13 weeks!

I still can't believe we are 13 weeks along.  Bye bye 1st tri!  I took off my very last E2 patch today (OMG!) after being on them (and up to four at one point) since the 1st of April (after starting BCP in March!).  That was a very long time ago and I think it will take awhile for the skin on my stomach to go back to normal.  It looks like I had the Olympic rings tattooed down there.  I'm looking forward to being able to tend to my skin appropriately again. 

I also get to start weaning off of my PIO tonight (from 1.5cc nightly since April 21st, to 1cc for a week, then .5cc for another week).  Only two more weeks of meds to go...  My butt can't wait.  Don't listen to anyone who tells you that an FET is easier or shorter or whatever than a fresh cycle.  Hogwash.  We spent nearly as much on four months of maintenance meds for our FET as we did for our stims for a fresh cycle.

Finally went to the new chiropractor today.  She is really nice and even though I've been feeling pretty good, my spine is completely wacky.  She adjusted me today and I go back twice next week, once the next and then I'll go in every other week.  Very thankful we have chiropractic coverage, I almost forgot how good it feels.

Prenatal yoga starts up again on the 23rd.  Sadly, the wonderful instructor I had for fertility yoga and prenatal last time has moved to MN for her husband's job and there will be a new instructor.  I miss Jen. :'(  I could also go into the city and do it several places there, but I've got five pre-paid classes at PDTM from my last pregnancy, so I'm going to start there and see how it goes.

In other exciting news, I finally broke down and bought a new, bigger, and wireless bra.  I'm in heaven.  I also discovered the wonder of panel pants.  Thank you God!  I've got several great summer dresses to wear, but sometimes you want to be able to throw on some capri pants and a cute summer top.  Victory!

First tri screening and almost 13 weeks!

So I've never claimed to be a pro at this blogging thing, but lately I've had trouble commenting on other people's blogs (no I'm not ignoring you my dear readers), so I tried making my blog public again in hopes of that fixing the problem.  It didn't.  I'm going to try some other things, but let me know if you have any ideas.  Thanks.

We had our NT scan yesterday and everything went perfectly.  Sadly it was over too quickly and we didn't get any good pictures.  We did get a great look at them and measurements on the neck fluid on both babies and confirmed that they both have nasal bones.  They also did a quick anatomy scan and the brain, heart, stomach, bladder, etc. all looked good on both babies.  They both have HBs in the 160s and are on track growth wise, though the one they called baby B (DH thinks it's the one the OB calls baby A) is now a few days behind.

The u/s results along with the b/w we had done two weeks ago led to an awesome first trimester screen report.  For Down Syndrome:  The 1st tri risk is 1 in 308, but my risk pre-screening was 1 in 289.  After the screening, the risk dropped to 1 in 5,761.  For Trisomy 18/13: The 1st tri risk is 1 in 150, but my risk pre-screening was 1 in 531.  After the screening, the risk dropped to 1 in > 10,000 (the highest category).  So for both, my risk drops from that of a 35 year old (at EDD) to that of a 20 year old.  Take that AMA! ;)  There are obviously many other things that they don't test for and we are always conscious of the fact that my mother was just 20 when she conceived my eldest sister who has a random congenital gene deletion syndrome.

We were very happy with the results and celebrated by shopping for the perfect nursery chair at one of my favorite neighborhood furniture stores in the city .  The search continues, but I'm hoping that we've made some headway.  We had a great dinner in the city, something we still don't do often enough, and took the babies to their first rock concert.  U2 puts on an amazing show, but I think we may be done with those for awhile.  When it first started, I could feel my whole body vibrating.  I hope the babies aren't upset that we kept them up so late and probably made them wonder what the hell was going on. ;)

I don't think I mentioned before that the OB has given us the green light to go abroad for a vaca in September.  She thinks it's a great idea, but obviously we'd need to have trip insurance and be flexible.  I am still deciding where I think we should go and what we should do as I've gotten pretty worn out the last several days when we try to do a lot of walking in the heat.

