Our infertility journey

HOW WE GOT HERE
After 5 years of fertility issues, being diagnosed with PCOS, vasectomy reversal, 6 rounds of clomid, 1 IUI, we finally became pregnant by our 2nd cycle of IVF in August of 2003. At 7 weeks along, we went in to find out how many babies we were having and......TWINS!!!! The pregnancy was going great, and life went on as normal as it could be with the normal morning sickness and getting a big belly really fast! To our surprise, we found out we were having 2 boys at the first of December at about 18 weeks along. We were so excited about the two little boys growing inside of me.
WHEN PREGNANCY WENT BAD
On December 13th, we went out to eat with our neighbors, and I started feeling a few contractions. We didn't worry to much because I was told it was normal with twins. We decided to go in that evening and get checked anyway. They found nothing wrong and both boys looked great. I felt fine the next day, but on Monday I was having them again and some discharge. On December 15, 2003 at 8:30 in the evening, my water broke. It was very obvious, and I will never forget that feeling. My heart dropped knowing that it was way too early for anyone to do anything since I was only 20 weeks 3 days along in my pregnancy. Jeremy rushed me National Navy Medical Center where I was receiving my OB care. When we got there, we found out that my water broke on Baby A. He was the closest to my cervix, so now it was just a waiting game. They told us that we would probably lose both boys, and that I probably have an infection that would soon course through my body. To give the boys a chance, we needed to make it to 24 weeks where that is considered viability. I stayed in the hospital on complete bed rest and things were actually not looking too bad considering the circumstances.
THE DELIVERY OF BABY A
Early in the morning on Christmas Eve, I was having some back pain, but I just wrote it off thinking it was just from laying in bed for so long. Our wonderful Dr. Macedonia came in to check on me like he did almost everyday, and things seemed ok until I got up to go to the bathroom and realized I felt Baby A's cord. Jeremy ran down the hall to catch the Dr, and I should deliver in the next 24 hours, and that the baby would probably be born stillborn due to the prolapsed cord. We asked about Baby B, and he said there was a very small chance that he would be able to save him and keep him in my belly. They could do something called a high ligation of Baby A's cord after delivery and put the cord back up in me to help keep my body from delivering the other baby. There was less than a 3% chance of this actually working and a 50/50 chance of me ending up in ICU with a serious blood infection where it could kill me. We were willing to try anything! At about 2:30 in the afternoon, I went in to full labor. At 6:44 P.M on December 24, 2003, out beautiful Beckam Michael was born weighing 11.4 oz and 11 inches long. To our surprise, he was alive! He even whined a little, sucked his thumb, wiggled around, and tried to turn towards Jeremy's voice. We both held him and talked to him telling him how much we loved him and wished he could stay with us, but he was just too small to stay on earth, but he was going to go live with Jesus and we would see him soon. Jeremy read The Christmas Story to him, and I will always remember every moment of that night. About an hour after Beckam was born, I noticed that my contractions had stopped. I told the Dr's that they needed to do the procedure now while we still had the chance. I only had to dialate to a 7 to deliver Beckam, but when they checked me an hour after, I had already gone down to 3 cm! They did the procedure really fast, and right when she was done, my cervic colapsed on itself and closed. The Dr's were amazed! They couldn't give me anything to stop the contractions due to the risk of infection, so this was pretty much in God's hands. At 9:45 P.M., Beckam became our angel baby and went to watch over us. He died peacefully in his mommy's arms.
BEDREST
They left me in the delivery room for 24 hours thinking I would deliver the other baby because the odds were definitely against us. To everyone's amazement, I was feeling fine. Well, everything stayed quiiet, and I never got an infection to anyone's knowledge. One week went by, two weeks, three, four, and I made it to 26 weeks! At 24 weeks, they gave me steriods to help mature the baby's lungs in case I delivered him early. He was such a fighter and so active! He was growing well and doing great except for a little low on the amniotic fluid. I also came down with gestational diabetes at 25 weeks along to add to our stress! At 26 weeks 3 days, the Dr's came in and asked me if I wanted to go home on complete bedrest and wait the pregnancy out. I went home on Monday, January 26, 2004 to wait it out.
THE DELIVERY OF BABY B
On Monday, February 2nd, I wasn't feeling the baby move hardly at all. So, we loaded up and went to the hospital to get checked out. As soon as I got there, he became very active and was a little jumping bean. They checked me out and everything was fine, so we went home. The baby was breech and facing towards my back, so I was pretty uncomfortable. About 4:45 in the morning on Tuesday, I noticed that my back was hurting. I had felt if off and on, but I just thought the baby was kicking me in the spine like usual. kicking me in the spine like usual. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Well, I woke up again about 5:30 and decided I better time it just to make sure. The pains were coming about 6 to 7 minutes apart! I woke Jeremy up at 6:00 and told him we needed to go to the hospital because I was contracting. I got up to go the bathroom and passed my mucous plug, so we really needed to hurry! That happened with Beckam the afternoon before my water broke, so I knew I was in labor. At this point, I was 27 weeks 4 days pregnant. If anyone has driven in D.C traffic, you know we had a long drive ahead of us since it was rush hour and raining. We were 63 miles from the hospital, so it usually took us 2 1/2 hours in rush hour to get there. I called the hospital and told them I was on my way, and they told us that if the contractions got too close together, go to Fairfax hospital in Arlington, and they would help us there because they has a level III NICU there. God was sure with us that day because we got to the hospital at about 8:15 in the morning. We didn't leave the house until about 6:30, so we made great time! By the time I got there, my contractions had slowed to about 10 minutes apart, but I knew I was probably back until I delivered. They checked my cervix and I was dialated 3 cm, so the Dr. said she would go check with one of my Dr's to see if he wanted to stop the contractions. She came back 10 minutes later and rechecked me, and I was dialated to 7 cm! She said he was so far down that he was kicking her! They rushed me to the OR since the baby was breech, and I wasn't dialated enough to deliver vaginally. We ran in to problems during the delivery because the baby was stuck due to being so far down in the canal. They were screaming for another Dr to come help them because by that time, it had been 7 minutes since they cut my uterus open. It usually only takes 30 seconds to 1 minute to get baby out , so this was not good. Finally, Jackson Garren Light was born on 02-03-04 at 11:11 a.m. weighing 2 lbs, 5 oz and 14 inches long. They thought they broke his arm and damaged his liver because of him being stuck, but he was fine. My anesthesia wore off due to taking them so long to get him out, and I could feel them sewing me up.

