One Chapter Ending, Another Just Beginning

We officially welcomed our beautiful twins, Teagan and Grant, on October 19, 2012. Teagan was born first at 12:36pm weighing 5 lbs 11oz. Grant was born at 12:37pm weighing 5 lbs 0 oz. The c-section went very smoothly and the babies were healthy and did not require NICU time initially. Later in the day Teagan had to go to the NICU for low blood sugar, but only had to stay for 36 hours. It is truly amazing that after all the scares of pre-term labor they were a good size and very healthy. These babies are troopers for sure!

Now that the twins are here we have certainly started a new chapter in our life. This is quite apparent as I sit here writing this from the couch on a Friday night with Grant sleeping on me and Ryan and Teagan snuggling next to us. We are loving this new life and can honestly say that everything- all the tears, stress, and obstacles along the way- was worth it! Since our IVF journey is technically over, we will be wrapping up this blog. We've enjoyed documenting our journey and plan to revisit this blog in the future to remind ourselves what we overcame. We sincerely hope that our story will bring hope to others struggling with infertility since we are a true depiction of a family who overcame an obstacle and ended up with not one, but TWO miracles!

Once again, thank you to our family and friends for supporting us through IVF and the pregnancy complications. We made it! We look forward to all of you being a part of Teagan and Grant's lives. Now we leave you with a few pictures of our miracles....

Delivery Day is Almost Here!

Just a quick update to announce that we have a cesarean section scheduled for Friday, October 19!! I will be 36 weeks and 5 days on that day. It is amazing how long the twins were able to stay put-- much longer than anyone anticipated. We couldn't be happier or more excited to meet Teagan and Grant in 2 days! As of last week's ultrasound, Teagan weighed 5lbs 8 oz and Grant was 5 lbs 5 oz.  Our doctor at Maternal Fetal Medicine was very pleased with these numbers, especially that there was not a large discrepancy between their sizes.  He was in agreement with moving ahead with delivery via c-section.  Vaginal delivery is not possible due to how the twins are positioned in the uterus-- Grant is transverse and Teagan is breech.

We will share our birth story and pictures of the twins once they are born.  Please keep us in your thoughts & prayers on Friday for a smooth delivery of 2 healthy babies!

Long Overdue Update... From Bed

Sorry it has been so long since our last update. I am on strict bedrest, so I don't have much of an excuse, other than I haven't felt much like blogging as we were taking each day at a time for awhile. I'm currently 32 weeks and 3 days, which is truly a miracle considering at 23 weeks I was rehospitalized and told that I would likely deliver within the week. I was on hospital bedrest from week 23-28. My mom and Ryan spent every day/night with me, which made it much more bearable. 28 weeks is a safe zone in terms of a healthier delivery, so I was able to go home at that point. I'm still on strict bedrest at home and we are all hoping the babies hold on until week 36 or 37.  We were actually able to have our baby shower as originally planned on September 8th and it was truly surreal to actually be able to relax and celebrate the upcoming arrival of the twins. It was wonderful to be surrounded my friends and family who have supported us throughout this very difficult time. During my bedrest I have received countless cards, emails, texts, Facebook messages, and phone calls from people checking in on us and it meant the world to us to know how many people had us in their thoughts and prayers. My mom has been an incredible support as she comes over every single day to keep me company, take Neko out, clean the house, do laundry, prepare my breakfast and lunch, and pretty much anything else that needs done.  I have no idea how I could manage bedrest without her. Also, as you can imagine, I am very happy to be back home and enjoying Ryan's cooking again.  In addition to getting me back on healthy, local produce meals, he has been very strong and a calming presence throughout this.  We have realized that there is absolutely nothing that we can't get through together.

At this point, I am still on Procardia 20mg every 4 hrs to help control the contractions and a daily progesterone suppository. I'll be on these medications until 35 weeks and then the doctors will allow labor to happen on its own. At our last ultrasound appointment on August 29, Teagan weighed 3 lbs 5 oz and Grant weighed 2 lbs 15 oz. My total weight gain is 33 lbs so we're hoping at our next ultrasound on September 28 the babies are around 5 lbs. Their heartbeats and activity levels continue to be perfect. We are anxious for their arrival now that the nursery is nearly complete (thanks to Ryan and his mom!), but we are more than okay with them staying put for a few more weeks.

