Pregnant after IVF 1998 Birth Stories

Girls (5) vs. Boys (8)
Singletons (4)
Twins (3 sets)
Triplets (1 sets)

lynne_b
September 29, 1998

Sorry it's been so long since I have been in contact, but things have been hectic around here, to say the
least!! The last time I posted, I was about to go into labor on that Thursday and the Dr. was going to help
things along if I didn't progress on my own. Well, I ended up having contractions on my own, went into the
hospital. and spent all day Friday in there, then the contractions completely stopped, so I was released on Sat.
morning. Because I was only at 35 weeks, the Dr. suggested an amnio to determine the lung maturity on the
boys before we pushed for an early delivery, and it showed that the smaller twin (Nick) needed just a couple
more days, so I was given 2 more injections of steroids and told to go home on couch rest!! I did well through
the weekend and then all of the sudden on Tues. afternoon (the 29th), I started leaking and having BIG
contractions.

The pain was incredible compared to my first birth with Breanna and from what my OB told me, this is normal
with twins or multiples. Anyway, after getting my epi. a few hours later, I rested comfortably and just waited on
things to happen. By 11 pm that night, I was 10 cm. so we headed for the operating room to get all set up. I
had my OB there, my perinatologist, 2 nurses for the boys, 1 nurse for me, plus the neonatologist, so it was
quite an event!! Finally, with little discomfort and about 20 minutes of pushing (thank you God!) Nathan Dwain
was born at 11:27 pm and he weighed 5 lbs. 7.5 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. He was crying hard and
breathing perfect on his own!! He's got beautiful skin color of light brown, with very light brown/blonde hair
color.

Well, Nicholas decided to turn some flips since he finally had a huge room to move around in, so he ended up
breech. After a few minutes of stress, my 2 doctors pushed around on me with ultrasound, trying to turn him,
but he ended up coming out breech anyway. (No c-section!!! Yea!!!!) Nicholas Lee was born at 11:42 pm,
weighing 5 lbs. 4 oz. and was 18 1/4 inches long. He has a darker complexion with LOTS of dark brown hair
and even long sideburns. He was slow moving at first, but finally cried when they started working on him.
Because of his breech birth and the trauma involved, he spent the night in NICU under observation, but was
breathing on his own by morning. They still kept him in there for another day just to make sure he was fine.
Nathan has done well ever since, although he finally started to get a little jaundice and got a bili light for 24
hours to lay in here at home.

We finally got out of the hospital on Friday morning and both of the boys are doing great. (You should have
seen all of the people helping us leave, plus the people in the hallway flipping out over the TWINS!!) They have
already gained their weight back from birth and are pretty much just eating/sleeping/pooping for now. I've got
them on a 4 hour schedule, so at least mommy & daddy are getting a little rest in between. I am certainly nuts
about my boys and can't believe I'm *finally* holding them in my arms. Oh, I'm fine, too. I actually feel pretty
good, although I'm a little bruised in the ribs and back from the boys kicking/punching so much for the past few
months, plus from the breech birth. Overall, I would say it was a truly wonderful experience and I enjoyed it
MUCH more than my first birth with Breanna. There's just something to be said for having smaller babies and
moving them down the birth canal much easier!!!

My parents are here helping out this week and they're making sure that Breanna Sue is well taken care of.
She doesn't seem to even notice the boys around, so hopefully there will be limited jealousy on her part. (She
turns 14 mos. old today!) It's amazing how huge she became after the boys came home. *LOL* My gosh,
she's a toddler now. Okay, I've rambled enough for now. Please give me a little time to get things figured out
here and then I'll be back online to check in with all of you and see how your pregnancies are going and what
all of you are up to.

Thanks for all of your good wishes on the archived board.

debianne
October 13, l998

Our IVF Miracle has arrived.....please welcome Nathaniel Jacob born October 13, l998 at 38 weeks, 6lbs 15oz...healthy and happy. We are so thankful to God for our precious miracle! Good luck to all of you!

