy work schedules, they just about have enough time for one another.
In January 2019, Cody and Kayla both proposed to Katherine with candles, flowers and balloons ready for her when she came home from work.
Before the proposal, Cody and Kayla wrote a joint letter to Katherine’s parents detailing their plans to get their blessing.
Katherine added: ‘The three of us do our best to be open and honest, demonstrating that no relationship is perfect, but with enough work and dedication we’ve made it last.
‘Everybody deals with jealousy, but it usually means there is a deeper issue that is causing the reaction. It takes a lot of self-evaluation and will to do a lot of self-reflection.
‘Communicating your feelings with your partner about jealousy is important so that you don’t start to take anything out on them.’
The triad plans to have two to three more children in the future and hope to open a bed and breakfast in Colorado.
Since being open about their relationship on Instagram, the triad have gotten some criticism. Most, however, assume that Katherine is Cody’s sister.
‘We know that polyamory isn’t for everybody, but we do think that more people should know it is an option if you feel like it’s right for you,’ explains Katherine.
‘It isn’t just a sexual thing either. That’s one of the first questions we get.
‘We get a lot of confused looks from strangers, but people usually keep to themselves with their opinions for the most part.
‘We just want to be able to let people know that polyamory isn’t a threat to monogamy, which is something we’ve run into a lot just being out with our relationship.
‘We are all feminists and are bringing our children up to be inclusive and open people and we’re very proud of that.’
MORE: Polyamorous married couple get engaged to woman they met on Tinder
MORE: Are we moving towards a society where everyone is polyamorous or in open relationships?
MORE: Bride and groom fall in love with the bridesmaid and enter a polyamorous relationship
