Kaytlyn and Trystyn's Birth Stories

My husband and I got married while we were both enlisted in the Navy. We tried SO hard to have a baby and it just wasn't' happening. I was the little girl that mom had to convince to wait to have a baby and I did, it's always been my dream to have a whole bunch of children. With all the problems I was having in getting pregnant, I simply asked God to give me "just one Baby, please God!" Anyway, I went to a fertility doctor who ran all sorts of tests on my husband and I and found nothing was wrong so he prescribed Clomid. I tried it and it didn't work. Dave, my husband, and I just decided to quit trying and to go ahead and adopt, there are SO many unwanted children out there just dying to have parents like us. It was a broken dream but I was willing to live with it. Soon thereafter I was munching on Doritos and watching TV with hubby and found that for the first time in my life, Doritos made me sick to my stomach. Not only did they make me sick to my stomach but the mere THOUGHT of Doritos absolutely made me nauseous (turns out for the next 9 months...*laughs*) Anyway, I went to the doctor because I was convinced that I had the stomach flu and I was a little late on my period BUT I FELT it coming so I knew it was on its way. The nurse asked me to pee in a cup, and I did, and she said she'd call me in in a few minutes. When she called my name and I went in there I said, "It's negative, right?" and she replied, "No, it's positive"...I nearly fell over. I was on a high all the way home and bought my husband a card that said: Congratulations! You finally did it!!! *grins* It was so wonderful. Anyway, from the very beginning, I started having problems. I was 5 weeks along when I found out I was pregnant and I started bleeding at 6 weeks. I had a vaginal ultrasound done and the doctor said she didn't see a viable pregnancy. I was crushed. Then she started looking into it possibly being a tubal pregnancy. She had to call another doctor in and come to find out, she wasn't even looking at my uterus. She had been unable to find it. The ultrasound, when done properly, found that Ms. Kaytlyn was precisely where she was supposed to be. Hidden in a little corner in my uterus, a very tiny baby that very much resembled a cashew nut. I was incredibly sick throughout my entire pregnancy, I bled throughout the entire 9 months, I was terrified of losing her...already SO in love with her. I was induced on the morning of December 27, 1995 and after 12 hours of labor and an additional 3 hours of pushing, Ms. Kaytlyn Alyse made her grand entrance at 7lbs, 13 oz and 20 3/4 inches long. Unfortunately, she was a bit too big for me and her shoulder was broken during delivery but healed within a few days. She is now four years old and my absolute angel!!!

In 1997, I was REALLY surprised to find out that I was pregnant again. I was elated and just overwhelmed. I was 12 weeks along and started bleeding again and I figured...HEY...I'm just a bleeder. Unfortunately, I lost twins soon thereafter. I was on bedrest for two weeks trying to keep them but it just wasn't meant to be.

October 15, 1998 was a very special night. Some friends came to visit from New York... friends from my Navy days on GUAM!!! I hadn't seen them in years and they came all the way to Virginia just to visit with me. Well, Kaytlyn hit it off with them immediately and wanted to sleep with them that night. Well, with Kaytlyn out of our bed and with no interruptions... well, you can just imagine. Soon thereafter, I found out that I was pregnant once again. I was so terrified but I was so excited that I'd be able to feel life moving within me once again. I was 16 weeks along when I went in for my first ultrasound and the nurse, looking grim, told me to wait in the waiting area and that the high risk doctor would be calling me in for a meeting. He did and that's when he broke my heart and explained to me that I didn't have enough amniotic fluid to sustain my baby (Oligodryhaminos). He said that there was a high probability that my baby would die and that he was sorry. I walked out of there like a zombie and my husband wanted to know what was wrong (he had been in the waiting room with Ms. Kaytlyn). I told him and he just said, "I can't lose another one, Tookie...I just can't deal with it." So, we just took it day by day and I had to go in EVERY week to have my amniotic fluid checked. Some days it was a little more, some days it was a little less. Some doctors told me not to worry about it, some made it seem like my baby had less than 24 hours of life left, it was just emotionally horrifying. I just did what I could. I ate as much as I could, I took care of myself... I did what I could to make him as healthy as possible. I went into the hospital several times for premature contractions, then I was admitted because my doctor thought I had Gestational diabetes. All this bad news was really taking its toll on me. My mom flew in to take care of me and to help me with housework, cooking, cleaning and Ms. Kaytlyn. On the morning of July 21, due to a touch of Pre-eclampsia, Sir Trystyn Kai Flewelling was taken by Cesarean section. They would have induced but he was too big and the doctors were concerned that he'd have a shoulder dystocia that could have rendered his arm useless for all of his life. He was born at 6:45 am weighing in at 8lbs, 8oz and 21 1/2 inches long. He's now 6 months old and absolutely perfect. He got his first tooth at 8 weeks and is crawling and standing up and doing all the stuff he needs to be doing. He's wonderful and we're all so much in love with him. No sibling rivalry (yet), Kaytlyn over loves him sometimes but never intentionally hurts him, we've been blessed. Thank you for letting me share this long story with you.

Angela Flewelling