One Year Ago..

Today is the one year anniversary of our third and final transfer! Finally we had success!!!

One year ago today, we transferred two embryos into my uterus.  Two tiny microscopic embryos that finally decided everything looked (i) just right (/i) and snuggled in.  Today those little totsicles are adorable, giggly, precious 4month old baby girls.

See those tiny little dots in the top picture?  Those are the little embryos..  Not that they weren't cute and all but I like today's picture much better.  Adorable beyond belief!!

 I am forever blessed to have been able to carry them and hand them over to their Mama & Daddy.

One year ago today I went in with cautious hope and a little bit of faith.. Today I am astounded by their every accomplishment and so proud of those little blessings.

19weeks #GestationalSurrogacy #ultrasound #Twins

It's been a while since I've checked in here.  I'm now 19wk2days!  We are over halfway to the finish line!!  With this being another twin pregnancy, my OB typically doesn't let you go past 37wks.  So definitely halfway!! :)   

Things are going well!  We had an ultrasound at 17w6d.  My lovely IM was able to come down for it and her Momma! :)  It was great to get to meet the babies' grandma! :)   Unfortunately we got the icky ultrasound tech.  I had her one time early in the pregnancy of the last twins and didn't care for her.  Her bedside manner is just less than ideal (she doesn't tell you anything that she's doing and pretty much ignores the room while doing her scans).  This just taught us not to schedule another ultrasound on a Tuesday! lol! :)  

All in all the babies look great!! Baby A is(was at the time) on my right side and BREECH.  Baby B on the left slightly angled and also BREECH!  What is up with this whole Breech thing girls?  Never in my history of carrying babies have I ever had one present breech at ANY time in the pregnancy.  These girls just want to go out with a bang! :) LOL   There is still PLENTY of time for them to flip around so I'm not too concerned..  Just seems a typical finding with these little divas :)   Oddly enough I realized later that the u/s tech never did any gender shots.  We obviously know via PGD testing that our little Divas are girls but it still seems odd that she didn't verify that for the record.  LOL.

Here's a peek at them : 

Baby A is doing what I believe is the duck face.  I think she must be practicing for some facebook selfies! :)   Baby B has her little arm/hand up under her head just relaxing!  Apparently their big brother always sleeps like that - how cute!! :)

According to the measurements Baby A was 1 day ahead with a heartrate of 158 and Baby B was 2 days behind with a heartrate of 144 but somehow they both were estimated to weigh (both 7oz) the same amount?  Go figure!   We also asked the tech about the placenta since we had that tiny bleed issue back at 14wks and were told we had a partial previa.  She assured us that it had moved out of the way - no worries.

Off we go to see my Dr who announced that both babies looked wonderful !  Both were currently breech (yup, we know!) and Baby A's placenta is now completely covering the cervix (plus slightly anterior).  WHAT?  The ultrasound tech told us it moved??  Apparently the report says complete previa.  BLAH.   So now we cross our fingers that this moves out of the way as my uterus grows (cuz we know there's still a LOT of growing to do!).  I'd rather not have a c-section with this last pregnancy! LOL!  Plus with the placenta where it currently is (anterior) the OB would have to cut thru the placenta to deliver baby A.  Uhmm, no thanks - not what I'm looking for in a birth experience.   Fingers crossed things move along like they should.  Right now these little Divas are trying to do everything they can to guarantee a csection with the previa and both breech.  But I'm sure if I explain things nicely they'll try to get with the program! :)

I have another OB appt next week - no clue why the dr decided to see me in 2 wks vs 4wks but I do what she says. lol.    Other than that bp was great, urine clear!  We're cruising along just great! 

Now if those babies would just agree to let me quit puking!  They have let up quite a bit, but usually at least once or twice a week they jump up and scream- HA JUST KIDDING! GO puke! :)  Boogers anyway :)

19 Weeks

Sources say the babies are now the size of a largo mango (or for those who prefer a non-fruit comparison a square kleenex box).  Arms & legs are finally in proportion, while neurons are now connected between the brain and muscles and cartilage throughout the body is turning to bone.  Serious upgrades going on in there!  It's estimated that movement should be felt between 18-21 weeks depending on a ton of factors.  So far I can feel some kicks and jabs if I'm laying quietly in bed but rarely do I feel tons of movement when I'm up and about :)

Transfer Story :)

Long story short : Transfer went smoothly, waiting to pee..

