A grieving mum desperate to give her only surviving IVF triplet a sibling was stunned when she conceived her "rainbow" baby. Stacey Skrysak, 42, gave birth to triplets Abigail, Peyton and Parker four months before their due date.
Despite doctors doing all they could, Abigail died on the day of her birth, with their son, Parker, living for 55 days before passing away of a brain injury. Stacey and husband, Ryan, 42, a superintendent at a construction firm, were relieved when their third triplet, Peyton - the identical sister to Abigail - defied all the odds to survive.
The grieving couple became desperate for more children and to give Peyton, now nine, a sibling, but were too frightened to try and conceive. The couple also did not believe they could have babies naturally, as Stacey had struggled with years of infertility due to her fallopian tubes being blocked and parts of her ovaries missing.
In January 2013 the couple was forced to turn to IVF in order to have the triplets, who were conceived on their first round. When Stacey, a TV reporter, found she was expecting again in December 2018, the family was stunned. After a healthy pregnancy, Stacey gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Piper, now four, on August 11, 2019.
Stacey said: "We are so lucky to have had a happy ending. Losing two of the triplets was life-changing, it was just devastating.
''We wanted so much to complete our family and for our little girl to finally have a sibling after losing two. Peyton and Piper are the best of friends.
''We weren't sure how Peyton would, because she was used to being the 'miracle child'. But she has been the best big sister.
''We didn't think you could get more energetic than Peyton, but Piper definitely is. We call her 'the spitfire', and she absolutely idolises her sister."
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The couple fell pregnant with the triplets in 2013 on their first round of IVF - which cost them £14,000 - a sum they've only just paid off this year due it not being covered by their insurance.
"It was just amazing when we found out we were pregnant, our jaws dropped when saw three babies on the ultrasound," Stacey said. "We'd longed for so long to have kids. 'I was so big so early, but I loved it, I was in heaven."
At 18 weeks pregnant, Stacey's cervix gave way and doctors had to stitch it back together to keep all three babies inside the womb, which was initially successful.
"We almost lost them," she said. ''I was put on hospital bed rest and given daily ultrasounds. The girls and Parker were all still kicking away. It was scary, but we were cautiously optimistic."
At 20 weeks her waters broke, but there was still some amniotic fluid in the sac, so Stacey stayed on bed rest for a further two weeks with monitoring.
She said: "At 22 weeks and six days, I went into a 34-hour labour. Abby was born naturally at 4am on the June 23, 2013, weighing 1lbs 4oz, and they intubated her straight away.''
Sadly, despite doctors ''doing their best'' to keep Abby alive, her lungs were too weak and she died shortly after birth. Stacey was given steroids after Abby's birth to help stabilise her other two children, and as a result, her contractions slowed.
Peyton was born at 9pm that evening weighing 1lbs 5oz, shortly followed by brother Parker at 10pm, who weighed 1lbs 2oz.
Stacey explained: "Our son Parker also had weak lungs and at three weeks old he had to have surgery to fix a perforation in his bowels. 'He fought so hard and survived the surgery, but died at just under two months old following a massive brain injury.
"To lose him was awful, it's just a parent's worst nightmare. We kept seeing him moving, but it was just his reflexes.
"He lived for four hours without all the tubes connected to him. We read to him and talked to him about football.
"I remember saying to him: 'It's OK if you want to go'. He was the angel of the NICU, all the doctors and nurses loved him.''
Their second daughter Peyton went on to be the couple's only surviving child from that pregnancy.
"She was the diva of the NICU and was very close with the doctors and nurses there," Stacey said. "We spent four months in the hospital with her. She was a fighter from week one."
Peyton is still the youngest baby at the hospital where she was born to survive, after arriving at 22 weeks. She was finally able to go home on October 17, 2013, after 116 in the NICU and remained on oxygen for a further three months.
She said: "It was a bittersweet, surreal feeling to come home from the hospital with just one baby. My husband had already got three car seats ready. We were so public in sharing our story, because we thought Peyton could give so many families hope."
Doctors followed her progress for the first three years of her life, visiting the family at their home.
"She had some delays in her development, but now you'd never know," Stacey said. "A doctor was on a visit to us and said only two to three per cent of children in Peyton's circumstances go on to lead a fully normal life.
"He turned to us and said: 'I think Peyton is in that percentage'. It's amazing.
''It was lots of work for many years. She didn't walk until she was 18 months old and didn't talk until she was around two-and-a-half.
"Now she doesn't stop talking. She even swims competitively too, and when you think about how weak her lungs were I can't believe it."
Stacey and Ryan were initially cautious about having have more children, feeling scared of pregnancy after their previous loss. But in December 2018 Stacey discovered she had fallen pregnant naturally.
"We just couldn't believe it," Stacey said. "We had our rainbow baby. I asked our doctor how this could have happened because we were so shocked.
"He said it can happen, usually if you're not trying, or stressed at the thought of falling pregnant. We'd literally just signed off our remaining eggs from our IVF cycle into the community, to help others struggling with fertility.
''We honestly thought there was no chance at all. When I was six weeks along, we went to see the same doctor, we had when we had the triplets.
''He told me we'd get though it together, it was very comforting. I had PTSD but didn't even realise until I was pregnant again, so I went to therapy and was in the doctors every week."
At 17 weeks pregnant, Stacey's cervix gave way - just like it did when she was expecting the triplets. The same procedure to stitch it together and hold baby Piper in place was done and thankfully it was a success. Stacey went on to give birth to baby daughter Piper, now three, on August 11, 2019, three weeks early, weighing 7lbs 14oz.
"Life is pretty good right now," Stacey, who lives in Springfield, Illinois, US, said. "My husband, Ryan, has actually helped to re-model the NICU the triplets were born in.
"We've got such a good platform, because I'm in local TV too, to try and help others where we can. I got a message from a woman the other day saying thanking me as she'd been though similar and saying our story had given us hope.''
