Baby Shower!!

I am getting really excited about the baby shower! Not much longer to wait. I just hope I don't go into labor before the shower!! Everything is still so strange to me. It still seems like a fantasy. Sometimes I don't feel pregnant, which only happens in the mornings, and that's when I get caught petting my tummy.

2 New Side Effects

Other than getting BIGGER and BIGGER... I have 2 new side effects of pregnancy. The Braxton Hicks Contractions have begun (which are not bad at all) and uncontrollable crying (which really sucks). I had a doctor's appt last week and I cried throughout the entire appt. I asked the doctor if there was anything I could do about it and he kindly said "no".

Last night, I was feeling my tummy, and I said "JOE! COME FEEL THS!" I found a head in the lowest part of my tummy. Then, about an hour later... "JOE!! COME FEEL THIS!" We found a foot! It was really cute.

The babies are doing great and kicking all the time! I was reading in my TWINS book and it reads "During the next 4 weeks, you may feel pressure in your rectum." I instantly told Joe "See! I told you they were kicking my ass!"

I went and saw the doctor this past Friday and he has scheduled the C-Section for March 25 (my sister-in-law's birthday), however, there is a 70% chance I will go into labor before then.

Joe put together both cribs last night and we arranged the nursery. It is so cute. I will post pictures of the room right after Christmas. I want to get the changing table in there before I take the pictures. It's hard fitting 2 cribs into 1 nursery!! Joe and I have stopped in the doorway many times just to gaze at the room.

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It's Official!!

We're having twin boys!! They now weigh 1 pound each and I can feel them moving around. It is so weird!! We already have the names picked out. They are...

Gage Farrell Hughes
Aiden Granger Hughes

The doctor says they are growing rapidly and appear to be very healthy! YEA!

Here's a question for you...

I can understand my knees hurting from the extra weight... I can understand getting pimples from the extra hormones... But will someone please explain to me why I now have fuzzy ear lobes? I'm beginning to look like my granddad!

Well CRAP!!

The babies tried to show us what they were but it just wasn't clear enough. The doctor could guess but I don't want to base anything on a guess. So, we still don't know what I'm having. AARRRGGHHH!!!
I did see a new doctor about my migraines. He gave me some medicine made for Alzheimer's patients and said that it might work. I certainly hope so. These migraines are unbearable!! I had 3 last week alone. I wake up with one and I'm down for the entire day. Makes enjoying being pregnant very difficult!
The OB did reduce my work schedule from 40 hours a week to 30. Haven't had the opportunity to tell my boss yet. Hope he takes it well!

It's Almost TIME!!!

Tomorrow, Nov. 6th, we have a doctor's appt to find out what we're having!! I'm so excited I can't stand it!!!
Also, about 7am on Halloween morning, I felt Baby A move for the first time. Then, about 2 hours later, I felt Baby B move as well. On Saturday, Nov 3rd, I felt Baby A move again. It is such a strange feeling. Little flutters concentrated in one spot in my tummy.
I actually have 2 doctor's appts tomorrow. The first is to find out what I'm having. The second is because the doctor is getting concerned about me. My ankles are now bigger than my feet, I am having horrible headaches (probably due to sinuses), shortness of breath, and still vomiting every other day. Ever since I got sick about 3 weeks ago, things have become a little more difficult. Oh well... The joys of a twin pregnancy.

Happy To Report...

I am now 2 weeks free and clear of MORNING SICKNESS!! So glad... I really thought I was gonna kill someone soon. Now I have a little heart burn in the evenings but I can live with that. My tummy has really grown in the last 2 weeks as well. I expected my tummy to grow at a regular pace. I certainly didn't realize I would have growth spurts! It is so strange! I talked to my cousin (by marriage) yesterday because she had twins 18 years ago. It was really nice to hear she didn't enjoy being pregnant either. I was really hoping to enjoy being pregnant. I don't. I'm almost 15 weeks now and my toes look like little sausages! My tummy muscles get very tired from carrying the extra weight and they usually give up around 3:00 each day. That's when my tummy shows it's true size! Joe was rubbing my tummy after work yesterday and said "You're getting huge!". Thanks honey.

Cravings

About a month ago, Joe asked me what we were going to do for dinner. I said "How about Chinese food?" I had been feeling a little better and it sounded pretty good. So I call and ordered $40 worth of Chinese food. The food arrived and everything looked good. We both made our plates and sat down to dinner. Two bites later I passed my plate to Joe and said "Oh no! The babies do NOT like Chinese food!" Joe had Chinese for lunch for about 2 weeks and I couldn't go near the fridge because of the smell! YUK!!

