Out of Breath! Twins? (Read my last post for update!)

[littlebeagle]

Hello!
This is my 3rd baby (well, not including 2 miscarriages in 98 and 99) and so far, everything's going okay. The strangest thing is happening though. I'm only about 7wks PG and when I climb a flight of about 14 stairs, I am a little out of breath and my belly feels a little strained. The strained feeling is nothing major, just enough to barely notice. Also, I cannot really lay flat on my tummy anymore; it's starting to feel squooshed and uncomfortable. The getting bigger sooner thing I expected, but I did NOT expect to be a little out of breath when I climbed a flight of stairs at the silly mark of 7wks!! I remember that kind of thing later on, like around 8months or so. But certainly not at 7wks. I'm not a large woman by any means. I'm no exercise nut, but I'm fairly fit; wear size 2 or 4 jeans, depending on the brand. I did gain some weight before I got PG, but it was only about 10-15 lbs, but I could still comfortably fit into my regular jeans. I realize all PG's are different, but isn't being winded at 7wks is a little ridiculous? Could I be having twins, you think? [My maternal grandfather's mother was herself a twin, and someone (I think my hubby's grandmother) was PG with twins also.] Anyone else experiencing this??

[aprildawn]

i'm a little out of breath too at 8.5 weeks. been that way for a couple of weeks now. it's because your heart is working harder to pump the extra blood you're making. prior to becoming pregnant i was running, still do but i've cut back on the intensity. so, i don't think it has anything to do with being in or out of shape. it has everything to do with being pregnant.

let us know whether or not there are twins in there, though!

[speedknitter]

I am having the same symptom, just started in the last day or two, and I am 6 weeks tomorrow. Glad to hear that others are having the same thing....twins, oh my god! I guess we will (maybe) find out next week at the doc.

[littlebeagle]

Whew!

Glad I'm not the only one like this!! We certainly can't all be having twins, so it's probably unrelated! Good thing too because I think twins would be a bit overwhelming, to say the least!!

[heyitsnaomi]

I am definitely out of breath too. But I had the same situation last PG, and luckily there was only one baby girl in there ! :LOL

We were in tough times financially during our last pregnancy, and I had to apply for WIC. When I went to the office there was a very old woman working behind the counter who was loaded down with feather earrings and turqouise jewelry (she looked so out of place working at the WIC office). When I met with her to pick up my checks, she told me she saw "twins around me." It was crazy. Needless to say I was worried sick that we were *really* going to be in a tough financial situation. But there was only one heartbeat, and one baby. But of course I thought about that time again with this PG and wondered if maybe she saw them a little early. Yikes!

[littlebeagle]

feather earrings and turquoise jewelry. that's hilarious!!!! :LOL
I guess we'll both see about this twin thing; hopefully we just have one in there!! :

[esqueue]

out of breath

I've been getting short of breath for the past few weeks (I'm at week 6 now) but have attributed it to having low blood pressure pre-pregnancy. So with allof the extra blood it must be harder to push it all around now (which explains the dizziness everytime I stand up). I can attribute a lot of symptoms to the three beans growing in me, but hadn't considered being out of breath one of them. But, ya never know! I just want to know when I won't feel like puking all of the time and when my hair will stop falling out in gobs.

[littlebeagle]

esqueue-
Three Beans!!?? ...are you saying you're having triplets?
That has got to be exciting! Were you floored when you discovered 3?
(if that's what you meant)

[esqueue]

Out of breath! Twins?

Yes LB, there are three embyos growing in me. For anyone wondering if donor egg/donor sperm IVF works, I'm here to tell you it does!! I went through early menopause and it was my only option. The RE was floored when he saw my 12 days post transfer hormone levels. He called the doctor in Israel who runs the donor egg program to tell him about it. When we did the u/s at 30 days we knew there'd be more than one with the hormone levels what they were, but when we saw three we all took a deep breath in. I called my BF afterwards and he just kept saying "wow" over and over. I'm still saying "wow".

