My Story…
Posted on June 2, 2008
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As I was touring the NCLM blogs, one of the gals repeated her story for those of us who were new to her blog. I thought it was such a great idea, then went through my beginning blogs to see what I originally said about who I was and noticed that I never told my story. So, the short version:
My DH was diagnosed with MF infertility. I also have irregular cycles due to a pituitary tumor that messes with my prolactin levels. We opted not to pursue surgery for my DH as our doctor said there were no guarantees it would change his condition enough for us to get pregnant without assistance and it was an expensive procedure not covered by insurance. His counts were not horrible, but his morphology (shape) and motility (ability to swim) were not good.
Once we processed our predicament. I was ready to jump into IVF, but Dave decided that he wasn’t meant to be a father and our marriage was at a cross roads. As much as I loved him, I wanted to be a mom more. I resented him for taking away any chance of me becoming a mom (he didn’t want to adopt either). So I left him with two choices, 1) divorce or 2) IVF. He decided to try IVF if it meant saving our marriage.
We interviewed a few docs and decided to use an RE in Las Vegas because he diagnosed my pituitary tumor over the phone, while the other docs we interviewed didn’t really care about my prolactin irregularities (which were caused by the tumor). I believed with all of my heart that our IVF cycle would work. With MF and few FF issues, IVF is generally very successful. My RE told me he would get me pregnant during our first IVF (another reason I picked him).
We did become pregnant with twins and were very naive as to what that meant about our pregnancy and our life with two at once. One of our friends had her IVF twins at 34 weeks and we still didn’t think it would happen to us. I’m healthy, physically active and was fairly young (in my early 30′s) at the time. At 24 weeks I went into preterm labor. I was admitted to the hospital for just over 1 month. If you think bed rest is easy, think again. As happy as I was to be pregnant, I was scared to death about my unborn babies! Being in a hospital bed for 33 days can feel like an eternity – yes, even after you’ve beaten IF with a pregnancy.
I was sent home to wait out my pregnancy when I was 28 1/2 weeks. We thought we were home free and expected to make it to 36 weeks, but someone had other plans for us. At 30 weeks my water broke and my twin girls were born weighing just over 2 1/2 lbs. Our first born was diagnosed with a preemie disease, NEC, when she was 9 days old. She had her first surgery at 5 weeks of age, weighing only 4 lbs, to remove half of her colon. Without the surgery she would have died. We are lucky her intestine didn’t burst before she was rolled into surgery – had it done so, she would have died. At 6 mos of age she had a second surgery to reverse her colostomy.
Today both girls are happy and healthy. Not a day goes by that I don’t acknowledge how lucky we are to be parents, to have both girls alive, and to have both of our daughters healthy without any developmental or physical handicaps.
Creative Commons image courtesy of Celeste
» Filed Under Infertility, Marriage, Premature Births
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14 Responses to “My Story…”
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That’s quite a story! I’m glad things are going well now!
Thanks for visiting Linda. Looking back it doesn’t seem that bad, but it was quite a journey. One I’d be happy to repeat for the same results!
Thank you so much for sharing your story. So glad both girls are doing well.
I’m so glad your two little girls are safe and healthy today.
Did you go to Dr. Sher in Vegas??? I have a few friends who’ve cycled there with him. We affectionately refer to it as “Camp IVF.” I’m actually thinking about giving it a shot if my next IVF cycle is unsuccessful.
We used Dr. Fisch at SIRM in Las Vegas. We were very happy with their staff and Dr. Fisch was great! I’d be happy to answer any questions.
NCLM.
Wow! What a story! You’ve so been through it but thank goodness for your happy ending.
I’ve a friend who’s 20 weeks pg with twins at the moment who has started preterm labour. I’m praying things’ll be ok.
Thank you for sharing
PP x
I’m soooo glad you have a happy ending, which really is a happy beginning to the next step on your wonderful journey of life with its various ups and downs!
Thanks for sharing your story. NCLM
Hola from NCLM
What a story! One of my closest friends also had her twins at 31 weeks. They are both doing great now…:)
We are starting IVF next month & as much as I would love to get a two-for-one, I am so afraid of all of the complications that come with multiples.
I love your blog & I’ll definitely be back. Thanks for all of the resources, too!
I cannot, morally, ethically, and professionally keep the secret that prematurity is preventable. This fact is totaly unacceptable to current philosophy and prenatal care practices. Personally, I cannot think of a better way of insuring a brighter future for our next generation, our babies than having them born well, not too soon, not too small. I certainly would love to know who else, shares my philosophy and values life like I do. SS
Hi Kelly,
This is my first time visiting your blog. I will add it to my blog roll. Mel referred me to you because you self published your book. I am also considering self publishing and was hoping for some advice.
Thanks,
Erica Schlaefer
Wow, that is quite a story…you have been through a lot. I came upon your site via Jeanne’s chronichealing.com…I look forward to visiting your site often!
Take care!
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Kelly,
I am glad to have found your website. I have a very similar experience as yours, or maybe worse. I went through several failed IVF cycles, finally decided to give up and relocate to NY (was working in Tokyo). I tried my last cycle with Dr T at NY SIRM in Dec 09 and got pregnant with twin boy and girl. Since I only found out I was pregnant after my work relocation had started, I moved country, job and apartment while 3 months pregnant with twins, my husband still had to work in Tokyo so I was alone. I had a problem with 12 week screening test so needed to do amnio test which turned out to be fine. My pregnancy was fine until 25.5 weeks and then I was bleeding heavily and was hospitalized with preterm labor. I stayed at the hospital on bedrest for another 6.5 weeks hoping to make it to 36 weeks. My doctors kept wanted me to go home at 32 weeks although I didn’t feel comfortable and ironically I gave birth via c-section right on 32 weeks. My twin boy fell sick with NEC on the 10th day after birth (I wonder if the hospital feeding schedule was too aggressive….) and had surgery to resect 10cm of his ileum. My girl stayed at NICU for 19 days and my boy stayed total 39 days. He still has the ostomy bag now and will have another surgery for reattachment next month (3 months after first surgery). During all these, my first dog (she is like my first baby) was diagnosed with mast cell tumour (cancer). It has been a very challenging time and it was heart-broken when my girl first went home (which was and should be a happy event) without my boy, who was recovery from surgery. I had been feeling so guilty and sad about my premature delivery and thought perhaps I didn’t drink enough water, or I didn’t insist staying in Tokyo instead of moving to NY after I found out I was pregnant, or maybe I worked too hard (with my new job) that had caused my twins premature birth and thus my twin boy’s NEC illness. They are now both home over 3 weeks and thriving, so I am relieved and happy, they are so cute and I cherish my time with my twin babies everyday, but still I can’t help but think what I had done wrong during the pregnancy. I hope this feeling will go away some day.