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Thank you for taking the time to look at TJ and Levi’s page!
TJ and Levi are beautiful twin boys that decided to come a little too soon. Between Levi’s stay at the local children’s hospital and their dad having been laid off, this little family needs some help! The boys would also love for their mom to be able to stay home with them for a little longer – maternity leave is unpaid, and their momma doesn’t have very many sick days and leave days to use because of all the complications!
A little history on how their story began, from the boys’ mom: “Several years ago, my husband and I decided we were ready to start a family. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy for us as it was our friends who seemed to try once or twice and magically conceive. We tried for almost two years. There were countless medications, some that drove me to suicidal thoughts and others that left me in a drunk-like state unable to function. There was a very expensive surgery to cut endometriosis from my body, and there were experiments of medications.
Two years... no baby.
After three unsuccessful IUI's (Intrauterine Inceptions), our fertility clinic ordered an HSG (hysterosalpingogram), one of the most painful tests a woman can undergo, to see if my tubes were open. My husband and I came to contentment that if they weren't open, it wasn't going to happen for us, as we could barely afford our fertility treatments out-of-pocket, and could never afford In Vitro Fertilization.
The tubes were both open.
It was shock, awe, and frustration to learn, but the doctor consented to two more IUI's to see if we could successfully conceive a child. We went in hopeful, but reserved.
Then our world came crashing in.
My husband was laid off the day we had to do our Ovidrel shot to kick start my ovulation. Two days later was our scheduled IUI. We had to decide that day if we were going to go through with the procedure, which cost hundreds of dollars out of pocket. We had no promises it would work, and no promises of income in the future, but we'd been praying so hard for a child, and after consideration and prayer, we took a leap of faith and went through with the IUI.
Five weeks later we learned we were having a baby. A week and a half after that, I started bleeding and worried we were losing our baby. I called the fertility clinic, and they told us to come in that day for an ultrasound.
We saw and heard a heartbeat and were SO relieved. Then, they moved the wand over and showed us the SECOND heartbeat. We listened to it, again.
Two babies.
We went from two years of battling infertility and paying out-of-pocket expenses and having no guarantees with my endometriosis and suddenly we had two precious lives growing within me. I was on progesterone another five weeks (another out-of-pocket expense) to make sure the babies "stuck." We had two ER visits, one for bleeding and one for a possible amniotic fluid leak. I had a ground-level fall and was admitted to L&D at 30 weeks, and then admitted again at 32 weeks due to cervix change. I was put on strict bedrest for several weeks, then modified, and on my 36 week mark was scheduled to come off bedrest. At 35 weeks, 6 days, my water ruptured on Lefty (TJ) and then broke at the hospital. I went into active labor at 9:50pm and gave birth to TJ at 7:08am and Levi at 7:19am.
Everything seemed perfect, at first, but by the end of the first day we knew something was terribly wrong with our second-born, Levi. He couldn't stay in the room with us. I couldn't touch him. My baby boy was whisked away, and I was left feeling like a piece of my heart went with him.”
So, the boys came early. TJ may have been ready, but Levi wasn’t. It soon became apparent that little Levi was having difficulty with his breathing, and had to be taken to the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) the day after he was born, where he was given an oxygen mask.
He fluctuated from needing oxygen to a mask with just air to make sure he was breathing in what he needed. He couldn’t breathe while he nursed, he couldn’t be held by his parents, he couldn’t be near his brother. While this is not unusual for twins, Levi’s lungs were undeveloped enough that he could not stay at the general hospital where he was born. Levi was taken to the local children’s hospital on 09/07 and had to stay there for ten days in an isolette so that he could finish developing his lungs.
While the boys are home now and healthy, dad is still out of work and mom is running out of leave days to cover the bills.
Any donations would be appreciated to help pay for the daunting medical bills racked up by needing the NICU and the ten day stay at the children’s hospital. Unfortunately, mom’s pay, although not enough right now, is still too high to qualify for assistance.
They’re expecting the medical bills to be around $10K even after insurance, and it would cost $3K to stay at home with the boys for four more weeks. Mom and Dad would really appreciate the time with both their boys since they lost out on spending time with Levi while he was in the children’s hospital. Plus, it’s twins… any extra time to get a rhythm with TWO new little ones is a blessing!
This GoFundMe was created by mom and dad’s friends, because we all love this family of four! Thank you!
