Thursday, October 25, 2012

Happy Dance!!

I just got the call!! Dr. K says discontinue all meds!!:oD and I am graduated from his care. Woohoo!!!!
Estrogen is over 1000 and Progesterone is 34.4! Go me and GB!

10 wk u/s

This morning, I had what was very likely my last monitoring appointment. Very soon, I should be getting a call from the RE's office, hopefully releasing me from their care and all of the meds, fingers crossed! Baby's size and heart rate were perfect.


DH and I have been trying to think of a nickname for the baby. "It" and "R&T's baby" just aren't working for me. A surro sister called it "Gummy Bear" in response to the above pic and I loved it! It just so happens that R's favorite candies are gummy ones, so it seems rather appropriate:o)

At today's appointment Gummy Bear (GB) was wiggling around. The Dr. had to count the heartbeats manually because GB wasn't holding still enough for the machine to measure it. I felt myself being in awe of the huge developments in this tiny person over the last few weeks. GB started out as a blob on the screen and just 4 weeks later, it is a tiny person with wiggling arms and legs. It really is quite incredible to see!

This has been a crazy few weeks. October 7th, we welcomed a new niece to our family. She lives on the opposite side of the country, so I will have to wait a couple of months to get to cuddle her and I can't wait:oD We went on vacation to Washington state and I celebrated a BIG birthday;o) I love the busyness, but I am glad to have a little down time before the holidays start. My cousin is getting married in 2 weeks and before I know it, Thanksgiving will be here!

I will leave you with a few pics from our vacation:)

A waterfall from the Olympic National Forest
Grey's Harbor Lighthouse
My sweet girl smelling a rose in the International Rose Test Garden in Portland, OR
A sunrise (which I did not actually see;o)
Family pic on the beach

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

OB, U/S #2 and 3 and Great News!

As I was getting ready to type this, I got a call from the RE's office with my bloodwork results and some great news, but I am getting ahead of myself. . .

Tuesday, I had my first OB appointment. It was so nice to be back in familiar hands, even if it was a marathon appointment. DD and I were there for almost 3 hours! And let me just take a moment to brag about my sweet kid. She is almost 20 months old and was an amazing little trooper, even though she only took about 15 minutes of a usually 2 hour nap before I had to wake her up to leave. She sat in her stroller more than 2 hours of the time and played, ate her snack and eventually we pulled out the big guns (Caillou). She was amazing!:o) The appointment started with a chat with Dr. K (a different one) and an ultrasound to confirm the due date. I will say mid-May, but they like to call it May 18th. And we got a great pic of the little bean.


And I got a great video that allowed the daddies to hear the heartbeat for the very first time:o) Next, after a wait in the waiting room, again, I met with the pre-natal clerk, who basically goes over a bunch of paperwork and schedules pre-natal testing and the next appointment. Then, I got to go to the lab for the full work-up. This included two urine samples and 7 (yes, I said 7!) vials of blood and an hour of waiting because my fatness earned me the early pregnancy Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT). A lot of people hate the drink, but I don't think it is that bad. The worst part is having to sit around (only 1 hour, in this case; some others have to do 2 or 3). This is where Caillou came to the rescue;o) plus she got to roam a little bit free. Some of the blood test results are in. I passed the GTT and everything else is within normal ranges, so far. My white blood cell count is a smidge high, so I guess we will see if the Dr. is worried about it or not.

This morning, I got to wake DD up and go for the monitoring appointment. They did another u/s, which was a bit anti-climactic, since I had just had one the day before and the pic quality of that one was much better. I also had blood drawn to check my Progesterone and Estrogen levels. My progesterone level is 47 (Dr. wants 25+), and Estrogen is 878 (Dr. wants 500+). Now, for the great news. . . No, I am not all done with meds:(, but, I might call it halfway done:o) PIO reduced from 1.5 cc to .5 cc per day (let me tell you this is the most exciting part, I noticed a big difference in the change from 1.0-1.5- a little burning near the end and increased lumpiness and soreness in my booty, so I am anticipating a lovely opposite effect from this big change:oD), Endometrin vaginal suppositories decreased from 3x to 2x per day, Delestrogen IM DONE! and everything else stays the same. I am also hoping that this is a good sign that when I have my next appointment in two weeks, I will get to stop all meds!!!! I am one happy girl! :oD I don't know how to make the smilie's smile any bigger, but I am thrilled!!! Aside from the positive efects on my booty, it also means my body is playing nice and doing its job and we are that much closer to achieving the dream of making two wonderful guys daddies!!!!

This has been a great week, and now I have to go pack for the vacation we are leaving for tomorrow! My next monitoring appointment is scheduled for October 25th and my 12 week OB appointment is scheduled for the 29th (more like 11 weeks). Fingers crossed that I will have even better news then:o)

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Daily Meds

No, you didn't miss this week's u/s. They schduled it for 2 weeks out (which will be the 10th). I am guessing because it is a singleton. It seems that surros with twins do 1 wk then 2. I also have my first OB appointment next week on Monday, which should also include an u/s. I know, I know, I haven't been released from the RE yet. It is a long story. The short version is that we have to do the appointment now, in order to get the first trimester screening scheduled within the time window of the test.

On to the subject of this post. The other day, my sister was asking about all of the meds I do in one day and I remembered that I intended to do a post about it. I think they kind of get pushed to the back burner because of all of the excitement over Betas and ultrasounds. But don't you worry, I am still on them and counting down the weeks until I will be free from the sore, lumpy booty and alarms to remind me to take my meds.

This is the whole day's worth at a glance.
 
 
This is the morning bunch: Endometrin vaginal suppository on top, pills from left to right- estrace, pre-natal multivitamin, folate, DHA, multi-vitamin


Midday group: Endometrin vag pez (per DH), pre-natal vitamin, estrace


The bedtime crew: pre-natal vitamin, estrace, baby aspirin, vag pez, progesterone IM injection (1.5cc), delestrogen IM injection (.1cc every third day)


Most of it is just a minor annoyance/ no biggie, but I have to take one moment to complain that the injections are getting old. My poor booty is sore and lumpy and I can't wait until Dr. K sets me free. End complaining:o) I remind myself daily how much good it is all doing for this very special baby and that is what gets me through.

I am also thankful that so far this pregnancy is very similar to my first pregnancy. My symptoms are pretty minor. Sore breasts, mild fatigue, nausea when I am hungry and heartburn. We will be 8 weeks on Saturday!!!:oD Next week is going to be a busy week with 2 doctor's appointments and leaving for vacation for a week and a half (and my baby sister is scheduled to give birth to her second child on Sunday, the 7th:o)). Hopefully when we get back, I will have my last appointment for Dr. K and he will set me free. After that, I hope to start doing a pregnancy update post every other week.