Long story long :

So T and I headed up to ChiTown rather late.  Between her kids having activities and then her work (where she accidentally locked her keys and had to wait for someone to come open up the building to let her back in- HA), we left even later than we had planned.  All is good in that we missed rush hour, but we also missed Lou's.  We knew that we most likely wouldn't make it up there before they closed so we stopped at TGIF's where I had never been.

Let's set the mood - the hostess asked us if we wanted dining or bar area? We replied that we wanted a booth and didn't care where it was.  She proceeded to take us to the bar area - which we're thinking, great! We don't have our kids, why have to listen to someone else's? ha!- until we saw the booth.  It was one of those little 2 person booths which means there's barely enough room for you and your purse. LOL.  Sigh.  Oh well.   Then we ordered the endless apps, which is a pretty neat deal but when you have a dollhouse sized table, there's just not much room on it for the endlessness of the apps. Jokes were made that I won't repeat here but we had a good ole time! :)

We arrived in our hotel at around 10pm?! Back in the same hotel we stayed at prior to the twins' transfer! :)  The only thing we learned here was that vending on the hotel map now just means the ice machine and no pop machines, but hey they sell pop at their little 'market' for $2.50 per 20oz bottle. No thanks!  Back into the car to find a gas station, which was actually quite hilarious once we got there the long route only to realize we could have went thru the back parking lot and it was literally right.there.!  Maybe you had to be there but it amused me to no end !

I am not even sure how many times I woke up that night wondering if my alarm hadn't went off. In the end, we were both up and ready to leave 30+mins before it was time to leave. Which is actually pretty ironic since we ended up having traffic issues and were 10mins late. LOL! OOPS!

We got put in this little room (not a pod w/glass doors like before) that was kinda hidden off by itself. It had a real door, u/s machine and everything.  I was texting IM (who didn't come this time around) and she says either we are getting the VIP treatment or they hide the silly people (I'm pretty sure she meant crazies) there. LOL!!

T & I looking stylish before transfer :)

So all went well- I got taken back to the transfer room without flashing anyone - always a plus in my book!  Hopped up on the table and got settled in.  I love that the staff there is so sweet! They had absolutely no problems with us videotaping it :) Of course the size of said video may take me 2 days to upload to share with IM... lol.  

This transfer went smoothly.  No bad feelings, all good. I didn't mention it last time but with the last transfer the RE seemed to have a difficult time getting the catheter where he wanted it and it made me little nervous.  This time it was more of a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am type of thing. Boom little embie was in a nice spot in my uterus.   Ohh, did you notice  I said embie not embies? Yes, we transferred two but you see one decided that it wanted it's own little ride and didn't want to share with a sibling.  So after a transfer the catheter goes back to the embryologist who checks to make sure the embryos are out and yells CLEAR... only this time, we did not get the green light. One little embryo was a good girl and vacated the catheter like she was supposed to, and one little embryo was a bit more stubborn. So we had to do the actual transfer again to get it out. LOL!  So technically that was two transfers instead of one, right? Lol  In the end both are snuggled in and hopefully at least one is going to stay!

The twins' mama says if I pee on day 5 and get a + then it's twins but if I don't get a ++ until day 6 or later than it's just 1. LOL :)

Tomorrow is 4days past transfer.. I'm not sure when I'll start peeing.  They say that you should always do first thing in the morning pee b/c it's the most concentrated. "They" apparently don't realize that even non-pregnant (or 2wk pg) me gets up several times at night to pee. lol. I'll be reporting back soon with some results, fingers crossed for good news!

2nd Transfer tomorrow !!

I know... I know... I have been absolutely Horrid at keeping this updated!

