Some More to Share

And all’s well!! Had an OB appointment this morning ( I get to go every three weeks rather then four because of our extra passenger) and D&G are looking great!! Yes,  Dolce & Gabbana are the official twin references we’re gonna use. Why? Because I said so. Plus I wanna own and wear a D&G t-shirt and this gives me a great excuse to do so! And if you’d ever met their father you’d totally understand. This is a man who I personally watched spend more then $200 on a pair of pants ( with HOLES in them!) just because they made his butt look fabulous. And they really did, but I digress….

Dolce ( baby on the right, A) is ever so slightly to the rear so we had a tough time nailing down a heartbeat. We could hear it, but it was pretty muffled by my own booming sound, so we just listened to it in the background, all happy and regular, before moving on to Gabbana ( baby on the left, B). We found him right away, a nice regular strong little pitter patter. My uterus is measuring nicely, if a tiny bit small although it’s really early to be making that kind of statement, I think. I’ve put on a total of 4 pounds so far which is right along where I should be, although I’m just carrying a four pound food baby right now.

The BUN scan has been rescheduled for July 7th. I was going to go in today, but with the babies measuring ever so slightly tiny at the last ultrasound I felt it best to re-schedule to a time frame when their little bodies would be well within the size/age requirement, rather then on the fringes, so that we could get a more accurate result. Actually that is kind of a joke. This scan, while neat, has a high false “positive” rate, and that is with singletons! The percentage gets even higher with multiples. But we WILL be able to see all of the bits and pieces, make sure in detail that all things are present ( and I do mean ALL things. Although I am forbidden to look below the belt as that surprise is saved for the 20 week scan with Daddy, party pooper), and get a ballpark idea of our risks for certain issues, which is good.

So that’s the body update! More to share, but I need to gather my thoughts. One issue? Insurance and how those con-men were brilliant to have come up with that load-of-pucky idea to force piles of money out of unsuspecting people. Not ~quite~ fraud, but damn close!

And Again with the Pictures!

Today was the dreaded 10 week ultrasound. I planned the appointment early ( 7am) to make sure that if I DID need a husband at home the rest of the day, he had time to arrange that.  Early so that if P-Daddy did need to call in some support, it wasn’t in the middle of the night.

Thank god neither of us needed it.

The babies are looking absolutely beautiful! Baby A ( right) had a 142 heartrate, while B was the fast one this time at 181. A likes to wiggle her legs and feet, while B likes to sit frog-legged and mess with his face. So awesome to see these little ones; alive, healthy, and wiggling around like mad. It was good to see. Reassuring. Both are measuring smallish at 9 weeks 2 days, but that’s fine and within a normal range so no worries there.

I definitely am pregnant. My uterus is having to grow faster then it was designed to because of the two-vs-one stuff, so while I’m not “showing” this early in the game ( of course) I’m definitely very achy and heavy feeling. Having a full bladder actually hurts. Don’t get me wrong, I already have some pants I need to rubberband, but it’s more because I’ve not been allowed to go to the gym and my innards are squashed up by the ol’ ute. Not so much a baby bump. Nausea; getting better. I’m at this horrible place where I am SUPER nauseous if I have a full tummy.. and SUPER nauseous if I have an empty one. So I find myself eating ALL DAY to keep the nausea at bay; a bite here and a bite there. While that’s good in some areas ( I’m supposed to eat close to 160 grams of protein a day!) it’s not so good in others. Namely the fluffy pants area. And flabby arms, and double chin….

Today I was released from my RE and given into the care of my OB, officially. Thank GAWD. My OB has given me thumbs up to continue a modified workout program. How ironic; as soon as I get into a good routine and actually start to enjoy working out, I’m forbidden to do so. It’s been a long 10 weeks. I’m hoping to quickly get back into the swing of things and keep my body healthy and strong for this pregnancy. I need to eat a lot to grow these healthy babies, but I want to keep my body healthy as well and not gain a ton of unnecessary weight. It’s hard to do because I’m tired pretty much all the time. Workout time was when husband came home from work at 11pm. I’d toodle off to the gym and get a good hour at least in 3 to 4 times a week. Now by 9pm I’m half passed out in bed with a book or movie ( but not a good movie; a comfortable and well worn movie I can fall asleep watching) and by 11 I’m usually somewhat comatose. I’m going to have to figure something out, as 11pm is still the best time for me to get to the gym.. so how to be awake then is what I’m going to have to figure out.

