Twin Birth Story: Brystol Claire & Bentlee Jaxson

On March 2, 2020 we went for what we thought would be just another prenatal/ultrasound at my OBGYN office. Upon the technician doing my ultrasound she noticed that baby B (Bentlee) was only scoring a 6 out of 10. This indicates the fetus may not be receiving enough oxygen (anything less than 8 means theres a problem.) Next step, hospital time! I was only 35 weeks & 6 days so Dr. G wanted to give me 2 rounds of corticosteroids over a 48-hour period. This would improve babies’ lung function since we were still considered pre-term. She told us to get prepared to stay at least 2 days & then we would see where things were & go from there. 

We drive straight to the hospital (with Alston in tow since we were unaware this was going to happen.) They get me all hooked up to monitors, give me the first round of steroids, & told us it would be a waiting game just to relax. Rickey needed to get some things from home & take Alston home since we would be there overnight. The nurse informed him it would be no problem. It would be at least 6 hours or so before she's checked again. Meanwhile, my cell phone was dying because once again we had no clue we would be going to the hospital from the doctor’s appointment. Rickey goes downstairs to the gift shop & buys me a phone charger so I would at least have a phone while he was gone or so he thought. 

After he left, I noticed the charger wasn't working! The nurse came by just to look a monitors & I got her to check the plug-- NOTHING. So my phone DIES!

Shortly after, I began to feel super sick so I called the nurse in to unhook me. I got really sick like I hadn't done since early, early on in the pregnancy. After that, she hooked everything back up & was looking kind of awkwardly at the contractions I had been having on the paper. She asked "Are you hurting?" I replied, "Kind of, but nothing serious." Her reply after that sent me into PANIC mode. 

I was in very ACTIVE labor! I’m talking like 2 minutes apart & didn't have a clue. Remember the part about Rickey leaving & being told I'd be there 48 hours & may or may not get sent home afterwards & it was okay for him to go home?! Yep, you guessed it! I'm in active labor in the hospital BY MYSELF with NO PHONE!

About that time another nurse comes in & says, " Your husband has been trying to reach you to check in. Let me get you the room phone." 

I call him immediately much to his surprise to inform him he needs to get there ASAP because the babies were coming with or without him! ahhhh..... He was in BRIGHTON & I'm at Baptist Womens!! He said my car had never been driven the way he drove it that day. lol

I called my mom & who's numbers I could remember after that to let them know we were having babies TODAY---SURPRISE!

Rickey made it just in time! WHEW! 

They had already been prepping me & getting things ready to go back for a C-section. 

READY or NOT-- here we go!

Brystol Claire came out first weighing in at 5 lbs 13oz. Bentlee was next weighing in at 6lbs even, but like the ultrasound had shown he was struggling to breath. I literally got a glimpse of him & off he went to the NICU. He stayed there for the next 8 days! Brystol Claire got to go with us to a regular nursery/postpartum room.

Over the next several days we stayed busy. We were trying to soak in every minute with Brystol Claire but also check on Bentlee in the NICU at feedings (wake times) every 3-4 hours! They kept all of us for 5 days through March 7 when Brystol Claire got discharged. Rickey continued to visit Bentlee everyday upon us leaving while I stayed back with Alston (big brother) & Brystol Claire at home. 

Bentlee finally got all of his tubes out the next day (March 9). This meant he could come home the following day with no setbacks! Every 6-12 hours nurses change so this meant change for him too. He would feed GREAT for one nurse while another not so much. They wanted to put a feeding tube back in because he messed up ONE feeding! 

NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! We were not happy about this because it meant it would set him back at least another 48 hours in the NICU if not more. Please, we begged & pleaded with them to just let us take him home & if he wouldn't eat for us then we would be back & we understood that. Plus, around this time (actually this day March 10) COVID-19 officially hit Shelby County with the first case! We wanted him OUT & home with us. They agreed he would be okay as long as we could get him to eat. PRAISE THE LORD! Bentlee got discharged on that day!

We were finally all home under one roof as a family of 5!

Genders & our name meanings ♥️

I haven’t updated the blog since we found out genders. Whoops! Let’s just say life gets crazy & I forget some people keep up with these that aren’t necessarily on our social media accounts.

Genders: BOY: Bentlee Jaxson 💙 & 

GIRL: Brystol Claire 🎀 

Let’s give everyone a little background as to why we chose the names we did for these sweet miracles bc they definitely hold special places in our hearts! 

