12 Weeks

How far along: 12 weeks 5 Days

Total Weight Gain: 12 pounds

Maternity clothes: Shirts for sure.  Still trying to figure out the pants side of things.

Stretch Marks: None yet

Sleep: Still very interrupted.  Mostly thanks to Tyson

Best Moment this week: It's a tie between seeing everyone on Thanksgiving and coming home to Robbie and the dogs.

Miss anything: Not feeling sick when I eat and beer.  I've been stealing a sip or two here and there and then spitting it out. 

Movement: Not that I can feel yet.  I'm ready to though.

Food cravings: Roast beef sandwiches and ice cream.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Everything is making me queasy.  No getting sick in over a week though. (I wrote this and then by time I was down to the end of the blog post I coughed and had to step outside to throw up.  Back to day 1.)

Gender: ??

Labor signs: none

Symptoms: Nausea, gas, fatigue, weight gain, and back pain

Belly button in or out: Still in.  I'm trying to decide how long I'm going to try and leave my belly button ring in.  The piercing is so shallow I think I'm going to have to let it close up.

Wedding rings on or off:  On.

Happy or moody: Happy!

Looking forward to: Not feeling sick anymore.

Thanksgiving in Chicago was great. I crashed at Matt and Michelle's and got some of the best sleep I've had in weeks.  Mostly because Tyson wasn't there to wake me up every two hours when he wanted back in bed.  Jeremy and Dave hosted Thanksgiving dinner at Dave's house.  Jeremy prepared the turkey.  They made stuffing, spinach dip, smashed potatoes(my favorite), cranberry sauce. gravy, and other delicious things I can't remember.  Other people made sweet potatoes, oriental salad, cheese ball, jalapeno corn bread and of course pie.  Everything was fantastic, but I wish I could have eaten more.  I have to eat so slow and get so full so easily that I didn't get to try everything.  What I did try was wonderful though.

Michelle and I did some shopping on Friday morning.  Nothing too crazy, just a little clothes shopping at Oakbrook.  I picked up a couple open front cardigans and Michelle got a ton of new work clothes and a cute red pea coat.  Everything was 40, 50, or 60% off, so we scored big time.  The only thing I was hopping to get but didn't find was a pair of comfy maternity pants that actually look good.  I tried on ones at Gap and wasn't crazy about them.  I think for the time being I'm just going to buy up a couple sizes in low rise non maternity pants and see how far that gets me.  

Friday night and Saturday morning we're all about chilling with family.  It was a perfect holiday and I was glad to be home with Robbie by Saturday night. Sunday we watched some football and spent some time with his family for his mom's birthday.  All in all it was a pretty awesome 4 day weekend.  Now it's back to the daily grind.

Dog Sense

Since about 5 weeks I have had a nonstop shadow by my side. Tyson has always been a mama's boy but lately he doesn't leave my side. Layla still sits on the couch staring out the window, but not Tyson. When they say your pets know, they aren't lying. I've even noticed some of the daycare dogs acting differently. They seem to listen to me more now.

This is Tyson's favorite spot. If I'm in bed, and I'm in bed a lot, he's right there with me. I'm never alone for more than a minute or two.

11 Weeks

I missed posting last week, but I'll try not to let that happen again.  We've had an exciting couple of weeks in baby land.  We had our final appointment with Dr. Bopp last week and as sad as I am to leave our RE's office, I'm glad we got the ok to move on.  Both babies looked great during the ultrasound and we're measuring 5 days ahead.  


I had our first appointment with Dr. Fouts this week and it went well.  I feel comfortable with her delivering the babies, at least for the time being.  If you know me you know I am all about natural birth with no interventions. I especially don't want a c-section.  I know sometimes it's necessary, but I'd like to avoid having one at all costs.  Twins kind of throw a wrench it that idea, but Dr. Fouts said she was willing to work with me if both babies, or at least baby A, are in the right position. Great heartbeats of 164 BPM and they're measuring 5cm and 4.5 cm. I've become spoiled with all of these ultrasounds.  We don't have another one until 19 weeks when we will hopefully find out if we're having boys, girls or one of each.


I was hoping to start doing belly pictures this week but it will have to wait until next week.  I'm definitely starting to show and I'm loving it.  Instead of looking like I drank too much I look like I'm pregnant.  I have purchased a few maternity things but am looking forward to picking up some more while in Chicago next weekend.  Oakbrook has Gap Maternity and A Pea In The Pod, so hopefully I'll get some good jeans there and maybe a sweater or two.  There's also an Old Navy only a few minutes from Dave that caries maternity clothes, so I will probably pick up a few more tees.  I think I'll be living in maternity tees and cardigans for the next few months.


