9 weeks

Twin A hanging out on her side

Twin B looking at Mom & Dad straight-on with his hands by his face

Today is a major milestone for us. We are 9 weeks pregnant & have 2 thriving babies safe in my uterus!! This is the "most pregnant" we've ever been. We had another ultrasound today. The babies are now about the size of a grape! Twin A is measuring 8w6d with a heartrate of 186 & Twin B is also measuring 8w6d with a heartrate of 171 :) Those heartrates are just incredible to me. Music to our ears!! It's such a relief to hear the woosh woosh woosh. The subchorionic hematoma is about the same size, maybe a little smaller, it seems to be thinning out. It looks less scary now because compared to the babies, who have grown considerably, the bleed appears much smaller than it did last week. As long as it stays the same size & the babies keep getting bigger, all is well. We have officially "graduated" from the RE & have our first appointment with my OB on Friday. She will do another ultrasound, so we'll be seeing our babies again in 2 days!!! Always love to see our babies :)

We've had such a crazy week. Knowing that there is a bleed in my uterus & knowing that I'm taking Lovenox, an anticoagulant, is a very scary thought. There is the risk of bleeding more if I continue the Lovenox, making the hematoma larger & possibly pushing out one or both babies. But, there is the risk of clotting if I stop the Lovenox. I'm taking the Lovenox because I have been diagnosed with 2 clotting disorders, Protein C Deficiency & MTHFR mutation. If a clot forms in the placenta, blood flow & oxygen will be cut off from me to the babies, & we would lose them. As two of my "professional" doctors put it, "Damned if you do, damned if you don't." Not quite the advice we were hoping for!! So, I spent many hours on the phone with my RE, my OB & my hematologist trying to get them to agree on a treatment plan. They all agreed on bedrest, but my RE & hematologist wanted to stop the Lovenox & my OB wanted to continue it. After much discussion & collaboration, we decided to hold the Lovenox Monday & Tuesday and wait for the ultrasound today. Since things are stable, we are restarting the Lovenox today. As my OB said, it won't matter that there is a bleed if you lose the pregnancy because of a clot. Who knows, I'm so confused! And now I'm sure you are too :)

So, to recap...babies are great, bleed is unchanged, appt Friday with OB for first visit & ultrasound. Oh, we'll also be followed by a Perinatologist (high risk OB). Our first appt with her is on April 6th. She will also be doing an ultrasound! We'll have SO many pictures of these Twinkies by the time they arrive :) Great for the scrapbook, right!

Why Can't I Just Have a Normal Pregnacy???

We had our 2nd ultrasound today and got some good news & some bad news. First, the good news...both babies look perfect, growing nicely with great heart rates. Twin A is measuring 8w0d with a heartrate of 158 & Twin B is measuring 7w6d with a heart rate of 166. They are so cute :) Our little gummy bears!! And for the bad news...we saw a bleed next to the babies. Our RE is calling it a subchorionic hematoma which is basically a pooling of blood & clots in the uterus. The cause is unknown & there isn't really a treatment. I'm on bedrest for at least one week, but I can go to work. Now, I don't really understand this, but I guess because I only work 2 nights a week she thinks I'll be okay. It makes me a little nervous, but I'll try to be on my feet as little as possible. We want the blood to either reabsorb on its own or come out slowly through my cervix. Your uterus sees blood as an irritant & can start contracting to expel it. If this happens & my cervix opens, then we might lose one or both babies. We can't even think about this right now. It's kind of a "wait and see" game at this point. I will have another ultrasound next week with my RE & then I will have my first appt with my new OB on April 1st. Please keep us in your thoughts & prayers. Keep your fingers crossed that next week's ultrasound will show that the bleed has gotten smaller, or at least not bigger!!

I really want to post the ultrasound pics from today. Our scanner is still broken, but I'll see what I can do.

We're Having...TWINS!

The last 24 hrs have been a major roller coaster ride. Early this morning, while I was at work, I started spotting. I lost it. I called Kyle at home to let him know I was on my way & that we would be going to the doctor's office early. He called his work to let them know he'd be late. Then we waited. We were so scared. With each miscarriage I had the same brown spotting. Spotting for me is usually not a good thing. I know a lot of women experience some bleeding in pregnancy & go on to have healthy babies, but this has never been the case with me.