New Doctor

Well I have finally been released from the Center and found the doctor to deliver the babies. Joe and I saw him on 9/7 and went through all the initial tests for new patients. But I did find out many interesting things. Since I am having twins and since I had the abdominal surgery last year, I have to go with a C-section. The doctor will schedule it for 38 weeks (around March 22) but he said most patients with twins go into labor at 36 weeks (around March 8). Also, if the babies cooperate, I should be able to find out what they are (boy/girl) the week of Thanksgiving!!
My next sonogram is scheduled for 9/21 and then I have also scheduled a Nuchal test (find out what the odds are of the babies having Down's Syndrome) on 9/27. The Center only uses the best eggs/sperm so Joe and I are not worried about the Nuchal test at all. Anything abnormal, they discard.

Hurray!!

Well, I am pleased to announce that after 20 days of severe morning sickness I am beginning to feel better! The morning sickness has calmed down to a manageable level. I still get very tired throughout the day but I'm not green anymore! I still feel nauseated but now I can make it through the day without killing anyone!

8 Weeks and 3 Days Pregnant

Only 5 more days of shots!! So very happy about that. My butt is sore all the time from getting nightly injections. YUK!! I went back to the doctor yesterday (8/28) and the babies are doing just fine. Both have strong heartbeats. Joe thinks they have his eyes. Ha Ha Ha!!

Morning Sickness

Morning Sickness kicked in and it goes on ALL DAY!! After 4 days of feeling really, REALLY sick, I called the doctor and told her I'm a weinie and I needed the morning sickness medicine. So far it is working very well! God bless modern medicine!

Love at First Sight!!

TWINS!!! Joe thinks they have his eyes. What do you think?

My Doctor(s)

As I have mentioned before, Dr. Rehman is the one who did implant #2 and #3. He is such a wonderful doctor and really took excellent care of me. I have to go to CAR until I am 9 weeks pregnant and then I will go to an OBGYN. I am now being seen by Dr. Kathy Doody because after the implant, Dr. Rehman informed me that he was moving to Seattle. Such a bummer. I really liked him. There were two major factors in getting pregnant. The first was God. The second was Dr. Rehman. Without these two factors, this wouldn't have been possible. Joe and I contributed very little. :)

Trying to Get Pregnant - Pictures

Above is what the embryos looked like frozen (left) and then thawed (right). Below is what they looked like after the implant.We are so very excited!!!

Trying to Get Pregnant - The Results

On July 29th, I went in for the pregnancy test. Joe and I both felt that it had worked. We were sure of it!! After the test, Joe and I sat in the living room reading. I kept watching the clock because I wanted Joe to get the call from CAR and I didn't want to hear the phone ring. So at 10:45 I crawled in the bed for a nap. About 10 minutes later, Joe came bouncing across the bed on his hands and knees saying "You're gonna be a MOMMY!"
The doctor looks at the levels in the blood and is looking for a 20 or higher. My level was 307!! Then, 2 days later, I had to take another pregnancy test and the doctor is looking for the levels in the blood to double. My level was 697!! Joe and I think I am pregnant with twins! We are so excited. Since the second pregnancy test was taken on July 31st, I have taken 3 home pregnancy tests and all are positive. Since it was so hard to get pregnant, I am scared to death of losing these babies so I started taking home pregnancy tests. The re-confirmation is worth it!!

Trying to Get Pregnant - 3rd Attempt

Only 2 weeks after the second negative pregnancy test did we begin again. This time was a little different. Since Dr. Rehman used frozen sperm on the second attempt, we got a refund. And it just so happened that the refund we received was the same amount it cost to do it a third time but without the egg retrieval. Let me explain... During the first attempt, there was 1 fertilized embryo left over that Dr. Craig had frozen for us. Then, during the second attempt, there was 1 fertilized embryo left over that Dr. Rehman had frozen for us. When going through in-vitro, the doctors prefer to always implant 2 fertilized embryos during each cycle for people 30-39 years old. Younger only gets 1 and older gets 3.
Since we weren't going to have the egg retrieval or the hormone meds, it dropped the cost conciderably. So we started again. Still took 6 weeks but was so much easier on my body. And my PCP decided to keep me on Paxil until I took the pregnancy test since my depression got so serious after 2 failed attempts. If I got a positive result, stop taking it immediately.
This time, as soon as we decided to go another round, I knew I wanted my mom to be there with us. No matter how old you are, sometimes you just need your mommy. On July 20th, Joe, my mom, Dr. Rehman, the nurse, and I all crowded into the little room and Dr. Rehman implanted the 2 remaining frozen fertilized embryos.

Trying to Get Pregnant - Happy Pills

During the first attempt, I stayed on Paxil, which made it much easier to get past having a negative result. During the second attempt, my PCP told me to stop taking my Paxil. Needless to say, I was much more emotional during the second attempt than I was the first. Poor Joe. He handled it like a champ!
Immediately after we received the phone call telling us that the test was negative, I got right back on my Paxil. It made it easier to deal with the depression of 2 failed in-vitro attempts. Plus not knowing why they failed is very difficult. They couldn't even tell us if it was me or Joe. I kept feeling like it was my fault, and Joe kept feeling like it was his fault. In reality, it isn't either one of our faults. It just wasn't meant to be.