An itty bitty getaway

We've been eager to get away for quite a long time.  Our last real vacation was our trip to the Cape and Islands last August and oh that went just splendidly.  Oh the days when we went away every few months...  We were going to go to Saugatuck a few weekends ago, but instead we ended up in Ohio for my dear grandmother's funeral.  So we are finally getting OUT OF TOWN.

We are headed up to the Grand Geneva resort in WI.  If this sounds familiar, it's because we went there for the first time last Memorial Day weekend, after our last failed IUI.  It is supposed to be 100 degrees, so I will likely be sipping lemonade in the shade by the pool.  Then we are off to Pardeeville (best town name EVER) for my cousin's wedding, and then to the Dells for the reception.  The extended family doesn't know yet that we are expecting, and now that I am 12 weeks and showing, the cat will be out of the bag.  Then on Saturday, we are finally going to Spring Green to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's home, Taliesin, which is celebrating its centennial this year.  We are both big fans of his (he's a famous architect for those who don't know) and went to his winter home, Taliesin West (original, no?), when we were out in Arizona a few years back, so the pilgrimage will be complete.

We'll have a bit of respite when we return, and then on Tuesday we go into the city for our u/s (NT scan) with the geneticist and then in the evening to Soldier Field to see U2 in concert.  This concert was supposed to be last summer, but then the whole tour was rescheduled due to Bono's back surgery.  Then we're off to Ravinia on the 10th and have sailing on the 11th!  Love having stuff to look forward to! :)  Happy Fourth!!

Nursery fabrics

I've decided to make the curtains and the crib skirts for the twins' nursery.  I'm hoping I don't regret being this ambitious later, but this way I can get exactly what I want and by putting in some sweat equity, save some money and they will mean more to me than having someone else make them.

I've spent A LOT of time looking at fabrics over the last year plus, and since I don't do pink for home decor whether we have girls is not going to influence my decision making, so this is what I've come up with...

For the crib skirts: (and later to be adapted to valances for the two kid bedrooms/bed + playroom)

Uzbek in Jewel by P Kaufmann

"This whimsical animal print that is reminiscent of a Persian crewel design, comes from P. Kaufmann and will make quite a statement in your space. The cheerful elephants, monkeys, and alligators are paired with leaves and vines in Gold, Cranberry, Greens, Teal and Tan. All are showcased against an Ivory background. This fabric is suitable for bedding, draperies, valances, cornices, decorative pillows, accent pieces and upholstered furniture."
 
I love that this is so colorful and fun, but is still sophisticated enough to grow with the babies.  Full disclosure, I have a serious obsession with elephants (and suzani).  Stumbling across this at Calico Corners when I was looking for another fabric nearly single-handedly got me to abandon any idea I had of a pastel nursery.  I'm thinking of bringing out some of the colors, like the azure blue and marigold yellow with a pillow and maybe even an accent wall.
 
For the curtains:  

Butterscotch Horseshoe fabric from Serena & Lily (@ nearly 90% off per yard!)

In other nursery news, my research (and the above decor decisions) have gotten me down to this crib as our best option...

A white crib just didn't look right with the decor scheme we'll have going, but this one is really growing on me.

That's all I'm saying for now, more to come... :)

12 week OB visit and new pictures!

We had great u/s and OB appts. today.  The u/s was amazing, and was external for the first time ever.  I feel so grown up. ;)  The babies are each measuring a few days ahead, have perfect HB's (in the 170's), and are getting so big (both ~ 5 cm/each).  They look like babies now... arms, legs, fingers, toes, the whole shebang.  It's completely wild to see.  We'll have a more involved level 1 u/s in four weeks, and then our level 2 anatomy scan at Prentice in eight.  The OB said everything looks perfect and was fine with the fact that I haven't actually gained any weight yet, though I am trying.  DH is putting me on a pound cake diet soon.

Baby A: I could just sit and look at his/her cute little face all day long...

