Graduation Day🥰

So today marks 9 weeks 5 days and is officially the last ultrasound or appointment I will have at the fertility clinic!  So bittersweet 🥲!  

Other than the typical morning and afternoon morning sickness...I'm feeling pretty good!  My sister in law sent me the sweetest package to help with it too!  She sent me "Preggie Pops", peppermint life savers, and vitamin B6 all things that helped her survive pregnancy while working🥰. I haven't opened them yet, but I'm so excited to try them...anything to help would be amazing 🤩!

Okay so these babies threw me for a loop...again!  The nurse practitioner takes a look at "Baby A" and the heart rate is cruising at 182 beats per minute!  He/she is moving their little limbs, clearly very active!  I'm also excited at this point because "Baby A" must be the same as last week..finally I can tell them apart 🤞🏼😊!

On to "Baby B", who is also moving and wiggling all around!  (So cute to watch!) As she hovers over to record their heart rate, I'm shocked to hear that it's 172 beats per minute?!  So wait...is this Baby A from two weeks ago?  Or did Baby B kick it up a few notches?? I'm at a loss?! 😜

Overall results both babies are the same size now (Baby B was measuring right on time and Baby A was measuring a little ahead two weeks ago) and have heartbeats within 10 beats of eachother 🤷🏼‍♀️😀.

So it throws my theory of being able to tell them apart at this stage... completely out the window 🤣😜 but the important part is the nurse practitioner said she reviews thousands and thousands of ultrasounds and early IVF pregnancies and these are among the strongest and healthiest fetuses she's seen! ❤️. Picture perfect in there ❤️❤️

Such a relief to hear, I know we still have a long way to go...but I'm excited that everything is cruising along just as it should be for now!🥰

Ultrasound Pics and comparisons:

9 weeks 5 days

Cute little wave from one of the babies!👋🏼

This week compared with 2 weeks ago!

Baby heartbeats💓💓💓

First OB Appointment, 2 Ultrasounds

 Today was an extremely long, but exciting day!  It's been a few weeks since my last ultrasound so let me fill you in on how things have been progressing!

I'm currently 7 weeks 5 days pregnant with twins today. A boy and a girl (we just don't know which is which). The last ultrasound (shown again below) showed us two beating hearts within two little seed sized embryos!  They were separated quite a bit in my uterus, so I'm excited today to how much they've grown and hopefully see two strong heartbeats 🤞🏼🥰.

(Previous Ultrasound Twins at 5 weeks 5 days)

Today I have not one, but two appointments.  I have my last appointment with the fertility clinic and then my first appointment with my OB!  After doing research and polling friends and reading reviews...I ultimately decided to go back to the same OB that delivered my last three children.  The visits are about 40 miles and two hours apart, so let's hope things run smoothly!

First appointment and ultrasound picture:

Twins at 7 weeks 5 days

The first thing I noticed was how much they've grown in the short two weeks since we've peeked at them last and how much closer together they are now!  The nurse practitioner at the fertility clinic is so thorough and was able to explain everything she was looking at and had all good news to share! She said as they grow gravity will pull them closer together.  

"Baby A" (not sure if this is the same Baby A as last week) was measuring a little bigger than Baby B.  Baby A's heartbeat was recorded at 172 beats per minute and everything looked amazing she said.  Baby B's heartbeat was recorded at 152 beats per minute and was looking absolutely wonderful ❤️!  

She got several pictures of their little umbilical chords and their little yolk sacs, which she said is rare to see so well🤷🏼‍♀️😃?!  She was thrilled at how well they are progressing and asked if we would be willing to come back for one more ultrasound before graduating to an OB in two weeks? Of course I wasn't going to turn down another opportunity to see their growth and progress, so we have another ultrasound planned in two weeks🤞🏼🥰!

Next was my OB appointment...which was actually kinda funny at first.  I guess it's not everyday you have a patient come in at 7 weeks 5 days and know that they are not only pregnant, but pregnant with fraternal twins.  The staff had to ask me, how I was so sure😂...I should have come up with some witty comment.  If I channeled my husband, I would have.  Instead I re-explained that I was a gestational carrier and had gotten pregnant, via IVF and have been being monitored by the fertility clinic.

Still skeptical they called me back to do an ultrasound to confirm.  I was relieved to find that they were going to do an on the tummy ultrasound! (Whew!) My vag was not looking forward to another wand today 🤣!

Two hours and some change apart and this ultrasound confirmed exactly what the first one did.  One twin had a heart rate of 172 bpm and the other had a 152 bpm heart rate!  The measurements were the same, showing one twin slightly bigger also!  They were also able to let us hear both heartbeats...which was pretty amazing!

So the annoying thing is I'm learning that "Baby A" is whoever the ultrasound tech sees first!  (Both places) So I was excited to finally be able to start telling them apart myself!  Baby A from now on will be the bigger one with the faster heart rate (I'm thinking the girl 😜) and Baby B will be the smaller one, with the chill heartbeat...I'm thinking the boy🤭)

After the ultrasound tech confirmed it was a twin pregnancy we met with my OB.  Who was actually way cooler and more "chatty" than I ever remember him being when I was here 14 years ago!

