The weeks seem to be passing by incredibly fast!! It's been another uneventful week. We're living in an immaculate house and have had a few showings. Keeping the house spotless with 2 cats and a dog in spring requires a lot of energy I do not seem to have these days... I slept for 13 hours last night and it was extraordinary. If only I could get that much sleep every night!!
Thanks for your support on Tool's comments. I'm glad it wasn't just me overreacting. Sometimes it's hard to judge my emotions these days. I was able to keep my mouth shut (which, if you know me, I don't tend to do very often), but if he says anything else to me I may not be able to be quiet a second time around. I'm completely open and honest about our struggles with infertility. Sure, I don't shout it from the rooftop, but if anyone inquires I'm more than willing to share our story. I do not want to ignore the battle we've been through and I have found, by opening up, I've been able to find and offer support to other ladies.
I'm enjoying my pillow more and more. The only issue I have is rolling over. I have to rotate sides every few hours, but it's a heavy solid pillow so moving it is a tad annoying. I feel disruptive to the husband's sleep. Thank goodness his patience and understanding is limitless. I *think* I felt movement once this week when I rolled over. I felt a strange flutter/rolling feeling on one of my sides when I rotated and I think it may have been one of the babies. I can't wait to feel more!!
Grocery shopping has become a dangerous activity for me. I do the grocery shopping in our house so this is becoming problematic. I may go to the store only to pick up a few essential items (i.e. bread, milk and cheese), however, I leave the store with additional items I felt the need to buy (i.e. olives, pineapple, Life Cereal and cottage cheese). The items are always very random, but I'm drawn to them and they end up in my cart. I simply can't pass them up! This week I've been craving ice water (I always drink room temp water) and pickles. My mother in law cans amazing pickles. Our supply is running low, but I have to eat them!
I watched Giuliana and Bill on The View (Yes, I DVR The View. Don't judge) announce they are FINALLY having a baby via a gestational carrier. Their battle with infertility has been an inspiration to me. When I thought no one understood, I came across their show and immediately felt a sense of understanding and inner peace. I am thankful they went public with their battle and helped other people understand what infertility is all about. I cried when I heard them talk about their baby. They are an amazing couple.
As many other bloggers have posted, it's also National Infertility Awareness Week. 1 out of every 8 couples struggles with infertility. That's a lot of people and many of them are probably people you know who are/have struggled in silence. The theme this year is 'Don't Ignore Infertility.' It is exactly the message I'd love everyone to accept and embrace. I can't tell you how many times I have felt alone and ignored when facing our battle of infertility. Infertility is a disease and it deserves attention. I'm glad there is a week dedicated to infertility awareness. Lend an ear. Be understanding. Don't ignore!
I have survived week 15. Yes, 15 weeks. I can't believe it myself. Every single day I am thankful!!
There is definitely no hiding twins...the bump is out there! I LOVE it though!!
I had an OB appointment this week. It was the most boring MD appointment I have had in years. I was weighed (I'm up 5 pounds!), had vitals checked, gave a urine and blood sample and answered questions asked by the OB. Heartbeats were checked via doppler. Unfortunately, they were able to get both without a problem so that meant no ultrasound for me. I've been very anxious to see the babies; I haven't had any luck sneaking in an ultrasound at work. The right people haven't been working nights so here I am, waiting... How do normal pregnant women do this? We've gotten extra ultrasounds because of IVF and the twins. I can't imagine the few and far between ultrasounds I'd have to endure if I just got knocked up by my husband the old fashion way. Anyway, everything checks out fine. Yup, fine. Everything, for once, is fine.
Life seems to be zooming by incredibly fast lately!! We have our house on the market and have been shopping for our new dream house. I've been struggling through 12 hour shifts. I'm completely exhausted after 9 hours and pray the last 3 don't contain any code blues. I've been stocking up on maternity clothes; I have come to despise Target's maternity clothing section. Nothing seems to fit. The pants are too long. The tops too tight in the chest (nothing has ever been too tight for me in the chest in my life). I ordered some tops from Old Navy today. I hope they fit because my regular tops are starting to get a bit tight.
