5 months of survival and now 5 weeks to go!

My neglect of this blog the last five months is definitely a reflection of how sick I have been during this pregnancy!  I've tried not to complain too much because being miserably pregnant was our goal.;)  The first trimester was rough as I was still having daily Lovenox injections, steroids, hormones, baby aspirin, folgard, and prescription multivitamins.  The extra chemicals in my body added to my sickness, but also helped us maintain the pregnancy.  Not a day went by that I didn't remind myself of that.  The second trimester was the worst for nausea and vomiting, but getting off the blood thinners, steroids, and extra hormones certainly was nice.  Now at almost 32 weeks and into my last trimester, I'm so excited there is light at the end of the tunnel.  While I'm feeling better in some ways (no more vomiting), other discomforts have begun (aches, pains, heartburn, etc.).  I have already put on 50 pounds!  My nausea is the kind that needs to be fed.;)  The babies, which are BOYS, have been developmentally perfect so far.  At this point I have very frequent doctor visits (ultrasounds, stress tests, etc.) and the goal is to let them cook as long as they can.  

I'm kicking myself for not posting the day we found out their genders.  I found out at 14 weeks back on August 16th.  I didn't think they'd be able to tell and had brought my son and daughter with me thinking it would be a quick, uneventful appointment.  My mister was at work!  When the u/s tech asked if I wanted to know genders, I said "of course!"  She told us Baby B first . . . a boy!  My big kids were thrilled!  Then, she took a little longer determining Baby A, but announced he was also a boy!  I was shocked, but my eyes went straight to my 5 year old daughter . . . she was beaming!  Phew!  My son was of course thrilled and we immediately called my husband who was also thrilled.  For some reason, a boy/boy combo hadn't crossed my mind!  I figured they'd probably be boy/girl or girl/girl.  Once I absorbed this combo, I was also very excited!  I don't do well with girl drama and how seriously cute are two boys going through life together!;)

Anyways, I hate that I haven't been better at documenting this miracle pregnancy for our family!  On the flip side, I'm so grateful that we have survived this pregnancy and will finally be welcoming home our little fellas next month.  My big kids have been troopers and learned to be a little more independent when I couldn't get out of bed or off the couch.  My husband has also been very patient with me and had to pick up a lot of the workload at home while continuing to run his business.  After all that we have been through the last several years, I feel like bringing these babies home will be like making it to the top of a very tall mountain!;)  I cannot wait to nurse babies all day and night and maybe get a shower in the late afternoons.  I cannot wait to feel their two little heads in my neck and to see if they look alike.  I cannot wait to see my big kids attend to their every sound and movement.  My son already grabs my belly and says, "don't worry, we're going to get you out of there!"  I know they'll be good helpers.  I cannot wait to be recovered from my c-section of my two little breechlings.;)  For now, I still feel like a lot needs to happen in the coming weeks to get ready.  While the road to the point has been long, the end of this pregnancy has come quickly!  I do not want these boys spending one second in the NICU.  So grow babies, grow!

They've certainly come a long way from being our only two little embryos in a petri dish in a lab!!!  Here are some of their latest photos in 3D back at week 28:

Baby A

Baby B

We're seeing double . . .

Meet Baby A and Baby B, it's twins!!!

While the shock is still settling in, we are so thrilled that both embryos implanted and are doing great!  Our first ultrasound this morning had us all on pins and needles.  My mister said he could see my heart pounding though my shirt as we waited for my doctor to come in.  We were so nervous that something was going to be wrong.  The babies actually look perfect and were well synchronized with their heart rates and size.  Synchronization is a very good thing for twins especially this early on.  I'm about 6 1/2 weeks along, so we actually are only telling family and my select blog readers for now.;)  We have another ultrasound in 3 weeks and at that point I plan to shout it from the rooftops!  This explains why I'm so sick and starving . . . I'm eating for three!;)  While the due date is now around Valentine's Day, it sounds like these two will likely make their debut in January 2013.  That actually feels really close, and I feel like I have a lot to do between now and then!  For now though, I'm just going to get another snack and have a nap.;)

