7 Weeks

Introducing,.....
"Twin A" who seems to be the outgoing one, always eager to pose for the camera- It seriously looks like two eyes facing front, and the arms are folded - kind of like a baby genie! Ok ok, I know there are no arms yet, only arm buds, but that's what it looks like to me!

And....
"Twin B"- they shy one, always evading the camera- we have not seen a really clear image of him/her yet. It seems the yolk sac makes a bigger appearance in this picture than B does!  Since they are not identical, and therefore not in the same spot, apparently this one is further away and that's what makes it difficult, but we did see the heartbeat and I guess that's what's important right now!

Here they are together... I couldn't decide whether to post this one or not, because they were REALLY uncooperative with being photographed together... It took forever just to get them in the same shot- forget about being in focus! I think you see more of the yolk sacs than either of them here... but here they are anyway, both measuring in at exactly 7 weeks.

There you have it! I have my first appointment with a regular OB next Monday- crazy! A doctor for "normal" pregnant people! No more fertility clinic!  This will make 3 appointments and 3 ultrasounds in 3 weeks. This is just perfect for me seeing as I am a natural worrier, I kind of need the constant reassurance!  Seriously, I grope my boobs about 10 times a day, just to make sure they are still sore, and freak out if the sensitivity lessens.  I'm counting down the days until the first trimester is over so that I can breathe a LITTLE easier!

Walking Contradiction

This week is going by surprisingly quickly which is great, because it means only three days until my second ultrasound.  I cannot wait to finally have some pictures! The whole twin thing is so very exiting, but kind of overwhelming at the same time when I try to imagine how I am going to manage two screaming babies at the same time in the middle of the night, or, how does one leave the house by oneself with two babies? Not to mention needing two of everything. I think we need a bigger house! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely wouldn't change a thing, and am incredibly grateful- I'm just still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing!

As for symptoms...
I swear every hour or so I'm struck by the most voracious hunger- like I haven't eaten in a month.  I'll be fine one minute, and the next I literally feel ill because I'm SO hungry.  Just today I was on my way home, and planned to stop at the grocery store right by my house to pick up just one thing, and almost didn't because I literally thought I might keel over if I didn't eat something that very second.  The kicker is, despite being so hungry all the time, I have to force myself to eat because nothing seems appetizing. Don't get me wrong, I CAN stomach anything without feeling the need to puke, I just don't want to.  Weird, I know- starving, but no appetite. I can't explain it.  This is especially the case with my own cooking.  I find it easier to eat things that have not come out of my kitchen, which is weird because normally I love to cook.

The other weird thing is, I am tired during the day, but I seriously cannot sleep at night.  This has been the case since a couple of days before I even found out I was pregnant.  I am literally up at least 3 times a night. Sometimes because I have to pee, but others, who knows. Then it takes me forever to fall back asleep, only to be up again in a couple hours.  I mean I've heard of this happening late in pregnancy, but at barely 7 weeks?  Oh, the best is when I wake up and then get the incredible hunger, so I have to stumble down to the kitchen at two in the morning to get some food if I'm to have any hope of going back to sleep.

So there you have it. Hungry but no appetite, and tired but can't sleep.  I feel like a walking contradiction!

Could you repeat that?

So up until this point, I have had no nausea whatsoever. However this morning, as we sat in the doctors office waiting for almost an hour to be seen (guess there was some issue with rebooting the ultrasound machine), I seriously thought I might throw up all over the waiting room because I was so nervous.  All those negative thoughts that I had tried so hard to push out of my head started flooding back- what if there is nothing there? what if there is no heartbeat?

Anyway, FINALLY it was our turn. We went in, got situated, the doc came in and finally the moment of truth... He started up the ultrasound, and the first thing he said was "Well, the pregnancies are in the right spot..." at which point my husband interrupted him and said "Excuse me? Did you just say pregnancIES?"  The doctor chuckled and said "You caught that did you? Yup, looks like there are two!" He then proceeded to measure each, and sure enough, there was a tiny flutter of a heartbeat in each one!

