Appointment today

Well I had a great appointment today! I passed my Glucose Tolerance Test with flying colors. My number was nowhere near the threshold of Gestational Diabetes! And the Glucola wasn't as bad as I had remembered. The worst part was trying to drink the whole bottle within 5 minutes.

Both girls are head down! I'm doing a major happy dance over this. I know there's a chance that they could flip around between now and their birth, but having a normal vaginal delivery means a lot to me and knowing that as of right now its a possibility has me feeling relieved!

Miss A is weighing in at 2.7 pounds and Miss B is weighing in slightly smaller at 2.6 pounds. They are about 15 inches long too. I am measuring 34 weeks, if I were carrying a singleton. So I was previously measuring 8 weeks ahead and now its only 6, which is fine.

BP was great, urine was a little concentrated so they want me drinking MORE water (I drink water all day long, and everytime I wake up at night already!), and I am slightly anemic. So they want me taking Iron pills, but to do that they want me taking Colace regularly to counteract the constipation caused by the iron pills. Isn't being pregnant fun? hehe. My hemoglobin was 10.5 and needs to be 12-13 for Iron.

I'm sleeping a little better, but now I also have VERY itchy skin (mainly on my feet) which keeps me awake at night. I got some suggestions from some friends and last night I covered my feet with Sarna Anti-itch lotion and then put socks on. I slept very well last night. So it seems that I have found something that works and should help me sleep more easily without taking Unisom. I got some Vaseline Cocoa Butter Oil Gel for my stomach and other itchy parts. It smells really good, so I smell like a chocolate treat until you get to my feet, and then I smell like medicated lotion!

There has been no talk of scheduling a c-section nor an induction at this point. I was reading on some twin forums last night and it seems that its very possible and common to carry to 38 weeks with twins, although by that point you're begging the babies out! The uncertainty is the only part that's making me anxious at all but I know they'll come out when they're good and ready.

Well thats it for now. I will be 28 weeks on Friday, so I will have a new belly pic and some developmental updates. :)

The below picture has my cervix at the top, Baby A's head on the left and Baby B's head on the right. And I think that's Baby A's arm between them but I cant tell for sure since I cant tell where the membrane seperating the girls is.

Oh, and...

I had a checkup on Monday and everything was great! I have gained a total of 28 pounds, which is right on target. My blood pressure was great, the girls' hearts sounded great, and I'm measuring big. My doctor said you typically measure 3 weeks bigger with twins and I am measuring 8 weeks bigger! I'm not sure what that means other than that the girls are both presenting right out front. If they spread out and scoot my internal organs around a bit, maybe I'll start to measure 'normal'. LOL

My next appointment is Tuesday, February 3rd, which is bittersweet because that would have been when I was due had the first transfer worked. If it had worked and it was twins, I would have probably had them by now! Or I'd be pretty close! But everything happens for a reason and these 2 little girls were meant to be M&B's daughters. My mother-in-law always says you have the children you are meant to have...and I can say that is definitely true with my boys. I always wanted a daughter but now that I have two boys I honestly wouldn't want it any other way.

Anyways, at my next appointment I will have my glucose screening, which tests for gestational diabetes. I have to drink this sickeningly sweet glucose drink, and then have my blood tested an hour later to see how my body is processing the sugar. As long as I pass it, I'm good to go. If I fail it, I will have to come back in for a 3 hour glucose test!!! And then if I fail that one I will have to go on a diabetes diet! I never had GD with my kids, so I am hoping that remains true for this pregnancy. I will also start getting growth ultrasounds at every appointment, starting with this one. And then at 32 weeks I will start getting biophysical profiles of the girls as well as ultrasounds and NSTs (non-stress tests). And I think thats when I start going every week! Or maybe that starts at 30 weeks....not sure. I will find out next time. I just cant believe I am this close to the end already!

Appointment today

Well I had a prenatal checkup today and everything was great. I've gained lots of weight, which my doctor was happy with (thank goodness) and my uterus is measuring right on track. The babies' heart rates were good, although very different. The baby on the left's heart rate was slower than the baby on the right. My doctor said that if there is any truth to the correlation between gender and heart rate, she bets I am carrying one boy and one girl. I told her that has been my guess all along. So we'll see on Thursday! The gender poll closed today, and most of you think its one of each as well. :)

My next checkup is Jan 5th. I'm hoping to not have TOO much weight gain since we're going through the holidays here. Lots of goodies and treats to eat!

In other news, we have been slammed with snow lately. I am hoping we get the last of it for a while tonight. We dont need any delays or issues with M&B's flights into the city! I think the snow is beautiful but I hate driving in it!

Well I will update again later in the week when I have the big news to tell. :)

Appointment

I had a doctor's appointment today and everything is great! I have gained a total of 10 pounds (2 pounds in the first trimester, and the other 8 in the past 4 weeks!). I think I'd be panicking if I were only carrying one baby, but since I'm carrying twins I'm doing just fine.

The babies are both doing great. They gave me an ultrasound, but it was on one of those really old ancient machines that aren't good quality for actually seeing anything. But the doctor just wanted to check and make sure both babies had good heartbeats, and they did. My cervix is still firm and closed, and all the other things its supposed to be.

