Friday, August 8, 2014

Twin Pregnancy: Early Ultrasounds

In my previous post, I told you all that I had some pregnancy symptoms kick in about the time I was 7 weeks along. Those symptoms were about what I had experienced in my previous pregnancies as far as severity and intensity goes, so I wasn't really expecting my symptoms to get any worse. Haha . . . well . . . 

Right about the time I was 8 weeks along, my symptoms got BAD (which honestly, probably still wasn't that bad compared to what others go through, but they were bad for me). My stomach was upset ALL the time. I had NO appetite. If I was the slightest bit hungry, I was sick. But, nothing settled well or sounded good, so I had to force myself to eat while feeling nauseous which was miserable. I suddenly understood why some people hate being pregnant! And just to be clear, I was still incredibly thankful to be pregnant . . . more thankful than I can even express, but I was having a hard time for sure!

I became one of those people who seriously would eat a few saltine crackers in bed before I could even get up. I carried them in the car and in my purse. I pretty much didn't leave home without them! They were often the only thing I could choke down! The list of foods that didn't settle well with me included dairy, carbs, veggies, fruits, beef, anything spicy or with too much flavor, or anything the slightest bit greasy. As you can see, that didn't leave me a whole lot of options! One morning, I ate a piece of baked chicken for breakfast. It seemed to settle well, so I tried it again the next day and I promptly threw it up. There didn't really seem to be a rhyme or reason to what settled well with me. I ate lots of meals that consisted of a cheese stick and a few crackers.

I actually only really threw up a very few times. What I really had (and am still having to a degree) was a problem with mucous in my throat that makes me gag. Probably around 15 times a day, I would start to gag on this excess mucous. Of course, the more I gagged, the higher my risk of actually throwing up became and it quickly turned into an ugly situation. Several times while driving in the car with the kiddos, I had to pull over on the side of the road because I was gagging so much. I learned to bring a cup in the car to spit out all the mucous and stomach bile which helps the gagging stop faster. I'm still struggling with the gagging, but it's only once or twice a day now. 

Okay, this next thing is really TMI so I debated about whether or not I should write it. However, someone else may be dealing with this issue, so I want you to know that it does happen. Most pregnancy books and apps will have a lot of information about constipation during the first trimester. Apparently, this is a very common issue that women have during pregnancy, though I have never experienced it myself. Well, I certainly did not have that issue. In fact, I had the opposite issue. Beginning at around 7 weeks and lasting until about 11 weeks, I had diarrhea multiple times a day. Sometimes it was as much as 8, but could be as few as 2. However, it was every day. If I ate something that didn't settle well, it would hit me within 30 to 45 minutes. Talk about miserable! Obviously, it concerned me a whole lot, but my doctor said that (though it's uncommon) it does happen to some women. Our main concern was that I was staying hydrated, so I made sure to drink, drink, drink water. So, if anyone else out there is experiencing that, it does happen to some people!

During weeks 8 and 9, Brianna had swim lessons every morning. Aside from being sick, I was also super fatigued. It was seriously ALL I could do every morning to get us all up, ready, and out the door on time. After lessons, I would often come home and just lay on the couch while the kids played or watched a movie until lunchtime. I also napped every. single. day. while they napped, but still went to bed at 10pm with no problems. I'm generally a total night owl, so 10pm is early for me. And even with all that sleep, I still was DONE by about 6pm every day. We ate a lot of sandwiches and easy meals during that time! Once in a while, I would get a little burst of energy and do a load of laundry or sweep the kitchen floor. Overall though, Chris really stepped up and took over most of the household duties after he got home from work. Bless him! I am very grateful for my husband and his willingness to step up during this time!

Both of my kiddos were also SO great during this time. They certainly aren't accustomed to a mom who is sick all the time or has zero energy and lays around all day. Brianna especially was a GREAT helper to me. I struggled with feeling guilty about them basically having to fend for themselves, but I'm so proud of the way they handled it. I suspect I'll have more help with the babies than I'll know what to do with :-).

Okay, so we had several early ultrasounds after the initial ultrasound where we found out we were expecting twins. Our second ultrasound was on July 10th, and I was 8 weeks and 3 days along. All of the intense symptoms I had been experiencing were certainly difficult, BUT they reassured me that things were good with the pregnancy so that was a huge plus!

At this ultrasound, Baby A was measuring 8 weeks and 2 days. 

And had a heart rate of 170 beats per minute. High!

Baby B was measuring 8 weeks and 1 day,

with a heart rate of 167 beats per minute. Also high!

I love this photo of both babies together :-).

The appointment was short and sweet, and after proclaiming that everything looked perfect, Dr. P said, "See ya in a couple weeks!"

Up until this point, we hadn't told Brianna (or Brenson) anything about being pregnant or expecting twins. I really would have preferred to wait even longer, but she was asking a lot of questions about why I was going to the doctor so much, why I was sick, etc, and she had really started to figure it out on her own. We overheard her telling her cousin one day that there were two babies! Because of this, after our 8 week appointment, we spilled the beans!
Chris was supposed to taking a video while I told the kids, but something happened and he only got one second of video. The above photo is a screen shot of that one second, but you can clearly see how Brianna felt about the news! She was beyond excited and thrilled. We told her that it was a big secret and she took that very seriously and didn't tell anyone until we told her she could. Bren didn't really understand, but he's also excited because Brianna is so excited!

As I've already expressed above, the next couple weeks were hard with pregnancy symptoms, but that helped me look forward to our ultrasound even more! Our third ultrasound was on July 24th, and I was 10 weeks and 3 days along (again, the nurse had it in the computer wrong!)

I knew that if everything looked good, this would be my last appointment at our fertility center and with Dr. P. It was a bit bittersweet, but certainly more sweet than bitter. Thankfully, everything did look good with both babies!

Baby A measured 10 weeks and 3 days. While we were trying to get Baby A's measurements, Baby B was bouncing all around and making quite the scene!

With all of Baby B's commotion, it made it hard to measure Baby A's heart rate, but we finally got it at 163 beats per minute.

However, as soon as we switched to Baby B, Baby A started acting all wiggly and crazy! Competing for attention already??? Ha!

Baby B also measured 10 weeks and 3 days,

and had a heart rate of 174 beats per minute.

Up until this point, I imagined that we had a boy and a girl in there. However, after this appointment where both of their heart rates were so high (again), I really began to wonder if we're having two girls! The old wive's tale is higher heart rates mean girls and lower heart rates mean boys. I know that this is just a silly thing, but it was true for both Brianna and Brenson :-).

Dr. P officially released me to start seeing my regular OB, and as I was leaving he got kind of sappy with me :-). He kept patting me on the back and telling me to not be a stranger. It was sweet, but after the babies are born I will continue to see him for management of my PCOS. I think it's great when you can tell a person is so passionate about their job.

And really, helping peoples' dreams come true would be a pretty great job!



2 comments:

JoJo said...

Aww I'm glad u were able to share the news with ur kids and see their excitement. After being used to having a specialist look over u it's hard to leave but awesome that ur Dr expressed his feelings. Goodluck with ur pregnancy. Praying they continue to grow and u have ahealthy pregnancy.

Johannah Sirois said...

I am so so so so so excited for you!!! I'm hoping you will continue to document all along the way because I'm so anxious to follow along with you on your "twin" journey!!! So exciting! Congrats again!