So let's just cut to the chase!  All lining checks went well.  Last count, my lining was 12mm (thickest it's ever been!) and estrogen was 255 .   All good :)

Tomorrow is the big day!  Transfer day!!  I have a good feeling about this one!  This is my fifth ivf cycle!
#1 - resulted in my first surrokid
#2 - cycled but didn't transfer for a dear friend. I actually traveled to Texas only to find out the day of transfer that none of the embies passed the PGD testing :(
#3 - resulted in the surrotwins!
#4 - our first failed cycle  in Aug
#5 - Tomorrow!  It's sooo going to work!! :)

So my IM , after weighing many factors and lots of discussion, decided not to come to transfer. While I would love to have her there, I completely understand and it's all good. Bestie T is coming along, so we've got this :)     Traveling up in the middle of the week ( which I'm super thankful for b/c transfer was supposed to be today but there's no way I could have done that !) seems odd. T's kids have activities after school and so we get to wait until later tonite to leave.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed that means we miss any rush hour traffic !! :) 

Everyone keep your fingers and toes and all other crossables crossed for us tomorrow!  I'll update again when we start peeing :) LOL!

Transfer Post - a little late.. #IVF #GestationalSurrogate

Okay I'm super late with this post but ... better late than never?  I'm blaming my pokey internet which has been doing nothing but being a pain in my hiney!

So let's go back a few days, shall we?

Transfer for journey #3 was on a Sunday!  Did you gasp?  Everyone was pretty amazed that they did transfers on Sunday but I heard of someone doing a transfer on Christmas day back when I transferred the twins so after that, nothing surprises me.

There was some talk of DH coming along with me since he wouldn't have to take time off, but then he realized that he hasn't been to a transfer yet (first transfer was IM & I, 2nd transfer was my bestie (Tooshie) and I b/c IPs were from Spain) and he didn't want to jinx it.  Forgive me if I already told this story b/c with my fickle internet, I'm not going back to look thru the last few posts. LOL.. Also meds make my brains fickle. lol.    So anyhoo Toosh came along with me for the transfer.

We went up Saturday to spend the night for our Sunday morning transfer.  On the way up, we stopped to get pedicures. Now technically we wanted cute turtles painted on our big toes but we didn't realize the place we stopped at didn't do designs.  :(  Bummer..

However we thought the colors of the fake flip flops were pretty significant :

Since we couldn't get our turtles, we decided to have accent  nails of each others colors done. lol. Yes, we are geeky like that.

We got to our hotel, went swimming for a bit and then went out for Lou's pizza. Another pre-transfer tradition!  Yummy, gotta have my Lou's!  Totally forgot pics of the Lou's but mmmmmm...

Last transfer, the agency booked our hotel room and so Toosh & I shared a king size bed.  This time, I booked the hotel so we each had our own queen size bed. lol.  I'm sure the highlight for Toosh was giving me my PIO shot again. That girl gets unbelievable pleasure giving me shots. lol.  Lucky for me, it's only once per surrogacy LOL!!

Finally Sunday morning arrived.  We met my IM there.. Love her :)  She was adorable and brought us both cute little goodie bags! Awww!!  and of course she brought me more meds.. lol.

Although we searched high and low, there were no froggie or elephant socks to be had this time around.  I did manage to find yellow & green socks that we mismatched to look adorable :)

the obligatory sock photo

You can't see our shirts (okay I don't have one on b/c I'm in my hospital gown) but I wore a green shirt & Toosh wore a yellow shirt. lol. We are all about our good luck.

IM, Me, Tooshie

Naturally we took our group shot just before going back so you can't see half our bling. lol.

Toosh made the elephant barrettes (which we all wore under our hairnets) and the turtle pins (which we pinned onto our scrubs). I found the froggie necklace (yay clearance @ Claires LOL!) and the bracelets- one is a turtle, one is elephant.   I think we covered all our bases ;)

 The IVF team is super awesome and I love them all to death.  We had the exact same team that got me pg with the Twins :)

Dr K (love that man) is such a sweet soul. You just can't help but love him to death.

We elected to put in just one embie but it as a great 6BA embie who was already hatching A LOT.

I mean look at this monster!

Transfer is pretty much over and done with quickly.  Tooshie video'd it which was pretty awesome so IM(J) could share it with IF (N).


Last time we got a cute little u/s picture printed out - we didn't get that this time for whatever reason.

So we took our first pregnancy picture just IM & I  :)  

No worries guys, I hope to have some ++ hpts to share soon.. Otherwise Beta is on the 12th !


