Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Ralph

At 13 weeks and 2 days prego, I finally got socked by morning sickness. I am beyond, BEYOND lucky that this is my first day of morning sickness as some women are debilitated for 3 months but I am wondering why suddenly now I am getting hit with it even though the morning sickness "should" be over now.

I woke up feeling fine - other than miserable that I was up so early - why does work have to be so freakin early? Can't we all just work 10-2 M-F?? Showered, dressed, took my vitamins per the usual and then my bod went up to about 3000 degrees and I knew things were not going to end well. After a few minutes of ralphing, I felt better but still shaky. Mostly probs due to my absolute fear of getting the stomach bug and my first thought was that I had been hit with it. I still went to work and here I am, 6 hours later, and still feeling off but got down some cheerios and ginger ale so I am hoping its not the bug. 

I have never heard of 2nd trimester on-set morning sickness but not much about this fertility journey or pregnancy has been "normal" so maybe this is how things will be for a bit? 

First trimester u/s and screening FRIDAY! aaandd maybe find out the genders of our lil bambinos!! 

Monday, February 25, 2013

2nd Tri!

WE MADE IT!!!! Second trimester is officially here - what a ride it has been! I am feeling great and so excited for the next few months!! 

SO many exciting things are happening. Baby showers...moving into our new house...packing/unpacking/organizing (YES I am excited for these tasks - total nerd, I know)

So here we are at 13 weeks - I still cannot master the ability to take an obviously posed pic without looking like a complete creep. Maybe by week 38 I'll get it down because I WILL be carrying these bambinos til 38 weeks...positive thinking! 

Monday, February 18, 2013

Luck

I know that the majority (if not all) of my blog posts start or end with how lucky we are (pardon my bragging and redundancy) but the past few days I have been mulling over how truly lucky we are. 

Randomly, Erin will text me that she was just sitting and thinking about our babies and that we are so damn lucky - and I agree w/ my whole heart. 

We began our fertility journey back in June 2012 - well, we had our first doc appt back in June - the discussions on when to start this journey began months earlier - and while our journey was made up of many ups and downs, sad days, hopeful days, and stressful days - here we are 8ish months later and we are 3 months prego - with TWINS nonetheless. SO-freakin-amazin. 

Obvi, we both are aware and elated that IVF worked for us and beyond excited for whats to come but it still feels surreal! I don't know if the reality of these two amazing babies will hit until we meet them this August. 

Trying to get pregnant - for any couple - gay or straight - is a journey. 

Granted, there are still some beyond lucky people that have their ooops! babies and good for them for being the recipient of an amazing gift that many people are yearning for. 

Our journey was rough, but in looking back from the first unsuccessful IUI to now - it was all so freaking worth it to be sitting here today with this lil bump on my lap and feeling nauseous usually 15 hours a day. Totes worth it. 

It seems so unfair that some people can't get prego...seems inhumane almost.  A friend has been on her fertility journey for TWO YEARS. I give her and her hubby so much credit for being so strong throughout. AND especially for pushing forward and keeping on trying especially without insurance. My heart hurts for them and I wish there was something I, or anyone, could do for them.

We have 6ish months left until we meet our bambinos. Hoping nonstop I can keep these lil ones cooking until at least August 11th (38 weeks) I am sure the next 6 months will be filled with more worry and even more excitement but I hope we both take the time to constantly remember and appreciate just how damn lucky we really are. 

Saturday, February 16, 2013

FB

Well, tonight we finally got to do our great reveal to Facebook - such a milestone this is! 

After 30 minutes of taking pics - some being strong candidates for awkwardpregnancyphotos.com - we finally decided on our reveal photo that makes me want to just squeeze Erin's face because of her lil smirk that I love! 


While we were busy stalking our Facebooks to be sure that we did not miss a single comment or like, Erin ran out to the car and brought in a gift for the bambinos that she has been holding onto...Starting the babies library off right :) 
Have a great weekend all!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Pics

In typical first-time-parent fashion, Erin and I have been taking weekly pics of how our babies and therefore, my waistline are growing. It is something we look forward to weekly even though we take these pics just for us - it is a fun thing to do and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is prego (or trying to get prego so you can compare your pre and post prego bod - even if the thought of comparing the two makes you cringe - I am interested to see how my bod changes both during and after pregnancy)

Also, I would absolutely recommend keeping a blog of your experiences...this has been an amazing outlet and a way to keep track of all the happenings over the past few months. 

Funny tidbit - after our second flare up of OHSS that was characterized with 5 days of hospitalizations, doc appts, and pain - we geared up to take our prego pic for that week. and holy hell was there a bump (probs close to what I have now) Fast forward 1 week and we again get ready to take our weekly pic and the bump is GONE. We compared the pics for probs 20 minutes. Part of me panicked, 'oh shit, something is wrong - the babies shrunk'  (logical, huh?) Gave us a laugh none-the-less.

I am now getting called out on my growing bump which is so fine by me...Most people have said I look about 20 weeks (when we are 11.5 weeks) but with twins, they take up extra room in there which is also probs why I want to ralph if I ever eat more than 1/2 a sandwich in one sitting. 
I am totes okay with getting big and I am more than aware and accepting of the fact that my bikini days are OVER. I'll rock a damn tankini proudly. I'll be MORE than happy to ever get back in the ballpark of my pre-prego weight of 138-140ish. (the 'ish gives me the cushion of probs never getting back to that area but with the 'ish anywhere within a 10 pound spread is acceptable)

Anywho - Here we were this past weekend at 11 weeks - yay! Pardon my creeper, awkward smile. 