 

Ryan and I at our baby brunch in Hershey on September 8. Ryan does not like this picture because his eyes are half closed ;)

 My baby bump at 32 weeks before a doctor's appointment, the only time I'm allowed up and out of the house. We obviously have not kept up with the weekly bump pictures, but we try to capture the growing bump when we can. People tell me I do not look like I'm big enough for twins, but I beg to differ :).

Stayed tuned... our next post will likely be an introduction to our double bundles of joy!

22 weeks and a (hopefully) minor hiccup...

At our last routine appointment with Maternal and Fetal Medicine we were informed that my cervix was much too short for being only 22 weeks. They were concerned I was having preterm contractions and sent me to Triage to get hooked up to a monitor right away. In turned out that I was having contractions, even though I wasn't feeling them and they hospitalized me to be under observation. They started me on progesterone (an old friend during the IVF process) and Indocin (an anti inflammatory med used to slow contractions). I was also having a flare up of ulcerative colitis so gastroenterology was involved in my care during my hospitalization. I was in the hospital for 48 hrs and was only allowed up to use the bathroom. I'm home now and was instructed to lay low until my follow up appointments tomorrow. I was NOT ready to be out of work so soon and I'm hoping things are stabilized and they'll let me return on a modified schedule. I have a feeling I may be on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. The most important thing is for the babies to stay put for quite awhile longer! Despite that scare, we're coping well. We appreciate all the well wishes, thoughts, and prayers coming our way. We'll overcome this just as we have overcome every other obstacle along this journey. In lighter news, we have named our twins! We're open books about the names, so I will share. Our boy is Grant Ryan (Grant to always remember and be grateful for the grant we were awarded from the Cade Foundation, which made IVF a realistic option. Ryan as a middle name should be obvious!) Our girl is Teagan Rylie (Teagan is an Irish name we have both always loved and agreed upon for many years.  Rylie is just a cute name that went well with Grant's middle name). G&T are very excited to enter this world, but we're trying to teach them patience very early on! Here is the photo of my bump progression through 22 weeks.

20 weeks and counting!

A few updates since the last post:

1) We found out the sexes of our twins and we are SO excited that we'll be having a boy AND a girl! We couldn't be happier or more excited to start our little family of 4!

2) I am 20 weeks now and have posted a picture of my bump growth through 19 weeks. 1st and 2nd trimesters have been a breeze for me; I'm very fortunate! I know the 3rd trimester may be a different story, but I'm really enjoying pregnancy for now.

Onward and upward into the second trimester!

I'm now 14 weeks along and last week we got to see our twins via 3D ultrasound at our appointment with Maternal and Fetal Medicine. It was really cool to see them, even though they resemble tiny aliens right now:

What I took away from the appointment is that there are a lot of risks carrying twins (including the risk of miscarriage through 20 weeks), I need to gain more weight (shouldn't be a problem, although I don't know how many more calories I can take in), I should be a couch potato (not going to happen except for 8pm-10pm), Baby A is very bouncy and wiggly (takes after Ryan), our due date of 11/11 is "laughable" and I will more than likely deliver at 36 or 37 weeks (end of October), and we find out the sexes on June 13 (18 weeks). We will be followed by my OB and Maternal-Fetal Medicine throughout the pregnancy. I see the OB next on 5/18/2012.

Every Sunday, Ryan does a photo shoot of my growing belly and here's what we have so far:

We are now telling EVERYONE that we're expecting and I made the official social media announcment on Facebook on Mother's Day.

UPDATE

Okay, we're way overdue for an update. Lots going on! I am officially 12 weeks pregnant and feel much better about things now that I've cleared the first trimester. So, I feel very comfortable annoucing the fact that we are expecting.... TWINS!!!!

It was a huge shock for some reason, even though we knew Dr. Filer put 2 blastocysts in. We are very, very excited for our family to double in size this fall. We feel very fortunate and blessed that we got this buy one get one free deal! (You can tell we're in a good place since we can make jokes like that).

We have officially been discharged from The Fertility Center and are being followed by my OB/GYN and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist since it's twins. We have a 3D ultrasound scheduled for May 9th and will post that picture once we have it. We plan on finding out the genders and were told that would likely be at 18 weeks. We will keep you posted!

So Far So Good...

