IVF Graduates thread!! - Page 3

[Keria]

Rena 4 more days till your u/s I have an u/s that day as well. It's normal here tas well to live with the parents because this freaking city is so expensive it's really hard for a young couple to get their own place. DH is canadian and think it's crazy that we are living with my parents lol. Especially since we lived by ourselves when we were in Canada and he has lived on his own since he was 18. We finally have the money for the down payment and hopefully we'll find a great place soon. I'm really close to my parents as well and we get along great.

Kewpie hopefully your MIL can go and help but if not I'm sure you'll manage. One hting that I've read is that you should not worry about landry or cleaning as long as everyone is alive byu the en d of the day that's what matters.

[TenzinsMama]

Hi everyone, I hope all is well with each of you. 

Ummm, not sure about the doppler now... DH looked into it and it would cost $500 for one.  We could rent one for $40 a month, though... still thinking on it.  If I rented it, I wouldn't do it for the whole time, just maybe this next month, but we'd have to order it online and I'm not sure how long it would take. 

Not much else happening here... no news is good news!

[Keria]

Tenzin look on ebay, there are some dopplers there for 29,99 I think

[Kewpie80]

tenzin - I paid $50 for my doppler and it works well.  If you want the site info, I might still have it somewhere.

[renavoo]

Wow, Kewpie, if you could let me know what brand it is, that would be great!! I went on Amazon and saw a couple of them but I don't know which is the best one to buy! How are you feeling?

Keria, It'll definitely be nice to have your parents support when the babies come! I hope that your US turns out great! Is it just a check in?

[Kewpie80]

Whoops... it was actually $100... It's been a while since I bought it and was remembering wrong.  This is the site where we got it 

http://ababyoutlets.com/hi_bebe_fetal_doppler_bt200.htm

We got the BT-200.  It's 2MHz.  It looks like they now have a 3MHz for $20 more. It came with the u/s gel which I have yet to use up.

I started using mine at 9 weeks.

I also looked at the sonoline B and I've heard really good things about that one too from multiple people.  

ETA: I've been feeling pretty good.  I gained 3/4 of an inch on my belly this week and it's starting to get really heavy.  I'm now 53 inches around.   DH and I are placing bets as to whether or not I will be bigger around than I am tall by the end.

[BellyBean]

Hi Ladies, I thought I would pop over here and see what was going on!  I mean "technically" I am an IVF graduate from 2009 :)  haha.  I am excited for my beta today, but worried too!  Worried it will be too low or too high...I know DH says I "like to thread the needle" all the time!  Ideally for us, there is just one little bean in there, but we would certainly be happy with 2 as well.  It would just take a little adjustment. 

Renavoo, you made me laugh about your mom and her saying it was impossible for you to be having 2!  :)  We also haven't told anyone, but if there were 2 I think most people would suspect (since I lost a tube and all).  Not sure what I would tell people.  Can't wait to hear how your u/s goes today!!!!!!  My clinic would do my first u/s the week of Thanksgiving, I need to figure out how many weeks I would be by then...if my beta numbers are good.

Kewpie, wow December is right around the corner!!  I am so excited to see your beautiful little ones!

Keria, congratulations on looking for a new house.  I am one of the weird people who like moving and the "fresh" start involved.  It's nice you will still be close to family though.  Both of our parents live within 20 miles and it has been so nice having them around.

Tear, sorry you have to go back to work, but it looks like you were able to take a lot of time off to spend with Anika. I am so far ahead of myself, but if I were to have a singleton from this transfer, my due date would be 7/15 :)

On the "mix up" topic, I got really freaked out at my new clinic, because my first blood draw the lady asks me to look at the sticker to verify the information and my last name was spelled wrong - but it was another common last name!  I was really freaked and wanted to go through my whole file looking for any other name errors.  She said she had just mispelled it when she typed it and not to worry, but I it has stayed in the back of my mind. 

