Introducing The WT's...

Now that we've learned we're having twins, we've got a new nickname for the little ones -- The Wonder Twins. So going forwarding in this blog I'll be referring to them as The WTs.

We were so overwhelmed hearing there were two of them that I forgot to acknowledge The WTs reached a milestone yesterday hitting 5 weeks! They've already grown a bunch since last week and now look like this:



The embryos (looking kind of like tadpoles) are starting to form major organs (heart, kidney, liver, stomach) and systems (nervous, circulatory, digestive). The babies presence in my uterus triggers production of hCG (the hormone detected by pregnancy tests) which triggers production of other hormones like estrogen and progesterone which trigger all those great symptoms I've been noticing!

So that's the latest on our little apple seeds. Next week, they'll be the size of peas!

First Ultrasound Results

I can't even tell you how nervous I was this morning. I was so convinced t was going to be bad news that I had to constantly remind myself to think good thoughts. So what did we see? Immediately, the ultrasound showed one sac and DH and were so relieved. But then the doctor shocked us when he said he saw another one. Sure enough, there are two sacs and we're expecting twins! Take a look for yourself.



I had two mature eggs when we triggered, one on each side, and it looks like they DH's swimmers found both targets! Even though we knew there was a chance of twins, we were completely surprised this morning but we're so excited. We've always wanted two kids so this just speeds the process up a little bit. I go back for another ultrasound next week and hopefully we'll be able to see the embryos then. I know we still have a long road ahead of us and we may end up with a singleton, but for now, I'm just happy to be pregnant for sure!

The Real Life 24

Our first ultrasound is tomorrow morning and let me tell you, it feels like 100 years from now. It's been 8 days since we got our first positive HPT and almost a week since my beta came back to confirm the BFP. Since then, there hasn't been any new news about TVB. Most TTCers have had at least three betas by now and know their pregnancies are progressing but all I know is I was pregnant last Tuesday. I'm constantly analyzing symptoms (could that cramp mean it's an ectopic, if my boobs are less sore does that mean I'm not pregnant anymore, etc.) so I am ready for some news about how TVB's developing.

Meanwhile, DH and I spent the weekend looking at nursery furniture and reading pregnancy books. TVB is already real to us and I don't think we'll be able to bear it if the news we get tomorrow is bad. And the roller coaster begins again....

Seeing Red

I'll start with a warning. TMI ahead....

The freakiest thing happened the night before last. I was putting in my progesterone suppository and the applicator came out with red-ish CM on it. I immediately got scared and inserted my finger to check for more and it came out covered in red blood. Seeing something like that made my heart sink. Spotting can be scary after a BFP but red blood is absolutely terrifying. I know that lots of people spot and bleed during their pregnancies and go on to have healthy babies but it's hard this early on to stay positive when you see something like that. I went to bed that night praying that everything was okay and that when I woke up the bleeding would have stopped. And sure enough, the next morning there wasn't even a spot of red. That was a relief but I wasn't feeling 100% better yet. To try to calm myself down I read up on bleeding in my pregnancy books which said this type of thing can be normal and that blood with clotting is more of a cause for concern. I also posted on the Success After Infertility board on the Nest and found that several other people there had experienced the same thing, especially while they were on progesterone suppositories which can irritate the cervix when they're inserted. That made me feel about 80% better but I don't think I'll feel like we're out of the woods until our sonogram on Tuesday. The next two days can't go by fast enough!

The Pregnancy Prediction

Last summer, someone on The Nest posted about a psychic who sends predictions via e-mail and specializes in fertility. I'm not a huge believer is psychics, but after almost a year of TTC, I was looking for answers anywhere I could get them so I sent my payment in via Paypal and waited to hear back about when I would get pregnant. Here's what she replied:

"I am currently being shown December and it will be a girl."

So when December came and went with no BFP, I laughed at myself for thinking an Internet psychic could accurately predict anything about my life.

When I got my BFP last weekend, I immediately plugged TVB's conception date into a due date calendar (the one benefit of dealing with IF and having an IUI is that you know exactly when your baby was conceived!) and it turns out we're due December 9th. Seeing December made me think back to the psychic's prediction, so I dug through my old e-mails to find hers. And guess what line followed the one above?

"December is either the conception month, the month you find out in or the birth month."

I literally got chills when I read it. I guess back in August, I wasn't ready to think that it might take me another six months to get pregnant and just kind of ignored the part that said December might be the birth month. But here we are with a baby due in December and I'm wondering what else in her prediction might be true. I guess we'll find out 16 weeks from now when we find out TVB's sex.

UPDATE: I've been asked for info on the psychic I used. Here's a link -- The Baby Psychic.

And the verdict is....

BFP!!! My beta was 196 which is almost twice what I was hoping for. Now this whole thing feels real. My doctor doesn't do repeat betas (I don't know why) but he wants to see me for a sonogram early next week. I have no idea what we'll be able to see at 5 weeks but I can't wait to see!

DH and I both came home early today to wait for the call from my RE so we were together when we got the news. Immediately, he wanted to start measuring the room that will be our nursery and look at furniture, but because I'm superstitious, I want to wait until after we see the heartbeat. So he spent the rest of the afternoon reading baby sites I have bookmarked like 2weekwait.com and peeonastick.com. He's so cute! And we both agreed to start calling our wee one something other than the MaybeBaby now. The nickname we came up with is private so for the purposes of this blog, I'll refer to him or her as teeveebaby (my profile on The Nest is teeveegirl). Here's what TVB is up to now at 4 weeks and 1 day:



In week 3, sperm meets egg, and voila: conception! Your little zygote sets off on a six-day trek through your fallopian tubes, dividing and redividing into identical cells as it travels to your uterus.

In week 4, now safe in your womb, the ball of cells (blastocyst) splits in two, becoming the embryo and the placenta. The amniotic sac and fluid are forming around baby, and will act as a cushion for the next eight months.

Snuggle in our little poppy seed! Mommy and daddy can't wait to see you next week!

The MaybeBaby

Since we got our first + HPT on Sunday, DH and I have been calling the little being growing in my uterus the MaybeBaby because we're afraid of jinxing things. I got another Pregnant on a digital test this morning but until we get my beta numbers back this afternoon, I'm going to worry that somehow the tests have been wrong. And if I'm being honest, until we have three betas that have increased sufficiently, we'll probably still be referring to the MaybeBaby. In theory, this is our way of managing our expectations, but in reality, our hopes are already so high that if this isn't a viable pregnancy, we'll be crushed. So no matter what we're calling it, this baby is already real to both of us whether we admit it or not. But I guess saying the MaybeBaby is still better than calling it the Blob, right?