The next sponsor I want to introduce you to is a wonderful woman i just became acquainted with myself a few nights ago after she made a very generous donation to the charity AFTER we met our goal! Her name is Elana and here is her story (her labor story will keep you on the edge of your seat!):
"I'm 26 and my hubby is 40. We met in November 2005, just 2 weeks after my father passed
away. We dated for just about 3 months before getting engaged, and we were engaged for 6 months before getting married in August 2006."They immediately started trying to have a baby, but with no success. After a year of nothing, they decided to see a fertility specialist who couldn't find anything "really" wrong.
"Yeah there was a hormone imbalance, but even medication didn't 'fix the problem'. Who knew if that was even keeping me from getting pregnant anyway. We had all sorts of tests done (SA, HSG, SHG, hysteroscopy), and they all came back normal. We did 3 cycles of Clomid with nothing but BFNs. We did one IUI with injectible meds, got a BFP and then miscarried a week or so later. We then did 4 more IUI cycles (3 with meds, 1 natural) and got 4 BFNs. The doctor decided it was time we moved onto IVF. I was so nervous because it was our last chance. If this didn't work, nothing would. The doctor was hoIding back a bit on my meds in order to avoid OHSS, so I was a bit disappointed with the number of eggs retrieved--only 8. Of those 8, only 4 fertilized, and of those 4, only 2 continued to grow. They didn't want to risk waiting until a 5 day transfer, so they transferred both embryos on day 3. One of them was 10 cells, grade B and the other was 5 cells, grade C. It was basically like 'you have one awesome embryo with a great chance and one that's not such a good chance, so don't get your hopes up for twins.' Riiiiiight. Thank G-d I did get pregnant, and I had twins. :-) So much for embryo grading, eh?"
They had a few glitches during the pregnancy--placenta previa, and then a shortened & funneling cervix at 20 weeks, so doctors had to put in a cerclage and Elana went on modified bed rest.
"I was in and out of the hospital in February and March, but I held out to 35 weeks! At 35 weeks and 1 day, my son's placenta abrupted, and I needed an emergency C-Section to deliver them. I had wanted to go completely natural and deliver without drugs, but G-d had other plans! The twins were so oxygen deprived by the time they were delivered (from my blood loss and my son was nearly disconnected), that my son had an APGAR score of 1 and my daughter had a score of 3 at 1 minute....not good. They each needed some help getting started breathing--it took my daughter just over a minute to start crying, and my son was incubated and took 3 minutes to start breathing. Seriously, I'm glad they had put me under general anesthesia or I would've flipped the he** out with them not breathing. Anyway, thank G-d they were both ok. As for me, something happened to my uterine artery during surgery so not only had I lost blood from the placental abruption, but now I was bleeding from my uterine artery as well. Whooops! So I needed 4 units of blood and medications to keep my heart going...good thing the doctors know what they're doing. Also a good thing that this was around 7am when the doctors change shift...so I had two sets of everyone in the delivery room making sure we all stayed alive. "Now, the twins are doing fantastically. They are normal, healthy 7-month-old babies. They roll over, they sit up, and they're starting to eat solid foods!
"They're the cutest and sweetest babies you'd ever meet and I feel darned lucky to be their mom. All of the waiting, the anguish of infertility, etc...it was all worth it!" She added. WOW!
Elana started selling Avon because her sister's mother-in-law used to sell Avon when she was growing up.
"After the twins were born, I decided I needed to figure out something to do from home, so I picked Avon. I love selling it because their products are excellent quality, and it really sells itself. Also, it's recession-proof because nearly all of the stuff is things people use on a daily basis and it's generally less expensive than what you'd find in a grocery or drug store. Also, you can buy from my online store or from me directly if you live near me...it's totally flexible! That's only a teensy part of what makes Avon so awesome. It would take me hours or days to mention everything."
You can learn more about Elana by visiting her blog Elana's Musings and by visiting her Avon Website.
This generous mother LOVES March of Dimes like we do, and not only made a wonderful contribution to the fundraiser herself... She is also donating a $25 gift certificate for her Avon products!
If you donate just $10 to the charity I'll give you 10 free tickets to win this prize from Elana to use towards her Avon Shop! Not only are you helping a charity but you get 10 tickets in our GIANT drawing! You can donate by clicking the "chip in" button to the right or by clicking here. (Paypal is NOT associated with the drawing, just with donations. Questions about the drawing? Email me at babymakingmachine{at}gmail.com)
This is just one of more than 40 prizes (worth over $1500) that's up for grabs in the drawing! See the full list here. 100% of the funds raised are going to March of Dimes, to help save babies!
Read how this got started here!
Check out all of the prizes here!
Have a giveaway? List it here! Offer extra entries to your peeps for donating!
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