Sunday, January 31, 2010

11 Weeks

I had my first OB appointment on Friday. I'm a little worried/ticked off. My doctor was upset with me because I hadn't had a pap smear in over a year. I told her that was because I called and asked about whether I should go in, since I was starting IVF in Spring 2009 and the clinic wanted me to wait, anyway. I couldn't go and have a pap smear right around the time I was supposed to be doing follicle stimulation and all that other stuff.

My blood pressure has always been normal. Always. Well, it was high yesterday. I kind of expected it would be because I haven't been swimming since August, and I've gained weight. So, she mentioned it was high and I said that it's always normal otherwise. She said it wasn't "the last time I was there" in 2007!!! So, now I'm a little irritated because something's not right with the dates. May of 2007, I was planning my wedding, coaching a swim team, swimming on my own team, teaching five classes without a conference period, and basically ran myself ragged to the point of getting a recurrence of Mono. That would probably explain the high blood pressure then. I told her that, too. I asked her what month I had come in for my pap smear and she said "May." I retorted, "well, I had MONO!" I mean, come on!

But, then, she said that I've gained about 10 pounds since my last visit in 2008, so I guess she *does* have that info. Grrr. It's just confusing to me.

Oh, and the reason why she was kind of irritated that I waited for the pap smear was because I have tested positive for HPV. :( But, what I'm really confused about (and this is what I'm going to call on Monday and ask) is, she said my Pap came back positive for HPV at my last exam. That's not true - I got a card that said my pap was normal. I tested positive for HPV after that when I had a full blood-work done before we could start the IVF process. So, she must have gotten the results of the blood work, saw that I tested positive for HPV and wanted me to come in for a pap smear, but I didn't. Hopefully, this latest test will be normal. She stated that if this "second" pap comes back abnormal (with HPV) then I'm going to have to have further tests to check my cervix. The thing that's bothering me is, my last pap smear in July of 2008 was NORMAL. I had blood work done in spring of 2009 that showed the HPV.

Grrrrrr! I'm frustrated with that.

But, everything else was fine. We got to hear our babies' heartbeats for the first time. And, when the first baby was visible on the monitor, it was jumping and moving all over the place! I was so shocked, I laughed, which hurt my stomach because of the angle I was laying on the exam table. The second baby was moving, but it didn't seem to be as much. But, wow! They were really moving!!! :)

I don't go in for another ultrasound until week 15 - and I'm going to have all kinds of tests done. Genetics testing and the like. I do NOT want to have an amniocentesis done or the other test where they take a piece of each placenta to test for disorders - I have read that there is a risk of miscarriage and I don't want to risk that at all. Apparently, there were some tests I could have had done, but they were supposed to have been done by week 10 - but the doctor said I was cutting it close, so they'd just have me do some testing in the 2nd trimester.

I was also told that I *CAN* go swimming!!!! I'm so excited about that. I won't get in the water with my high school kids... probably not a good idea for that, but I'm looking forward to doing some light swimming. :)

My spotting has also significantly decreased to nothing, with such a light color, that it's almost invisible to see. So, that's a definite plus. There's nothing worse than having all that bleeding and then weeks and weeks and weeks of spotting. Yuck.

The one negative side to pregnancy for me seems to be the headaches I've been having. I had a headache on Thursday night that mostly went away on Friday, but came back with a vengeance on Friday night. I've been hesitant to take Tylenol (I threw up the last time I took it when I was 19), but my sister-in-law, who's also pregnant, suggested I try and take it again. I also got the H1N1 flu shot while at the doctor's office on Friday, which could explain the general malaise I've been feeling.

My sister-in-law gave me some Tylenol and it totally helped. I'm finally feeling headache-free and that's definitely a relief. I can't imagine dealing with a headache while having to grade finals and get grades done this week.

Here are week 11 ultrasounds:

Both:


Dana :)

Saturday, January 16, 2010

9 Weeks

I don't know for sure if I should use this blog to document my pregnancy or if I should use my old blog to do so. Either way, I suppose it's best to document this while I still can!