[Kewpie80]

Belly - I saw your beta # on the other thread.  Fantastic!!  I am so excited for you!  Yikes aboiut the name mixup!!  Wow, that would so freak me out too.  I've had a dream or two where I gave birth to african american babies and that's how we found out about a "mixup." 

renavoo - I'm bringing this over from the other thread too... Some info that I've gotten from family and friends with twins... Of course take and use what you want and discard the rest. 

http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Expecting-Twins-Triplets-Quads/dp/0061803073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320705327&sr=8-1 this book has been recommended to me multiple times over and I've read it twice now.  The only thing that I disagree with it on is the rate of weight gain.  They say to gain it as quickly as you can by 24 weeks.  Their reasoning makes sense, but I was really freaking myself out in the beginning cause all I was doing was losing.  After talking to a bunch of other twin mamas, I've found that my rate of growth is pretty typical.  (gained slowly or lost in the first trimester, gained slowly in the second, and then gain rapidly in the end of second and all of third)

Some advice I got from SIL and I am SOO glad I listened is to slow down and take it easy as much as you can.  Especially once you get towards the end of second trimester and onward.  Twin pregnancies measure 6-8 weeks ahead of a singleton so it's quite a bit rougher on your body.  My OB told me that it is very common to be put on bedrest at least once when you have twins, so try to prepare a little bit ahead of time.  A singleton pregnant mom can spend third trimester getting ready for the birth and setting up, where a twin mom really needs to do this in second trimester.

After the birth, for getting the babies on the same schedule, when one gets hungry, wake the other and feed them at the same time.  I've been told that after about 4 or so weeks, they will line up and wake up together and get hungry together.

I'm sure I'll think of other things, but these are the ones that popped into my head.  I'm sure Keria and Bungalowmama will have some good ideas too.   

AFM - We moved my 3D us up a week, so it'll be a week from today.  We had an OB appt this morning and she said that earlier is better than later with twins since they get cramped so early and it's difficult to see their faces after a certain point.  So, you all can expect to be bombarded with 3D pics next monday... I spent part of the weekend in the hospital again.  It felt like one of the babies was falling out.  It was an odd feeling.  It felt like someone was scraping their fingernails over my cervix and then I had shooting pains through my vagina and then TONS of pressure like the head was pushing down.  It turns out it's just a bladder infection.  The bladder is so close to the cervix I couldn't tell the difference, I guess.  They put me on an anitobiotic and it has a warning that it will change urine colors... and sorry if this is TMI, but they weren't kidding.  It looks like I've been drinking yellow highlighter pen ink.   Good news is my cervix is staying put where it was at my last measurement and my last 2 fetal fibronectin tests have come back negative, so that means the likelyhood of me going into labor in the next 2 weeks is less than 2%.  So, I should at LEAST hit 30 weeks! :)

[Keria]

Rena Yay for strong heartbeats, I didn't believe it either until I saw the two little ones in there.

Woohoo belly Yay for a  great Beta. The mix up would freak me out too but I'm sure everything is fine. And I'm sorry to tell you this but I think you'll be joining us with TWINS.

We had a long day at the doctors office, the u/s was good the babies are looking more like babies and less like little aliens and all parts are accounted for. It seems like both babies have fallen a bit on their growth curve my little boy has always measured ahead and today he was measuring 2 days behind and my little girl was measuring 1 day behind on the last u/s and today she measured 6 days behind, the doctor wasn't concerned but I am. I'm feeling a little guilty because I stopped taking my prenatals a while ago and with the holidays coming I have had more work than usual. I'll start back with my vitamins and try to take it easy. Hopefully they'll catch up by the next u/s.

[renavoo]

Kewpie, THANK YOU FOR THE ADVICE!!! It is so invaluable to have people like you on the forums who are so willing and wonderful to share your advice. haha I went on amazon yesterday right after I found out and I saw this book so I immediately got it on my kindle. I started reading already! i loved that it said that i should eat ice cream if I'm unable to drink whole milk (I can only drink skim milk and I love skim milk) hehe i told my DH and he said that the book was definitely written for me. ;o) But yeah, their rate of weight gain scared me a bit...I just can't imaging eating as much as they are saying...I barely feel the urge to eat at all...I eat because I basically force the food into me since i know i need to but these days, I'm feeling quite nauseated. I'm not vomiting, so that's good but I know it's early yet.

Ugh to a bladder infection!! Is it starting to resolve with the medication they gave you? hehe very nice electric pee. i know this is off subject but when you described the urine, i immediately thought about mountain dew. ugh right? hahaah I cannot wait to see your 3D US!! Did you request it or does your ob typically just like to do those regularly? I know you didn't get to get one of Maisie last time so it's catch up time! And YAH to making it to week 30. Now just a few more weeks after that and you're golden.