Holy crap!!!! TWINS!!! I don't even know what I was feeling, I was just in complete shock. Shock that there was actually something in there after all, and shock that there were TWO somethings in there!  As we walked out of the exam room, all the nurses congratulated us, and as we walked into the waiting room, a lady who was waiting to be seen got up and hugged us both and congratulated us.

We have another appointment next week Monday, and the doctor said he would give us some good pictures then, because at only 6 weeks and 1 day you really could barely make out anything at all. As I walked out with our fun little pregnancy packet, it finally hit me - We're pregnant! With TWINS!!!  Someone pinch me!

Drumroll...

So... HCG #3 this morning.  I must have checked my email for the results about a hundred times between 7:30 and 9:00 when they finally showed up. The results? 2016!!! Thats more than triple what it was on Tuesday!  Holy cow!  I called the nurse to see what I was supposed to do next, expecting to be told that I had to wait until week 7-8  for an ultrasound, which would have meant an excruciating two to three weeks. What did she say? The 17th! Six weeks! That's only 10 days from now!

Of course that means 10 days without any form of reassurance. I'll gladly take some symptoms as my reassurance, some nausea and vomiting sounds amazing.  So far my only symptoms are a stuffy nose + draining sinuses for the past 2 weeks, lots of peeing, and sore boobs- but hey, they've pretty much been sore for the past month with all the drugs anyway, so it's not a very novel symptom. I'm sure I'll eat my words eventually, but couldn't I have a little nausea please?

Has it sunk in yet? Not at all. I'm really trying, but it just doesn't seem real.  I'm beginning to think that it won't sink in until the ultrasound.  Until then, all I need to do is not drive myself insane!

So Far So Good...

It STILL has not hit me yet. Maybe that's a good thing because it's still so early and I know that anything can happen.  I got some reassurance yesterday when I finally got to call the doctors office, and the nurse told me that 257 was a very healthy number and not at all too high- PHEW!  She told me to go in for another HCG test today, which was a big bummer because I REALLY wanted to go in yesterday.  She told me that she was hoping to see 500. Well, just got the results back.... 589!!!

So.... I feel better.... for now.  

I have to go in for another HCG test on Friday, and  I have a feeling it might be the last one.  I might just go into a panic at not having that constant reassurance every 72 hours. 

1/1/11 Am I Dreaming??

This morning I woke up, not happy at all about the new year.  Hubs and I got into a silly fight last night, and rang in the new year on less than ideal terms.  Not to mention, I have been having horrendous cold/allergy symptoms for the past week, and now my abdomen is actually sore from coughing so much.

I was due for my HCG test this morning, and could not decide whether I should go to a different lab than normal (as it's a holiday, and mine's closed), or just wait until Monday and go to mine.  I was pretty certain that the test would be negative, and I thought that it would just be an unbelievably bad way to start the new year.  I got dressed around 8, then sat on the couch until about 11 when I finally figured I should just get it over with.

With Kaiser you can check your test results on line, so after the blood test I went back home, lay on the couch, and every half an hour or so, checked my email.  Eventually, about two hours later, I got the email "You have new test results".  I logged into my account, tentatively found the test, clicked on it for the results, and quickly closed my eyes.  PLEEASE, I thought, just let it be over 25.  I slowly opened my eyes, and what did I see?  257!!!!!!  Holy crap!! I'm.............. pregnant!!! I immediately freaked out, then started to panic that the number was too high, and that it could be ectopic or something, but after scouring the internet, found many other women who had really high HCG levels early on and it was fine.

Of course I ran out and bought a pregnancy test, just so that I could see it with my own eyes.  Got home, POAS, and lo and behold, a second line!!!!! Silly as it may sound, that was actually more realistic to me than the blood test. To be honest, it really hasn't sunk in yet.  It will be Monday before I hear from my doctor, and I am very cautiously optimistic.  The number being so high does concern me a tiny bit, but it's just hard to accept that it is real. Hubs is out golfing, so I'm holding off telling him until he gets home.

For now at least..... I"M PREGNANT!!!!