-side note : I mentioned to IM about blurring out her face because my past 2 couples for various reasons didn't want to be identified.  IM is completely fine with me sharing her photo .  You can't imagine how excited that makes me. lol. It's the little things.

2nd Lining Check #3rdSurrogacy #IVF

Hey ladies ... and gentlemen ( although I kinda doubt I have any guy readers over here. lol)

I've been crazy busy so haven't even turned on my laptop this week. lol.  If you knew me at all, you'd realize how crazy that means! lol!

So I had my 2nd lining check on Monday (7/20) and all is looking good !

Lining was 9.7 ! The u/s tech was impressed :)

Bloodwork went well. I had a different vampire phlebotomist but she got me first stick :) We discussed my tattoo (semicolon on my wrist) and she gave me matching wrap for my arm. Matching again? I am GOOD!

Now I just have to remember to wear green on Friday and I'll be set for the last color they have. lol!

Click here if you are anything like me and want to compare how things are going this cycle vs the one with the twins (who are going to be ONE in exactly ONE week! omg omg omg!! )

Medications so far this cycle : 

 Tons of BCPs
21 Lupron shots
10 Estrogen patches (Minivelle 0.10 mg)
9 Baby Aspirin
3 Estradiol tablets (2mg)

Journey #3 begins !!

The twins will be turning ONE this month!  Can you believe it?  I know I've been pretty absent, life and all that jazz.  I still get pictures and videos of the twins all the time from their Mama! I love it :) They are growing so much! Learning to crawl and just beyond adorable!!  I'm not allowed to share pictures anymore but I'm sure you'll believe me that they are simply beautiful!

In other surrogacy related news - I'm matched for my next journey!!!

Okay, okay...  I've been holding out on you guys.  I met a wonderful couple - not a Spanish couple to my FIM's dismay (ha!)- who we just love!  They only live maybe 3hrs away and plan to be very involved.    Not only are we matched, but contracts are done and I started Lupron last night! Woohoo! The plan is to transfer ONE embie (twins once was enough. LOL) on Aug. 2nd!!

J & N have a wonderful little boy and we can't wait to help them add to their family!  I have a feeling this will be another wonderful journey!

And so it begins ....   


Medications so far this cycle :

Tons of BCPs
1 Lupron shots

27-34 Weeks..

Well I certainly slacked off there didn't I?

I would now be 38wk + 4days if I were still pregnant..  Instead the twins are now 4 weeks old!

Yes, you've missed a LOT..  I'm going to try to condense those last7 weeks into one post.

When we last chatted, I had made my very first non-delivery trip to L & D.  It was not to be my last.

At my 29.5 week appt,  I was dilated to 1.5  and given my first steroid shot to help mature the babies lungs *just in case*.   I had to go back the next day for a second shot. Instead I had some cramping that evening and the following morning so the Dr had me just go straight to L & D to be checked and get my 2nd shot there. - aka Trip # 2 to L & D.   Hooked up to the monitors and it just showed irritable uterus - no further dilation (yay).  I earned another check up at the Dr the following day though..   I was now 2.5cm dilated and I'd been having the cramping ect and so we started Procardia to help calm my uterus.  I began the - take it easy but not completely strict bedrest.  Back to the dr on Monday to check things and thankfully there was no more progression.

My next Dr appt wasn't until 31 wk + 4days..  If we learned anything it was watched uterus does nothing (last appts were Friday til Monday - no progression... ) yet if you feel comfy and wait a week + between appointments then naturally you'll change..  I was up to 3cm and back to 2 xweek appts.

So far all our ultrasounds had looked good.. The babies were doing well and I wasn't have any huge contractions, just the irritable uterus..  My appt at 31 wk + 6days was back to showing no change.. Still my Dr thought it might be a good idea if my IPs were to come soon.. Initially she told me if we got to 4cm I would be on hospital bedrest.. EEK..  We did up the dosage of procardia to hopefully hold things off a bit long. I was reminded that if I had any painful contractions I should go to L&D immediately b/c she did not want me to have these babies in the car on the way to the hospital.  At the time I laughed at her... My labors have always been very long and this quick delivery she kept predicting was something that would never happen to me.. My shortest labor was 11 hours and that was induced...

