15 weeks
Weight gained: approximately one ton (okay, really, 17 pounds)
Morning sickness: cautiously optimistic that it's gone, baby, gone
BP: 128/90
The most notable occurrence this week in our babymakin' world was lunch yesterday, when we went out with a group of friends to celebrate a a dear friend's birthday. We had one baby at the table, two pregnant women and a surprise announcement from a third she is also pregnant with twins. She had just found out about the bonus baby, and she looked exactly how I felt for the first trimester of this pregnancy - pretty much nothing short of terrified.
It's hard to explain to people sometimes how scary this is. The whole "dude ... twins" thing is funny and all, but when it's you, and you already have kids, and you're putting together the pieces in your head about how crazy your life already is, and what it's like to live with a newborn, and then multiplying all that by infinity by adding two more to the mix ... well, it's pretty hard to feel that rapturous joy that you're supposed to about being pregnant at all, much less excited about twins.
I am happy to say though, that despite all that and the bag of chips that was the complications we experienced early on, I'm finally starting to really feel excited about this instead of just nervous and scared. I think it also helps that I'm feeling better physically - I have gone nearly a whole week without feeling pukey 24/7, and have managed to stay up late enough that I can actually go to bed with my sweetie, which is surprisingly important to both of us.
This upcoming week will feature a few notable events as well. Today I get to stay home all day because I have to do a creatinine clearance test since I keep failing the urine dip stick tests at the perinatologist's office. This fun experience involves collecting 24 hours' worth of urine and taking it in to the lab, and then they draw blood and compare the creatinine levels in the urine to the blood. The point with the whole thing is to assess your kidney function, which can be impacted by high blood pressure (which I have, sorta ... I am routinely at around 130/90 during pregnancy).
This test is being done more as a baseline than anything, despite the previous dipstick failures. Chances are excellent I'll have to do this again later on, especially if the hypertension continues (which it no doubt will) and to monitor for signs of preeclampsia (which I had with Zach). Good times!
I also get another formal ultrasound this week. They'll do both transvaginal and transabdominal ultrasounds every two weeks from here until around 28 weeks, when they'll be weekly. The TV is to check for cervical shortening, which can signal preterm labor. If they start to notice any cervical shortening, it means pretty much immediate bedrest for me, which will continue for the rest of the pregnancy. I didn't have any cervical competence issues in my previous pregnancies, so here's hoping that is just a precautionary measure. The TA is to check on heartbeats, anatomy, etc. We'll probably also do a 4-D ultrasound somewhere around 26 weeks or so, which I am looking forward to. Those are really cool.
Last but not least, I'm having amniocentesis on Wednesday. We're already over 95% sure that we've got two chromosomally normal guys in there based on the earlier testing we've done, but we're going forward anyway as advised by the MFM specialists. I'd appreciate all good thoughts and mojo and whatever y'all have to offer, since this procedure does carry a tiny bit of risk. We do have a very experienced perinatologist doing the procedure, which helps reduce the risk to less than 1%, but it's still a bit scary nonetheless.
Once we get the results back from the amnio (a tragically long 2 week timeframe), I think I will have a much higher degree of confidence about everything. To William's dismay, I still somewhat look only as far as the next test, the next ultrasound, etc. ... but I am hopeful that between knowing conclusively that we're in the clear on the genetic front and being able to feel them move here shortly, things won't feel so tenuous in the weeks to come.
Morning sickness: cautiously optimistic that it's gone, baby, gone
BP: 128/90
The most notable occurrence this week in our babymakin' world was lunch yesterday, when we went out with a group of friends to celebrate a a dear friend's birthday. We had one baby at the table, two pregnant women and a surprise announcement from a third she is also pregnant with twins. She had just found out about the bonus baby, and she looked exactly how I felt for the first trimester of this pregnancy - pretty much nothing short of terrified.
It's hard to explain to people sometimes how scary this is. The whole "dude ... twins" thing is funny and all, but when it's you, and you already have kids, and you're putting together the pieces in your head about how crazy your life already is, and what it's like to live with a newborn, and then multiplying all that by infinity by adding two more to the mix ... well, it's pretty hard to feel that rapturous joy that you're supposed to about being pregnant at all, much less excited about twins.
I am happy to say though, that despite all that and the bag of chips that was the complications we experienced early on, I'm finally starting to really feel excited about this instead of just nervous and scared. I think it also helps that I'm feeling better physically - I have gone nearly a whole week without feeling pukey 24/7, and have managed to stay up late enough that I can actually go to bed with my sweetie, which is surprisingly important to both of us.
This upcoming week will feature a few notable events as well. Today I get to stay home all day because I have to do a creatinine clearance test since I keep failing the urine dip stick tests at the perinatologist's office. This fun experience involves collecting 24 hours' worth of urine and taking it in to the lab, and then they draw blood and compare the creatinine levels in the urine to the blood. The point with the whole thing is to assess your kidney function, which can be impacted by high blood pressure (which I have, sorta ... I am routinely at around 130/90 during pregnancy).
This test is being done more as a baseline than anything, despite the previous dipstick failures. Chances are excellent I'll have to do this again later on, especially if the hypertension continues (which it no doubt will) and to monitor for signs of preeclampsia (which I had with Zach). Good times!
I also get another formal ultrasound this week. They'll do both transvaginal and transabdominal ultrasounds every two weeks from here until around 28 weeks, when they'll be weekly. The TV is to check for cervical shortening, which can signal preterm labor. If they start to notice any cervical shortening, it means pretty much immediate bedrest for me, which will continue for the rest of the pregnancy. I didn't have any cervical competence issues in my previous pregnancies, so here's hoping that is just a precautionary measure. The TA is to check on heartbeats, anatomy, etc. We'll probably also do a 4-D ultrasound somewhere around 26 weeks or so, which I am looking forward to. Those are really cool.
Last but not least, I'm having amniocentesis on Wednesday. We're already over 95% sure that we've got two chromosomally normal guys in there based on the earlier testing we've done, but we're going forward anyway as advised by the MFM specialists. I'd appreciate all good thoughts and mojo and whatever y'all have to offer, since this procedure does carry a tiny bit of risk. We do have a very experienced perinatologist doing the procedure, which helps reduce the risk to less than 1%, but it's still a bit scary nonetheless.
Once we get the results back from the amnio (a tragically long 2 week timeframe), I think I will have a much higher degree of confidence about everything. To William's dismay, I still somewhat look only as far as the next test, the next ultrasound, etc. ... but I am hopeful that between knowing conclusively that we're in the clear on the genetic front and being able to feel them move here shortly, things won't feel so tenuous in the weeks to come.