Nausea, Dizzyness, and Constipation

Basically, welcome to having twins!

For a couple of weeks now, Ive been dealing with it all! Dizzyness when sitting or standing up, pure exhaustion as if I just ran a mile, not being able to go for 4-5 days which I believe adds to the all-day-yet-totally-random nausea.

So lets tackle one issue at a time! Constipation. I had been cleared after my ultrasound to start yoga again, so Im truly hoping that will help move my bowels, along with my dr approved Colace twice a day. I drink a smoothie every day that has fruit, spinach and flax seed in it. I also eat a small bowl of papaya, which I heard helps move things along. I just watched a couple youtube videos on massage techniques to help stimulate the intestines. I am also starting a calendar for when I go, so that its easier to monitor.

Whats next? Well I think we should go right into the nausea. It started out one day with smells. ughh it was awful. Than after a couple days, just the thought of certain foods made me feel sick. Indigestion aka burping would rattle my stomach and make me feel queazy too. I was affraid thats what the next few weeks, if not months, were going to look like. However, once I started the Colace and went to the restroom a few times within 24 hours, I felt so much better. So current situation is just random nausea, especially when I burp. The feeling disappears within a minute or two and I would guess it happens maybe once or twice throughout each day.

Dizzyness. Well theres nothing much to do about it other than sit up and stand up sloooooowly. The doctor checked my Iron levels and they are perfectly fine, thanks to the prenatals.

Now what am I doing in regards to having twins? Nothing too much different than I normally would be doing when in early pregnancy. Taking naps when my body wants me too is a big one. The other morning, my husband and I were watching a program and I totally fell asleep right in the middle of it without even realizing it! 😂😂 I take prenatal pills and drink lots of water. Actually I have a sports water bottle from my Baby Sister with THE cutest flamingos on it. I measured how much water it holds and calculated that I need to drink 3 of them each day, so thats my daily goal.
I am not a big meat eater so I have added one Special K protein shake a day which adds 15g of protein. Im thinking to find a cereal that has a good amount of protein and maybe fiber so that I can eat a bowl in the mornings and as a bedtime snack. We also picked up some different trail mixes for me to snack on. The whole "eat a bunch of mini meals each day" definitely seems to be helping to keep my stomach settled.

🎉🎉 CANT WAIT TO SEE MY SURRO GIRLS ON TOMORROW!!! 🎉🎉

1st Ultrasound!

 You are all probably on edge waiting to find out the results! So without further adoo!!

My ultrasound revealed not only one, but 2 beautifully perfect heartbeats!!

Calculating from the transfer date, I was 6 weeks and 4 days, and both babies measured exactly that! They had identical heartbeat rates as well, 131! So beautiful!!

Everything looked great!! No reason for the bleeding the day before. I asked if there were any SCHs (Sub-Chorionic Hemotoma) and nope! I had that with Surro number 3, Baby E. A month after my transfer with her, on my birthday no less, I started bleeding sooo incredibly much. Which later I found out was an SCH. Nothing really to do about it other than dont run around too much or to vigorously. It was explained to me that it happens quite a bit with IVF. the doctor places the embryo and it starts to implant and then basically changes its mind, and moves to another location in the uterus and reimplants there. At the location of the first placement, a type of bruise is created.

 But lucky for me, that wasnt the case this time!! Literally everything looked perfect!

I also asked the technician to double check, please, to be sure that there wasnt another hiding in there. The thought of one of those embryos splitting into identical twins (which in turn would have created triplets) made me crazy nervous. And with my HCG numbers being intensely high, I was nervous of just that. But she said Rest assure....There are only 2! hahahaha hearing that made me laugh a bit 😆ONLY 2 😆

I had another blood test on August 23rd, which was just to keep an eye on the Progesterone and Estrogen levels, and then another ultrasound on August 30th. I will be 8 weeks and 5 days by then, so hopefully everything will look good and thats what they both will measure as.
**By the way, thankfully, I havent had any issues with cramps or more bleeding 😍

Pregnant...??

So where did I leave you hangin....?? ahhhh yesss! POAS! Monday, Day 4 after transfer...aka 4dp5dt, which stands for 4 days past 5 day transfer. I had a couple pregnancy tests from Dollar Tree. The first one I took was sensitive to 20 miu/ml of HCG. and it came out POSITIVE!!!! YES!! There was a very faint line!! Woohooo!!! Thursday I took the other one and it was darker and easily visible.

A small concern came on the 9th day in the bathroom. Light pink spots were on the toilet paper. Just from implanting, I told myself, as I took my third and final test Sunday morning. It was sensitive to 25 miu/ml and the 2nd line was just as dark as the first line! That gave me enough comfort to hold me over until Tuesday.

Blood test totally confirmed pregnant on July 31st! At first I had thought the 2ww (two week wait) was THE longest everrr!! BOY WAS I WRONG!!  Why would I say that? Well, later that day I received my actual HCG numbers and at first, I thought nothing of it....until after August 2nd when I had my 2nd beta test. After that....all I did was research and talk to others.

Okay, okay, whyyyy? Ill tell you why!!! My first beta, at 12dp5dt, was 2,482! My second beta, at 14dp5dt, was 5,567!! Now, maybe you ask what does that mean?? Let me break it down for you. when an embryo starts to implant into the uterus, it begins to create the HCG hormone. In the very beginning, the HCG amount doubles around every 48 hours. So first thing is first. The reason to have the 2nd blood drawn 2 days later is to be sure the number is doubling, which it did, so GREAT!!

