9 Weeks 1 Day

Spoiled! We had our first visit with my regular OB yesterday. It was an OK appointment, but I certainly realized just how nice I had it when I was being seen by IRH. We didn't get to have an ultrasound or hear the baby's heartbeats, which was a let down. We go back in 4 weeks, at which we will get to hear them, but we don't get to see them again for another 11 weeks!! For someone coming from seeing them twice in 1 month- I'm going to be going through ultrasound withdrawal. I did get some blood (I say some- I think they drained my left arm) drawn and the doctor did a pelvic exam, which I thought was going to make me jump out of the room and start crying. I'm still having lower belly cramps, mostly because my right ovary is quite enlarged and my uterus is growing. All is good in there though and we continue to move along. :)

Over the weekend my belly decided not to be comfortable squeezing into pants anymore. I tried wearing jeans to work Friday and half way through the day I had to unbutton them so I could breath. I ended up getting a couple of Bella Bands from Target and I love 'em. I can now wear all of my pants in comfort, only thing is I am definitely starting to look pregnant. I've tried for now wearing long, thicker sweaters...but the cat will be out of the bag soon. Tonight we are going to the Keller family celebration of Caleb's birthday. I'm excited to tell the rest of the family our big news.

In other news, we got all of the cabinets painted and just the lower doors need to be put back on. I'll hopefully have a picture to share soon. We are very pleased with all of the work so far, and getting close to new counter top and sink time. Which is my big exciting project!! :)

8 weeks 3 days

We saw the doctor at IRH today. The babies are both doing great. We saw two strong heartbeats that looked like jumping little beans. The babies have grown a lot too. One of the best things was actually seeing them squirm around a little. Amazing!!!



The doctor "graduated" me to the OB, which is great. We see the OB Monday and then we'll just start on normal prenatal care with them. The babies are now the size of a Raspberry.



My morning sickness (I'm not quite sure why they call it that?) is still kicking my butt. My hope is that it will start to let up in another 4 weeks. For now, I'll take the yucky feeling to know the babies are healthy! This weekend we are going to a big Mardi Gras party at Brian's co-worker's house. I'm the DD and it should be a good time. Meeting new people is always fun. For now, we've got some Life to watch and I feel like I'm going to crash for the night. haha- I'm turning in before 9pm once again.

Week 7: Blueberries

Today is week 7 and the babies are each the size of a blueberry.

As for myself, I think I still have some major bloat.

The "morning" sickness is really all day sickness, and has been kicking my butt. I think I've finally figured out the eating thing, but there really isn't much to do about the nausea. Otherwise, all is great and we are still very excited to be parents!

And away we go...

Some months ago I started this blog as a way to write down what was going on in our lives, mostly regarding the fertility treatments. Now I am excited that this blog can take a change of pace...

We're having a baby!!!!!!!

We are so excited, and have waited so long for this to happen. Tomorrow I will be officially 7 weeks. This past Thursday was our first ultrasound and we confirmed not 1 but 2 heartbeats, so yes, we are having TWINS!!

We've shared the news with our parents, siblings, bosses and just a couple of friends. After our next ultrasound, once we are reassured both babies are doing well, we'll start sharing the news with others. We're still trying to wrap our head around the TWINS concept. We obviously knew it was a possibility, but we are still in shock at the actual reality. Amidst the shock, we are happier than ever!

As for Mommy-to-be; I've been feeling quite yuck. I eat very small amounts every 2 hours, and I have waves of nausea pretty much all the time. I've learned the hard way not to eat a normal meal, and fortunately I've been able to keep everything down. As requested I will try to post weekly updates, especially of my growing belly and babies!

For now, I'm going to lie back down after some fruit.

Transfer complete

This morning was the embryo transfer- which was pretty neat. We got there early in the morning and had to change into hospital garb- Brian looked like a character from Grey's Anatomy. My very own McBrian. :) We have two very matured embryos now chilling in my uterus, and hopefully one (or both) implant and take off. The doctor gave us a picture of what they looked like just before transfer, which was pretty awesome to see.

I go back in 2 weeks for my pregnancy test and from here on out we just have many happy, positive thoughts. I'm still pretty bloated and uncomfortable, but much better than yesterday.

We also got our Christmas presents from Mom and Dad today. Brian got a Magic Bullet and I got a really nice purple Coach purse, which I love. And Wilma got a big, pink bone and a pink sweater which she looks adorable while wearing. I don't think she minded wearing it all that much either, though she didn't really want to walk around in it.

We were both off work today, but have to head back in tomorrow. Fortunately just one more day and then the weekend.

2009!!!

Wow- it has been quite the new year already. We enjoyed a nice ending to 2008 with Mike and Jackie Downing and their pups, Rocky and Sadie. Wilma even enjoyed the company and played with them some. We ate some yummy Keller chili, played a game of Scene It (I won!), watched the ball drop and then they went home and we went to bed. We are such party animals!

Brian and I enjoyed a lot of off time together New Year's Day and then through the weekend. Last Friday I had my final progress appointment with IRH. It was a whirlwind. They brought us in, took blood, did my ultrasound and then whisked us off into another room where we got our set of directions for the month, scheduled my IVF, and learned all about everything that would be happening. It was both exciting and scary all at once!

Monday was my IVF retrieval surgery. Everything went very well! I woke up ready for the day, showered and we were on our way extra early. I took my Valium in the car, and then we waited patiently in the "waiting room". The nurse came out and got us, and instructed me to get out of my comfy clothes and into the lovely front open gown, booties and hair net. I love surgical garb! Then she put in my IV and I waited patiently for surgery. Brian got to sit there with me for everything, which was wonderful. They wheeled me back to surgery and I can remember lying there waiting for the doctor, but after his arrival, everything else is really a blur. Talk about an amnesiac state. I can remember being in pain and somewhat being told everything was going well and I was doing good. Otherwise, all I can remember is that the ceiling was painted blue with clouds. haha! I full recall recovery though. They wheeled me out, I saw Brian, I was able to dress on my own, I got my IV removed and all was great- until I got nauseous and threw up! :( I'm a very cheap drunk, which I was completely prepared for. Brian then took me home and put me to bed, where I stayed for hours! I think I was in there until he left for school, which was 4pm! I woke up shortly after he left and wandered to the family room couch. I had the hellish time of getting comfortable. My entire body hurt- not just the bloating in my belly, but my entire back and shoulders felt like I'd been beat severely. From what I understand it is something to do with the gas they use to make all my organs "float" during surgery. That pain continued through Monday and into yesterday. Today the back and shoulder pain has subsided, but I'm far too bloated for comfort! I seriously feel like I look pregnant and even Brian (finally) admitted I do look pretty bloated! Sucks because I don't want people at work to "talk", but not much I can do about it. I was able to find a pair of pants yesterday that were comfy for work, but the ones I chose today aren't working as well. I guess this is just hopefully a sign of what is to come. :)

So, now that my IVF retrieval is all done I know that they were able to get 18 eggs in total, which is just an extremely exciting number! From that they were able to fertilize 11, which is also great! Tomorrow I go back into IRH for my embryo transfer. They are only going to put in 2, which is fine with me seeing as I don't know if we could survive 11 children! haha! Then from there on out I just continue taking my Prometrium (the uncomfortable way!) and I'll go back Jan 22nd for a pregnancy test. This is going to be a very, very long month! Fortunately Brian has started back at school, so that should help the time go by. And work should start picking up with the holidays over.

Jackie finds out what she is having at the end of this month too, so we are going to rely on one another to hold ourselves together through the anticipation. Only what, 15 days to go?!