I’ve decided the doom-and-gloom phase of this pregnancy just has to be over. It’s too depressing, so these babies are here to stay. No negative “what if” thoughts.  No worrisome evenings. Because of that, I can’t just referr to them as “a” and “b”. It’s too.. impersonal. I need some fun nick-names. Ideas? Shoot them over! Here are a few I’ve come up with:

Abercrombie & Fitch
Hollywood & Vine
Kit & Kaboodle
Mai & Tai
Peanut & Jelly
Sleepy & Bashful

The hard part is they both need to be gender neutral. We won’t know who we’ve got here for another several weeks and I’d hate to be calling a little boy “buttercup” that whole time. So any ideas? Share!!

Next week we have another OB appointment and the BUN test.. Whooo doggy!

 

Oh, Yah, Right….

Well my 8 week appointments have come and gone, and we are now on the cusp of week number 9. Our ultrasound on Wednesday showed two healthy little babies wiggling around with happy little heart rates of 171 ( on the left, I’m guessing girl) and 154 ( on the right, I’m guessing boy).

It was definitely reassuring to see them still going strong in there, despite the daily reassurance of nausea I’m currently living with. Oh the nausea. No actual throwing up, thank gawd, but some definite urges to barf pretty much from sunup to sundown. I have been gobbling up my Preggy Pops like no ones business. I’m NOT complaining. But dang, y’all! And the TIRED. I could just sleep all day. I have never been tired like this, and it’s actually had the biggest effect overall. Lucky for me, my darling husband lets me sleep in most morning and he gets up with the kids. Big smooch to the husband!

On Thursday I had my first appointment with my regular OB. I was ever so slightly hesitant to use him when I first became pregnant last time, but his behavior when we lost that baby and his subsequent behavior has completely blind-sided me with it’s awesomness, so I am really pulling for him this time around. He was great on Thursday, giving me yet another ultrasound even though it was unnecessary just so that he could thoroughly explain to me all that he was seeing, something my RE’s office doesn’t to. From them all I get is “the babies aren’t dead, keep taking your meds as scheduled” and that’s it. While I understand that that message conveys the most important piece of information, it would be nice if they’d treat me a little more like the woman hosting and caring for these babies for the next 30 weeks and less like the womb they are working with, here only for the paycheck. My OB, on the other hand, is awesome. I had a great and relaxing and looooong visit with him and we discussed everything, from pregnancy woes to future hopes to delivery options and breastfeeding. My town is tiny, and I will only be able to deliver here, at my preferred hospital, if I make it past the 36 week mark as they are not equipped with a NICU. If I have to deliver before 36 weeks, I’ll go to a neighboring city. I do NOT want to do that, for several reasons. One, I’ll more then likely be discharged way before the babies will. That means visiting them will be more difficult as it will be a trip to the big town ( read: time consuming and money consuming not to mention more difficult to arrange childcare for my two for the visits), which means breastfeeding or pumping for them those first few important days will be more difficult. That hospital also has the normal “big hospital” practice of laboring in one room, and recovering in another. In their case, 2 floors up. Because there is a room change, there is the possibility that the babies, if not needed in the NICU, would be in a room separate from me with their daddy. That thought scares the crap out of me. I’m counting on those few days to say my final goodbye’s. To nurse and give that final gift, to very thoroughly close the door to my part of their lives so that I feel like it was a complete journey. I just really want that. If we are moved I might not get it as legally I have no tie to these babies. I know P-Daddy is incredibly empathetic to the closure needed by a surrogate during that time, and I know he’ll do whatever necessary to facilitate that, but I’m scared that in the “heat of the moment”…… well he’ll be a new daddy! And he’ll have his support system there! I can totally see how it would be easy to be overlooked at that moment… Anyway, crossing my legs till at least 36 weeks, because these babies need to be born here!