Still I heeded her advice and went back to L&D a few days later.  I had the single worst experience of my life.  The man-handed nurse kept declaring that I was no more than 2cm and barely effaced.. She wasn't picking up any contractions until she readjusted the monitor and realized hmm I guess she is having some (2 in 20mins before she took the monitor off and sent me home)...  I swore not to go back to the hospital unless my water had broken..

My next appt (32w+4days) and I was up to 3.5cm  90 % effaced..  Getting close to that 4cm cut off but she was content to let me go home.  !   My IPs were due to fly in the following week so I repeatedly told the babies that they had to wait for Mommy & Daddy to arrive.

We were able to go to our last OB appt together (33weeks+3days) where my IPs got to see an u/s. We did a BPP (biophysical profile) of the babies and also looked at Baby Boy's cord b/c he was measuring smaller at the previous u/s.   Both babies got perfect scores on the BPP (yay babies) - Baby Boy practiced his breathing like a pro & Baby Girl had some hiccups..   Baby Boy was now measuring 15% smaller but still a good size for his gestation.  Still it worried me some that they had always been 1-2% apart in their measuring and suddenly he was dropping back...

Once my IPs were here- things calmed down.. I think the babies chilled out and were like 'nevermind, we'll just hang out'.    I was still on bedrest and going a bit stir crazy.  One of my best friends had been up every day taking care of the kids, cleaning my house and constantly reminding me how grumpy I had become.. lol.. What are friends for?!  I was getting darn uncomfortable - considering I was measuring 53 weeks (yes that's over a YEAR pregnant) I'd say it was understandable..   Getting off the couch/ out of bed/ off to toilet was pretty much an adventure in itself.  The family laughed and then helped me up.   I was beginning to wonder how big the belly could possibly get without the uterus rupturing..

The last several weeks I could not reach the keyboard around my belly (part of why I never posted anywhere... ha) and Baby Girl was constantly in my ribs.  Boy oh Boy did she like it up there.. I was always shoving her back down again..

Every morning my IM would come downstairs (they were staying at the house with us), look at me and say "Ohh you are bigger!".   lol..  She would definitely agree with an earlier statement I made that my belly was much bigger in person that it was in pictures.

We were told that when we hit 34weeks (July 26) I could go off my Procardia.. We decided to go ahead and just finish out the bottle which would take me roughly to July 29th.. My Dr was going on vacation that week so I had informed the twins that they would stay put no matter WHAT until she got back in town..  We all know what happens when you tell a child anything...

July 28th- I was sure was the day.. It was a Monday. I spent most of Sunday completely uncomfortable and finally Monday morning I had enough and was ready to to the hospital.  I'd been timing my contractions every 5mins for several hours..  My Dr was suppposed to be on vacation and I knew it was just my luck.  We got around and when my IPs woke up, we told them that we were going to go to the hospital to get checked out.  I assured them that the didn't have to come with us because with my luck I'd get sent home again but IM wanted to be there.

Into L&D we went.. I got Triage room 3 (the same room of the horrible experience from last time) and had already informed DH that if he saw ManHand nurse he was to make sure that she was NOT my nurse no matter what he had to do.  Thankfully we had a nice nurse this time around.  I got hooked up to the monitors and could see the contractions every 5mins plus lots of irritable uterus.  I stayed for an hour and since there was no change I was sent home again..  "Irritable uterus".  *sigh*  I give up.   I swore this was it.   So since I was now having painful contractions every 5mins I was told to come back if the intensity got worse or they got closer together..  It was beginning to seem like no matter what happened these babies weren't going to make an appearance.

**Note- I did not want these babies to come early at all but at this point in the pregnancy we were at the "safe zone" and contractions were wearing me down..

Stay tuned for the birth story....

Weeks 24/25

 ** For some reason the picture Gods are not smiling down upon me today.  I cannot get the ultrasound  or big belly pictures to upload..  I'll try again later ! *

Okay I know I promised to update last weekend after the ultrasound.. But I think by now we all know and expect me to be late.. ha!!

24w 6days today..  Exactly 3months (May 23 to Aug 23) until 38 weeks!!  Woohoo :)

Soo I know you are all wondering how the ultrasound went last week.