TJ and Levi are beautiful twin boys that decided to come a little too soon. Between Levi’s stay at the local children’s hospital and their dad having been laid off, this little family needs some help! The boys would also love for their mom to be able to stay home with them for a little longer – maternity leave is unpaid, and their momma doesn’t have very many sick days and leave days to use because of all the complications!
A little history on how their story began, from the boys’ mom: “Several years ago, my husband and I decided we were ready to start a family. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy for us as it was our friends who seemed to try once or twice and magically conceive. We tried for almost two years. There were countless medications, some that drove me to suicidal thoughts and others that left me in a drunk-like state unable to function. There was a very expensive surgery to cut endometriosis from my body, and there were experiments of medications.
Two years... no baby.
After three unsuccessful IUI's (Intrauterine Inceptions), our fertility clinic ordered an HSG (hysterosalpingogram), one of the most painful tests a woman can undergo, to see if my tubes were open. My husband and I came to contentment that if they weren't open, it wasn't going to happen for us, as we could barely afford our fertility treatments out-of-pocket, and could never afford In Vitro Fertilization.
The tubes were both open.
It was shock, awe, and frustration to learn, but the doctor consented to two more IUI's to see if we could successfully conceive a child. We went in hopeful, but reserved.
Then our world came crashing in.
My husband was laid off the day we had to do our Ovidrel shot to kick start my ovulation. Two days later was our scheduled IUI. We had to decide that day if we were going to go through with the procedure, which cost hundreds of dollars out of pocket. We had no promises it would work, and no promises of income in the future, but we'd been praying so hard for a child, and after consideration and prayer, we took a leap of faith and went through with the IUI.
Five weeks later we learned we were having a baby. A week and a half after that, I started bleeding and worried we were losing our baby. I called the fertility clinic, and they told us to come in that day for an ultrasound.
We saw and heard a heartbeat and were SO relieved. Then, they moved the wand over and showed us the SECOND heartbeat. We listened to it, again.
Two babies.
We went from two years of battling infertility and paying out-of-pocket expenses and having no guarantees with my endometriosis and suddenly we had two precious lives growing within me. I was on progesterone another five weeks (another out-of-pocket expense) to make sure the babies "stuck." We had two ER visits, one for bleeding and one for a possible amniotic fluid leak. I had a ground-level fall and was admitted to L&D at 30 weeks, and then admitted again at 32 weeks due to cervix change. I was put on strict bedrest for several weeks, then modified, and on my 36 week mark was scheduled to come off bedrest. At 35 weeks, 6 days, my water ruptured on Lefty (TJ) and then broke at the hospital. I went into active labor at 9:50pm and gave birth to TJ at 7:08am and Levi at 7:19am.
Everything seemed perfect, at first, but by the end of the first day we knew something was terribly wrong with our second-born, Levi. He couldn't stay in the room with us. I couldn't touch him. My baby boy was whisked away, and I was left feeling like a piece of my heart went with him.”
So, the boys came early. TJ may have been ready, but Levi wasn’t. It soon became apparent that little Levi was having difficulty with his breathing, and had to be taken to the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) the day after he was born, where he was given an oxygen mask.
He fluctuated from needing oxygen to a mask with just air to make sure he was breathing in what he needed. He couldn’t breathe while he nursed, he couldn’t be held by his parents, he couldn’t be near his brother. While this is not unusual for twins, Levi’s lungs were undeveloped enough that he could not stay at the general hospital where he was born. Levi was taken to the local children’s hospital on 09/07 and had to stay there for ten days in an isolette so that he could finish developing his lungs.
While the boys are home now and healthy, dad is still out of work and mom is running out of leave days to cover the bills.
Any donations would be appreciated to help pay for the daunting medical bills racked up by needing the NICU and the ten day stay at the children’s hospital. Unfortunately, mom’s pay, although not enough right now, is still too high to qualify for assistance.
They’re expecting the medical bills to be around $10K even after insurance, and it would cost $3K to stay at home with the boys for four more weeks. Mom and Dad would really appreciate the time with both their boys since they lost out on spending time with Levi while he was in the children’s hospital. Plus, it’s twins… any extra time to get a rhythm with TWO new little ones is a blessing!
This GoFundMe was created by mom and dad’s friends, because we all love this family of four! Thank you!