I wrote a blog a while back about needing some tequila after walking our dog, here. We hung out with these people last week and met their adorable 10 week old baby. The guy who raved about how they tried a whopping 2 weeks to get pregnant with their baby will be referred to as Tool for the remainder of this story. While we were visiting with them, Tool continually stated how he feels sorry for us because we're having twins. He kept making statements similar to these: You are going to be so busy. I can't imagine how horrible two kids would be. Wow, good luck! I wouldn't want two kids; one is hard enough. You get the picture...He also reiterated how easy breezy it was for them to get pregnant. His wife, who is a sweet lady, kept saying how lucky they were to have it happen so fast. I kept glancing at my husband during these rants from Tool. I put on a nice face and smiled through everything. I really wanted to scream at him, "If you tried over 3.5 years to get pregnant you would be more than thrilled to be pregnant with two babies you jackass!!!" Tool is very lucky I was able to keep my hormonal self together. Ugh, the nerve of some people. When we came home, my husband had a Brandy Old Fashioned. I settled for a glass of Crystal Light.
I ordered a pillow this week
. I went with the Sealy Sweet Pea 2 in 1. It doubles as a breast feeding pillow. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I think the bigger I get, the more comfortable it will be. I've been sleeping with it for half the night, but then it gets tossed out for a standard pillow. We'll see how it goes.
Our big gender reveal appointment is scheduled in 3 weeks. The OB told me I could come back in 3-4 weeks for the full anatomy scan. You better believe I scheduled it for 3 weeks. I CANNOT WAIT to find out the babies genders!!! Now we have to come up with a creative way to tell family out of state...I don't think a phone call will suffice...
It's been an uneventful week for me, but this is perfectly acceptable! My bump seems to have popped and I'm starting to look pregnant. It's a very welcome sign!! I'm going to post a picture on here. I've been taking p
ictures since week 10 (this is the week I finally started to believe in this pregnancy) and sending them to family/friends each week. Our family all lives in the Midwest so it's a great way to stay connected. I cropped my head out of the photo because you just never know who is looking at this and I don't want my face all over the internet.
I've been filling out my pregnancy journal as well. I absolutely love writing down everything that's happening right now because so much changes from week to week. In case you are looking for one, I bought The Belly Book. It has weekly sections to fill out, spots for ultrasound pictures, spaces for monthly cravings/aversions, and a long section to recap each trimester. The early pages were a bit ridiculous (i.e. when did you think you were pregnant? how did you tell your spouse?) Obviously these don't apply to us infertiles, but once I got passed the initial questions they became more broad. I don't want to forget a single thing about this pregnancy!
I ordered two books from Amazon this week, When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quads: Proven Guidelines for a Healthy Multiple Pregnancy and Raising Twins: From Pregnancy to Preschool. The first came recommended by fellow bloggers and both had very high ratings on Amazon. You know me, I can't buy something unless the ratings are there. I cannot wait to pour over the material. I have a nutrition book I have been reading and according to it, with multiple births you're supposed to pack on the pounds during the first and second trimester to help the babies grow as much as possible since they will arrive early. I'm only up 3 pounds! I'm going to start following the books guidelines for nutritionally dense snacks and meals; it even has recipes and menu planning.
I don't go back to the OB until next week. The wait is driving me insane! I have been told I may be able to get an ultrasound at work if the ultrasound department isn't busy. I was hoping I could score a freebie scan last week, but they were very busy! I'm hoping I can get one this week.
I kept forgetting to blog about this topic, so now is the time. A few days after my last OB appointment I received a call from a nurse saying I had Streptococcus in my urine and they wanted to start me on antibiotics. She seemed very nonchalant about it, but I was panicking. I didn't get much info out of her besides it was a common occurrence and there was nothing to worry about. Not good enough. Of course I scoured Google for more answers.