So, we arrived right at 7:30 am when the office opened. We didn't have an appointment so we had to wait until 8:00 am for the ultrasound. I was shaking, but trying desperately to stay positive. Dr. Brabec entered the room & went right to work. When she found my uterus, she immediately said, "Okay, I see two sacks, two babies & two heartbeats, now take a deep breath & I'll look at everything a little closer." WHAT!!?? Are you serious? She was serious. There they were, our two beautiful little beans with their flickering heartbeats :) Twin A measured 6w6d (6 weeks 6 days old) & had a heart rate of 113. Twin B measured 6w4d & had a heart rate of 116. I am 6 weeks 5 days pregnant today, so the measurements are right on. I can't even believe this as I am typing it!! Basically everything looked perfect with no evidence of bleeding. We don't know what is causing the spotting, but Dr. Brabec said there wasn't anything to worry about because the babies look great! I guess 50% of IVF patients have some spotting during pregnancy. I have another ultrasound scheduled for next Thursday for more peace of mind. And...there is a small possibility there is a third baby! Dr. Brabec wanted to look again in 10 days. She saw something that looked like another baby, but it was hard to see. She couldn't find a heartbeat, so she isn't sure. My ovaries are still huge & with our two babies in there too, it's kind of crowded. We were told that we probably just have the twins, but it may be a good idea to prepare for triplets! We will take whatever :) We are walking on air!!

We got pictures of Twin A & Twin B, but right now they don't look like much...although we think they're beautiful. I may try to scan in the pictures later.

Uugghh...

The last few days I've been feeling so "pregnant"...overwhelming nausea most of the day & always extremely tired. I worked Friday night & seriously thought I wasn't going to make it the whole 12 hrs. I did survive, but was quite miserable. I keep telling myself we paid good money for me to feel this way. Also, I know it's a good sign...I would be worried if I felt normal. The baby/babies must be strong & healthy. They better be!! We are really getting anxious about our ultrasound. Only 2 1/2 days left (not that we're counting). I just want to see that everything is okay. You know what I really wish? I wish that my belly was clear, like a window, so I could check on the baby/babies all day every day whenever I wanted. That seems reasonable, right?

Please Vote

I added a poll on the right-hand side of our blog. We want all our friends & family to give their opinion of how many babies I have in my belly :) Remember, we put 2 embryos in, and there is a small chance that one or both of them have split. So, theoretically if both split, we would be pregnant with 4. Yikes! That is VERY VERY unlikely. I've read that there is a 1 in 50 chance that an embryo will split. So, I guess there is a small chance we will have triplets. Yikes again! Also, remember it's possible that only 1 of the embryos "stuck" and we very well may be pregnant with a singleton. We will know in one week. So...happy voting :)

Today I woke up a new woman (well other than the morning sickness)! No more cold symptoms! Yeah :) I even got out and went shopping. Shopping always helps :) Actually I didn't even buy anything, but window shopping is sometimes just as fun.

Should've Knocked on Wood

Kyle & I were just discussing the other day how nice it's been this winter because neither of us have been sick. Well, we should have knocked on wood! Last Wednesday & Thursday I thought I had a serious flare of my allergies, sneezing non-stop & never too far from the kleenex box. But by Thursday night, it was sinking in...I was sick :( Being pregnant & having a cold is a horrible combination, let me tell you. I can't take any cold medicine & I am already dizzy & nauseated. Adding sinus & nasal congestion just makes it that much worse. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go to work last weekend. Yikes! It seems like I'm always having to take off. Hopefully from here on out it'll be smooth sailing, except for the nausea that seems to be setting in. I'm not complaining though, I'm happy to be having pregnancy symptoms. I'm just tired of the cold symptoms!! I'm feeling a little better today other than the migraine I had this morning. I haven't had a migraine in a long time. Hopefully they are not returning.

9 LONG days until the ultrasound! Time seems to be crawling...it's agonizing :)