The babies are doing wonderfully..  Baby Boy was napping - as usual for him.  I swear this boy is going to never sleep again when he comes out (his poor Momma!!).  The bigger surprise was that Baby Girl was actually cooperating nicely :)   She wasn't her normal feisty self - definitely more active than her brother but quite a bit more calm !


Baby Boy was measuring 1 day ahead (24wks) and weighed in at a whopping 1lb 8oz!  Look at him grow!  In the past he was always 2 days behind so he gained 3 days.. He was in the 54% for singletons!

Baby Girl was measuring  2 days behind (23w 4d) and weighed in at 1lb 7oz !!  She's letting her brother become her big brother finally :)

The dr was very pleased with both their weights!  In fact they are bigger than some singletons in my pregnancy group who are the exact same gestation!  I guess no one informed these guys that they are twins! :)     My Dr is still saying that she'll be happy to make it to 34 weeks and thinks they should be 4-5lbs each by then if they keep up with their growth.   I'm still hoping for 37-38weeks.  





I'm giggling inside looking at the tickers below saying that the twins are roughly 1 1/2 lbs each now when they were that size LAST week.. ha!   Monster Twins are at it again ! :)

I don't go back to the OB until June 13 for my 28week labs.. The lovely glucose test.. Ick..  Then every 2 weeks with growth ultrasounds! :)  I love getting to see the little monsters , especially when we catch such adorable pictures of them !!  Ohh and we got to see them practicing swallowing :)  Adorable !

Other than that, not a lot to update.  The hormones have been getting to me lately and I'm a big blubbering mess.. ha.   Preggo brain has struck.  I walked into the Dollar store the other day and immediately forgot why I had went in.. Naturally I almost burst into tears (dang hormones) because I couldn't remember what it was.. lol.   Babies are sucking my brain cells away :)   

24 Weeks Pregnant

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at about 1 1/3 pounds. (Unless you are a set of Monster Twins then you will be even more!) Since he's almost a foot long (about the size of an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

23 weeks

Life as always, is crazy..  I'm updating again now - 23weeks 4days..  Yep, it's been a while.

I had another OB appointment at 21weeks 6days.  Just a normal check up.  Pee in a cup (all looks good) , get weighed ( +7 lbs total for pregnancy so far.) , blood pressure (128/72) still looking good and FINALLY got my uterus measured.. I've been dying to see how big I was measuring because I pretty much feel like a house already.   The hubby agrees that I'm basically as big as I normally am at delivery.  Maybe a tiny bit smaller.  He loves to joke about how big I'm going to get ! ha!

So we listened to the heartbeats ( 150's & 140's)  - baby boy was chilling out on my right side as usual.  Baby girl was being her normal feisty self on my left side - kicking at the doppler and making my OB chase her down for a heartbeat.  I think she was playing tag.. ha!

The awesomeness that is twins ..

Finally the doc whipped out the measuring tape that I've been waiting for..  She stretched it up my tummy and asked if I wanted to guess? lol.   

Uterus was measuring 30weeks !!  8weeks+1day ahead of where I was. ha.. I have thus dubbed these babies the Monster Twins. 

Initially (at the last appt) she had told me that we would do this appt (4weeks after last) and then in another 4 week we'd start doing growth ultrasounds.   Apparently she is really curious now at how big our Monsters are because she has me scheduled to come back in 2 weeks (5/16) for a growth ultrasound and appt.    I can't wait to see the babies again!  And honestly, I'm dying to know how big they are too! ha! 

How I feel : 

Most days I feel as big as a house.. lol.  Morning sickness has finally quit *knock on wood* although I do still have an occasional need to run to the bathroom.   Heartburn/ reflux appears to be here to stay.  I've noticed that I've started to walk with my tummy pushed out more, a bit of a waddle.. I'm most definitely much slower than before because I'm constantly telling the Hubby to slow down, I can't walk that fast.     I've had 2 instances of braxton hicks contractions - which is totally new to me.  Both times they went away once I laid down and drank some water.  I've learned not to overdo things.

Getting up off the couch is already something that involves the entire family laughing at my attempts. ha!  I can only imagine what it's going to be like in coming months.   If I make it all the way to 34weeks, I have 3months + 10days left.  