Brystol Claire 🎀

      I’ve said for as long as I can remember if I ever had a baby girl her name would be Claire in some form or fashion. When I was born & looking back on home videos my family would ask my brother “What’s momma having?.” His response was a “Claire baby” or “a little bit dangerous” 🤣 but I think the second is a little long for a name haha 😆. We believe he got this “Claire baby” from a cousin being named that who was born shortly before me. Therefore, it’s a family name as well.

       The Brystol name comes from the last place my parents went on vacation before my dads tragic accident ( in which he passed away) was Bristol,TN to the nascar race. We just changed up the spelling as we have with all of our children’s names to be different. 

Bentlee Jaxson 💙 

       As most of you know my cousin & friend to my husband BJ Smith passed away just this past year. I’ve mentioned him & his accident on the blog before when we went through our first round of IVF. During our first round in 2016 he was in a tragic accident that paralyzed him from the neck down due to a spinal cord injury. The day before his passing this past year (2019); I found out I was pregnant again through IVF. We decided since our girl name was a “B” letter already if both embryos took & we had boy/girl twins we would use the monogram “BJ” for the boy. Hence, Bentlee Jaxson Renfrow. We don’t want to use the nickname BJ; we will actually just call him Bentlee but the monogram will just hold that special memory for us. Also, Lee is part of every “Covert” (my maiden name) boys name including our first child Alston Lee. So, we kept that tradition alive as well. 

We are counting down the weeks: less than 10 to go until we meet these babies. Please just continue to pray for growing for babies & safe delivery 💙🎀 

Update FiNALLY—Whoops!

 Last Monday (8/12) when we went to the doctor, for those of you following along on social media already know, we found out both embryos took the IVF round = TWINS! Baby A heart rate was 124 he/she was measuring 6wks4days. Baby B heart rate was 128 he/she was measuring 6wks3days.

I have a Subchroionic hematoma. Subchorionic bleeding (also known as a subchorionic hematoma) is the accumulation of blood within the folds of the chorion (the outer fetal membrane, next to the placenta) or between the uterus and the placenta itself. It can cause light to heavy spotting, but it may not. I have yet to see any bleeding – Praise the Lord! Most subchorionic bleeds resolve on their own, and women go on to have perfectly healthy pregnancies.

How common is it?

Around 1 percent of all pregnancies have a subchorionic bleed and it tends to be more prevalent among women who have gotten pregnant through IVF. Of those women who experience first-trimester bleeding, 20 percent are diagnosed with a subchorionic bleed as the cause of the spotting. They just want me to be precautious still & look out for warning signs. They are going to monitor weekly for now, hoping it just goes away on its own.

I went back to the doctor this Monday (8/19). The Subchroionic hematoma is still there, but still small & not growing which is a great thing. Baby A heart rate was 162 & was measuring 7wks4days. Baby B heart rate was 166 & was measuring 7wks4days- so he/she caught up by that one day from last week it was behind.

I will return on Tuesday.

Thanks again for all the congratulations, praise, excitement, & prayers! We could not be more excited to be welcoming  2 little miracles come March/April!!
This week photo: 

Levels are IN..

If you haven’t seen on my social media stories by now, my progesterone levels are in & we got amazing news!

Thursday my levels were 692.

Saturday my levels were 1498.

These numbers are fantastic! They called me this morning to inform me our 1^st ultrasound will be Monday, August 12^th. This day we will finally get to see this sweet little miracle or miracles I have growing inside of me. Stay tuned for details! This is going to be the longest 14 days EVER. If infertility teaches you nothing else; it teaches you patience!

Yall, infertility is HARD! It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through in my life. Not just because of the emotional rollercoaster that becomes your entire life, but because it’s a huge world of unknowns & waiting. I’m a planner. I generally like to know plans A, B, C, & D. I need all of this information from the get-go; in order to even process what goes next. But with infertility, there are a million different paths, & very little information available on any of them. I think this has been the hardest part for me. If this helps one person navigate the process more easily, then it’s well worth my effort. Of course, keep in mind that everyone’s journey is very, very different, & this is based solely on MINE.

BETA results are in....

 

           

        We are officially 9 days post transfer & I went for my first BETA test (pregnancy blood work) this morning. I had to wait for results until this afternoon, which seemed like it took an eternity, but we now have the anticipated results you’ve all been waiting to see.

           

Our results were 692!!! The nurse specially said, “It’s definitely a POSITIVE!” Whooo hooo!!! Sooo many answered prayers. I did take a home test Tuesday morning, which was a week exactly from transfer day & got a positive result there too. We just didn’t announce yet because we wanted to wait for blood test results from today.

           

I will return to the clinic for blood work again on Saturday. They hope for numbers to rise by 60%.

           

Thank you to all who have checked on us & continued to pray for us during this time. We could not of dreamed of all the support this blog has given us.