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THE DAMRON DOLLS
kelly d |
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A LITTLE ABOUT ME
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Mar 31, 2008 10:25am (EST)
My story in short version...my husband and I found out we could not conceive a child naturally. My hubby has male factor (MF) infertility. We used a procedure called in vitro fertilization (IVF) to try to become pregnant. IVF was our only real option due to the MF infertility.
We were lucky, sort-of. We did become pregnant via IVF with twins. I elected not to learn their sexes as I wanted some part of my pregnancy to be free of medical technology, manipulations or information.
At 24 weeks, during a routine exam, the ultrasound tech noticed my cervix was short, dangerously short. Since I was already at the hospital, they sent me to triage for monitoring. I guess I was having painless contractions that were preparing my body for labor. I spent one month in Antepartum, most of it on Magnesium Sulfate (Mag). I was sent home at 28 1/2 weeks to wait out the rest of my pregnancy on bed rest.
At 30 weeks, all hell broke loose. Actually, it was my water or pPROM. The doctors tried to stop my body from going into labor, but to no avail. I had 2 injections of trebutaline to stop my contractions, which started about 12 hours after my water broke. Since the treb didn't work they started getting me ready for a c-section. Before the OR was ready, baby A was crowning. My contractions were coming hard and fast. I think it only took 3 pushes for baby A to come out. Baby B was breach so I was put under general anesthesia since I hadn't had an epidural or spinal tap.
I waited in the recovery room for more than 8 hours since no room was available on the NICU floor of the postpartum unit. I was wheeled into the NICU to view my daughters for the first time. We name Baby A, Kaley, and Baby B, Ashley. I spent a whopping 5 minutes in the NICU before being wheeled to my room. I didn't touch or hold my babies until 24 hours after their birth.
Kaley was 2 lbs 11.6 oz, 15 1/2 inches and Ashley was 2 lbs 9 oz, 15 inches. We'd spend 7 weeks in the NICU. More on that later, this is enough for today! 
Below are pics of K&A under the photo therapy lights, day 3. And me feeding them - it's a lovely photo of myself.
Kaley (lt) & Ashley (rt) 10-9-04
Kelly with both
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Posted by kelly d | Comments: (2) | Permalink
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NO GUARANTEES WITH FULL-TERM BABIES EITHER
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Mar 24, 2008 07:12pm (EST)
Today I had a late lunch with a women seeking advice about a project she wants to pursue, a book. Her book is to be about how to live with the loss of a child.
She told me the story about her first born child, a baby born full-term and at a healthy weight. However, he had a cleft palette and heart problems. She told me how she blamed herself for the challenges her baby faced. She wondered what she did wrong during her pregnancy. Nothing. She wondered what she could have done to prevent his ailments. Again nothing.
She has some benefits I didn't as I processed the premature birth of my twin daughters, born at 30 weeks gestation, she didn't undergo infertility treatments that resulted in a twin pregnancy. However, I didn't choose for my husband to be infertile and we didn't choose to struggle in our efforts to become parents, first with infertility then with the premature birth of our girls.
Although, there is one lesson we should all acknowledge: many of us did/do nothing wrong. Many women carry their twin babies to full-term. Why was I to think I couldn't be one of those women? I did everything right in my pregnancy.
I'd love to know if there are other women who experienced prematurity after their fertility treatments. How do you process the experience of your infertility vs. the premature birth of your baby/babies?
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Posted by kelly d | Comments: (3) | Permalink
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