jen31
November 9, 1998

Wow, oh wow! I told you guys I wouldn't make it to my due date! Sunday night at 12:30, my water broke. I was
sound asleep and thought maybe I just didn't make it to the bathroom, but at the same time I 'had a feeling' that
'this is it!' I paced around for 20 minutes trying to decided whether or not to wake DH.....kept going to the
bathroom - every time I sat down, I had a 'gush' of fluid. Finally decided I better wake him. Then WE paced
around trying to convince ourselves it was it and finally left for the hospital at 2:00 am. We arrived at the
hospital at 3:00 am, I told the ER attendant "I'm gonna have a baby". Wow. Still in somewhat of denial. They
took me to L&D, checked me, and sure enough! Water definitely broken! So, went through all the routine preps -
not real fun, but not bad. I started having contractions pretty close together but by 8:00 I still was only dilated to
2. The doc let me have an epidural. (Oh, the relief!) Then, the baby started decelerating with the contractions.
That was all it took for the doc to say "Let's go to the OR and get this baby". So, they wheeled me down, things
happened so fast. Little Nathan Carter Mooney was brought into the world at 10:15 am weighing 7 pounds, 8
ounces! FOUR WEEKS EARLY! Can you imagine how HUGE he would've been if he had gone to term?
Yikes! Anyway, he received apgar scores of 9. He is the most precious thing I've ever laid eyes on! DH and I
cried and cried when we heard him let out his first cry. Truly a miracle! I still cry sometimes when I look at him!
He has sever jaundice and we are having to keep him under a special 'light' blanket to help. It breaks my heart
to not be able to hold him all the time! Anyway, we are taking him to the doctor Monday, so please keep him in
your prayers! This has been the most wonderful week of my life! I will keep you all updated. Good luck for the
rest of your pregnancies!

Hugs, Jen & Nate

juliejstun
December 4, 1998

I guess the full moon on Thursday is what did it to me!

Thurs Dec 3 I quickly started having contractions. I started counting at 6:45 pm. I had 14 the first hour & 12 the
second & then DH & I started getting ready to go to the hospital.

We got to the hospital at 10:30pm. The first 15 minutes I was on the monitors I had no contractions & was very
frustrated. The same thing happened when I went in on The prior Tuesday night. When I got to the hospital they
stopped. Well, luckily on Thurs they started up again. I was again having 12 an hour. By 11:45 I had dilated to
3 cm. I was very fortunate that the head of the team of dr's that I see was the dr on duty at the hospital that
night. He didn't even try to stop my contractions....he just said, " Well, let's go ahead and deliver these babies
tonight."

At 1:10 am I was in the operating room. The worst part of the whole night was the anesthesiologist. She
starting trying to give me a spinal at 1:25, after the 5th attempt I finally was numb. That was at 2am. The room
was lined with everyone to be in the operation for 35 minutes waiting for her to give me the spinal. Poor DH
was cleaned up in scrubs waiting to come in the room that whole time.

The c-section wasn't bad at all. If anyone really wants more detail I can let you know.

Amber Nicole "baby A" was born at 2:21 am, Kelsey Marie "baby B" was born at 2:22 am & Hannah Lynn
"baby C" was born at 2:23 am. As each was taken out she was whisked away into an adjoining room by her
own neonatologist team to be checked out. Amber's "work station" was some how not prepped correctly so
she was taken straight to the Level 2 nursery.

Amber weighed 3 lbs 12 oz, Kelsy 3 lbs, and Hannah 3 lbs 12.5 oz. All 3 are in great health. They are all still in the hospital until they can maintain their body temp and bottle/breast feed daily while picking up weight. They are all in isolettes to help them maintain their temps. All 3 were getting help maintaining their temps in the
isolettes and had IV's and were being tube fed. Kelsey and Hannah were in the NICU and Amber in the Level
2 nursery. DH & I got a big surprise this evening when we went for our visit to find that all 3 are now in the Level
2. This is the first time they have all been together since birth. And, Hannah is on complete bottle/breast
feedings and is no longer needing help to maintain her temps.

All 3 have lost weight weight since birth, but today were each only needing to gain 3 or 4 ounces to be back up
to birth weight.  I am feeling well. I had a terrible "spinal" headache starting after the spinal wore off on Fri & continued through Sun night. I was never warned that there was such a thing. Thank God it is finally gone. I have had a migraine once in my life & this was very comparable.

I was released from the hospital on Sun afternoon. I am feeling well as long as I take my drugs. If I let the meds
wear off I still am pretty sore. AND.....my feet and legs are swollen TERRIBLY. The dr's warned me while I was
in recovery that since I carried multiples that I would swell badly. I lost a good bit of blood & fluid from the
surgery, but my body still has left over lots from carrying the girls. They said it should start going away by the
5th or 7th day.

I have been pumping breast milk & supplying it to the girls. I will be trying to nurse each about once a day
hopefully starting tomorrow.   It is very difficult to be home without my girls. I spend most of the day at the hospital with them. And plus, the breast pump at the hospital is better than my one at home.