23 Weeks Pregnant : 

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about the size of a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

I pinky swear that I'll be back this weekend to update on the growth ultrasound.   :) 

17-18 Weeks

* Side note- Yes, I am writing this very VERY late but it seemed easier than writing one big massive post to catch up.. lol*

My IPs were able to visit this week!  Yay!!  We had a wonderful time together!  I think everyone was a little nervous that the language barrier would get in the way but we did a great job of understanding each other!   I love their sense of humor :)

17weeks +4days ~ we went to our big OB appt.. The Gender ultrasound!! Woohooo!   I am always amazed to see those little ones in there squirming around but I know it was extra special for my IPs to be able to see it in person for the first time!   I won't lie, tears were shed just a little.  ha..


We have two very healthy babies!  Baby A (they switched spots from the beginning) was measuring perfectly on target and Baby B was measuring 2 days ahead.. Always the show off! :)   Both babies weighed approx. 7 oz !!   Amazing for twins !  Grow babies Grow!   The anatomy scan went great.  All fingers and toes accounted for.  Brains and hearts looked wonderful :)  The only issue- if you can even call it one- is that not one but BOTH placentas are anterior (attached to the front of my uterus / stomach vs near the spine which is more normal).  This really only comes into play if we have to have a c-section.. Then there is additional risk of bleeding due to cutting thru a placenta.

I'm sure you are dying to know what we have in there aren't you??  Drumroll please....

Baby A is : 

 And Baby B is :

How amazing is that?? My awesome IPs get one of each!  Perfect!!  Our little girl is the feisty one. She's the one that was always bouncing on her head and at dr appts is constantly moving.  Our little boy is calm and laid back.. He'd prefer to sleep and lounge around..  Ha!  It will be interesting to see what their personalities are like once they are here!


After our u/s appt, we met with my OB and my IPs had a chance to get to know her a little.  She does speak Spanish but it's not her first language..  Her nurses, however, are native speakers and so that was really nice!  We discussed again how far I'm going to be able to go..  She said they'd probably induce me if I hadn't went into labor by 37weeks.   I was able to barter with her a little and get her up to 38 weeks.. HA!   Of course when the time comes I'll probably be so miserable one week won't matter but I want nice big healthy babies!  

Pregnancy history --
1st pg went into labor at almost 42 weeks.  Ugh.  Darn kid did NOT want to come out..  
2nd pg - induced at 39w5d  - no signs of labor..
3rd pg - induced at 39w 4d - no signs of labor..

So I tend to have a history of hanging onto babies.. With twins everything changes though.. So we shall see. I would really like to go into labor on my own and not be induced this time but not until we are at least 37 weeks! LOL!  Hoping these babies cooperate! :)

After the OB appt, we went to the hospital to talk with them & get a tour of the labor/delivery area.. I have heard wonderful things about this hospital!  The staff seemed very nice - although no one spoke Spanish :(    The only area we didn't see was the OR due to sanitary reasons.. We will have to deliver in the OR just due to it being twins.   They did say that normally they only allow 2 people max in the OR with me but IF does NOT want to be in for the delivery so it should work out okay.. lol.    I love that our hospital allows the parents 1hour after birth of bonding time.  Skin to skin contact to bond before doing anything else with the babies.  Woohoo- Snuggle time !!

Before my IPs left to head home, we were able to do a 3D ultrasound.  It was so much fun. The place had huge plasma screens all over to view the u/s on.  They had couches for family to sit and watch.  Loved it!   They were even so accommodating to put IMs name on the u/s pics that they printed out !  I was so thrilled that she was able to get some u/s pics of HER babies with HER  name on them! :)  Naturally we were still really early in the pregnancy and the babies don't have any fat on them so we didn't get the real cute profile shots.. But we did get a few cute ones.. Baby boy was sleeping (again) and his sister kept hitting and kicking him in the head.. lol.    At this point, I could only feel little bits of movement  - no real kicks or anything yet.    I plan on going back around 30+ weeks to get some cute profile pics once they have fattened up a little ;)

Baby girl all spread out.. Hand behind her head-- Posing like a Diva :)

A little blurry-  baby girl on top, baby boy on bottom. She's spooning him :)

They were so cute at this appointment.  The laid right on top of each other most of the time.  ha. Adorable little ones.

