Double Trouble

We have received the greatest gift we could possibly get. Not one, but two children to love.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

new belly picture



my belly at 20 weeks

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Monday night

So I spent Monday night in the hospital and am now home from work for the rest of the week. I was uncomfortable all day on Monday. I felt like I had bad gas pains but had no gas and felt like I needed to go #2 even after I did and did not have to anymore. So I decided to call the ob after I came home from work and ate dinner. I was expecting him to tell me it was nothing. But instead he told me to go the hospital (the one I will be delivering at) to labor & delivery right away. I was really scared and freaked out but he and the hospital staff took great care of me. He told me to lie and say I was 20 weeks rather than 19 and that they would not know the difference anyway since I had ivf twins. He said if they knew I was less than 20 weeks they would send me to the emergency room and he did not want me to sit in there for ever and wanted me to be taken care of right away. He was at a different hospital with another patient that was delivering but he left them instructions about what to do with me and he was in contact with them the whole time calling the shots. So that was very comforting. When we got there they were expecting me and were so nice and took good care of me. They took all kinds of b/w and urine tests. They checked my cervix, which was long and closed, thank god. They also did a culture. Everything they took that came back while I was there came back normal. They hooked me up to an IV and a monitor and we also got another sono. Which is always nice. We actually got to see them both on the screen at the same time. We have not seen that in a long time, it was cool. They were moving around so much and interacting alot together. It was really cute. The monitor showed that I was indeed having mild contractions or "uterine activity" which they feel was due to the having twins and having fibroids combo. So they gave me meds and everytime it seemed to work and like they were going to just watch me and send me home soon, they would start up again. This went on well into the night, so I guess they finally decided to keep me overnight and see what the doctor said in the morning. I was never actually admitted, it was an outpatient thing still. I was in a private "holding room". Which was nice though. I was in a bed, dh had an ok for a hospital recliner and we had the tv and a bathroom. The nurse said it was a slow night for them, which was good because they were really taking good care of me and were so nice. On Tuesday morning my ob came to see me. Things were looking much better. He called the MFM on the cell (yes we were allowed to use cell phones in there! very strange!) to confirm his treatment plan for me. And he even handed me his because the MFM wanted to speak to me. It was all really nice and unexpected. Between both of them, they told me to go home, stay in bed yesterday, take the meds they were prescribing and stay home from work for the rest of the week. I will see the MFM today and the ob next week so that I will have an appointment every week. The ob feels that I will not be working for another 7-8 weeks as originally planned. He said I would be lucky if he let me work another 4-5 weeks. The ob does seem to be very conservative though, so I will see what the MFM says today about all that. And he also feels that since this happened so early, that it will probably happen again. This whole thing was really scary but I guess it went as well as it could have for what it was. And at least now we know kind what to expect if it does happen again. The discomfort I was having is totally gone now, so that is good. It is still so strange that I am even pregnant or having contractions. It is still hard to believe.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

sono pics from 8/15

regular sono of baby A


3D sono of baby B



another 3D sono of baby B

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

doctor appointments

So we went to the MFM last night. The babies are doing well and were moving around and all. No additional blood clots or anything in the placenta. It was a little frustrating for the tech because both babies were curled up and facing down so it was hard for her to get some of the measurements and for her to get nice pics for us. She did get one of them to turn around though. She tried to do a 3d sono and gave us the pics for one of them. It was pretty cool but again it was hard to see due to the position of the baby. The only think that is a little upsetting is that now I need to go on Lovenox and have an injection in the side of my stomach area every morning. They felt that the babies were a little on the small side, measuring below the 50% percentile. They are fine for now, it is more of a precaution for later on. This will help the placenta and in turn help the babies get what they need from it even more so especially when the placenta stops growing at 26 weeks. As you know, I will do whatever I have to do for my babies but at the same time I am not happy about this. There are also lots of rules that go along with this. I cannot have a hot shower 45 min before or after I take this, so now I will be taking my showers at night (which sucks). We must take it at the same time each day so since we are doing 6am during the week, we have to get up at that time on the weekends too. And once a month or so, I have to have my blood drawn at Quest exactly 4 hours after taking this. So I need to do that this Monday, so I will be late to work and when I go to Quest I have to get there early enough for them to be able to take me at a specific time. I know it will all be worth it in the end.