My surprise is actually at how incredibly high the numbers were!! When I started looking online to compare my numbers.....SIDENOTE: You cannot really do this because HCG charts are actually a range and sometimes numbers can be extraordinarily low, while others can be extraordinarily high....Anyways, I honestly couldnt find ANYONE with anything close to my numbers.

So naturally I began looking into HCG numbers for those who had twins. I even spoke to a fellow surrogate who is currently pregnant with Twins! Her beta test was done a day prior to mine, at 11dp5dt and her number was 657.  Everytime, I found someone posting: OMG! My numbers are so high! (and their number would be between 500-700 on the 12th day) and everyone would comment back to them: Ohhhh my goodness! Wow! you MUST be having twins!!!! and Im just sitting back with a 2,400 number....like, hmmmm well then what am I having?!?!

 My ultrasound wasnt set until August 16th. So I waited and waited and waited. I also had bloodwork on August 9th which was 21dp5dt - 67,941. Doubling usually begins to slow down after about 5000, and I read that the heart starts fluttering around the 10,000 mark, usually during week 5. After the 6 week mark, the heart will have a steady beat that the doctors are able to actually see and calculate.

Tuesday, August 14th, I woke up to a pantiliner soaked with a bit of red but mostly brown blood. I immediately let me agency coordinator and my doctors office know. They said not to worry, its probably nothing, and that its quite common. They rescheduled my ultrasound for the 15th, which could not come soon enough!!

And just like I had to wait, so shall you 😉patience is a virtue, they say😉 I will post my Ultrasound results tomorrow🤞

Transfer!!

Honestly I dont know how those Bloggers do it on a consistent basis hahahaha I think I should first apologize for not keeping up to date information....again!! I am beyond sorry!

So I guess let me back up a bit and continue where Ive left off!!

Medication has been going well, my butt cheeks currently resemble that of a pin cushion, but that totally comes with the territory! I think the vaginal suppositories are almost worst than that. Not just the whole situation of inserting them and whatnot, but when I open the package, it smells awful!! Actually, it reminds me of the smell of weed, which totally makes me nauseous.

So after my monitoring appointments which consisted of bloodwork and ultrasound, I finally got that beloved "Triple Stripe" :-) As a reminder, that is when the thickness of the uterine lining is so thick that the two inner areas actually meet each other. A week before my transfer date, my lining was already 10mm!! Perfect!!

My bestie, Donna, flew out here from my hometown: Allentown, Pennsylvania...to help me out in the hotel room! I was so excited to see her again! We have been best friends since I was 7 years old and the last time she flew was actually to California when I first moved out here, 11 years ago!!!

TRANFER DAY!! Thursday, July 19, 2018
My husband was able to come with to the Drs office as well as my AWESOME agency coordinator! Lots of support! This was also the first time I met my doctor!! All of my previous appointments were with the Phlebotomist and Ultrasound Technician. Donna came to the back with me for the actual transfer. My doctor showed me and Donna a photo of the two beautiful embies that they were transferring. They were not hatching yet but both were genetically tested and were of great quality. He said both girl embryos have about a 90% chance of implanting! Perfect!

The transfer itself was smooth and easy! I didnt even have to have a full bladder!! What Whaaaatt!! 😁😍 So awesome! Afterwards, they had me rest for 15 mins and gave me an ultrasound photo of the two embryos in my uterus💗

After a couple photos, we said goodbye to my coordinator and my hubby drove us back to the hotel, which we had checked into the night before. That helps to make things easier for after the transfer. My husband had to leave to go to work, and I had to get my rest on!! After a few days of quality time with my bestie, we had to go back to my house and she had to pack to go home to her sweet daughter, A, who was missing her mommy ever so much!!💜💜💜

I started peeing on a stick (poas) on Monday, which was the 4th day after the transfer. And that is where Im going to end this post!! Stay tuned for more tomorrow!😉😉

Taking meds on time

I think this a good point in my blog to bring up the importance of the timing of medication.

Timing is Everything! 

The way I like to view it, is that the medicines are only working in your body for 24 hours. If you procrastinate on the timing, your body could go without the medicine it needs. As a Surrogate, this is one of our major responsibilities. Keeping the proper dosage of medicine flowing thru our body at a constant level, is what helps the little embryo (embie as I like to call it) attach to the Uterus lining and grow into a sweet baby.

 Its so important for you to take it around the same time every day, whether that's in the morning or at night. My doctor has given me a 4 hour window, although every doctor's advice is different. If you are taking IVF medications, you should definitely stick to what your doctor recommends.

Put it in your head that each injection, pill, or other form of daily medication is only active in your body for 24 hours; you will be more inclined to remember to take it. Picture this: You are late one day in taking your medicine and then later the transfer isnt successful. Think of how your going to feel. Guilt will start to move in over the sadness. You will remember that one time you were late and begin thinking its your fault, even if it wasnt. So prevention is better than cure. Take the timing of your medications seriously, not only for the sake of the parents and doctors who are investing time and money into your journey, but for the sake of you own personal emotional health. Taking care of yourself is a big part of growing a healthy baby.

I set 2 alarms on my phone. One around the exact time that I like to take it daily and then another one 20 minutes before my time frame closes. By the time the 2nd alarm goes off, I should already be finished with my injection, but in case I was busy, it reminds me that I still have time. I know at that point, I need to drop whatever it is that Im doing and go do my shot.

Also, when the alarm goes off, I dont not turn it off unless Im literally getting up and walking towards the fridge (I keep my meds on top of it ;-) ). Otherwise, I push snooze.