First visit with the Ob/Gyn

Our carrier "graduated" from the fertility clinic and is now seeing a new ob/gyn.  On Thursday, she established care and had another ultrasound at the new office and this time her husband videotaped the ultrasound for us!!  The baby sitting lower in her uterus was easy to see from the get-go and his heart was just fluttering away like crazy.  It was a good profile shot so his head and little stubby appendages were visible and looked just like the pics I've seen online for 9 week old embryos.  The baby sitting higher in the uterus took them a bit longer to get a decent shot but I could sort of make him out; not as clearly as the first one though.

According to our carrier, this appointment was VERY awkward but they were kind, they listened and gave easy to understand information.  This is a new ob/gyn for her so when she initially set up the appt with the nurse, the nurse started to ask her all about her medical history assuming that she was the biological mother and also about the fathers history.  Obviously she didn't know this info right off hand and so she had to explain to the nurse this unique situation.  The nurse and our carrier had a good laugh on the phone about it all and I'm sure the ob/gyn office will find their new patient quite interesting.

Our carrier has confidence in the OB since she has experience with twins and also because she is not a proponent of interventions without evidence backed practice which sits well with her (and with me).  We'll likely have more ultrasound scans with the twins because while fundal height (a measure of the size of her uterus to assess fetal growth and development) is a good indicator of growth for a singlet, it doesn't give a clear picture of whether twins are growing like they should.  They will keep an eye on the placentas as they develop and since there is a higher chance of gestational diabetes due to the extra placental hormones, they will also closely monitor her blood-sugar levels.

Overall, the OB was optimistic about the pregnancy, happy with her weight gain and blood pressure and felt good with the records of her other pregnancies.  Everything is going well!

She now has a first trimester screening (blood work and a high quality scan) on December 4th so hopefully we can get some pics to share on this blog and then a regular OB visit on December 12th.

8 Week Ultrasound

Our carrier had another ultrasound today and she told me that the doctor was able to see both babies right away and that they are measuring right on at 8 weeks; 8 weeks 4 days for one of them and the other at 8 weeks 0 days.  Not sure why there is a four day difference since insemination and transfer all happened at the same time but I guess the one guy is just a hair bigger.

On the ultrasound, the baby on the left was laying on his back and the other seemed to be standing up on the right side of her uterus.  Our carrier said that they look like little sea monkeys with stubby appendages; cute sea monkeys of course.

The doctor at the fertility clinic said that everything looked great and that our carrier will now "graduate" to her regular ob/gyn.  Her first ob appointment is on Nov. 11th which I think will be fairly uneventful; should just be establishing care, no testing.

I was hoping to hear about the heart rate of the twins but apparently no value was given, the report only stated that "cardiac activity" was observed.  Kind of frustrating really but hopefully we can get some numbers at the appointment next week.  The normal fetal heart rate ranges from 120-180 beats per minute (adults average 80-85 bpm) so as long we're in that range, I'll start to worry less about any potential miscarriage.

The next ultrasound will be at 12 weeks when the first trimester ends so there likely won't be any updates on the blog until then unless something major happens.

Two Little Heartbeats

WE'RE HAVING TWINS!!

Our carrier had her first ultrasound today and it confirmed that we are indeed expecting two little babies!  She called me right after her appointment and she started with "they found one heartbeat" and that's all I heard; I was thrilled to hear this news but I was also hoping that there were two.  Then she said "they moved the ultrasound and they found another one!"  I was completely overwhelmed and so excited to hear this.  I don't remember much of what we said after that but as soon as we hung up the phone I called and texted friends and family to share the news.

Our fertility doctor called me later in the afternoon and wanted to congratulate me on the ultrasound results.  She said that both babies look very good and have settled in nicely to the uterus.  They both look viable and she sees no reason or concern for any potential miscarriage.  

We'll have another ultrasound in two weeks to measure the size of the babies and to check their development so now it's just a bit more waiting.  Of course. 