I don't know if anyone remembers early in my preg how upset I was to find out that I wasn't having any boys in
this trio. Well, let me just say that I can't imagine it now. I know I am biased, but my girls are beautiful. I can't
believe I created such beautiful babies.

Thank you for reading my long story. I can't wait until by girls are home. I have waited for so many years to
become a Mommy......and I still feel like I'm pretending because I come home at night & they don't.  Well, it's time to pump again. Pumping is about the only Mommy thing I can really do right now so I am trying to
do it well.

Julie Mother of Amber, Kelsey and Hannah

wattabag
December 17, 1998

Everything is great with both of us!! I went in last Thurs. and they started the pit. drip at about 11:30, at that
time I was 2 cm dilated and 90% effaced. At about 1:30 I was about 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced and in
pain so they gave me my epidural...it wasn't too bad. 10 minutes into the epidural I felt a HUGE relief...it was
wonderful and then...I threw up...yuck! I continued on all day and just rested, the nurse said they wouldn't do
anymore cervical checks until I felt pressure or pain. Well after throwing up (just water, dry heaves) most of the
day I finally started feeling pressure at about 6:45. My DH called in the nurse and sent everybody out of the
room for a check and low and behold the baby was in the birth canal.....she said "Well it is time to push!" So
her and my DH helped me push. I only pushed for a short time, my beautiful son was born at 7:41 pm!!! It was
the most amazing thing ever....

Drake weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. and was 19 inches long. He has just a little bit of blonde hair and of course blue
eyes. He has daddy's mouth and mommies nose!! He is just wonderful...I am breast feeding and it is going
pretty good...a little rough in the beginning but boy now he knows that mommy has the groceries!

He a little bit of jaundice and slight trouble w/his glucose levels (due to the gest. diabetes) but glucose is fine
and the jaundice is fading....I call him my pumpkin boy!!! Ladies it was truly amazing and I can't wait for each and every one of you to experience this joy as I have...it truly is the pinnacle in life.

Well my little buddy is looking for his mommy so I better get back to him. I will of course continue to lurk and
post when I can. I want to thank you all for your wonderful support and wish you all a wonderful delivery.

Wattabag and wonderful son, Drake.

evest
December 20, 1998

We have two beautiful daughters. Born on Dec 20 just after 7:00pm. Morgan Marie weighed in at 8 lbs even
and Darcy Hanne weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz! They came by cesarean. My uterus was so stretched, it just
couldn't get the cervix to dilate. My water broke at 7:00am Dec 20 and I had not started contractions at
1:00pm so I was put on the drip. 4 hours later after hard contractions, my cervix was still closed tight, so it was
a c-section for me.

The c-section wasn't so bad. I'm recovering fine. Starting to be able to enjoy the babies more.  The babies are so cute. Morgan looks like DH and Darcy looks like me!! No doubt these are our babies!!  We've been kinda busy. My parents are here and that really helps. Once they leave and DH goes back to work, it may get a little hectic. The babies have been good so far. And I'm breastfeeding. That seems to be going fine.

It was a wild Christmas here!! I just came home from the hospital on the 24th and our first night was very
hectic. We must have got about 2 hours sleep. Needless to say, Christmas day was a big blur!!  It is getting better. I sleep when the babies sleep. It's good advice!!    We can't imagine life without them now!!

Good luck to everyone. I'll be keeping an eye on this board for a while.

Kari, Morgan and Darcy

frodob
December 31, 1998

On Tuesday December 29th I purchased a box of red raspberry tea. I had heard this would bring on the
contractions. I had two cups before I went to bed. At 2:30am I woke up with some gas pains in my lower
stomach. We had had a sauerkraut dish the day before so I chalked it up to that. They came and went for
about 2 hours. I was in the bathroom a couple of times with flu like symptoms. Then it was over.

On Wednesday, December 30th during lunch I had a cup of ‘the tea’ and another before I went to bed. At
2:00am I woke up with gassy symptoms again. From 2:00am and all night I had these gassy symptoms. Every
½ hour I’d get up and go to the bathroom with them. I felt like I had the runs. I logged them down and at 4:30ish
I got up to eat breakfast. I made some waffles and had some oj hoping the ‘gas’ would go away. Still fighting
the cabbage I thought.

