It's...

a boy and a girl! We went to Dr. Gonzales yesterday for our level 2 ultrasound. The ultrasound tech was able to tell us right away that baby a is a girl and baby b is a boy. We even got the spread eagle position from the boy to prove it but I didn't want to put the picture on here and embarrass him before he is even born! We are very excited that there is one of each. The tech and doctor looked for and took measurements of everything...legs, arms, hands, fingers, feet, toes, heart chambers, kidneys, head, etc. Everything looks great on both! The boy is the top picture and the girl is the bottom picture. Now we have to come up with names for each.

17 Week Doctor's Appointment

I went to the last doctor in my group, Dr. Rogers, yesterday for my 4 week appointment. He did a scan so he could find both of the babies but I didn't get any pictures. Both of the babies are looking good still. One of them was flailing its arms and legs all over the place. It has been very active every time I have had a scan or ultrasound. The other one is much more calm. I am curious to see if they are like that once they are out...one constantly moving and the other much calmer. I go back to my OBGYN in four weeks. I got a phone call earlier in the week from the high risk doctor's office. They said my blood test came back so they knew the chance of down's sydrome. They said the babies are fine. There is a 1:370 chance of down's sydrome which they do not seem concerned about at all. Next Friday is my big appointment at the high risk doctor. I go for my level 2 ultrasound and should find out what the babies are as long as they cooperate.

Update

I haven't posted anything in awhile so I figured I would add an update. Nothing too exciting has been going on. I had an appointment on April 7th with the midwife in my practice. I have to see all of the people who can deliver when I am pregnant so that is why I had to see her. The chance of her actually delivering the babies is very slim since she can't do a c-section and a lot of twin births seem to be c-sections. She found the heartbeats for both of the babies so I got to hear that. She is not allowed to do ultrasounds but I was a little surprised because both of the heartbeats were next to eachother and 1 1/2 weeks before one baby had been on top and one had been on the bottom so she had one of the doctors come in and do a quick scan. Sure enough one of the babies had moved down. She said everything looks good. I was almost 14 weeks when I went to her but when she checked to see how far along I was measuring she said I was measuring at 19 weeks. She said that is common for a twin pregnancy to measure ahead. Several people have been asking to see what my belly looks like so I am including a picture with this posting. The picture was taken at 15 1/2 weeks. I was 16 weeks yesterday so it is what I look like currently.

High Risk Doctor Appointment- March 27, 2008

I had my first visit with the high risk doctor today. I had made an appointment with Dr. Wallace but once I was in the room Dr. Gonzales walked in instead. I liked him though so it is okay. He did an NT scan to check for diabetes. We won't have the results for a few weeks but he said from what he saw both babies looked good. It is amazing how much they look like babies now and how much we were able to see. He said the babies are in bunk beds...one is on the bottom and one is on the top. That explains why I feel so much pressure when I sit down initially. He said it is too early to tell what the babies are but his guess is two girls because there is a white line on the babies in the anatomy area and he said if it is girls the line sticks out straight and if it is boys the line is diagonal. I go back to him on May 9 and then I will find out what they are.

Second OBGYN visit- March 11, 2008

Today I went to meet with Dr. Henderson. He is another doctor in the practice I go to. They make me see all of the doctors there when I am pregnant. I heard both of the babies heartbeats. The babies are definitely getting bigger. The neatest thing was when Dr. Henderson was doing the ultrasound one of the babies was kicking its legs.

First OBGYN visit

I had my first visit with Dr. Gould today. I was asked a ton of background questions by the nurse and then Dr. Gould came in and did an ultrasound. Both babies look great! He said I will probably have the babies sometime between September 1-10 since it is twins but I could have them as early as the end of August if my blood pressure gets too high or if I go into preterm labor. He said to expect restricted activity beginning in the middle of July.

2nd Ultrasound

I went for my 2nd ultrasound yesterday. I heard both of the heartbeats and saw both of the babies again. They still just look like two blobs. The doctor said I have subchorionic bleeding in my uturus but said this is nothing to be concerned about. I was released from Dr. Ziegler (the fertility doctor) and have my appointment with my OB-GYN on Wednesday.

How many?

We went for our first ultrasound this morning at 9:00. The ultrasound tech looked to see how many babies there were and told us there were two. We are having twins! We saw both babies and saw the heartbeats on both. We also heard the heartbeats although Baby A's was an easier heartbeat to hear because Baby B is hiding behind Baby A. Stu is a little shocked but he has 8 months to get used to the idea of twins. The top picture is Baby A and the bottom picture is Baby B.

2nd Beta

I went to the doctor's office again this morning for bloodwork. Normally they would have had me in two days later which would have been Saturday but they were not open so they had me come in today. The embryologist told me that they were looking for my numbers to at least quadruple. My number on Thurday was 485. My number today was 2456! So it more than quadrupled. The embryologist told me that the high number means there is a good chance that there is more than one baby. I go next Friday, February 15th for my first ultrasound. That ultrasound will be with the ultrasound tech and they will be looking to see how many babies there are. The next ultrasound will be with Dr. Ziegler.

Pregnancy Test

I went to the fertility doctor this morning for a bloodtest to see if I am pregnant. They told me they would call with the results in the afternoon. I checked my phone all day and they finally called around 3:30. The nurse told me that I was pregnant and said that my numbers are high which is great. My level is 485. Now I have to continue to take the progesterone injections, take the estrace pills two times a day, take 5 mg of folic acid, take a baby aspirin, and start lovonox injections. The things you will go through to have a baby. I go on Monday for another blood test. They want to make sure my levels are still increasing. They should quadruple by then. After that I have my first ultrasound where I will find out if it is one or two babies. I should also get a due date around then although based on babycenter.com my due date is October 9th. We will continue to keep you updated.

IVF

I am setting up this blog so that our friends and family can follow along with us. We had invitro done this past week. The egg retrieval was done on Thursday, January 17th. The embryologist was able to fertilize 20 eggs and the next day 18 still looked great! I was originally scheduled to have the embryo transfer on Sunday, January 20th but the doctor's office called the day before and said that since they all looked so great they were going to wait two extra days and take them to the blastocyst stage. I had a day 5 transfer done on Tuesday, January 22nd. Two embryos were put back in. We had 11 extra that we froze incase we have to go through IVF again. The embryologist said they all looked great and it was hard for him to decide which two to put back in. I go on Thursday for a blood test to see if I am pregnant. I have been thinking positive thoughts and can't wait to find out. Thank you to our friends and family for being so supportive. It means a lot to us.