The wonderful Kristina Penhoet with her twins Adrien and Evelyn (8 years old). Kristina had several first trimester losses before she conceived her children with the help of IVF. She wasn't responding well to the treatment so they almost didn't follow through, but were able to continue. She ended up having 4 embryos and asked if they could transfer them all, her doctor agreed to transfer three, saying that four would give him heart palpitations. All three embryos took but one of her triplets had markers for Down Syndrome. She and her husband decided that with three babies, having a child with special needs would be too much for them. They chose to have a selective reduction and terminate that baby. Kristina went on to have a healthy pregnancy by twin standards until she started to labor at 24 weeks. They were able to stop her labor but the next three weeks were difficult. At 27 weeks, she had contractions close together and had dilated to 3 cms. They spent 18 hours trying to stop labor, but ended up delivering via cesarean. Her daughter was born first and hearing her cry was very reassuring. When her son was born just a couple minutes later, he was quiet, everyone in the room was quiet and she became concerned. He eventually let out a little cry but she was only able to see him for a second before they took him to NICU. Evelyn came home after 9.5 weeks in NICU and Adrien joined them two weeks later. Kristina says that those two weeks were the most difficult as her heart was in two different places. She chose to quit her job and stay home so she could focus on her children. Both twins required early intervention services, and Adrien has had some eye issues but both twins are in good health today. Kristina says she's spent so much of her life trying to be perfect and she's ready to finally just be herself.
in vitro fertilization
Kylie Teloar, Julie-ann Brown and Shirley Rose
The phenomenal Kylie Teloar with her children Bethany (9) and Angus (15 months), her mother Julie-ann Brown and her grandmother Shirley Rose.
Kylie took quite a bit of time to conceive each of her children. It took about 3 years to become pregnant with Bethany. They were just on the verge of trying IVF before she fell pregnant naturally. She had a healthy pregnancy and delivery in hospital without complication. It took 7 years of trying again to conceive Angus and several rounds of IVF. She chose to have a homebirth this time and things went very well. Kylie was able to breastfeed without issue. Only a short time with Bethany and Angus is still nursing now.
Julie-ann has three children, Kylie (32), Jasmine (30) and Emily-Sue (25). She also lost two daughters Laura-ann, to prematurity at 28 weeks, and Alicia was still born at 21 weeks. Julie-ann had all natural births and babies that came very quickly. Her older children were present for the birth of her youngest daughter and she arrived in all of 20 minutes. Julie-ann was was able to breastfeed all of her children without issue. She has 6 granddaughters and 2 grandsons and has loved the transition from motherhood to being a grandmother.
Shirley Rose has 6 children of her own, she's had all natural deliveries and breastfed each of them. She has 21 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.
Yvonne Hilsz
The stunning Yvonne Hilsz with her daughter Frankie (7.5 months). Yvonne is a single mother by choice. She decided two years ago that she wanted to have a baby and began looking into IVF. Through the process, she decided that she would actually prefer to have a known donor than someone anonymous. She approached friends of hers who had been in a relationship for many years but didn't want children of their own to see if either of them would be interested in donating for her. They were happy to help her and began doing all of the heath-related IVF testings. Through that process, it was her mother, a nurse, who suggested that if everything worked out on their health checks, they could just inseminate themselves. Once they got the all clear, she was pregnant within 6 months but lost the baby to miscarriage at 6 weeks. She was able to conceive Frankie just after and had a very healthy pregnancy. At 26 weeks along, Yvonne decided she could birth to her daughter at home. Frankie was born at home without complication in the presence of Yvonne's mum, midwife, doula and her two "dads". Within 45 minutes Frankie was able to latch herself on and has been breastfeeding exclusively ever since. Yvonne is enjoying her time with her daughter very much and may try for another in a year or so.