I'd like to give a shout out to Robbie for proving why he's Husband of the Year.  Ice cream in bed, making me cheese toasties, trips to the store, neck massages.  I can't imagine having a better man to be with.  I know he's going to make a great dad.


How far along? 11 Weeks 2 days
Total weight gain:  We'll keep track of this from our pre IVF weight, so 8 pounds
Maternity clothes? Yes please! I love my maternity tees from Old Navy and can't wait to find some maternity jeans that are flattering on my butt. Fort Wayne doesn't have a great selection.
Stretch marks? Nope.  
Sleep: Sleepy all the time but having problems actually sleeping at night.
Best moment this week: Seeing two healthy babies on the ultrasound.
Miss Anything? Being able to eat what I want and especially beer.  A Black Velvet from JK's sounds so yummy.  At least I have my girls to drink for me.
Movement: I've seen it, but can't feel it yet. They were both moving like crazy during my ultrasounds both this week and last.
Food cravings: Arby's roast beef sandwiches. They're the only fast food that sounds good.  Also toast with grape jelly.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Pizza.  As delicious as those two slices of pizza were, it was a bad idea.  I think I'll avoid anything with red sauce for another few weeks.
Gender: Not sure yet.  We're both think two boys, but who knows.
Labor Signs: None.
Symptoms: Nausea, fatigue, acne, big boobs, and an expanding belly.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On, although not this week.  My ring is getting re-dipped.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, although I'm sure Robbie might tell you otherwise.
Looking forward to: Thanksgiving.  Food, family and shopping.  I'm sad Robbie won't be there, but I can't wait to see everyone else.  I haven't seen Dave and Jeremy in over a month and it's been even longer since I've seen Chris and JT.

9 Weeks

In case you haven't noticed, our pregnancy falls in line with the NFL schedule which is totally awesome and super convenient for all of our guy friends and relatives.  As much NFL Network as I watch these babies are going to come out and have their fantasy teams all planned for next year.

Halloween was this week and we went out to Columbia Street, a local bar downtown, on Saturday.We all had a great time, some of us more than others, and I didn't mind drinking ginger ale all night.  There were a lot of really great costumes and of course a lot of drunk crazies.

On Halloween I went to Mom and Dad's to share our big news.  They were both excited and I was glad to have it off my chest.  All the siblings know now as well as my closest girl friends and the in-laws.  

8 Weeks

Yesterday was our first ultrasound.  Robbie and I both got to be there which was great.  Plus we got to see Dr. Bopp yesterday which is always nice.  It was the first ultrasound Robbie was there for and I think he was a little surprised by "Rocky."  They pulled up the image on the screen and sure enough there were two yolk sacs and two embryos.  That's right, we're having TWINS!!!  Upon further inspection they told us we almost had triplets. One of the embryos tried to split but thank goodness it didn't.  Twins I'm ready for, triplets not so much.  I remember growing up that I had friends that were triplets.  Two identical twins and one fraternal, same situation we were almost in. Glad we don't have that.  Both babies had heart rates of 165bpm.  Santiago (baby a) was measuring 8w3d and Dunbar (baby b) was measuring 8w2d so they're both a few days ahead which is great.

We go back in for another ultrasound on November 8th.  As long as everything still looks good then I think we will be released to an OB.  Dr. Bopp said he's heard that Dr. Fouts, my current OB/GYN, is very holistic in her approach to birth.  Since a home birth is now out of the question it'd be nice to have an OB that is on board with a non managed natural twin delivery.  Hopefully she's the right OB for us and we won't have to interview a bunch of OBs to find the right one.  I am still going to check around to see if there are any midwives that handle twin births.  I'll also probably look into hiring a doula.

So far 7 people know that we're pregnant and expecting twins.  My parents will find out Monday.  After that the rest of my siblings will find out shortly after. I think Matt and Michelle are coming into town this weekend, so they may know before mom and dad.  If they're staying with us it might be a little hard to hide the constant trips to the bathroom and frequent vomiting.  I'm leaving it up to Robbie on when we tell his family.  Now it's time to start planning for two of everything.

These are our embryos at 5 days after conception.

Here are the babies at 7w6d.

7 Weeks

So today we are 7 weeks 2 days pregnant and just a few days away from our first ultrasound.  Things are still going pretty smoothly.  I'm still tired and experiencing nausea all the time.  I finally broke down and called the doctor to get a prescription for Zofran.  Let me tell you what, that stuff is fantastic.  I tend to feel most sick at night and taking a Zofran around 4 makes dinner enjoyable.  Plus I can sleep without having an upset stomach all night.