Today I'm 8 weeks 6 days pregnant. With each passing week, I feel a little bit more relieved as we approach the end of the first trimester.

I have had zero morning sickness. I read on another woman's blog that some people are immune to HCG and do not have morning sickness. I'm rather glad for that because carrying twins, apparently the morning sickness and all other pregnancy symptoms magnify two-fold.

I do have hunger pains that are out of this world and I'm tired more often than not. I also get up to go to the bathroom more often in the middle of the night. It's when I get up in the middle of the night that I notice I'm STARVING. I told my husband that I was STARVING in the middle of the night and he asked me if I ate something.

No! It reminds me too much of when I was in high school and I used to get hunger pains in the middle of the night. I'd eat something and then my mom would get mad because she thought I was getting fat. I don't know... am I supposed to eat something in the middle of the night when I'm pregnant? This is all so new to me, I have no idea what to expect.

I also got my first cold sore in over two years. I actually thought I was immune to them finally. Like, I wouldn't get them again. Boy, was I wrong. I know the reasoning behind it now and hopefully, I'll be more prepared for them. My immune system is not working on full-throttle like it normally is and I've also been stressing out a bit too much about this pregnancy. On Tuesday, the day we go in for our weekly ultrasound with the fertility clinic, I feel this sense of trepidation. I'm afraid the doctor is going to stick the wand up my hoo ha and there will be nothing there. But, by this point, I'm feeling a little better. Mostly because if there was anything chromosomally wrong with the embryos, they never would have had a detectable heartbeat. Apparently, the chance of miscarriage goes significantly down once a heartbeat is detected.

So, there's that. I have one more ultrasound with my fertility clinic and hopefully, I'll be released to my regular doctor and will have my first ultrasound with her. Then, I'll be weighed and told how fat I've gotten since the last time I was there. It sucks because with each IVF cycle I did, the hormones I was on led to weight gain. I don't like how big I've gotten, but with pregnancy, there's not much I can do. Thankfully, I've been craving fruits and veggies more and have been eating a lot of it during the week. I love dip, though, so I'm not sure how much I'm defeating the purpose if I eat my veggies with dip. I did buy some plain yogurt to mix in with the dip packets - that might not be so bad.

A coworker commented that she thought I was already starting to show. I have noticed that my stomach is sticking out more, but that's all I've noticed. I just feel like a bloated cow. And, walking around with the plague on my face for a few days didn't help in the beauty department.

My husband got a bit mad at me on Tuesday morning when, in a fit of desperation, I scanned the medical stuff that came with my cold sore medication, and noting that it said it was OK to use while pregnant when "absolutely needed," I put some of it on my lip. He thought I should have waited until I had talked to the doctor before even touching the stuff. But, as a cold sore sufferer, I know that if I don't get that medication on my face at the first sign of tingling, it will explode into massive proportions and will take weeks to heal.

At the fertility clinic, the doctor looked up the medication I was using in her drug encyclopedia and found that the drug is a Class B drug. Basically, it hasn't been studied on pregnant humans for adverse affects, only on lab animals (which I don't really like to talk about... I can't stand to hear about stuff like that) and has been found to not have any affects on them. Still, since it hasn't been tested on humans, it's a kind of drug that should be used sparingly. She said it would be OK for me to use it at the beginning of the treatment and then taper off within four days. Whew! Seriously, unless you've had cold sores in the past, it's hard to explain the pain and suffering they cause. They itch, they burn, they hurt, they cause the glands in my neck to swell, and if not treated right away, they take two weeks to heal.

I put the medication on every day, despite that the medication looked worse on than when I didn't have it on my face. It was HIDEOUS. Couple that with my feeling like a bloated cow and I just wanted to stay home. For the first two days, I put the stuff on every two hours while awake and then on Thursday, I put it on about every three hours. Friday, I put some on in the morning, but wiped it off when I got to work. I then put some on last night before bed, put some on this morning, and that's it. So, in five days, my cold sore is gone.

Now I feel much better about myself. :)

Here are the ultrasound pics from 9 weeks. I'll have to post the newest ones at another time.

Each baby:

Both together: