20 weeks - a little late

20 weeks... flat tummy is LOOONG gone...

So this blog is a little late as I will be 21 weeks tomorrow... better late than never I suppose!

I had another appointment/ultrasound with the MFM (high risk doctor) on Wednesday. The babies looked great. This time they were checking their amniotic fluid and their kidneys and bladder to make sure there is no twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) happening. Their heart rates were 134 and 145, which is normal. Both of their hearts looked good as well. That's still one of the coolest things to see... all 4 little chambers just pumping away like crazy. I'm feeling good. I do get some lower back discomfort, but other than that I feel great on most days. I've been feeling a lot more movement. I've even felt them on the outside twice now. Still no luck with Thayer being able to feel them. Hopefully that will happen soon. Yesterday he spent like 30 minutes just laying on the couch with me rubbing my belly.

I did some shopping for the nursery. I got $140 worth of stuff for $70 at Hobby Lobby. I found two perfect wall decals for their room, teal letters of R and O to go above their cribs with the other wall decor I plan on making (thank you Pinterest). I also found a twin picture frame so I bought one for myself and one for my mom. They say "Two peas in a pod" and are blue/cream striped with a little pea pod. So cute! It's so difficult to find things like that for twins! I also found two little woven baskets to help organize things on their changing table.

It's so nice to finally feel comfortable buying things for my boys. Most of my worries are gone. I have just a couple of more weeks until they reach viability outside of the womb. (24 weeks).

Now for pictures from my appointment! Little baby A was having an attitude again. He did not want his 3D picture taken and gave the tech a hard time. Both of them spent the whole appointment with their legs crossed. I guess they were being modest.

Baby A's profile... the blob to the left is Baby B (they were head to head this time).

Baby A's foot in 3D

Baby A in 3D

Baby B's profile

Baby B's face in 3D

Another shot of Baby B's face in 3D

Decisions!

I had another doctor appointment on Feb. 27th. It went great. We went in and my OB came in with a nurse practitioner. He told me since the babies are so close together he would rather look at them via the in-office sonogram instead of trying to find and hear them both on through the doppler. He also asked me if I would mine the NP practicing her sonogram skills on me. OF COURSE I WOULDN'T! lol I'll take any and all opportunities to see our babies as much as possible. We got to watch them for about 5 minutes. They checked their heartbeats, but didn't take a reading on them. I just can't help but smile ear to ear when I see them moving around in there and know that they're growing and healthy!

My OB also wanted me to have my first visit with the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor (aka, high risk) next week so I will see her on March 6th. This is simple a precaution because I'm having twins. There isn't anything wrong with me or the babies at this point. I do have a higher risk of pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, pre-term labor, etc. That is the reason why I have to see the MFM doctor. I do believe that I have started having some problems with my bloodsugar dropping low. This scares me some. I know the symptoms of low bloodsugar and that is definitely what I'm experiencing. I will definitely be talking to the doctor about this because I'm not supposed to have my glucose test until 26 weeks.

The most exciting thing about seeing the MFM is we also get to have our anatomy scan. This means we'll find out the sexes of the babies! We will find out on March 6th!! I'm so ready, and it's just in time for 2 consignment sales so maybe I can get some good bargains!!

My next appointment with my regular OB is March 29th. I'm not sure how often I will be seeing the MFM. I do know after 20ish weeks I will have an ultrasound every 3 weeks to check the growth of the babies.

We have officially decided on names for the babies. We have a set of names ready for each possible gender scenario (boy/girl, girl/girl, and boy/boy). I love them and so does Thayer.. and we don't really care what anyone else thinks. These are our babies and we'll name them what we want. All of the first names are pretty unique and the middle names are common. I think that makes for a nice combination.

We also have a date set for the baby shower. It will be on May 4th. It's pretty early, but that's good because I could be put on bedrest pretty early in my 3rd trimester. Also, it is out of state in Kansas and it's a long drive when you're super pregnant (4 1/2 hours). I'm really looking forward to it!

I have also found a photographer to do our maternity and newborn pictures. We've decided to have our maternity pictures taken at the park where we got married. I think that is a great idea and it is a beautiful park!

13 weeks -- Welcome to 2nd Trimester!!

Today is my birthday :) and today was the best, most amazing birthday I have ever had in my life. Today marked the beginning of my 2nd trimester with these little bugs! It's been such a long journey getting to this day and it couldn't have come on a better day! 3 1/2 years and one angel in heaven. Finally we will be able to hold two little miracles on Earth. (Here I go getting hormonal and tearing up as I'm typing this.) This morning before our ultrasound and prenatal appointment I was thinking about the road we've been on and now it's finally over. All the timed sex, temperature taking, waiting, hoping, peeing on things... it's over! Our miracles have made it to their 2nd trimester and are growing wonderfully! I feel so grateful, happy, and blessed.

We had our ultrasound this morning at 9am. It was nothing but great news. Both babies are measuring 13 weeks 1 day. They are measuring one day ahead of schedule. The MOST important new, however, was that they saw a membrane between the twins. This SIGNIFICANTLY reduces the risk with twins. If the membrane doesn't exist the chances of having a cord incident is very high. I'm so happy we were able to see that there is something separating them!! That was a huge relief to both of us. They were able to see both of the babies stomachs. This means they are both swallowing and that their digestive system is working. That was also a relief. They also were able to see their Nuchal Translucency scan (we chose not to do the blood work so they measured on the ultrasound) showed no build up of fluid which is a great thing. This means there is little risk of Downs Syndrome and other birth defects!

Baby A - This little bug had a heart rate of 153bpm. I have nicknamed this baby "The Attitude" because it kept wanting to cross its arms and heart its little heartbeat from the tech.

Baby B - This little one had a heart rate of 157bpm. This baby is nicknamed "Squirmy Wormy" because it was all over the place, kicking, waving, wiggling, having a party in my uterus.

Gender: We also have an "off the record" gender prediction. The ultrasound tech said if he had to lean one way or another he thinks they are both boys... Two boys.... what am I ever going to do!? lol We won't know for certain until we have our anatomy scan at about 20 weeks. This will be sometime in March (6ish weeks). I'm still crossing my fingers that there is a little girl in there!!

I've actually gained a few pounds. I'm still 3 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight, but I've gained 6.5lbs of the 10lbs I lost back. Nausea kind of comes and goes. I went a week and a half with no nausea, then bad nausea again for 4 days. Now it's pretty intermittent. Other than that, I'm still having "growing pains" and some lower back pain. My uterus is approximately the same size as 18 week singleton pregnancy.

I think I'm going to have to tell my new job very soon. I'm kind of scared. I don't want them to think I was hiding it from them, but I didn't feel it was theirs or anyone's business until I knew both of these babies were in the "safe zone." I just hope they don't let me go or find a reason to let me go because I know they can't fire me just because I'm pregnant.

Me at 13 weeks... sexy bump right?

2 heads are better than one!! :)

Baby A :)

Baby B :)

9 days!

So it is 9 days until my birthday. 9 days until I see my babies again. 9 days until I see their little heart beating. 9 days until I get to hold my husband's hand while we smile at their little wiggling bodies growing in my tummy. 9 days... :)

I can NOT wait for these 9 days to pass!

I hope that we are able to see the membrane between them. Because of the Clomid, there is little chance that they are identical. I'm excited to see them again. They'll look like little people now instead of little blobs. We'll be able to see their little arms and legs! I'm ready to know that they're both still in there growing and doing well. I'm ready for that reassurance. Then I know I'll just be counting down the days until our anatomy scan at 20ish weeks.

I can not honestly believe I am almost through my first trimester. I am almost 1/3 of the way done with being pregnant. It's so surreal after the journey we've had to get pregnant. I'm trying to love every minute of it and not take any of it for granted. I'm thankful for all the symptoms I've had... even all day sickness. I know the other side of the coin. I know what it's like to long to be a mother. This year I'll actually be able to celebrate Mother's Day instead of spending the day in sorrow. :)

Still 2 babies!

We had our second prenatal appointment today and our second ultrasound!