He put my mind at ease with his ability to deliver twins but also handle my high risk pregnancy.  He let me know the main difference between this pregnancy and my prior pregnancies would be the level of ultrasounds and monitoring, especially towards the 28th week.  He said the largest concern is making sure that both babies are growing and thriving.  Competition for those resources is steep towards the end and one twin can end up taking more than the other.  Made sense and it was good to know that they will be watching them (ultrasounds two times a week) towards the end! 😲

He shared that the twins look very healthy and based on we what he saw and the fact that both embryos were tested for genetic abnormalities prior to being implanted, that my chances of having a miscarriage was very minimal and to start planning for a healthy pregnancy!🥰

He will see me in 4 weeks😀

Snacks, Nausea, and Headaches...Oh My!

My days continue to be filled with bouts of nausea and then mini cravings.  I say mini, because other than Grimaldi's pizza, once I start eating what I thought I wanted, it's no longer really what I wanted 😜 🤷🏼‍♀️.  I've also started getting really really tired...like want to take a nap at work, tired! 💤

So I try to drink and sip my freezing cold water when the eyelids become heavy...it helps a little or pull an item out of my "snackpack"... typically a rice krispie treat🤭.

The official "snackpack"

So far I've gotten three headaches and both have been on the weekend or on a day I worked from home, which I've put together, might be related to my morning routine being changed!

Typically, I wake around 4AM (naturally without an alarm) and begin my routine of taking my morning estrogen and thyroid pills, showering, etc and I am usually out the door by 6:45.  At that time I usually have some type of snack on the way into work, cereal, bagel, or an egg sandwich... depending on my mood.  On the weekends however, even though I still wake up early...I try to lay in bed longer...don't get up, and definitely am not eating a snack by 7am.  So it wasn't hard to put together, after two weekends in a row with a Saturday headache and being extra nauseous, that it's probably related to my morning routine!  Aren't I quick one?! Ha.  (So that will change this weekend!)

So when I say I had three headaches...I really had one that lasted two days and almost had me rushing to the ER.  Yes, I was in so much pain, I was actually willing to be taken to the emergency room for some relief!  I'm no stranger to headaches and migraines.  I've had them all my life and after my car accident in 2014 they were pretty severe for about 18 months.  

The biggest issue is while being pregnant I can only take Tylenol.  Tylenol doesn't do much for me and if the headache sets in too long, there's literally nothing I can do but ice my neck and head and pray I fall asleep to alleviate some of the pain. In this particular case (two weekends ago) the headache began on a Friday, late morning.  I was working from home so my routine was changed.  The work was the same, looking and reviewing spreadsheets and volumes of material on Excel (which would give most people a headache anyway😜).  By early afternoon it was pretty bad, I was super nauseous and didn't eat anything.  I kept drinking water and throwing up.  After a short nap, my headache pain dropped a bit and all I felt like was some type of bread and maybe butter.  So random!  (Date night idea, that I was taking a mental note to share with Phil 🤣.)

As luck would have it, Phil texts me a few minutes later and says we were invited by some friends to try a new restaurant in Surprise...which get this.... serves bread and different appetizers and dip!  It was so up my alley, no question we were going!  Btw the restaurant was great and so was the company, but headache was still there when we were done...womp womp.

Fast forward to Saturday morning... headache has not gone away.  I tossed and turned all night and everytime I got up to use the restroom, my headache was very proud to let me know it was still around.  To make a longer story shorter, the pain became so bad that I couldn't move my head without getting stabbing pains in one location on the top of my head.  At this point, I've said hundreds of mini prayers, asking for the pain to be relieved.  I didn't know what to do, then suddenly Phil thought to take my blood pressure.  I didn't know why, but he did and it was 155/114!  Clearly I'm in pain...but my typical BP is around 100-105 over 69-72.  So this is an extremely high jump!  We call the fertility clinic and they let us know that this is really high and they recommend going to the ER.  

As Phil is gathering our items, I stop him and ask for a blessing.  He and Boston give me a blessing that I will be healed and I ask him to get me a bag of ice and just allow me to rest for like 30 minutes longer.  (I know I've already done this...and it hasn't helped thus far, but I wanted to try)

Miraculously, I began to feel the pain subside over the next 30 minutes...the pain wasn't completely gone but it had reduced drastically!  Phil checked my blood pressure again and it had dropped to 134/108.  So he suggested that we go eat something, since I hadn't really been able to eat all day.  

We went to Garcia's (another favorite of mine) where I had some rice and beans and continued to feel better and better. When I got home we took my blood pressure again and it was 127/92!  Still high, but much better!🥳. 

By the next morning it was completely gone.  I'm so relieved I didn't have to go to the ER, but it definitely is making me acutely aware of how important it is that I keep my blood sugar from dropping too low and staying on a routine!  So thankful it went away🙏🏼❤️🥰.