NICU STAY
Jackson was in the NICU for 8 weeks, and he had a pretty uneventful stay. The hole in his heart (PDA) hadn't closed though and was pumping fluid in to his lungs, but they got that closed with medication. He was born with a 2 vessal cord and thought he might have renal problems, but he was fine. He got a urinary tract infection, but that was cleared up with medications. We were so blessed that he didn't have any brain hemorrhages or blood transfusions even though it was a very high probability that he would have them. He was on the ventilator a total of 3 days all together. He came home at 5 lbs 4 oz on March 30th at 35 weeks and was 8 weeks old to the day. He was on oxygen and a pulse oximeter at home for 3 weeks. Jackson had wonderful Dr's and nurses during his NICU stay, and we couldn't have got through it without them.\

3rd IVF Cycle
We started our 3rd cycle of IVF on January 5, 2005. It was not a easy cycle this time, and even at one point we thought it would be cancelled due to my hormone levels stalling and my follicles not growing. Well, the got a 2nd wind and we had retrieval on Tuesday, January 25th. The retrieved 23 eggs, 15 were mature, and 7 fertilized that night. We ended up putting 3 embryos back on January 28. They were really good embryos, 1 was a 9 celled with 10% fragmentation, 1 was a 8 celled with 25% fragmentation, and 1 was a 7 celled. On February 5, I tested at home and got a postive! We were pretty excited, but wanted to get the "official" results from the blood test. I took the blood test on Tuesday, February 8, and it was good news! My HCG level was 104 compared to 94 with the boys. On September 28, 2005, Ava Grace blessed us with her presence at 8:25 AM via C-section. She was 6 lbs 1 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. I was 37 weeks pregnant at the time, so I was considered full term! What a miracle to make it that far! Another blessing was that Jeremy was here to see her born and hold her first!