Speaking of being born; I will be doing everything, and I mean everything, to have a vaginal delivery. My OB is on board with this. That is just awesome. I know of several OB offices that deliver twins via Cesarean as a standard practice, not really giving a vaginal delivery an option. I also know of several OB’s that won’t deliver a breech baby vaginally, will force a c-section. Not my OB! I am so thankful to have him so thoroughly on my side.

Anyway, that’s the update! Up one pound, still totally queezy, still completely pregnant! I have another ultrasound at 10 weeks, an OB appointment at 11 weeks, and a BUN test ( Biochemistry, Ultrasound, Nuchal translucency) shortly after. Woo hoo to the THREE hour estimated vaginal ultrasound!!.

 

Nausea = Justified

It was with more then a little nervous assertion that I walked into the ultrasound clinic this morning. A week full of Google searches had kind of convinced me that I was carrying a twin Molar pregnancy. Last week? Two smallish and empty sacs. A molar pregnancy would explain the empty as well as the nausea.

So imagine my surprise when the ultrasound tech almost instantly located the following:

That would be two babies. Two babies, with beautifully beating hearts. As in, alive. Present and accounted for. Measuring right where they should at 6 weeks 5 days, with lovely little heartbeats at 114 and 123 beats per minute, well over the desired 100+ beats.

As of today, I’m pregnant. Pregnant with two little Norwegian/Latino babies who are destined to break hearts the world over with their incredible beauty and wit.

I have yet another scan NEXT week, and one again 2 weeks after that at 10 weeks pregnant. Heartbeats each time, okay? That would be just super!

Coming up; nausea, and how cat farts don’t help one little bit.

Ha ha!..ha..ha..uh…

So. Had my quantitative HCG blood work done this morning. An easy fast poke in the elbow-pit. We got the results back pretty quickly considering how slooooooow this lab has been for me in the past. P-Daddy was pretty anxious about the number being, you know, present, so I was pretty anxious to have a number to pass on to him!

Today is 10dp5dt. That is the standard time frame my RE likes to use for a first HCG. They like the number to be over 100. If the number is over 100 at this point they consider it a healthy pregnancy and there is no need to re-test in 48 hours to make sure that number is doubling. Last time, we were at 239. That was a great number on a perfectly normal and healthy pregnancy ( as far as we could see, anyway).

Today’s number?

580. Yes, five hundred and eighty. That would be almost exactly DOUBLE what our singleton pregnancy with these same genetics produced. Double. More then one. Like, two.

Ha Ha…………………….. huh.

OK! Well, we have a 6 week ultrasound scheduled for May 21st and we’ll know for sure then. We could just have a high HCG producing baby here! Or, twins naturally reduce to a singleton all the time early on in the game, which we definitely are. Or I have two wonderful and healthy little ones snuggled in safe and sound, and I get to nurture and care for them for the next 36 or so weeks before they go home with their ecstatic Daddy.

Really, all of those options are wonderful and all in all, I’m thrilled with today’s number.

Folks, I’m pregnant. And I am determined to remain so for at LEAST the next 30 weeks.

I’ll worry about carrying two and delivering two when that becomes an issue. Right now, I’ve got to go get a snack.

I am growing a family, after all.

Where I Throw Up A Little Bit In My Mouth, Then Swallow It and Grin.

Ahem…

code: 4dp5dt

Translated? Four days past the transfer of a 5 day embryo ( blast). ( in our case…. two…)

9am:

 ( insert nervous laugh here)

Wow, that’s a pretty early positive! Ha ha…………. 

8am this morning, 5dp5dt….

 Huh……… one of the least sensitive tests…. positive…. way early……………

:ahem: So, um, Beta is on the 8th.

I’m thinking…. we’re pregnant!