Day 21

Our carrier had another blood test done today and her hcg beta is 6902.  The clinic said that this is an excellent rise to the number on Monday so everything is looking great.  The median beta number for a singlet at 21 days is 1273 and for twins it's 2532 just to give an idea where our number stands in comparison.

The next step is a transvaginal ultrasound for the later part of next week.  We were told it would be the 28th so I'm not sure why we have a date change so I sent an email asking our nurse.  At the ultrasound, they will make sure it's an intrauterine pregnancy, check the crown rump length, gestation sac and yolk sac.  They could also possibly see a heartbeat!

We're Expecting!!!

OUR CARRIER IS PREGNANT!!

So if you checked out the last post (I didn't put the link up thru FB) you would know that our carrier and I decided to get a jump on our pregnancy results so she took a home test that turned out to be positive.  Chris and I were both excited but we were cautious about telling too many people because we wanted to wait for the blood test to be sure.  Now we're sure!!

Our carrier had her blood test at 7 am today and I was basically watching my phone all day waiting for the results.  Around 3 pm today our carrier called me and told me that the blood test came back and she was definitely pregnant.  I say definitely pregnant because her beta hcg hormone level is so high that it's looking good that we have two little embryos growing in there!  For those that have used IVF or for my readers in the medical field, our beta number is 3392 at day 19.  To give you an idea, at day 19 for a singlet, the average hcg is 618 and for twins its 1191 so obviously our number is very high.

Another blood test will be done in two days to see how high how her beta hcg numbers are and to make sure that her levels are multiplying the way they should be.  This test won't tell us if she's carrying twins for sure but the number should give us a general idea.  

The first ultrasound will be done in two weeks on October 28th and that will give us a definite answer as to whether we should be expecting one or two.....or, heaven forbid, three.  

Oh.....and we have a due date......June 18 2014!!   

Pregnant?! It's not official but......

On Wednesday, October 2nd, two days post transfer, our carrier asked me what I thought about taking a home pregnancy test to see what it would say before the official blood test on the 14th.  The initial thought of it filled me with anxiety and I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  If it was negative, I didn't really want to wait another week to take the blood test, I would want to get started on planning the next transfer cycle right away.  However, if it was positive, it would be a long long week of waiting for the blood test to come back to make it official.  I figured either way it wouldn't ease or exacerbate my anxiety so we decided to go ahead and do it.  Our carrier really wanted to know also and I think even if I said no, she probably would have taken it anyway out of curiosity which I would have been fine with too.

Anyway, we decided we would wait until today to take the test.  Our agent said that a test could be taken 4-5 days post transfer but I figured day 6 would make me feel better.  Taking it at day 4 or 5 could have led to a false negative and a weekend of sadness.  I was mentally prepared with either way it went but obviously wanted it to be positive and when I turned my phone on this morning, this is what I woke up to with a note saying "I have a present for you :-)"......

It's faint but it's positive!!

I just stared at the pic with about a million things running through my mind but then immediately forwarded the picture to a small handful of close friends.  A false negative does indeed happen but false positives are very rare so even though it's not official until the blood test next week, we're pretty much assuming that we're pregnant and we are both extremely excited and now all of a sudden very nervous about the next 9 months.  

Now we just wait for the blood test on the 14th and then the ultrasound to see how many little ones are growing on the 28th.  It'll be an eventful month!!

First Day Post-Transfer

Our nurse just sent an email stating that the two embryos that were transferred yesterday were grade AB on a scale of A to D; A being the best, D the worst.  Grades C & D does not mean that the baby would be abnormal!  It just means that the chances of implantation are reduced, as compared with a Grade A embryo.

She also said that they were only able to cryopreserve 3 of the remaining embryos.  This low number makes me kind of nervous so I'm really hoping that these first 2 implants hold on tightly to her uterus!

I also spoke with our carrier this morning and she feels good and had a great nights rest.  She and her husband will fly back tonight to Wisconsin.

Unless anything happens in the next couple of weeks before the pregnancy test, assume that no news is good news.