Trying to Get Pregnant - 2nd Attempt

In April 2007, we had saved up enough money to do it again. The first time, we took out a loan, but we couldn't afford to do that again so the second time, we paid cash. Our insurance does not cover anything related to infertility.
Dr. Craig had moved on to another company so we chose Dr. Rehman this time. He had done a few of my sonograms the previous year and had really made a good impression on us.
We did everything again. First came the pills, then the shots, but this time we didn't know if we would need fresh sperm or not. When CAR did the sperm aspiration from the previous year, they froze what they didn't use. So Dr. Rehman was going to try to use the frozen sperm but would not know until the morning of the egg retrieval if the frozen were viable or not. When we got there, Dr. Rehman said the frozen had thawed very well and were swimming again. So I went through the egg retrieval, but Joe did not have to go under for another sperm aspiration. The retrieval is very hard on my body. They have to put me under and as soon as I wake up, my body feels bloated. It's actually not bloated with air, it is fluid that has surrounded my uterus. But it is very painful. Then, only 5 days later, I have to go back for the egg implant.
This time, 8 days after the implant, I got the same strange feeling and I knew the embryos were gone. Then on day 9, I went in for the pregnancy test, and again, it was negative.

Trying to Get Pregnant - Surgery

In September 2006, I went into the hospital to have the fibroids removed. After the surgery, the doctor told Joe that the smallest was smaller than a peanut and the largest was as big as a golfball! I was in the hospital 3 days and 2 nights and my wonderful husband was right there with me the entire time. I remember the first night, I couldn't sleep because I was high on meds and Joe was sound asleep next to me on a roll-away bed they had prepared for him. He looked so precious!
The doctor said the surgery was a lot like having a C-section. And I have the scar to prove it! I was then out of work for 2 months.

Trying to Get Pregnant - 1st Attempt

In April, 2006, we went to The Center for Assisted Reproduction (CAR). We knew we couldn't get pregnant the old fashioned way since Joe had a vasectomy about 3 years earlier. Our doctor was Dr. Craig and she was very nice. We were also introduced to several different doctors during each visit; Dr. rehman, Dr. Kevin Doody, Dr. Kathy Doody, and Dr. Ann Nackley. Anyway, we went through the entire process of all the shots, the pills, the egg retrieval, the sperm aspiration, and then the egg implant. During the process, Dr. Craig found 4 fibroids in and around my uterus but said she was not very concerned about them.
The same day of the implant, Joe and I went home and crawled right into bed. Only a few hours later, I knew it didn't work. Nine days later, I went in for the pregnancy test and it was negative.
Dr. Craig talked to us and said that if we were going to try in-vitro again, we really should have those 4 fibroids surgically removed.

How Joe and I met

In August 2005, I was sitting outside during the morning break from work, just talking to some co-worker about trying to handle my divorce myself. After my co-worker left, this man came up to me and said “I don’t mean to be rude but I overheard you talking about doing your divorce yourself and I’d like to know more because I’m getting a divorce as well. Oh, by the way, my name is Joe.” We chatted and then went our separate ways. Soon we began spending every break together, chatting. Later we began to hang out together after work. It was interesting because I was already dating someone, but I found myself wanting to spend all my time with Joe instead of the guy I was dating. Joe and I would hang out together with my friends, or just the two of us. He never made a move on me; he was always very respectful. One Sunday afternoon, I had a fight with the guy I was dating and I called Joe and told him I wanted to go out for a drink. He and I went to Billy Bob’s and had a few beers and danced a little. We had a great time. Next thing I knew, I kissed him. I couldn’t help myself. We didn’t talk about it the next day. We went right back to being friends. But I sure did like being with him.
During the holidays we spent more and more time together. Then on Halloween night, he proposed. I blamed the beer and just blew it off. During late November, he proposed again. And again I blew it off as joke. Then on Christmas day eve, he and I went to my friend Leslie’s apartment. We had some drinks, played games, and then decided we were going to give Joe a makeover! He was a very good sport about it. But it was when my friend took finished Joe’s hair and stepped away so I could get a good look at him, I just gasped. The look he gave me made my heart just melt. He got down on one knee and proposed again. I said “I don’t know.” My friend was standing behind him whispering “Say yes!” He then asked me to go to Chicago with him the next morning. I agreed. He followed me home, I packed some clothes and stayed at his house. We never separated after that Christmas night.

In Chicago, on New Year’s Eve, he proposed for the fourth time. I’m so glad he was persistent! We were married 5 weeks later, 02/04/06.