First they did all the basic tests: pap, chlamydia, gonorrhea. Then they filled me in out what to expect out of a twin pregnancy. They said it will probably be pretty difficult because I am so small in stature (aka... I'm nearly a midget.) They also said that reaching 38 weeks gestation is ideal and that's what we will really really try to shoot for. I run an increased risk of pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes with twins. I will begin seeing a high risk doctor at 20 weeks. I will go in every 3 weeks after that for growth scans to make sure that the babies are progressing and growing properly. If both babies are head down I will be able to deliver vaginally, but if one or both are breech I will have to have a C-section.

Then they tried to do a transvaginal ultrasound. They were not able to do the ultrasound in the office because I have a giant cyst from my left ovary blocking the view of my uterus thanks to PCOS. (It's like 8cm in diameter.) So they set us up with the state of the art ultrasound machines downstairs in the high risk doctor's office. They were able to get great pictures with the abdominal ultrasound because their machines are so good! One thing they were checking on in this ultrasound was to see if there was a membrane between the two babies. If there isn't, there are more risks of certain twin related complications such as one twin stealing the blood supply of the other twin. They were not able to detect a membrane today, but they said it may just be too early. The tech said it is easier to see as the babies get bigger. So, with that being said, I have another ultrasound appointment in 4 weeks, which is the same day as my next prenatal appointment. They are both on my birthday, January 29th and I will be at the beginning of my 2nd trimester. They are doing this ultrasound to 1. check on the membrane and 2. to check growth.

On a good note, I think I've finally stopped losing weight. During the pregnancy I'm supposed to try to put on about 30lbs. Not sure how that's going to work out with the gastric bypass, but my ob/gyn said the most important thing for me right now is getting enough calories. So if the only thing I can eat is ice cream, then so be it because my prenatal vitamins will help with the nutrients my food is lacking at least until the 2nd and 3rd trimesters.

Baby A - This baby is measuring 8w5d with a heart rate of 154bpm. It is already a little mover and shaker. It gave the ultrasound tech a hard time getting it's heart rate because every time he would get locked on and start scanning it the kiddo would wiggle. The baby's rump is on the left and head is on the right.

Baby B - This baby is measuring 8w6d with a heart tate of 173bpm. So far it seems to be the more mellow of the two. This baby's rump is on the left and head is on the right as well.

1+1=4?

So yesterday around 5pm I went to the restroom and found blood in my undies and when I wiped. This, of course, immediately freaked me out. I called my OB's on-call nurse who told me, based on the bleeding and the clots I passed in addition to the back pain I was having I should be seen within the next 4 hours. Thayer and I went straight to the ER in my hometown (we are out of state visiting family). The got me back in a room and did blood work and had me pee in a cup. Then we waited for an ultrasound tech to come in. They don't have one on staff 24/7 because it's such a small hospital so they had to call her in. At about 8pm we went back to have our ultrasound. Of course I was expecting the worst.

They started with a transabdominal US and took some pictures of my ovaries and uterus, but couldn't get a clear picture of what was going on in my uterus. She then switched to an transvaginal US. After lots of looking and measuring the ultrasound tech zooms in on my uterus and says, "Looks like we have two kiddos in there." She then proceeded to show us Baby B followed by Baby A. She took pictures and measurements of each and checked their heart rates. Baby A had a heart rate of 174 and Baby B had a heart rate of 177. There are 2 yolk sacs, and based on the fact that I ovulated out 2 eggs, our best guess at the moment is that they are fraternal twins.

Both babies are measuring 8w3d as of yesterday. It was pretty hard to get measurements on them because they were pretty wiggly and one wanted to hide some. Based on the day I ovulated instead of my last menstral periods I should be 8w4d as of yesterday (by LMP I would be 9w1d). The on-call OB I saw said things look good, and they couldn't pin point the cause of the bleeding. Since last night, the spotting has stopped. I'm on pelvic/bed rest until I see my regular OB on Wednesday.

Needless to say, we are a little bit shocked. We didn't really expect this at all. 3 1/2 years of trying for one little baby and not being able to manage it, all of a sudden we're having two. Guess I can look at is as I only have to go through morning sickness, pregnancy, labor/delivery, etc. once because we only plan to have 2 children.

We were too shocked, I think, to even ask for a print out of pictures of the little bugs. We should have those on Wednesday though because they were planning on doing and ultrasound that day anyways.

8w4d with TWINS!