still here

Hello Blogosphere!

I am so sorry I have been so bad at keeping up with the blog. It has brought me such joy that some of you have reached out to me to ask how I am doing.

I am doing great - still pregnant, still twins.

I am just so so so so tired all the time. i really don't want to sound like a complaining pregnant woman, it's just debilitating tired all.the.time. I feel like such a slacker at work, because I just have.to.leave at like 6:30 pm. I have to go home and take a nap, and then I can work a little more. It's major "crunch time" at my work, so it's not a good time to be slacking off.

So, that's my excuse. I work, I sleep. I try to eat. I forget, or am too tired to blog.

i'm going to be better at blogging, though, because it gives me a good release, and I need that.

So, what I'm working on right now is going to be blogging more, and eating more. It is so so hard. Actually, Carlos just walked in while I'm typing this, and asked, "Did the babies have breakfast yet this morning?"
I said, i had some crackers."

He said, "Not enough, let me get you some cereal. And as he opened the brand new milk carton. "I see you didn't have milk last night before you went to bed."

This might be annoying to some of you, but he says it in the sweetest way, and it's because he cares. I read that I needed to have 2700 calories a day, and I think I've been having half that, maybe. I asked him to help me to eat more. I really don't want to affect their growth by not eating enough.

By the way, I have been working on a long blog post about PGD. If you have any questions about PGD that I can answer, please send them to me, and I'll make sure to include them in the post I have upcoming!

ultrasound report

Hello - If you are here from ICLW, feel free to read this post to start..

Well, here goes the ultrasound report..

But let me start at the beginning.

So yesterday, I was super super tired. I pretty much laid on the couch all day long. Then this morning, as we were leaving, I just wasn't feeling completely well. I wasn't feeling nauseous, like I needed to run to the bathroom, but just feeling not all that well.

Oh yeah, and yesterday I felt this same way. Like a little dizzy from time to time.

So, then this morning we got there, and could tell the doctor was behind. I was feeling so so tired and just not completely well.

Finally I heard my name. It was the Dr. Hugs coming to get me. So nice that it was the actual doctor. He hugged me as always and asked how i was feeling. I told him I wasn't so good, and he said, "we'll do your blood pressure and all your vitals after we do the ultrasound." They used to do my blood pressure every time, but now that i've got it under control with meds, they stopped checking it.

So i got undressed and he put the magic wand in. I glance up at the screen and knew instantly what i saw, even though i had never seen one before. Basically, the big black blob. When you are making eggs, it's a follicle. And when you are looking at the gestational sacs, it's a sac!

...and in my case, there were two!

and we even got to see two heartbeats!

I was beyond thrilled.. but even more scared.

So we checked my blood pressure and it was low. So, he told me to start cutting my pills and taking one half of the dose. I have no problem with that! I don't like taking it anyway, but i do faithfully.

So, that's it! TWINS!! One boy, one girl, two hearts beating wildly.

To put it mildly, for me and Carlos, it was love at first sight.

welcome ICLW

Hello ICLWers.

It's my favorite time of the month, discovering new blogs, making new friends, spending even more time on the internet. ;)

Here's the quick background on me and this blog. We are 6 weeks and 3 days pregnant as of Monday, 9-21. This pregnancy is the result of an FET. We are beyond thrilled, but still scared and hopeful. We did IVF with ICSI and PGD, so if anyone has any questions on any of that, I'm happy to help.

If you want a little more background on me, I made a list of things I love for the last ICLW.

Now for our regularly scheduled programming...

So, I had written this list of all the thoughts in my head of things to do after I first got a positive HPT. I've started on a few of them..

1. Carlos and I went car-shopping this past weekend. Just for fun. Not to buy yet at all. It's so funny how car salesmen really think they can convince you to buy a car. I'm like, do you really think I'm going to test-drive on the day I buy? No, I'm going to send you an email telling you the price I want to pay. If you email me back, I buy the car. Today, we are in the research phase.

2. I also had thought about making an OB doctor appointment. I was worried that I would call when I get released from the RE and find out I can't get an appointment. Is it too early to call to get an appointment?

Well, this one got this best of me, and I called this past week. I was at work, so I was trying to be quiet, even though I was in a closed door cubicle. I told the scheduler my name, date of birth, etc, and then she asked, "what do you want to come in for?" I whispered, "I'm pregnant. (I honestly don't think I had said that out loud yet."

Her immediate response to me: Do you want to keep the baby?

I was shocked. I couldn't hep it. I think I screamed, "Heck yeah! I did IVF!"

It was surreal that that was her first question to me. I guess my whispering made me sound young and scared or something.

Anyway, appointment made at the 10 week mark.

So. more on the rest of my list later in the week.

Today is our first ultrasound. I'll post an update later today.

the results are in...

well, the results are in...

so, we went in at 8:30 for the blood draw for my beta. Afterward, we went to church and then lunch and running errands. I fully expected the nurse to call before we got home, so when we started heading home from lunch, I asked Carlos if he thought I should call.

Because it's Sunday, and they only see patients half day. By this time, it was almost 12 noon. What if they had forgotten to call? There was a lot of people in the waiting room this morning. What if they finally got everyone in and out, and finally got themselves out and just forgot to call? Totally irrational, I am completely aware.

So, I called. The receptionist said, "The results probably aren't back yet. The nurse will call you." Darn, I was sort of hoping they would just get her, because really, I knew the results were in.

We get home, I'm still waiting for the phone to ring. And then... I remember that another woman had told me that she found her results online on the patient portal even before they called! I was so excited and I went and looked.

I had calculated the number that "doubling every 48 hours" would bring on this day. and I knew that anything over 2400 would be a good sign.

So, when I saw the number 5740, I was extremely excited.

And I did what any normal infertile with a computer would do.

I dialed up the BetaBase.

I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but today is 18dp5dt, which I think is 23 days past ovulation.

So , the betabase said..

... the median number for singletons is 2358.

and the median number for twins is 5047.

I am not drawing any conclusions at all based on the beta numbers. They can vary so greatly between pregnancies.

But I sure am excited for my ultrasound next Monday! Praying for at least one heartbeat!

Thank you, Lord!