Sorry for the delay! We've been very busy adjusting to our move (from Mount Joy to Lancaster) and trying to get settled. But, as of now things are still going strong with the pregnancy. I had another blood test on Ryan's birthday (3/9) and the HCG levels had skyrocketed to over 3,000 so the doctor's office was very pleased with that. They were going to keep checking them until they were over 1,000 so we surpassed that after just 2 blood tests. When they informed me of those numbers, they said it was time to schedule my prenatal appointment. That just seemed to surreal to me, but very exciting! So that appointment was yesterday (3/20). The nurse practitioner did an exam and reviewed diet and exercise restrictions. She said I should keep taking my progesterone and estrogen until 4/15. I also scheduled our first ultrasound which will be on 3/27!! We are VERY excited for that because they think we should be able to hear the heartbeat. We'll also find out if we are expecting 1 or 2!! Lots of exciting stuff ahead. We'll be sure to post a picture of the ultrasound. We've been through many an ultrasound during the diagnostic and monitoring phases, but it will be so nice to actually see something in the uterus this time!

As of now, I am 6 weeks and 3 days along. My due date is 11/11 (pretty cool, huh?). I've been feeling good, but hungry constantly (not too far from normal). And a little more fatigued, but not too bad. I haven't fallen asleep on any patients (yet).

We'll be back with an update after the ultrasound next week!

Cautiously Celebrating

After a day to digest the news, we have come back down to Earth. Although we are EXTREMELY happy and excited, we have decided to adopt the concept of "cautious celebration" until my HCG levels are where they need to be and we are completely confident that it is a viable pregnancy. We will not be making our pregnancy common knowledge (to those with whom we have not shared this journey) until we get to that point. Thank you for all the well wishes we've been receiving. A few more blood tests will hopefully increase our confidence and make this feel more real...

Baby...Baby...Pirate? Aw... Wait, pirates are wild! We're pregnant!!!

In one of my favorite scenes from The Simpson's, the character Apu's wife - Manjula - is taking a pregnancy test, and the results are delivered slot machine style - one symbol at a time. First, an image of a baby appears, next a second baby, finally, a picture of a pirate appears and they groan, before reading the directions and finding out that pirates are wild. So yes, three of a kind - they are indeed pregnant. I've always thought it would be neat to find out you were pregnant with a slot machine style pregnancy test - but I guess I'll take this way too...

Just when we thought there was no help left, together with the love and support of all our friends and families - we are now at the top of this ever so steep uphill climb. We found out today the results of Jen's blood work - and well, I guess you can figure out it was excellent news. We'll hold off on our big, mega, huge blowout celebration for 9 months (Nov 10th?), but we can finally let out a long - LONG - overdue sigh of relief. Finally, FINALLY, we can let tears of joy flow from our eyes instead of those stinging tears of pain, sorrow and frustration... There is still more bloodwork to be done, and ultrasounds to go through, but for now, we wanted you all - our biggest supporters - to know where our journey has led us. From the depths of our hearts, a giant THANK YOU for being there for us!

Still waiting...

All the books, articles, blogs, forums, etc. that we have read over the past 2 years did NOT exaggerate how difficult the infamous "2 week wait" is. Now, we've been in the 2 week wait many, many times (27 to be exact) while trying to conceive over the past 2 years and 3 months, but nothing compares to the 2 week wait after IVF. We actually feel like we have a chance this time and cannot wait to find out if this will be our answer. Our pregnancy test is scheduled for 3/5 at 11:30am and then they will call me later that afternoon with the results. We probably will not update this blog before then because we are keeping ourselves VERY busy this next week. We have things planned with each other, friends or family, work, or fantasy baseball (in Ryan's case) every day and evening this week. We have every intention of keeping our minds off of what is to come, BUT we would love for all of you to keep us on your minds with thoughts, prayers, positive vibes, and fingers crossed!!

In the meantime, we leave you with a very touching poem I came across while reading Every Drunken Cheerleader Why Not Me? by Kristine Waits, a book I'm reading for an infertility support group I recently joined. We'll be discussing this book tomorrow evening. This poem hit a cord with both me and Ryan as we try very hard to be patiently waiting at this time...

Patiently Waiting

Baby I love you though God has not yet given you to me,
I have spent my whole life learning patience and that is now what I am trying to be.

I love you though we have not met, and though you are not yet real;
Somehow you are in every thought, and love is all I feel.

You're a dream I didn't know I had, a prayer I didn't know I would pray;
A song that I would sing for you, if only you would stay.

We want you in our life to share a love that is so strong;
And we will continue to wait for you - it does not matter how long.

We believe God's perfect plan so you will come when the time is right;
And though you are not yet real, you are already Mommy's delight.

I want to hold you in my arms and teach you to be great;
I want you to be our legacy, our destiny, our fate.

Your daddy and I love you and we can't wait for the day;
When we hug and kiss you gently and you will not go away.

We have a wonderful marriage, maybe this hardship is our test;
But holding hands together, we continue to pray for the best.

That you will grace our lives with greatness and make us a family;
So the love that is too much for two can soon be shared by three.

Waiting is the hardest part...

Since our last entry, we got a phone call letting us know that out of the 11 eggs retrieved, 8 were mature enough to be fertilized and 5 were showing early signs of fertilization. Then we got a call the next day and said the 5 had developed into embryos. The embryos would continue to incubate for the next 3 days and then we would go into the office to discuss the quality of the embryos and Dr. Filer would make recommendations on which one(s) had the best chance of successful implantation. So that's what we did today...

I had to get up at 6am and start downing 48oz of fluid so that my bladder was full when we got to the office at 7:15. I had to sit uncomfortably in the waiting room crossing and uncrossing my legs and trying not to think about how badly I had to pee. They called us back and reviewed what would be happening today and the discharge instructions. I had an ultrasound and then Dr. Filer came in with a photo of our 2 best embryos (see below). He said they looked great and he thought we should implant both and we agreed. He informed us that they would have to use assisted hatching because the lining around the blastocysts was thicker than they would have liked. Assisted hatching means they make a small hole in the lining to give the blastocyst an "exit" to break out of the lining and attach itself to the uterine wall. 

If you're wondering what happened to the other 3 embryos- one of them stopped growing at 10 cells and the other two were not quite to the level of blastocyst (referring to the number of cells that had multiplied). They will continue to monitor those 2 and then decide if they were good enough quality to freeze. So, after our conversation, I rolled over to one side and had an injection (I thought I was DONE with those!) in my buttocks (ouch!) of Versed, which is a benzodiazepine to help relax me before the procedure. I liked that one! I was nice and calm and I think I dozed off for a short nap. Dr. Filer said the blastocysts were implanted smoothly.  I have been taking progesterone (through vaginal suppositories) for 4 days so my uterine lining is supposedly nice and thick and sticky, just what those little guys need. I will continue to take the progesterone 3 times a day, 81mg of aspirin, 16mg of Mendrol (a steroid that is necessary because they did assisted hatching), and a Vivelle (estrogen) patch. At least they aren't injections! These should be a piece of cake. I'm currently on 24 hours of best rest and am required to keep my abdomen completely flat, unless I have to get up to use the bathroom. So far I'm finding it pretty enjoyable, but I'm sure I'll be bored out of my mind in no time.

Our pregnancy blood test is scheduled at the Lancaster office for MARCH 5. So now we are in the dreaded waiting period for the next 11 days. We welcome lots of distractions during this time!!

Off To Make a Baby (in a very nonromantic way)

Today is the big day. It's 6:40am and we are leaving in about 20 minutes to go to The Fertility Center for the egg retrieval. Ryan will have a specimen in hand and then they will put me to sleep and remove as many eggs as I have produced with the help of the injectables. Then, they will choose the best quality eggs and best quality sperm and have them meet lovingly in something like a petri dish. The ICSI procedure will be used to insert one sperm into each of the eggs, in hopes of increasing the chances of fertilization. Over the next few days they will monitor the development of embryos and let us know how things are looking. The embryo transfer (i.e. placement of embryo into my uterus) will be either Thursday or Friday next week.

The injectables went relatively smoothy overall. I only have a few bruises on my stomach and thighs to show for them. On Thursday after my bloodwork and ultrasound I got a call from one of the nurses saying that everything looked good and I was ready to go a day earlier than expected. They moved the egg retrieval up to Saturday instead of Sunday. I was also told that I was DONE with the Lupron, Follistim, and Menopur, but just before I could jump for joy, she said I'd have to do one final injection- HCG. So Thursday night, Ryan prepared the HCG for me and I injected it and then we had a mini-ceremony, saying goodbye to our nightly rituals of injection- hopefully for good. Friday morning I had to take a pregnancy test that was supposed to come out positive (which it did) because of the HCG. My first positive pregnancy test, but it wasn't "real." All day Friday I felt extremely bloated and got the sense that my follicles were trying to bust out of me. It feels like I'm ready to go!