Tonight was the OB which was pretty uneventful. They took my blood pressure, I had to pee-in-a-cup, they weighed me, talked to me for a few minutes and did a sono. Everything was fine and baby A was still not cooperating when they did the sono but they got the heartbeats and that is the main thing when I go there since the MFM does such extensive sonos. The doctor himself was not there so I saw the nurse practicioner, which was ok with me since I just went to the MFM last night. And she told me that the top of my uterus was very high compared to singleton pregnancies at 18w4d. She said I was more like a person who was 26 weeks pregnant. She didn't measure me (they don't do it there) but I guess she could just tell from experience. So that was kind of interesting to hear. I mean I knew that I was looking big for how far along since there are 2 babies I am but I was surprised to hear that big. I think it is kind of cool, I want people to know I am pregnant when they see me coming and not just think I am fat (which in certain clothes is how I think I look.) Hehe

That's about it for now. I will try to post sono pics soon if D is able to scan any and make them look decent.

Monday, August 14, 2006

lots of stuff

There is so much going on that I don't know where to begin.

We registered at Babies R Us last weekend. It was very exciting. It was a little overwhelming but we could not believe that we are registering for our babies!!! I have been asked to make my list for my shower and will be handing it in soon. I can't believe that all this stuff is finally happening to us. We are so lucky and so blessed. It is still so unreal to us. It is a miracle. Oh and I know I shouldn't be looking but I did and it looks like a few things were purchased of our registry. How exciting. Hehe

Also last weekend I started cleaning out my office/computer room (which was a complete mess) so that the cats could have their stuff moved out of the guest (now babies') room and moved in to there. And I cleaned up the bedroom and reorganized so if I for some reason get put on bedrest (and keep the room in order) down the road and people visit me in there, I would not be mortified. So other than a papers that need to be gone through, I am done with my heavy work for getting ready for the babies. Everything else will be on D and father-in-law. He cleaned most of the stuff out of the babies' room this weekend. He threw out the bed (it was old) and cleaned out the closet in there. There is just a few things that need to go in the basement (that is running out of space) from there. Oh and we have selected a paint color too. Originally we were going to go with a blue to go with the bedding. But then I was thinking about it after many people suggested, what if we have 2 girls? And then decided that I did not want blue. So we are going with a pale mint green color that we picked. It will be nice. Again, I cannot believe that we are cleaning out and decorating a room for our babies!!

Not sure if I ever mentioned on here but I got promoted back in May the same week that I got my bfp. Well they finally found someone to replace me. She started training today. So work is hectic, no downtime. At least not right now, I will have a shadow for the next 2 weeks while training her. It will be worth it but it is just hard, no time for personal stuff, like emails or chatting with friends in the office. Oh well. In two weeks when I can begin training for my new role, I will appreciate it. Things went well today, she is a very fast learner. She just talks alot, but hey at least she is friendly.

My mom is finally leaving this Friday to go to Florida. I know this sounds harsh but I can't wait. I am sure that when I see her again in October, I will be happy to see her. But for right now she is just very irritating to everyone, even D and nothing usually gets to him.

Let's see, what else....

We are going back to the MFM tomorrow. I can't wait to see the babies again, it has been too long!!! I am spoiled that I get to see them so often but I don't know how people get through pregnancy after infertility without that. I give them so much credit. Even though things have been fine for the last month, I still get so nervous that there could be some kind of problem and get very anxious to see them especially when we are coming up on the next appointment. I try not to think negative, but sometimes I just still can't believe that we are finally expecting. I still have not felt them yet. I know that means nothing but I am just getting extremely impatient. LOL As you may have guessed, patience is not a strong suit of mine. LOL We also have an OB appointment on Wednesday so we will get to see the little ones 2 days in a row!