According to my research, testing for Group B Streptococcus is routinely done around weeks 35-37 on everyone. As much as 40% of pregnant women carry the bacteria in their vagina and/or rectum but it causes no symptoms to the mother. During birth, their is a slight risk the bacteria can be passed on to the baby and they can develop most commonly pneumonia or sepsis or less commonly meningitis. Typically if a women tests positive the course of treatment is to give her IV antibiotics prior to and during delivery. If treated this way, the chances of passing on the bacteria are about 1:4,000. It seems like a relatively common occurrence and nothing to worry about (too much). However, I'm wondering why I got tested so early for this? I couldn't find anything online, aside from forums/blogs, regarding women who were tested prior to 35-37 weeks. I guess I'll have a few questions next week regarding this situation...if anyone has any experience with this or heard of it feel free to share your insight!
My OB RN friend stressed it was very common that women are given IV antibiotics for this infection. I also have another friend who said her sister was treated for this during her delivery and everything turned out fine. However, it's still another thing to worry about...
Aside from the streptococcus, everything is going well. The babies are the size of clenched fist this week and are starting to grow hair. Amazing. I think about them all the time. Collin and I talk about them constantly. I continue to pray and remain thankful for this blessing.
We headed off to Washington D.C. last week to take in the cherry blossoms. We planned the trip based on when the blossoms should be blooming. Because you just can't plan everything in life, we missed the blossoms!! The warm weather made them bloom early this year, but it didn't stop us from enjoying our trip. D.C. is a profoundly moving city. Visiting made me feel humbled, blessed and thankful to live in such an amazing country. I am grateful for everyone who has and is currently serving our country in the armed forces.
While I mentally prepared for the obligatory walking around D.C., my 
body did not follow suit. I was EXHAUSTED after day one. Thankfully I have a very understanding husband who was fine with breaks on benches and naps. One funny story: our first morning on the mall, we arrived early before the Smithsonian Museums opened. Me and my 13 week pregnant bladder enjoy engaging in frequent urination. However, the mall is surrounded by federal buildings and if the Smithsonian is not open, there aren't many options for restrooms. I started eying up big bushes in front of federal buildings wondering if I could get away with dropping my pants without being arrested. With eyes watering from the urgency to urinate, we headed off in one direction thinking there would at least be a Starbucks somewhere. We came across a Holiday Inn 3 blocks away. Sweet relief! I have never been so happy to use a restroom!!
We took in all the beautiful sights and had decent weather. It was wonderful to get away and spend time together. Our last evening in D.C. we treated ourselves to a nice dinner. A quick back story: I won tickets to NYC a few years ago from the Food Network that included tickets to an Iron Chef taping. The competing chef from the taping we attended, Jose Andres, owns 
a restaurant named Zatinya in D.C. Being the slight foodies we are, we thought a trip to Jose's restaurant would be the perfect ending to our trip. Zaytinya serves Turkish, Greek and Lebanese inspired tapas. Sounds delicious doesn't it? It was fantastic food, according to my husband. For my pregn
ant belly, it was a bit too flavorful. Among my tapas, I sampled goat, lamb, brussel sprouts and mussels. Amazing atmosphere. Impeccable service. Beautifully prepared dishes. Savory food. Tough on a pregnant lady. Let's just say I will not be eating goat for the next 6 months.
As far as the pregnancy goes, there's not a whole lot to report. We got the official results back on our NT scan. Our chances of the genetic disorders they tested for are about 1:10,000. The nurse told me the results were as perfect as they come. (Still strange getting these positive results.) I'm starting to have a definite bump. As prominent as my bump has become, I've only gained 3 pounds. However, I'm starting to notice an increase in my appetite. I'm craving all things salty; my main craving is green olives. Weird, I know. I haven't had any nausea in a week. I'm still tired, but it's a lot more manageable than it was. I'm in love with my new maternity pants!! Incredibly comfortable! We don't have another OB appointment until next week. I think I need to become fast friends with someone who works in ultrasound at the hospital I work at; these 4 week waits in between appointments are a long wait!!! I just hope and pray everything is going well in there...
