We started IVF in early February, stimmed on medications for just a little more than a week, had our retrieval on Feb. 16 and had two beautiful little embryos transferred on February 19. Then it was a tortuous 10 days of waiting with trying to stay positive and still be realistic about our chances. On March 1st we got our first ever positive home pregnancy test. I had all these plans in mind for how to tell Ryan, but when it actually came down to it, all I could really do was just blurt it out. Guess that's what happens when you've been waiting for so long! I just remember looking at the test and being blown away. It was 4 days earlier than my doctor wanted us to do a blood test, so I really wasn't expecting it to come up positive. I just needed to give it a try to see if it might, by chance, be positive so that Ryan and I could celebrate before I went out of town for work.
The next step was our beta blood test, which I did (in Chicago) on March 4. The first number came back at 719. Generally they're looking for over 100 to confirm pregnancy. So, I was definitely very pregnant! The doctor cautioned that it could be one very strong embryo or twins. They did a second beta (still in Chicago) on March 6 and my numbers came back at 1538. They're supposed to double every 48 hours, so this was just slightly better than that. Since numbers often triple when you're pregnant with more than one, this left us a little uncertain of a singleton or twins.
We had our first ultrasound on March 14 and were able to see two gestational sacs (after some looking around). AND at 5.5 weeks pregnant, we were able to see a heartbeat in one of the sacs. I was pretty blown away by that! At our second ultrasound on March 18th, we could see both babies heartbeats.
Then it became real... we were actually expecting twins.As excited as we were, I was a bit of a nervous wreck about the whole idea. You kind of plan your life around 1, and then the 2nd pops up and all the concerns you had worked through about time, money, etc comes up all over again. Now at nearly 14 weeks (tomorrow!) we've pretty much fully adjusted to the idea of twins, but there are still moments of panic. (I'm sure those will continue to come and go in the coming months!)
In April we were turned over to my regular OB-GYN and after a lot of reading and soul-searching, I decided that I felt like we needed to begin seeing a specialist. I like my regular OB just fine, but he's a very relaxed individual and I just didn't feel 100% at ease with his recommendations.
This past Tuesday I saw a perinatologist who I feel much more sure about. He keeps a much closer eye on things and spent a ton of time talking through possible complications, things to look for, etc. I just feel like we worked so hard for these babies, I just want to be sure that someone is really watching out for them. I'd probably feel this way about any pregnancy, but I need the extra reassurance right now.
There are still plenty of things I'm worried about, but each week it becomes more real and I feel like we're getting closer and closer to these little miracles joining us.
I had about a month of 24-7 nausea that I was sure would never end, but thankfully it did. Now I'm mostly just experiencing "growing" pains, muscle aches, and an overwhelming exhaustion most of the time, but all in all, feeling pretty good.
Always the planner, I'm constantly thinking about things like, what if I have to go on bed rest (or rather, when I have to go on bed rest...), preterm labor, what needs to get done and by when, c-sections and more, but at the same time, I feel pretty at peace and happy. I think planning is my calming mechanism.
We're currently looking into daycare options and while I'm constantly blown away by the prices, I think we're working our way into finding some options that may be good fits. It's probably unlikely that we will end up going with a daycare center due to the tremendous costs of having two infants in them, but we're looking at nannies and other in-home daycare options.
My official due date is November 9, but the doctor expects me to deliver by October 26 (38 weeks). I can only hope we make it that long! 35 weeks is average so we'll see what happens!
So without further adieu, here's their 12 week ultrasound pictures!
