The Birth!

So, there I was in the doctor’s office with my husband, being told I had developed preeclampsia and the only way to cure it was to deliver the babies.  I responded with, “Okay, when will we do this?”  “Now,” responded my doctor.  My next thought was, “Who’s driving, me or you?” but I didn’t say that out loud!  Instead, my husband and I looked at each other and said, “Okay, explain what’s next.”  My doctor told us we would go to the hospital, be checked in and I would be put on medicine for the preeclampsia (sodium nitrate) and medicine to induce labor (pitocin).  When the babies came, they would go to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), but they would be fine.  My doctor then informed me he had office hours so another doctor in the practice, whom I had never met, would deliver the girls.  (I totally forgot to tell you that at our 20 week sonogram we found out we were having 2 girls!  However, at 16 weeks we had asked our doctor to guess and he thought one was a boy.  So, for the next 14 weeks of my pregnancy, every time I had a sonogram, the first thing I asked the technician was to show me the 2 vaginas!)  Back to my birth…

Dave and I left the office, got in our car and called our parents to tell them we were having the babies today.  My mom was devastated as she had just gotten home from the hospital herself the day before, after a full hysterectomy.  She was not going to be able to do much for me or her granddaughters for weeks!  But, we all tried to stay calm and Dave and I walked to the maternity hall.  On our way I all of a sudden looked to Dave in panic.  “What’s wrong?” he said.  “What if I can’t talk during labor?  What are we naming Baby B?”  Dave and I had known from the beginning that Baby A was Kayla Rachel.  Years back we watched Rescue Me and one of the characters had a daughter named Kayla and we agreed then and there that if we ever had a girl, her name would be Kayla.  But, for Baby B, we still had a list of 6 names.  We had narrowed it down to Olivia Rose or Zoey Lila and I was secretly hoping for Zoey, but I didn’t want to say anything.  “Zoey Lila,” said Dave.  “Yes!!” I thought in my head.  And off we went to have the babies.

My labor really wasn’t bad.  The medicine took a while to work because the pitocin was supposed to speed up labor, but a side effect of the sodium nitrate was that it slowed down labor.  The worst part was having so many different people up in my privates!  Doctors and residents came in to check and see how dilated I was.  Then the delivery doctor had to break my water and that was gross!  Literally, like a waterfall out of my vajayjay and it didn’t stop trickling for a while!  But, when I was 6 cm dilated I got the epidural and that was amazing!  I highly recommend it!  As one of the nurses told me, no one gets a prize for not using the drugs!  After that I went to 10cm pretty quickly and I learned how to push and was moved into a surgery room (All twin pregnancies give birth in a surgery room in case they need an emergency C-section).

I was a rock star!  Literally 2 pushes and out came Kayla!  Then a lot of liquid!  Then I was ready to start pushing again but the doctor and nurses told me I could rest.  I said, “No way!  Zoey’s ready!”  And 2 pushes and exactly 3 minutes later out came Zoey!  I thought hearing their heartbeats for the first time was the best sound I ever heard, but that’s nothing compared to the first cry from your baby, or in my case, babies.  I got to hold both girls amidst my tears of joy and I can’t remember being so happy, except maybe on my wedding day and finding out I was initially pregnant!  Then, the girls were taken away for the NICU and I was told I didn’t even tear, no stitches needed!  The birth was over.  I was off to recovery.  Now, the hard part begins…  

Pregnancy

So, I was pregnant…with twins!  This concept did not actually sink in for me until I had both babies home with me.  But that part comes later.  First there is my pregnancy to discuss.

The first time I did IVF I was positive I was pregnant.  I think I thought that because in my head I was trying to be positive and was like, “How could this not work?!”  The second time around I was determined!  I actually joined an IVF support group through my fertility office and I did acupuncture.  Both of these things I give a lot of credit to towards helping me get pregnant the second round.  And, while I didn’t want to get my hopes up at all, I really knew this time that I was pregnant!  1-2 days after my transfer I got heartburn for the first time in my life!  Then, even though the fertility nurses and doctors will beg you not to take pregnancy tests at home because of the possibilities of false positives, especially with all the hormones you’re still shooting into you, I took 2 of them that both came back positive!  So, there I was pregnant…with twins!

Fertility is the best because for the first 8 weeks of my pregnancy I got to go to the doctor every week for a check-up and sonogram.  Hearing both babies’ heartbeats for the first time is one of the most amazing sounds you can imagine!  Actually, you really can’t imagine it until you hear it!  But, I was literally nauseous from the second I woke up in the morning until the second I went to bed at night.  Chances are I was nauseous in my sleep too, but thank god I was sleeping so I didn’t know it!  Nothing worked and I tried everything – those sucking candies and lollipops they sell at Buy Buy Baby, club soda and cranberry juice (which by the way is a perfect drink to get at a bar to fake out your friends when they still don’t know you’re pregnant!), everything with ginger in it, but nothing worked.  However, I was never so happy!  I didn’t care that I would walk into walk, gag in the bathroom and then have to put on a smile!  After trying so hard to get pregnant, nothing would spoil it for me!  I never actually got sick, just felt like it every day until about 16 weeks.