Keria, I'm sure that the babies go through growth spurts and slow down only to get better again. However, out of curiosity, why did you stop taking your prenatals? Were they giving you stomach aches? I hear that a lot and seriously, my pills are horse pills...they are huge! i'm sure the one day, the nausea will get the better of me and I'll definitely have trouble swallowing them! as for working, i'm completely with you. I was just told that i have a big project to work on on top of all the work i currently have and I'll have to travel to San Diego in the beginning of Dec for a presentation. I'm already really bad about flying and sleeping when I'm traveling...this will just make it worse. I don't know if I need to talk to my boss to let them know that I need to take it easy or what? I mean, I don't plan on slacking but I also can't work until 10pm every night!! (typically, my hours are around 9-7pm but projects like this new one often necessitate working extra time)

Belly, I'm so happy you're here!!! I also would get freaked out like you did, if that happened but , the clinic seems pretty buttoned up so I'm sure it really was just a clerical error. Hopefully, your beautiful beta numbers have now calmed your anxiety about that. haha there is so much else to be anxious about!!!

Seriously, I can't describe how happy I am for you that you're here. Stories like yours make the hardship all worth it!

Hugs ladies!!

[blueyezz4]

Keria - praying that the little ones catch up and keep growing strong.  I guess it is good that your dr isn't as concerned b/c i'm sure if it was a big issue for them they would have said something. 

Kewpie - how scary!!  I'm glad it was just a bladder infection.  Hope the antibiotic helps to clear it all up.  That is the last thing you need right now.

Tenzi - how are you feeling?  What is next for you?

Renavoo - good to see your name over here.  Hope you get your book read and don't freak out.  I remember that time for us, at first i was so overwhelmed thinking i needed to get 2 of everything and how stress I was, but after a while that initial shock got better and wore off.  Deep breaths!!!

[Kewpie80]

renavoo - haha yeah, mountain dew is exactly how I'd describe it.  The pressure feeling has decreased, but now I've got fully fledged burn-when-you-pee complete with spasms, so I'm not a happy camper today, especially since I drink about a gallon of water per day.  Ugh! I can't wait till it's over.  I've been practicing positive thinking and relaxing when it hurts really bad.  Not quite the same as a contraction, but any practice is better than none, right?

Some tricks I've picked up for drinking a lot of water as long as I'm on the subject: sliced cucumber in ice water is SO good.  Lemon/lime added is pretty well known, but I really didn't try it until recently.  Decaff tea and coffee counts towards water intake.  I found drinking through a straw helps me get it down faster.  Oh, and an ounce of fruit juice added to 2 cups of water flavors it just enough to make it interesting, but doesn't add a lot of sugar.  

For eating, I SOOO didn't want to eat for weeks. I feel ya on that one.  SOmetimes it was cause I was sick, but also food just didn't appeal to me.  When I got to around 18 weeks, my appetite picked up and now I'm famished if I go more than 1.5 hours between snacks/meals.  

For the 3D u/s, the OB does it for "fun." It costs extra, but we figure it's worth it. 

[Keria]

Thanks blue doctor wasn't concerned because he said that at this point the u/s measurements are not that exact, also they seem to have long arms and legs but the abdominal circumference was throwing the measurements down so I guess they are just really skinny. Hopefully they'll chub up soon.

Rena I read "somewhere" that after 12 weeks the brain and nervous system is completely developed so it wasn't necessary to keep taking them. I stopped around 19 weeks because I was tired of taking pills. That sounds hard I would  speak to your boss about taking it easy, you'll be in the middle of your first tri and everyone is different but at that point I was exhausted all the time. Hopefully your boss will be understanding.

Kewpie looking forward to your 3d pics.

[Kewpie80]

I talked a lot with the OB yesterday about birth plans.  I'm not making a birth plan per se, but I want to have some general idea of what I want to do in different situations.  When I gave birth to my birthson 15 years ago, I did it without any drugs at all.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think they gave me pitocin to bring contractions on harder, and it was really bad.  It's kind of giving me anxiety, so I'm going to ask that they avoid it unless I REALLY need it.  If they induce me, it will probably be necessary, but I'm really doubting they'll need to induce me with my recent history... 

I talked to her at length about epidurals too.  If this were a singleton, I'd probably opt out of having one, but the chance of emergency c-section is so much higher, not to mention the higher risk that they will need to do a breech extraction or turn baby B, I'm really leaning toward wanting one.  If it turns to an emergency, they will do a general anesthesia and intubate me and DH will not be allowed in, so we'd both miss the birth.  If I already had an epi, they could add a spinal block really easily.