This weekend we will be announcing to facebook that we are expecting our lil ones. It's crazy that this has actually been a discussion of when to not only let the world know but HOW to tell facebook that we are prego. Does facebook really matter that much? (said the facebook addict that is in denial of her own addiction)

We came up with a few clever ideas as I am not a fan of posting the u/s pic as an announcement. Not knocking it but just not my thing (probably because until recently I did not have an appreciation for the amazingness of u/s pics!) I'll be sure to post our announcement on here as well!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Photo bomb

Prior to being prego, I never really "got" u/s photos. Of course when a loved one found out they were prego, I would oooo and ahhh over the lil alien like creature on the bad quality photo but never fully grasped the amazingness of the photo. 
Perhaps selfish, because of course it was a baby in the pic who I was going to smuggle and love but never really "got" the awesomeness of it. 

With that being said, being prego has totally changed my perceptions on u/s photos and if it was not socially unacceptable, I probs would carry around a photo album with me daily to show strangers how much my lil babies are growing. 

and I give you, the beanie and squishy show...







Worry. Deep Breath.

Almost exactly a month from the last time I had some bleeding....it started yet again so off to the doc I went this morning for an u/s. 

I do have to say that I miss our fertility docs even more! 
Now that we are with our OB, ultrasounds are not done in the office...rather they are done in the perinatal testing center and then the report sent to your OB. The u/s tech was amazing and the u/s doc was great as well so I am not knocking them at all. I just miss our old techs who knew us by name! 

But most importantly, the babies are fine. The doc actually said all is perfect. Babies are measuring perfect with heartbeats at approx 160.


The tech was at first concerned that Baby A (beanie) had a slight tear in the placenta but the u/s did not show any positive result of that - THANK BABY JESUS! 

We will be going back in a week and a half for our first trimester screening however, I am now wondering if it is necessary? It tests for downs and tri-18. The tech today measured the babies necks and all is perfect. If there was a thickening of the neck (spine), then that would suggest that something is wrong but all looks perfect. Soooo, we will make that decision in the next few days! Part of me wants to still have the testing just to get to see the babies sooner rather than later as we will not have another u/s for probs 5-6 weeks when we find out the gender - YAY!!!! 

Erin is thinking it is 2 girls and I am thinking 1 boy and 1 girl. Obvi as long as both are strong and healthy we will take whatever combo that we get! 

So for now, doc reassured that all is okay. Take it easy. I will limit the heavy lifting and count down the days til we can see the doc again (March 7th!) 

We did get a ton of pics today...I'll post as soon as I can...they are growing so big and were kicking and wiggling all about! 

Monday, February 11, 2013

10 weeks 4 days

I am a bit behind on my updates here so I'll do a quick catch up...Last week we had our final appt with our amazing fertility team - such a bittersweet day! This team has been so amazing. We are truly going to miss seeing them every week. We are sending a thank few thank you gifts but our thank you's come no where close to expressing our true gratitude and thankfulness of these amazing people!!! 

We also had our first OB appt which was quick and to the point. Such a different experience than the fertility docs. No u/s - no b/w - no exam. Just a quick convo and a pat on the back w/ a see ya in 4 weeks. While I have full faith in these docs and I know we are in great hands, I do wish for more of a personal experience. I know some of this is my own psychosis of wanting to see these babies every week and make sure that they are okay but the doc knows best! 

Our next appt is in 3.5 weeks and that does not include an u/s but I am waiting for a call back from the doc to check in on first trimester screening as well as since we will then be almost 15 weeks perhaps we can find out the genders of these lil miracle! 

Here's a pic of our lil ones at 10 weeks 4 days...Once again, they were dancing all around - arms and legs flailing about - They must of gotten their dance moves from their Mama Erin ;)



Monday, February 4, 2013

Hungry. Nauseous. Full. Nauseous. and Repeat.

While I am enjoying every millisecond of being prego - it sure as all hell does do some crazy shiz to your bod. 

My days are filled with a cycle of being hungry - starving even - which quickly turns to nausea - I force myself to eat - almost immediately, I am full - and almost immediately, I am nauseous again. Shortly later, starving again...and so on. 

To help alleviate this I totally have a fat girl purse going on which is stocked with granola bars, fig newtons, an apple, a tub of peanut butter and pending on the day probs some edamame or cheese its.  Not always the healthiest selections but I am limited as the thought of so many foods makes me want to hurl at that instant. 

I have lost about 1.5 pounds which shocks the hell out of me as per doc orders I haven't exercised in 2 months (thank YOU enlarged ovaries) and most days feel as if all I do is eat! This week I am going to track my food a bit closer than usual to make sure I am getting in the calories that these lil bambinos need. I KNOW they needed that vanilla milkshake last night at 10pm - I drank it for them - not me!  

Per the usual - counting down the days til we see our lil ones again...this week they are the size of prunes - so freaking amazzzzzing. 

Also, this past weekend, 2 family friends who were not aware that I was prego saw me and knew immediately. These lil ones are making my belly grow :)Still small but it is definitely there. It was an amazing feeling to get congratulations from people whom we did not yet tell about the babies. Still feels surreal that we are THIS lucky. 

Back to my bod - my old jeans are in the back of the closet and I am having a long term relationship with my yoga pants. Luckily, Old Navy has saved my ass and allowed me to expand my collection to 4 pairs. Trying not to spend too much moolah on "winter" clothes as spring is not too far away. 

I'm off to procrastinate on school work and read more about how our lil ones are growing this week :)