So, off we go for a morning of babymaking in a new way that has become our reality. Ryan or I will post later today with an update on how things went. This is definitely a day where we need positive thoughts, vibes, and prayers more than ever!

UPDATE: So we're back and Jen is currently snoring resting on the couch next to me... I think she misunderstood that the bed rest requirement was for after our procedure on Thursday and not this one, but I'm not going to argue with her. They were able to retrieve 11 eggs from Jen (ALMOST a full carton), and I actually had good counts on my "army" - almost double anything I had produced earlier. They'll call us tomorrow to let us know how many eggs they were able to fertilize, and we'll go on from there. Thanks everyone for the happy thoughts.

My Wife, The Pincushion

I've never been one to enjoy watching pain inflicted upon others - in fact, the very thought of it makes me quite uncomfortable. Now, I'm not saying I enjoy watching Jen inject herself (to be honest, I suppose "watching" her inject herself would mean i would have to keep my eyes open when she draws the needle close to her stomach), but thinking about "why" she is taking shots (now 3x) every night, and I find myself looking forward to our 8pm rituals.

People have done nice things for me in my life, kind things, thoughtful things; but what Jen is doing for me us is beyond any of that. She's the ultimate team player and I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through.

I'm extremely proud of the fearlessness with which she attacks the shots each night - as if it's nothing, just brushing her teeth, washing her face, or some other nightly routine. I try my hardest to help her, prepare the syringes (I insist on doing this, she refuses to read the directions), wipe any post-injection blood off, and I even show her the proper way to wince as the needle breaks the skin.

In a few days, the injections will be over and we'll move on to another difficult process - the waiting. But for now, I smile in anticipation for tomorrow's wince.

Fear No Needle

 
Some of you are probably wondering how I've been handling the injectables so far. The first night was pretty nerve-wracking. In my impulsive nature, I was trying to get it over with as quickly as possible, while Ryan (the obviously more rational one in this moment) slowed me down and double checked the instructions to make sure I was doing everything correctly. So, after he gave me the okay, I grabbed a chunk of skin on my thigh and did the deed (taking deep breaths before, during, and after). Once I realized that I did not pass out, have any burning sensations or other weird symptoms, I knew I'd be able to handle the rest. I'm a little over a week in now with the Lupron. No major hormonal mood swings or anything so far. I was told to administer it around the same time every night (between 7 and 9pm). Most of the time I've been at home, but once I had to do it in the bathroom at an NYC restaurant and another time at Maggie Moo's bathroom in Lancaster (CZ accompanied me for that one and we made it fun). I will be taking Lupron for another week or two. I have my baseline bloodwork and ultrasound appt on 2/7/12 and they'll see how everything is looking and let me know when to start the Follistim and Menopur which are follicle stimulators. I will be on these for 8-12 days and will have bloodwork and ultrasounds throughout to monitor my progression. There will be about 12 days that I will be injecting 3 different medications.... yikes!

Here are some important dates coming up:

2/8/12: Baseline bloodwork and ultrasound
2/10/12: Bloodwork
2/13/12: Bloodwork and ultrasound
2/15/12: Bloodwork and ultrasound
2/17/12: Bloodwork and ultrasound
2/19/12: EGG RETRIEVAL
2/23, 2/24, or 2/25: EMBRYO TRANSFER

Thanks for following along with us on this journey. Positive thoughts and prayers are much appreciated!!

Holy Meds!

Behold the injections, pills, and patches I will be using over the next month. They were in a very large box on our doorstep this afternoon. $2700 worth... yikes! Lupron injections start next Friday, January 27th. I took an injection class at The Fertility Center this week and they walked me through all the meds. It was pretty overwhelming and I don't think I'll actually remember anything they told me. I'll figure it out by doing, I think. I've never injected myself with anything before, so this should be interesting. You can inject in your thigh or abdomen. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do thigh since I have a little more meat there! I'm hoping I don't have any major hormonal changes that make me a raging b*tch, although at least I'll have a good excuse! Stay tuned...