DH is NOT a fan of epidurals cause he's been told some things that scared him.  He was told that it can make the labor longer and stress the babies and his SIL (married to his brother) told him that it caused them to lose her baby's heartbeat and he came out blue and had to be resuscitated.  I talked to an anesthesiologist when I was at Duke and also the OB yesterday and they both said it was very unlikely the epi that caused it and probably either the cord or something else.  The OB said that the epi can make pushing last longer cause you can't feel the muscles to use as well, but it usually gets you to transition faster cause you are so relaxed.  DH is still scared of them and I just don't know what to do.  I would be CRUSHED if I had to miss the birth to go under a general and I'd never forgive myself.  I also am worried that I will freak out and tense up and stall.  DH wants to just wait and see what happens when we get there, but I'm a planner and want to have a good idea of what I plan to do ahead of time.  Ugh...

[Kewpie80]

Keria - I somehow missed your post yesterday... I hope the babies catch up!  That would make me so nervous!  Is this a sudden change or have they been lagging a little more each time?

[Keria]

Kewpie, It was only this recent scan in all the previous scans they have been measuring right at or ahead of their gestational age. I'll have anotehr scan in 3 weeks we'll see what how they look then.

I have not  begun to think about birth plans right now both babies are breech so we'll see where do they end up. I'm thinking I will want an epi for the same reasons you mentioned. Can the anesthesiologist reassure your DH about the epi?

[BellyBean]

Keira, I am glad your peri isn't worried about the babies.  I hope the next u/s shows them back on track! 

Kewpie, I went about 20 hours of back labor without the epi and was only 1cm dialated (which i was the week before at my last ob appt).  I got the epi, was able to take a few cat naps between the checks every 15 mins and was fully dialated in a couple hours with no more pain.  It was crazy!  But I agree the pushing was harder because I couldn't feel the contractions.  If I were in your shoes and there was a risk for emergency c-section, I would want to be awake instead of knocked out.  I hope you are starting to feel better!

Renavoo, how much weight do they want you to gain?  Since I had a singleton, I only ate when I was hungry, but I am sure it is different with twins!  They wanted me to gain 25-30lbs total, but I am not sure if they told me by trimester.  I have a couple friends that gained 70+ pounds with singletons :)  Did you tell your mom it is for sure twins yet?  What did she say?!?

AFM, second beta today...definitely worried about it.  I am scared this is going to be a cruel joke.  I have already let myself start "dreaming" about how it will be, and I just don't want the carpet ripped out from under me.  If this beta is on track I am going to call my OB and get some appointments set up.  That way I can have 2 u/s at my RE and then at least 1 more with the OB.  I need to see this baby!!

[Keria]

Belly when will you hear? I'm sure you 'll get a great number. And yes teh TWW for the u/s is hard

[renavoo]

Hi ladies!! Hope all is going well.

Belly, just wanted to say that I'm rooting for you and hoping you get a great beta result today! I'm going to see my ob next friday so I'll hear about my weight gain requirements then. i think that all the sites/books suggests a 40-50 pound weight gain with twins.

sigh, I had some brown spotting and cramps today. Not to mention the heartburn and nausea from hell. I'm so worried! I contacted my nurse who said that it's normal, especially since I'm using endometrin still but I hate spotting!

it's been a crazy work day too so I have not been having a good day. But right now, i decided to hide in my office and just take a load off to relax.

Until my next meeting, anyway!

Kewpie, DH knows I'm completely gungho about an epidural. haha I want the route that gives me the least pain possible. I hope your DH comes around!! It's not like he's the one who has to deal with the pain of giving birth!

[BellyBean]

Renavoo/Keira, hopefully I'll hear soon.  They normally call earlier so I am not sure if I should be worried or not?!

Renavoo, how many endometrim do you take each day?  Do you have some come out?  With my old capsules I expected it since it was more pasty, but since these are pills I was surprised I was seeing so much come out.  I am taking 3xday, plus 200mg oral progesterone 2xday.  Sorry you are having the spotting :(  Everytime I have a cramp out of nowhere, I start to worry.  I wish I was like my friends that don't have a care in the world and don't go see their OB until 12 weeks, just assuming everything is fine!

I wonder if my symptoms have changed/reduced because I went from PIO to the oral/vaginal?  Here's hoping that is what happened and not something much worse.