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...