Baby B: He/she was dancing all over the place, but we could only get a back shot from this angle

But this shot made up for it.  Look at those feet!!! (baby B's feet on left, baby A's head on right)

I'm not a doctor, but that looks like a little winkie to me on that one... ;)

I suppose I will have to post a pic of me and my growing pot belly soon, so stay tuned...

It's a fig! It's a lime!

It's 11 week time!  I can hardly believe it.  I feel like every day that I am pregnant is a huge gift.  We go in next Tuesday to see the little ones and I'm so excited.  It has been WAY too long, even with all that has gone on in the last three weeks.  I know I'll have to get used to waiting between visits, and will probably relax a little after we get through the next few weeks.  I still can't believe that we are approaching the second trimester of a twin pregnancy.  It's just too crazy after the last three years...

I finally started putting stuff on an Amazon universal registry, so I can start getting organized.  We are seeing double for everything these days, so I will likely be selling the Maclaren jogging stroller and the Cariboo bassinet. :(  If you or someone you know is local and/or expecting a singleton and are interested, let me know as they will be going up on Craigslist.  The stroller has literally been used twice and the bassinet is still in the box.  I'll be passing on my amazing savings and they will be a very good deal. 

Three months from today I will turn 35, eek!  And will likely be put on lockdown by my OB.  Here's to making the most of the summer!

In other news, my sister E confirmed this week the she is still pregnant.  She had a u/s and they saw the HB @ 7 weeks.  The rest of my family seems to be as surprised as I was that she is expecting again, and my mother has made it clear that she will be at my house when the twins arrive. :)  For some perspective, by the time this baby is born, she will have been pg and/or breastfeeding for SIX years straight.  My goodness...

Some tidbits from the OB

Since I never got around to posting after our 9w OB appt., I wanted to get it down for anyone who is curious and for my own remembering.  I really like our OB, which was reassuring since I chose her pretty blindly based on her affiliation with Northwestern (where we'll deliver), the fact that she had an office on the N. Shore (so we don't have to go into the city for all our appts. though they have an office there too), and that she specializes in high risk pregnancies.  She is part of a group of eight female OBs, The Women's Group of Northwestern, and we are encouraged to meet with others, though while she is often on call, there is always the possibility that one of the others will deliver the babies, which is fine.

She said that while I will be 35 when the babies come, since the eggs were harvested in November and would have been due in August, they are really only 34 11/12, so we couldn't have possibly eeked out anything closer to AMA without really being...

She said that she will not let me go past 39 weeks (1st week of Jan. 2012) and they are most likely to come between 34 and 37 weeks, so we are probably looking at December babies.  How they are born will depend on the position of baby A.  If he/she is head down, we can go for a vaginal birth, but otherwise a C-section is likely, which I almost couldn't care less about, since obviously our priority is to get them out safely.

We will see her next week for our 12 week and again at 16 and 20, but then will go to biweekly appts.  We are opting for non-invasive genetic testing only, so I went downtown to the NW reproductive geneticist yesterday for my bloodwork and we go in on July 5th for the u/s and b/w results.

She will put me on lockdown at 24 weeks, unless I am "rock solid"...  No more sex, exercise, or air travel...  This also happens to be my 35th birthday (9/24).  We are still discussing whether it's completely insane to consider going to Italy for our 5th anniversary/my 35th b-day/our babymoon trip in early September, and will likely take it up with her at our next appt. before we book anything.  We are discussing going back to Bermuda for a closer trip and are entertaining other ideas, so feel free to share any you may have. :)

She diligently went through what I should and shouldn't be eating, which of course I'm already up on.  She finished with that I should be eating anything allowed now that doesn't make me sick.

She is keeping me on baby aspirin until 20 wks., which will follow my weaning from my estrogen at 13 and progesterone at 15.

She wants to see me gaining ~40lbs. w/twins.

On a random side note, she mentioned that I was lucky to be so tall and long torsoed w/twins, hopefully it will give them more room.
She encouraged us to start looking into prenatal classes at NW, which of course I already did when we were pg in December, but now we'll be taking the ones for multiples. :)