We were planning to wait to tell everyone at Thanksgiving, but I don't think that's going to happen anymore.  I thinking waiting another month is too long.  We already have everyone asking us what's going on so I think once we know that it's a viable pregnancy we'll start telling more friends and family.  I've seen really cute skeleton pregnancy tees and I'm thinking about getting one for Halloween.  I think the dogs and I may go to my parents dressed up to hand out candy and I'll wear that shirt.  They have both singleton and twin ones so I will have to wait to order it till next week.  Tyson has a shark costume he'll be wearing and Layla is going to be a bat.  I'm so glad target has started carrying dog costumes in sizes large enough to fit a Boxer chest.  I will definitely post pictures if this is what we decide to do.

On a completely separate note, our new iPhones get here today.  I can't wait to try out the new 4S.  We both got 32 GB in black.  YAY!!

5 Weeks

We are 5 weeks 5 days pregnant today.  According to everything I've read our baby looks like a tadpole.  When I told Rob that, he was less than thrilled.  I think the fact that our baby/babies has a tail really freaked him out.  So far things have been really easy.  My symptoms aren't too bad, but they definitely aren't pleasant.  I've been experiencing my first little bits of "morning sickness." Fortunately there hasn't been any vomiting yet, just the constant need to eat so I don't vomit. All the symptoms are a constant reminder that we're actually pregnant, so I'll take them all.


Today I took one of those tests that tells you what color your baby's eyes will be.  Turns our there's a 50/50 chance between blue and green.  As much as I love all the brown eyes in my family I'm glad there won't be any for my babies.  Now that I say that I'm sure I entered something wrong on the test and it just so happens there's a 5% chance of brown eyes that will pop up in all of our kids. I'm hoping they all have Robbie's green eyes.


There are only a handful of people that know right now and they're the ones that it would have been impossible to keep it from.  We had our first beta on my dad's birthday and I wanted to tell him so bad.  "Hey Dad, happy birthday.  You're going to be a grandpa again."  I've wanted to pick up the phone and call my best friend in Baltimore every day and tell her. It's great having a little secret, but I wish we could share our special secret with everyone.  We've decided to wait until our first ultrasound at 8 weeks before we tell anyone else. If you're reading this after the fact and you're a friend or family member we didn't tell right away, pretty much everyone, know that it was killing us not to tell you. After going through so much to make this happen I feel like we need to safeguard it a little from the possibility that things may go wrong.


On a completely unrelated note it's football season and The Steelers finally looked good yesterday. Even though they were missing half of their defensive starters, the QB had a broken foot and the first and second string running backs were out they looked good. Now if only they looked that good when they were healthy. I think it's amazing that Detroit is 4-0 going into tonight's game.  Equally amazing are the facts that The Colts are 0-5, The Eagles are 1-4 and The Bills are 4-1.  Didn't see any of those coming. Also, Tim Tebow got to play the second half yesterday.  Congrats to whomever made that decision.  And please don't put Kyle Orton back in. He wasn't even any good when he was in Chicago.

Getting Here

I thought that I would blog through our IVF experience, but three shots a day proved to be about all I could handle. My husband and I had been trying for a baby for over four years when we finally decided it was time for IVF. Once you decide you're going to do it you have to dive in head first. I was giving myself three injections per day, having daily blood test and visits with "Rocky" the dildo cam. It's a very involved process, but much easier than I expected it to be. Once you get over all of the needles it's a breeze. Unfortunately there are lots of needles. I gave myself injections in the car, in restaurant bathrooms, at rock concerts and of course at home. Everything is time sensitive, so unless you plan to give up your entire social life you have to make accommodations.

Fortunately for us all of the injections and bloating gave us a lot of eggs to work with. On the day of our egg retrieval they retrieved 20 eggs. 19 of those fertilized after being injected with sperm (a process called ICSI, intracytoplasmic sperm injection). We transferred two perfect blastocycts on day five and had three embies make it to freeze. Hopefully those frosties will be our next babies.

After waiting a few days I decided to take a home pregnancy test 6 days after our transfer. That equates to 11 days past ovulation to a non IVFer. Still very early, but there was a very faint line. After taking 5 more home pregnancy test and getting continuous positives over the next four days it was time for our beta. Our first blood pregnancy test showed a great HCG level of 277. So awesome. Even better our second one was 698. A doubling time of only 36 hours!

So here we are pregnant and keeping our fingers crossed that the little embryo(s) stays strong. Our next doctors appointment isn't until 10/25, but we'll get to hopefully see a heartbeat and find out if there are one or two embryos growing in there.

This is Robbie on the day of our transfer.