I just also want to say that I have not forgotten about friends in blogland/FF and in real life that are still going through the worst hell I have ever known, infertility. I could not have gotten where I am today without your support and friendship. We pray for you all the time and hope that you will be successful very soon. You are all such wonderful people and deserve to have your dreams come true just as much or even more so than the next guy. Sending all of you big (((((hugs)))))

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

finally an update on stuff.....

Things are getting very exciting. More and more people are noticing, even the punk kid that waited on us in CompUSA. At work when people see me coming that don't even know me, they say "hi mommy." (Although I do get the occasionaly idiot who tells me that I don't look pregnant.) As I mentioned in my last pitiful post, we had a family wedding a few weekends ago. And we saw alot of people that we don't normally see. Everyone was so happy and excited for us. There was lots of belly touching going on then too, but I didn't mind. And we even got our first gift. My uncle gave us some money, he was in from Atlana for the wedding and wanted to do it in person. We were so touched. And we saw both sides of the family this past weekend and we both have cousins with small kids, so we got lots of offers for clothes and some other stuff we might need. This is all so wonderful. We have waited so long for this. I swear everytime one of these things happen I become a blubbering idiot and cry or get teary-eyed at the very least.

We went to the MFM last night and it was great! They have a new doctor training there. So in the sono we had the tech who was doing it, who is awesome, the doctor and the new doctor. Then the doctor left while the tech entered her info, and the new doctor came over and started doing his own sono to see what he wanted to see and then the doctor came in and saw what he wanted to see. So it was great, we got to see the babies for almost an hour. I can't get enough of them!! And we saw the spines, both are perfect!! It is just so amazing seeing everything they can see. We can't tell what a lot of stuff is but they were labeling things, so we could read it and then tell. They saw the brains, the heart chambers, the kidneys, etc. We are getting so spoiled, I hope that I can wait 2 weeks to go again. LOL They said that everything they could see looked good. The babies were doing well, no additional clots and the placenta looked good. It was really great to hear all of that. They both weigh 5oz. They were moving around a lot in there too. The only bad news, was our bloodwork that came back. They tested us for all different types of Thrombophilia (blood clotting disorders) that we have not been tested for in the past. I was tested for some at the RE but apparently there are many different types that some doctors are not even aware of or for whatever reason do not test for. So anyway, I came back positive for 6 types (MTHFR Gene Polymorphism, 4G/5G Gene Polymorphism, Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor type 1, Hyperfibrinogemia, Elevated Factor XII and Lupus Anticoagulant)and D has the first 3 of those too. We spoke with the doctor for a while about this. So that is the reason why I could not get pregnant, which is really annoying. We did not even ask about that, he offered that info on his own. But it is done now and if we ttc again, we will know for next time. And for now they feel the baby aspirin is sufficient enough to treat this since everything looks good with the placenta and the babies. If they feel that that changes they will put me on Heparin or Lovenox. Obviously he cannot guarantee but he feels that the babies do not have Thrombophilia. Since I am being treated and monitored, he feels everything will be ok, so we are not worried. The annoying thing about this too, is that it puts us at higher risk for heart disease. Oh well, at least we know now.

I am feeling almost too good. If I didn't have my belly, sometimes I would forget I was even pregnant. So I am trying to enjoy that while it lasts because I know it may not last long. The only thing that is getting to me right now is this heat. For those in the NE US, you know what I mean. I just can't wait to feel them moving around in there, then hopefully I won't have any doubt.

Ok, ok and what I know some people are waiting for, here are the sono pics and the new belly pic.

There are 2 pics of each baby, each one is a different angle.







Here is the last belly pic (12w3d) and then the new one (16w1d) so you can see there is not much of a difference at this point. At least I don't think so.