The reality check: there's every possibility that all three will not make it to the end of the first trimester. This is common, your body isn't designed to have that many babies (you have 2 breasts for a reason). If by some odd chance all three are still there I will have to have a selective reduction down to 2. It's a lousy thing to have to do but I'm a double high risk with one baby, triple high risk with 2, "shop for a casket" level of risk with 3 or more - and I'd like to survive this with all babies making it as close to term and alive as possible. It was a risk I accepted when we transferred more than one embryo. Everyone has to decide what they can live with, and it's a personal decision based on a lot of factors.

On the lighter side, 3 means more nausea, more abdominal pain, more fatigue (and of course this means that now is when we're having a government compliance inspection at work on MY work), I'm showing already (good thing I lost 30 lbs before I got pregnant, my old pants fit but are getting snug), more than half of my hair has fallen out and my poor, patient BF has to deal with an exhausted, nauseous lump most of the time and is being an absolute doll about it. I guess I'd better start sewing diapers now (or as soon as I can, when I feel less like puking all of the time - at least I only feel like it, not puking YET).

[littlebeagle]

Wow! What an ordeal!! That is a lot to think about, a lot to chew on. I'm so glad getting PG was successful for you. When you say your doctor contacted the doctor in Israel who runs the donor egg program... does that mean they came from Israel? If so, that is really NEAT!!

So what happens if one baby doesn't make it to the end? Or if you have to do the reduction you mentioned? Does that baby still stay in there until the end, not living? I figure it must because I wouldn't imagine there'd be any way to remove him/her without affecting the others, but I thought I'd ask.

Sounds like you have a lot to manage, and then throw the govt inspection in there. Hopefully things will mellow out soon.

[esqueue]

It is a lot to think about, mind boggling frequently. Thankfully, I had nearly a full year from when I decided to do IVF to when the transfer actually happened to think all aspects over. Things are still popping up that I hadn't considered, but I take them as they come.

The donor program is run out of Romania by doctors from Israel. www.globalartusa.com is their website. I'm pretty lucky that my only infertility issue was early retirement of the ovaries, otherwise everything seems to be in working order, so I'm a step ahead of most IVF patients.

From what I've read, the reduction involves using u/s to guide a needle to inject potassium chloride into the least viable embryo. What happens from there I'm unsure. I'm guessing either resorption or expulsion, otherwise I would worry about infection of the others. I'll find out more when I meet the perinatologist. If one fails to thrive on it's own it'll either be absorbed or be expelled (partial m/c). My friend's daughter absorbed her third one.

The auditors seem to have set up camp in our offices, so I'm not sure when I get rid of them. However, they show up irregularly so thankfully, I can just call and see if they showed and come in only when they do (I'm part time and on slow-season layoff right now, I only come in as needed and every so often to keep my books caught up during the summer). The beauty of seasonal work. It was good timing, being on layoff when I feel like heck.

[MyCalling]

You never know. You could be having twins. That was my main symptom that made me think I was having twins and sure enough I was right. Mother's intuition.

Jessi

[littlebeagle]

Update- Had a Sono

Original Poster here.

I had a sono at 9wks and it showed one baby. I've heard cases where the babies could be exactly side by side, causing one to be hidden. I asked the sonographer (whatever you call them) if she was sure there was one, and she said yes. She said she went from one side to the other and there is only one. Do you think it's still possible to miss this at 9wks? I figured that since the baby is so small at this point, that it'd be pretty easy to spot two in there. Just wondering if you thought so too???

[MaryLang]

Well, I was almost suspecting twins, it runs in my family. I think pregnancy is different for everyone, this time I'm a lot more out of breath than with my first. All of my symptoms are very exagerated this time. At first when my doc was listening for a heart beat, she couldn't find it, she said there was just so much activity in there,also my uterus was measuring a few weeks ahead of my LMP date. So they pulled me into the u/s room and we got to see some good shots of our ONE baby. He/she was measuring exactly to the date, its just that my uterus is a little big. So anyways thats my "maybe its twins" story. And I think that if they only saw one, they are most likely right.