Update

My medications remain unchanged and I'm doing acupuncture once a week for pregnancy support now.  We are anxiously anticipating our first ultrasound on Monday!  This has been the longest week ever!;)  In a few weeks I will begin to wean off my steroids and hormones, which will be so nice!  My days still have to be planned around my medications being administered on time.  Pregnancy after IVF is definitely nothing like a natural pregnancy.  As my doctor said, they don't want to "rock the boat" once we get to this point so the first trimester includes a continuation of several of the IVF medications.  My morning blood thinner injection is making me so tired!  My mister does it before he leaves for work, and I'm usually dead to the world when he leaves.  I'm also feeling yucky in the mornings, so most mornings I try to go back to bed.  It looks like I will not get to wean off the blood thinner any time soon, but I'm hoping I can start giving it to myself and gradually make the time later.  Sleeping in will help a lot too as my morning sickness gets worse.  I still can't believe I'm pregnant and even took another pregnancy test on Monday just for reassurance.  Still positive!;)  Hopefully, Monday will come quickly and we can finally officially celebrate and start to relax.  

It's official . . . we're pregnant!

So today I went in to have my second beta hcg drawn.  It's a big deal, because increasing hcg indicates a healthy pregnancy.  While we were excited to have a positive test three days ago, we really needed to see an increase today.  Our last IVF cycle this is when my hcg dropped and things got ugly.  Today's results were 810, which is triple from our first test!  I spoke briefly with the embryologist while I was there and he said that 9 out 10 patients with my hcg levels this early on are carrying twins.  That would mean that both of our embryos implanted!  I got a little lightheaded when he said that, because I know that twins are high risk pregnancies and that our our lives would be drastically changed.  For now, our focus is getting to the ultrasound in two and a half weeks, which is the only way to determine how many embryos there are.  We would be thrilled with one and even more excited for two!  After so many years, it's still pretty surreal to actually be pregnant.  Neither my mister or myself have quite wrapped our minds around it yet, so hopefully the ultrasound will also help things sink in a little.  I'm between 4 and 5 weeks and the baby would be due the beginning of February or babies around the end of January.  Here's hoping the next few weeks and months go by quickly!  

First Beta HCG Results

Today was a big day!  We received my first beta hcg results.  I was up bright and early, and I'm pretty sure I was the first one at the lab.  Less than three hours later, my doctor called me herself to tell me that my beta was 269 . . . positive!  This is a little high for this early on, but there is no way to know if it is twins until my ultrasound in 2 1/2 weeks.  This is a huge milestone for us, but with our track record we are still not fully celebrating yet.  We will recheck my beta on Saturday to make sure that it is rapidly increasing, indicating a strong pregnancy.  Then, we need to make it to our first ultrasound to make sure our little embryo(s) are doing okay.  We choose not to do any genetic screening of the embryos this time, but are feeling good since they looked so great on day 5 (the blastocyst stage).  We are trying not to dwell on the past, but after three losses it's hard not to worry.  For now, we are thrilled beyond belief.  I keep thinking how glad I'm that we never gave up during this roller coaster process that has been going on for years!  I think after so many years of disappointment, we can't even wrap our minds around being pregnant!  There will be a 6 year gap between my daughter and this baby, so we are more than ready to enter the baby world again!

Another Day Out

I had an acupuncture appointment today and was told that I was doing "too much" and had to have an extended treatment. Then, I was sent back home to bed. I still haven't even left my house other than for lab work but apparently I shouldn't be going up and down my stairs so much. After being down for 5 days I need to take 5 days to more gradually get back to normal. Hopefully, my new normal will include morning sickness and I'm certain I'll run to the toilet with a smile on my face after all of this to get to that point!

First Day Out

Today was the first day I left my nest since the embryos were transferred. While I would have rather gone to church, I had an appointment at the IVF clinic for blood work. It was just to make sure all of my pregnancy support hormones were at appropriate levels and they were. The clinic reminds me a little of Walmart because they are always open! It was weird to pull up early on a Sunday and their parking lot was full. No long lines though, they have that part figured out. When it comes to IVF there are no "business hours."