We ended up having an issue with the scheduling of the Level 2 ultrasound though. When I made the appointment for Dec 8th, nobody told me that I had to go across the street to the hospital and have it done there, by a Perinatologist, since I'm carrying twins. So I found out today that I cant have my Level 2 at my doctor's office like we planned. So I called to set up my appointment with the Perinatologist, and they are booked solid on December 8th. They didnt have any Mondays or Fridays available, and I started to panic. M&B already have their air tickets booked and they have projects and things at work that we have to schedule around. So after a little bit of back and forth with M, we managed to find a date that works for her & B, as well as the Peri's office. So we are now scheduled for December 11th at 9:30am...which just happens to be Ian's 5th birthday. :) I'm glad we were able to get a date agreed upon, because there was no way I was going to have the Level 2 without M&B there to see it!

So all in all, a good appointment, with a little bit of stress thrown in. I also had to deal with my insurance company but it was minor and they were really nice and are going to get the issue taken care of. :)

Appointment update

Well I had my appointment yesterday and since it was my first official appointment for this pregnancy, it took forever! I had a physical, pap smear, blood pressure, urine analysis, weight, fundal height check, and fetal heart tones check. AND they took 5 vials of blood. AND I had to get a flu shot. When she did the flu shot the first time, the medicine blew out the sides of the needle where it connects to the syringe. So I had to get stuck a second time in the arm so I'd actually get a dose of the flu shot.

We were able to get a clear heart rate for one of the babies, it was 164. We could hear the other baby's heart beat but it wasnt loud enough for the doppler to pick up to register the heart rate. But it sounded about the same. So that was very nice...to get to check on both the babies! She said anytime I feel nervous and want some reassurance I can come in for a fetal heart tones check.

This morning I woke up with a headache. I took some Tylenol but it wont go away. I just want to go to sleep and see if it goes away. =( I hope I dont get sick from the flu shot. Ugh!

OH - I gained 2 pounds. Finally!

My next appointment will be in 4 weeks when I am around 16 weeks pregnant.

Appointments

Well I will have my first official 'new OB' appointment on Wednesday at 2pm. I wish I could have an ultrasound just to check in and make sure the babies are doing well. I think they are just going to weigh me, measure me, check my cervix, talk about any concerns, etc.

I also scheduled my big ultrasound for December 8th at 9am. That's only a month and a half away!

Appointment

Well today I had my baseline U/S and bloodwork. They could only get me in at 4pm today so my results wont be back until tomorrow morning. But once they're in, they will forward them on to Shady Grove. I do know that my lining is thin (yay) and the Lupron is working and has suppressed my ovaries. There were no follicles to be seen (yay). So now we wait for my estrogen and progesterone levels, and my blood pregnancy test which will be negative. Once the results are faxed to Shady Grove then my nurse will call and let me know that I can stop the Lupron and start the Del Estrogen. Yay for bigger needles!

I just cant believe that in a little over 3 weeks we'll be transferring again! Hopefully for the final time! I had a new radiologist do my U/S today so I got to tell our story all over again. Everyone I tell is so supportive and thinks its so neat what technology can achieve these days.

On a sad note, there was a notice on the desk when I signed in that my old doctor, Dr. Agee, had died recently. He retired at the end of last year, and apparently it was because he had a terminal illness and didn't tell anyone. He finally succumbed to it, whatever it was. He delivered Quinnie and it was a wonderful experience. Dr. Agee was my favorite doctor I've ever had. So sad. I cried on the way home today because I was remembering all the silliness and the jokes during Quinn's birth. I'm glad that some of my pictures from Quinn's birth have Dr. Agee in them. Such a nice old man.

Chicago and Appointments

Well the group meeting on Saturday was fantastic! I actually got to know people this time instead of hiding behind Chris. Since he wasn't there I was kind of forced out of my comfort zone. Several of us met up in the hotel lobby before the meeting and went to lunch at Bennigan's. That was lots of fun. The meeting went great. We got to hear 2 birth stories and then hear where everyone else was at in the surrogacy journey. There's one surro whose British IM spent a month living with her and her family during the egg retrieval/transfer process. They got really close and now the surros kids consider the IM as part of their family. The surro has an induction planned for April 4th and they are all super excited. There was another IM story that wasn't so great but we dont want to talk about that. LOL! But it was so good to see my counselors again.

So today I had my appointments. My first one was at 9am for bloodwork. My results were back today as well. My E2 (estrogen) level was 216 and my P4 (progesterone) level was 0.8. The nurse at the clinic said those were good and normal. My lining ultrasound wasn't as good. W were hoping for an 8 or better but my lining was between 5 and 6. I think it has something to do with the fact that I had to start on CD3 instead of CD2 as well as the fact that my cycles are 31 days, not the usual 28. So I think I am probably just fine and they had me do this a bit early.

I will have to have the lining biopsy now. =( I start my PIO shots tomorrow night. Those are nightly injections. Then on March 20th I will have my biopsy. Now this was the original plan all along...it was only a couple weeks ago when they changed protocol to only require the biopsy if the lining wasn't lined up perfectly in the beginning. So that will be a fun time I'm sure. Hopefully they give me a good pain pill for that!

I'm pretty bummed about that but I know everything will be fine.