I loved this picture..  From the beginning we always had one ultrasound picture with both babies in it. Now they were finally big enough that all we could fit in the picture was their heads! :) ha! 

17 Weeks Pregnant : 

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip - ha ha our babies were 7 ounces!), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

18 Weeks Pregnant :

 Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long, and he weighs almost 7 ounces (about the size of a bell pepper). He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

News!! At Last!!

Hey guys!  I'm sure you think I've been ignoring you!  I promise, I wanted to post oooh so long ago (like before CHRISTMAS!!) but my nervous IM wanted to wait until after the beta to tell anyone the news and since some family reads here (Hi Leny!), I had to hold my tongue..  I'm sure you can understand how hard that was on me..

So let's walk back in time...

The transfer of 2 gorgeous blastocysts was on Dec. 19th.

Me, being me, began peeing on peesticks aka home pregnancy tests aka HPTs on Sunday (3dp5dt - 3days past a 5 day transfer).  Naturally it was negative.  Way too early to see anything but I figured, what the heck.. Let's pee!

I peed again on Monday night (12/23- 4dp5dt) which was negative....

I was starting to get frustrated and thought that I would NOT pee again for a while.. But I really wanted a ++ for my IPs before Christmas..

So I peed yet again (yes I have a peeing problem.. I need help. ha) and guess what??

I sent this to my IM

 I looked back at my peestick from the night before (4dp5dt) and it had a faint squinter line!  AHHH!!

I was soo thrilled to finally see two lines!  Woohoo!! 

Two days later, Patricia asked me if I was still pregnant.. ha. After giggling to myself, I went and peed on a stick immediately to share with her :

yeah baby! Look at those lines!!!

Oh yeah, I'd say we're still pregnant!! :)

I even took a few at Disney just because I could.. lol..

I was due for my beta (blood test to check the HCG level) on 12/31/13.. Alas, I was at Disney and so we planned to wait until I got home to do it.  My ivf nurse gave me a few HPTs to take while we were gone (silly woman didn't realize I'd be peeing well before then!). So FCI called me to ask if I'd peed yet.  I smiled and told them that I had been getting +'s since 4-5days past transfer.  The nurse I talked to was all "Oh, you can't test that early.. Probably you still had the HCG shot in your system. "   Uhm, honey, I'm a surrogate, I know what I'm doing and I did NOT have an HCG shot...  She was a little quiet and then said wow. Congratulations..  ha.

We finally got home and was due for my beta this past Monday (1/6/14) but due to the lovely blizzard that we got, my monitoring clinic was closed down for two days.  I didn't want to wait and I didn't want my IPs to wait because although I was perfectly happy with my HPTs and all the two line glory, I knew that they would feel more comfortable having a nice beta # as well.   So I went to the local MedStat and had my blood drawn.  And then we waited..

The beta should have been in on Tuesday.  After tons of calls, it was determined that the lab never picked up the blood on Monday (due to the roads, Thanks Blizzard!) and it would be picked up on Tuesday night.

Wednesday finally came along with my Beta results.   My ivf nurse had already told me that if my number happened to be above 2,000 then I wouldn't have to do the normal repeat beta but if it was below then we'd do blood work again today.  So when she called and told me my beta # she immediately said " No more blood work for you!"


18dp5dt beta -- 8,808 !

Wowsas!  Look at that number!  Woohoo :)  I would say we are most definitely preggers!  ha!

My progesterone level was good and so I get to finish off this vial of PIO (big shots) and the quit it.. I will have to continue the evil estrogen patches and the progesterone gel until 10weeks pregnant (so roughly another month).

I will be 6 weeks pregnant tomorrow .  Yes, ivf pregnancies seem to go by really quickly in the beginning. 

Weight Gain-  nada..
Symptoms - nausea .. Omg the nausea.  Super sleepy.

And now we wait for the first ultrasound to find out how many little ones are snuggled in there.  Anyone wanna place bets???

The first ultrasound is Wednesday at 11:30am.  I'll update when I get home sometime that afternoon.. You have until then to place your thoughts in the comments below! lol!