9w6d Prenatal Appointment

I had my first prenatal appointment today with a midwife at my OB/Midwife group. It’s strange being a “regular” pregnant gal and waiting with the pg bellies in the waiting room. I got there early and then she was running late so I had a LOT of time in the waiting room. The nurse took me to the room and went over a folder full of paperwork that they give to everyone. My question about each item was “is that the same for twins?” The answer was no. SOOOO, the folder full of info is not that helpful for me. She went over my family history and my medical history. Because of my family’s diabetes and the fact that I’m overweight and the fact that I have twins on board she suggested I do the 1-hour glucose test sooner than when they normally do it. Yippee. Luckily, because I had a cold, she told me to wait until next week to do it. She checked my pulse (RACING) and my blood pressure (perfect.) She then left and I waited for the midwife. She arrived and went over my list of questions. Most of them she had general answers for and some she had no idea. Um, yikes! BUT the good news is that I will be referred to Eastside Maternal Fetal Medicine for care and I’m sure they have info on multiples. She then attempted an abdominal u/s. But, due to my tilted uterus and her incompetence with the machine we couldn’t see the babies that well. (She couldn’t distinguish between my bladder and one of the babies. C’mon! I should have run the u/s!!) However, to her credit she did warn me that she wasn’t trained as a u/s tech. So now I have to call on Monday to set up an appointment with EMFM and then I go back to the midwives at week 13.
Positives of appointment:
Saw a midwife I’ve previously seen and like
A midwife can delivery me if I don’t have complications
An epidural does not have to be placed if midwife is delivering
If all looks fine, I won’t be automatically induced at any point, but allowed to progress until I go into labor
Got a referral to EMFM
Got a list of meds I can safely take to help with the cold

Bummers of appointment:
I’ll have to deliver in the hospital in an operating room
I can’t fly past 24 weeks (which means I can’t cheer my hubby on at his ½ marathon in October)
On average most of their twin patients cut back their work hours or stop working at 24 weeks
I can’t be seen more frequently by their office unless problems develop
Didn’t get to hear or see the babies
General confusion over what tests needed to be run and what had been done recently at the RE

8w4d Ultra Sound

I'm floating on air.  The ultrasound was fantastic.  Each baby had a strong heartbeat around 175 beats per minute.  Baby A was facing us, and we could see its head, arms and legs.  We were also able to clearly see the umbilical cord with blood flowing through it.  It was amazing!  Baby B had its spine facing us, but we could still see its arms.  We've officially graduated from our RE's office.  I had an appointment with my midwife today, but they called to cancel it due to 3 emergencies within the office.  I've rescheduled the appointment for next week.  Below are some pictures from the appointment for your pleasure. :)

Pregnancy Update

I bit the bullet and made an appointment with my midwife. Now that I'm carrying twins, I'll also be followed by the OBs in her practice. I'm nervous about the appointment because it feels scary to move from my RE to the general pregnancy population. I've been researching and there is a great maternal fetal medicine practice at our hospital that I'm going to ask to also be followed by. They have a twin program that helps you figure out nutrition, rest, bed rest, exercise and also has a perinatologist on site to follow the babies. Plus, they offer lactation support/classes focusing on multiples and birth classes focusing on multiples. I called them today and they have to have me referred from either my RE or midwife/OB. I will be seeing both the RE and midwife on the same day, so I'll ask both of them.

Pregnancy symptoms are still in full swing. I've been able to tame the nausea a bit by wearing psi acupressure bands on my wrists. I wore them all day yesterday and was able to eat (I didn't crave anything or particularly want to eat but I was able to) and them I took them off at night and I was nauseous within minutes. I've worn them today as well and they seem to help. The other HUGE help has been ginger. Ginger chews, crystallized ginger, ginger gum and ginger tea. I tried ginger ale (with actual ginger and low in sugar) but the bubble upset my stomach too much. Because I haven't been able to eat much, I've lost more weight. This is concerning as all that I've read recommends that twin mom's gain weight early as they lose stomach space earlier and the babies generally come earlier. Hopefully, with the nausea backing down I'll be able to start gaining.

I'm back at work full time and it's going well. I'm taking it really easy, and the girls and the parents are very happy to have me back. I have a "strategy" meeting (per the parents request) with them in a few weeks to figure out my exit plan and the hiring of a new nanny. It's going to be tricky, but I think we'll be able to make it work for everyone. It's been nice that the girls both nap still as I've been able to put my feet up and sometimes even sleep during naptime.

While my employers have been great, they have also been scaring me. They keep telling me twin horror stories, birth horror stories and in general scary pregnancy stuff. I am SO nervous about the babies anyway and constantly worry about them and their added "info" stresses me out even more. I'm sure they are coming from a "helpful" place, but it's not helping. If it continues, I will have to say something to them.

DH is over the moon excited for the twins. He rubs my belly (still just my own fat at this point) and talks to them every night. I'm trying to engage with the twins, but I'm still having a hard time not guarding my heart. I had hoped that passing the date of our loss and seeing the heartbeats would help, but I'm still super nervous. All our friends and family that we've told are excited too. Sometimes TOO excited. But I'm know they are just excited and happy for us. 

6w3d Ultra Sound

We had our 1st obstetric ultrasound today with our RE Dr. Opie.  I was a nervous wreck on the way there and then he was running late, so I had even more time to be nervous.

He started the ultrasound and immediately said "Here is one pregnancy and here is another one."  WHAT?!?  We are expecting twins!!  He then measured both and they are right where they should be and we were able to see their heartbeats.  He took a lot of measurements and pictures and a video to show the heartbeats.  He wants to see me again in two weeks.  I made our next appointment, and we were given a disc with the pictures and video on it.  Without further ado here are our two little ones:

I feel like a huge weight has been lifted now that I've seen heartbeats.  I'm in shock right now, and the whole "expecting twins" thing hasn't really set in yet.  But I'm cautiously happy and so very, very grateful for these babies.  I pray that they will continue to grow and develop the way that they should.