After that, I have to say, I had a fabulous pregnancy!  I felt good, I was working out and I LOVED my maternity clothes!  They make the coolest maternity clothes now!  I had Sevens and Citizens of Humanity jeans, adorable dresses and tanks.  I’ve since passed my wardrobe onto 2 other pregnant friends and I totally got jealous seeing them in some of my clothes – not because I wanted to be pregnant again but because I really had some cute pieces in that wardrobe!

Anyway, I really felt good and looked good!  My husband and I got the baby room painted, we moved the furniture form my nephew and niece that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law gave us, and my parents ordered a second crib.  A second crib?!  Ridiculous!  Everything was getting ready.  We registered at Buy Buy Baby and had a lot of fun with that.  For any of you pregnant with twins – you don’t need 2 of everything!!  And when you do buy 2, buy 2 different colors or different patterns.  I would say the most important things to have 2 of are bouncy seats, boppy pillows, swings and nap nannys. But, I’m digressing…..my pregnancy, right.  At about 30 weeks my doctor said everything looked good but to start taking it easy.  Stop working out and try to relax as much as possible.  Another great thing about being pregnant with twins is that after fertility kicked me out at 8 weeks I went to a high risk doctor with a certification in fetal and maternal medicine.  This means I got to go to the doctor for sonograms much more often than a singleton pregnancy which was great because I always felt like I knew what was going on and that everything was okay!

At about 34 weeks I called my doctor because I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions all weekend.  This was on a Monday.  He told me to come in for a check.  I went by myself because I assumed nothing was wrong and he monitored me, said I was fine and of course took urine and my blood pressure.  I literally never walked into the doctor’s office without getting my blood pressure checked and giving urine!  Anyway, my blood pressure was high.  The doctor took blood and I was instructed to come back Wednesday.  I went back Wednesday and my pressure was still high but everything else was in check.  My platelets levels weren’t great, but I was told to come back Friday.  By this point, I think my husband who hadn’t come with me to these 2 check-ups, was getting a little nervous.  So, Thursday night we packed the hospital bags and Friday morning he told work he would be late and came with me to the doctor.  My pressure was still high, my blood work didn’t look great and now there was protein in my urine.  In other words I had developed preeclampsia and the only cure is to have the babies.  I was 34.5 weeks pregnant….   

Finding out its TWINS!!!!!

After finding out we were pregnant, I was on cloud 9!  I was scheduled for my first sonogram a week later, at which point I would be 5 weeks pregnant.  That whole thing, by the way, is so weird to me.  I understand that when people get pregnant naturally, they count from their last period.  But, I can actually tell you within a 3 day window when I got pregnant, yet my due date was still calculated based off my last period.  So weird!  Anyway, at this point I was 4 weeks pregnant and scheduled for a sonogram the next week.

My husband and I both went to the fertility office super excited.  But, of course, with other women in the waiting room who were not pregnant yet, we did our best to contain ourselves.  My doctor came in, as did my best friend, I mean my nurse, and we looked at the screen.  And there, for the first time I saw my baby!  Granted, she looked like the size of a pea and that was under magnification, but there she was!  I just couldn’t believe it!  The doctor told us everything looked perfect – size, position, everything.  Then he said, “Oh, and the other baby looks perfect too.”  My husband and I looked at each other and said, “The other what?”  “The other fetus.  You knew we transferred 2 eggs so there was a chance of twins.  Well, you’re having twins.”  OH MY GOD!!!!!!  WHAT?!?!  TWINS, as in 2 babies?  OH MY GOD!!!!!

Let me backtrack a minute…so, when we decided to move forward with IVF, my doctor explained that he thought we should transfer 1 embryo, based on my age, health, size, etc.  However, during that first round I did not stimulate as well as we’d all hoped.  I only had about 9 eggs and then I think only 7 fertilized and out of those there were really only 2 good embryos to transfer.  So, we transferred both and neither took.  Remember, my first IVF did not work.  So, the second time around, it wasn’t even a question.  I again didn’t stimulate fabulously, even though we changed the meds a little.  But once again, I had similar numbers and transferred two eggs.  Although this time, apparently, they both took and I was pregnant with twins!!!

After my husband and I left, we looked at each other in the car and cracked up laughing!  The first thing I thought of was that 7 years ago, when we went on our first vacation together just the 2 of us, we had met this amazing couple from Canada who had twin boys.  One night in our cabin (it was a cruise), Dave told me how we wished we would have twins, he thought it was the coolest thing ever.  We joked and I explained to him that he had no hopes – there weren’t twins on either side of our families ever!  But, he just laughed and said he could always hope.  Well, baby, you got your wish!  We had twins...