My DH got up at 5:00am (now Dec 31st) and came downstairs. I was struggling to eat my waffles and the gas
pains weren’t going away. My DH looked at my log chart and noticed that these so called ‘gas’ pains started
at 2:00am every 30 minutes and were now coming every 7 minutes at 5:30am. We poked at my stomach to
see if it was hardening at all and it wasn’t so I was still in disbelief that it might be labor. My DH on the other
hand was frantically packing the van with our hospital bags, etc…

We had an 8:45am appt set up with the doctor to do a non-stress test for the baby so I took a shower and we
just sat around and clocked these pains. They started coming every 4 to 5 minutes apart by the time we left for
the hospital. We were kind of laughing on the way there joking about how we’re probably in labor, good thing
we packed the bags, how the tea was working, impending snow storm that night, full moon, etc…

I walked into the doctors office at 8:30am and for some reason started crying. They took me right in. The
doctor examined me and just smiled. I was already 4 cm dilated! ARGH! My DH and I just started
laughing. I think it was the shock coming out.

We walked down to labor and delivery and checked ourselves in – it was about 9:00am at this point. About 2
hours later I was about 5 cm dilated and believe me was ready for the epidural. The anesthesiologist came in
and cracked a bunch of jokes and things lightened up once the ‘ep’ started to work.

About 12:00ish I needed to roll to my other side to keep the epid working evenly and shortly after that the
baby’s heartbeat started to drop rapidly. Holy cow nurses were flying all over the place, calling my doctor in
and the midwife was there in no time flat. They had me move myself into several different positions until the
heartbeat stabilized itself again. It lasted about 10 minutes. My DH and I were pretty calm, no tears, just doing
what needed to be done. I was surprised. I could feel my toes and my butt even with the epidural, and could
move myself into different positions. I probably could have walked as well. Surprisingly I felt absolutely no pain
throughout the L&D.

They monitored the baby’s heartbeat a LOT more closely after that. They broke my water and an internal fetal
monitor was cork screwed into his head. A nurse was with us at all times. I slept for an hour or so and things
seemed to be good. They checked me for size and gave me some pitocin to get the ball rolling. At about
1:30pm I was 6 cm dilated and the baby’s HB took a dive again. The doctor came in and ordered an
operating room to be left open all afternoon for an emergency c-section. He had to be in surgery at 2:00 so
he’d be back at 3:00pm to check on me. For the next hour my DH and I watched that HB monitor non stop.

Things seemed to be going well for awhile after that. I started to get a bit nauseous around 5:00pm and the
doc, midwife and nurse checked me for size. I was 8 or 9 cm dilated! Woohoo! So the doctor said it was time
to start pushing. I was super nauseous by this point – no pain – just major nausea. I pushed for 20 minutes (no
pain at all) and the baby started to come down, but then the baby’s HB excelerated to over 170 so the doctor
stopped everything and said, “we’re going in for a c-section”. It was too risky for the baby and there as
obviously something going on we were unaware of inside the uterus. We had already discussed this with him
so we were ready. I had been prepped at 1:00pm that day already so I was basically set.

It was about 5:50pm now and I was dry heaving majorly. They rushed me into the operating room and I kept
thinking about some stupid Newsweek article my DH had shown me about people who get anesthesia but
could still feel the surgery. I kept telling them “make sure I’m not going to feel this”. Since I was going to be
awake for this event. The anesthesiologist assured me everything was going to be fine. A few minutes later
my DH came in all dressed up and held my hand in one hand and the camera in the other.

I could smell them cutting thru my stomach. There was some tugging. I kept worrying about my gagging and
how I didn’t want to move my stomach for fear they’d hurt the baby. My DH was talking to me telling me what
layer they were thru (gee, thanks hon), and the anesthesiologist was trying to get me to smile. Finally the baby
was pulled out and he coughed. They rushed him to the table and NOBODY TOLD ME WHAT WE HAD!!
They were so busy working on him because of myconium that no one said anything! I finally had to ask and
they said it was a boy! My DH was saying things like – “it’s a boy, oh wow!” and things like “don’t worry
Michele this room is completely enclosed and they’re tagging him, now you, now me right now. I won’t leave
his side don’t worry”. After that we took a couple of pictures and then they gave me some strong drugs and I
was out. The cord was loosely wrapped once around the baby’s neck as well.

A couple of hours later I woke up and my DH was sitting next to my bedside holding and talking to
Christopher. He had called our families and he was DEFINITELY excited.

I spent the next few days in the hospital recovering. The antibiotics were a bitc* for the first couple of days
because they made me super sick. I finally begged to get off of them and they let me. The nurses were super.
Christopher had a different blood type than me and that caused some platelets to drop and then he had
jaundice so even though I was discharged on Sunday, he had to stay until Monday. I had to stay also since I
was breastfeeding him.

So that’s the story folks. I knew it would be long. It all seems so long ago now.

Frodob