First, let me tell you that "Snyder Survivors" has two meanings. Hopefully you will have figured out what the two meanings are at the end of this post. This is how our family came to be.
In July of 2003 we found out that we were pregnant with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, babies!!!!! Yes, that's right. Quintuplets!!!!! We couldn't believe it. We did do fertility treatments, but not IVF. That is what everyone thinks at first. Anyway, we started out thinking that everything would be fine. We never thought that we would encounter any bumps in the road. The media always talks about the higher order multiple families that have no real big issues. All the babies are fine with no real problems. So, we just thought it would be the same for us. We were so wrong! I had to stop working at 10 weeks. We were living in Indiana at the time, but we knew that we would move back to Illinois where I am from. So I saw the Perinatologist in Illinois and he told me that I had to go back to my parent's home and lay down. I couldn't even go back to Indiana at all. Later that week I had a cerclage put in. Then started the weekly appointments with sonos. It was so exciting to see the babies every week. It was amazing how fast my belly grew. It was freaky really. Anyway, things were looking good until my 16 week appointment. We found out that one of our babies had A-crania. Which means the brain was developing, but not the skull. So, we learned that we would lose one of our babies. We were shocked and so sad. Our world turned upside down. We, also, found out the sexes of the babies. We were having four boys and one girl. We did know that one of the boys had A-crania. We were still dealing with losing one of our babies when at 18 weeks, one night in October that my water broke. We immediately went to the hospital and I was admitted for the duration of my pregnancy. At 20 weeks, on November 3, I had gone to the bathroom and stood up and felt something not right. I made it back to my bed and yelled for a nurse. The nurse told me to move my leg and I knew it was a baby. It was Gabriel. He was born with a heartbeat and lived for three hours. We got to hold him for as long as we wanted. It was the worst pain and I had ever known. It was so hard to hold him and know that there was nothing that could be done to save him. I was put on good 'ol Magnesium Sulfate which is a very powerful and terrible drug to be on. It worked for awhile, but ten days later on November 13 my water broke again and I had to deliver another baby. Elliot was born. He was the baby that had A-crania and he also had a heartbeat. He lived for three hours, too. Again, we had the terrible pain of holding another baby that was dying. I remember begging my doctor to make sure I would leave with a baby. Of course I knew he couldn't promise that. Three weeks went by with me having my head lower than my legs in bed. It wasn't easy to eat, but lets face it, I had no appetite and no room for any food. At 24 weeks, on December 4, 2003, the doctors decided to do an emergency c-section because they were pretty sure that I was getting an infection. So at 10:10 am Hayden was born first at 1lb 8oz. At 10:11 am Ava was born at 1lb 61/2oz and then at 10:12 am Miles was born at 1lb 10oz. They were rushed to the NICU. Little did we know that our journey was just beginning. Two weeks after I was discharged I was back in the hospital for emergency gallbladder surgery. At that time Miles had started going down hill. He was retaining fluid. After one month on Jan. 31, 2003, we got the dreaded phone call at night. Miles had a grand mal seizure and they were keeping him alive for us. Talk about speeding. We got to the hospital in record time. As soon as we got up to the NICU, we had to make the final decision to take Miles off the ventilator. Again we had to hold another one of our children as they went off to heaven. Miles did not live long off the ventilator. It was so heartbreaking. Now we had two babies left, Hayden and Ava and they were fighting for their lives. Ava was a typical girl while in the NICU. Her big issues were getting bigger so she could use the C-PAP and learn to eat. She eventually did and moved to c-pap, nasal cannula and then off of oxygen. She did have grade 1 and 3 brain bleeds and ended up with ROP and had laser eye surgery before she was discharged. She was discharged after being in the NICU for three months. Hayden had his struggles. He needed a PDA which kept him on the ventilator for 2 1/2 months. He had a seizure, grade 3 and 4 brain bleeds, he lungs collapsed twice and he had ROP, too. He had laser eye surgery before he was discharged, too. He came home after 4 1/2 months with oxygen and an apnea monitor. We were so happy to have both our babies home. We thought our journey was over. Two weeks later Hayden and Ava were both back in the hospital. They both had stopped eating. They did some tests and Ava was diagnosed with acid reflux. She was put on medicine and sent home. Hayden ended up needing a g-tube and niccin done. He did not have his suck/swallow reflex down and was aspirating into his lungs. He has ended up back in the hospital several more times in the past four years. He had eye muscle surgery and started having seizures this past summer. When he was still a baby he was in the hospital for a MRI and we found out that the brain bleeds had destroyed some of his white brain matter. We were told that he would probably never walk or talk. Boy were they wrong. Hayden and Ava were in the Early Intervention Program since they were babies. Hayden has proved everyone wrong. He was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, but his is mild. He does walk and run. His gait is a little different but he does walk. He absolutely talks. His vocabulary is amazing and you always know what he is thinking. He is in preschool and is thriving. Ava has not shown any real affects of prematurity. She, also, attends a preschool too. Hayden and Ava are true survivors. They may live like twins, but they are surviving quintuplets. Their brothers are up in heaven, but they surround us everyday with their presence. They are our angels. There is so much more to this story, but this has to be the longest post EVER! Have you figured out the double meaning behind Snyder Survivors? For one, the Snyders are surviving the day to day dramas and we have two beautiful surviving quintuplets. I hope you will enjoy visiting our site and reading about our day to day lives.
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Ava's first week of life
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Hayden's first week of life
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Miles' first week of life
Ava and Hayden today!
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This is a first photo of Hayden and Ava together for the first time since they were born. It was pretty emotional for us because there should have been three more babies with them. I cherish this picture.
I am doing Kangaroo Care with Ava for the first time. I remember her tolerating this very well. Getting to do kangaroo care is so important for the baby and the mommy. To actually hold your baby skin-to-skin really felt like she was mine and not the NICU's baby (you feel like you have not control when you are in the NICU because as parents we don't have the knowledge on how to take care of a preemie. So, you rely on the doctors and nurses to let you know what is good for your baby.)
I am doing Kangaroo care with Hayden for the first time. It was awesome!
Brian is going to kill me when he sees that I put this picture up, but it is the only picture I have on delivery day. I wouldn't let my mom take a picture of me. I really regret it now, but I was absolutely miserable and not in a picture taking mode..JPG)
I think this picture is precious of them together.