Finding out

Finding out I was finally pregnant was the best phone call I think I ever received!  Basically, on a Monday I was scheduled for my first blood test, but I was not supposed to find out any results.  I was also scheduled for a second blood test 2 days later, on Wednesday, and that’s when I would hear the good or bad news (the reason you have to wait the 2 days is for the doctors to ensure your hormone levels are going up to indicate a true pregnancy).  But, before I continue this part of my story, I have to take a time out and briefly discuss my nurses and doctors and my fertility place.

For those of you who have gone through fertility treatments, you understand what it’s like.  For those of you who haven’t, it sucks!  You get poked and prodded every other day during your cycle to see how your follicles are responding to the meds you’re taking.  And the meds are a lot to take.  You take shots and suppositories and your husband gives you shots.  But, of course, once you get pregnant, it’s all worth it!  And I truly don’t think I would have gotten through it without my personal IVF nurse and doctor at my fertility place.  My nurse was my best friend throughout the process.  Literally, she was my best friend.  I never felt like an annoying patient when I called with questions and somehow I always got off the phone or left the office feeling positive.  My doctor was the most gentle, optimistic yet realistic and trustworthy man I know, besides my husband!  When this was all over, I actually asked my doctor if he could stay on as my OB/GYN, but unfortunately, he could not.  Anyway, the point is my nurse and doctor made this whole horrible process a little bit easier to manage and I owe them everything!

Back to the phone call….After I got to work that Monday morning, I actually called the fertility billing department with a few questions.  They had to call me back so of course, as during this entire process, I had my cell phone with me at all times!  When the phone rang and the fertility number came up on my ID, I assumed it was the billing department calling to answer my questions.  Instead, it was my nurse and my doctor both on the phone.  At first, when I heard their voices, my heart sank.  I thought to myself, “I can’t believe it didn’t work again.”  Instead, they told me they were so excited and couldn’t wait for Wednesday; my levels were so high there was absolutely no doubt that I was pregnant! 

Now, imagine, I was working in a school where no one knew what was going on with me and I get this phone call!  All I wanted to do was scream at the top of my lungs, but I couldn’t!  Instead, I said, “Hold on guys,” and literally ran out my building into the street and screamed, cried, did my happy dance and probably said the words, “THANK YOU” a billion times!  I hung up the phone, took a deep breath and called my husband who was also at work. 

I tried to be as normal as possible and went through the usual, “Hey, what’s up?  How does your morning at work look?”  Then I said, “So, we’re pregnant!”  My husband I think dropped the phone and didn’t believe me!  I explained what happened and we immediately screamed and cried and planned how to tell our families.  Remember, no one thought I was finding anything out today so finally, we knew we could surprise them with something….

And that’s exactly what we did.  My husband left work a little early.  First we went to his parent’s house and told them the amazing news.  Then we went to my parents and told them.  Finally we went to his sister’s (who is my best friend in the world) and actually stopped at Taco Bell to pick up a taco first.  When my sister-in-law told us she was pregnant with our nephew and then 3 years later with our niece, it was over Mexican food).  At this point we all knew I was pregnant, but that’s it.  The fact that I was pregnant with twins was still unknown….

And so it begins....

Okay everyone, my first real twins blog entry!  Where do I start?  I guess the beginning would be the best part, but when you have twins, somehow directions, time, basically everything feels upside down at times!  But, I’ll try my best!

My husband and I have been together since I’m 18 years old.  We met in college, the first week of my freshman year actually, and that was it!  We lived in Manhattan for almost 7 years and then decided we were absolutely busting out of our 1 bedroom apartment.  I think the luggage in the living room and the golf clubs right next to the kitchen/dining room table gave us the hint.  We decided to move to Long Island and this to me meant get pregnant.  I was definitely one of those naïve girls who assumed getting pregnant would be super easy so I was ready ASAP!  My husband was a little more sensible and decided we needed to make sure we could afford our mortgage before we jumped on the baby train.  We moved in October, started trying in January and by May we still weren’t pregnant.  We had been having a lot of fun trying, and I mean A LOT OF FUN trying!  But, I was starting to get frustrated.

Since I commuted to Manhattan but had summers off, we decided to go to a fertility clinic to get tested.  This way, when they told us nothing was wrong, we figured mentally, we’d just get pregnant.  But, after tests and being told nothing was wrong with either of us, we still didn’t get pregnant.  So, our fertility journey began with using chlomid and timing intercourse ourselves.

That didn’t work.

Then we tried an IUI, which is basically artificial insemination and guess what…

That didn’t work either.

Next step, IVF.  I assumed, especially since nothing was wrong, that was going to work.  But,

The first round did not work.

After that dreaded phone call about not being pregnant once again, I let myself really cry.  I asked my husband if he knew this was going to happen if he still would have married me.  I asked him if he wanted out of the marriage too.  He of course said no and so the next day I decided to go for another IVF round.  And…

That one worked!  To Be Continued…..

Info on M-O-M

This blog will start with the beginning and continue weekly/biweekly until we reach the present, which right now is 1 year old twins.  From there, I will give live updates of what is going on with them, me and everyone else involved.  Wish me luck!!!