No one ever told me...

Well, things have been a little rough around here lately. The bleeding/spotting has continued and now I am hearing from everyone my Mom, that it really is quite normal with IVF.  Top that with the fact that there is more than one in there, and ya, that's extra normal.  Hearing someone tell you that bleeding while pregnant is completely normal goes against everything I have learned thus far about being pregnant.  It just feels wrong, but the babies have had 3 ultrasounds so far and they look great!  

In the mean time, I have to stay on bed rest until the bleeding stops.  It has only been about 2 weeks and  I am ready to be a Mom to my boys again and a wife to my Hubby.  I am tired of laying around. {never thought I would be saying that! ha.}  Oh, top that loveliness with a two day migraine, a trip to the ER, and morning sickness and what can I say?  I'm feeling a bit beat up lately. Please don't misunderstand...I am still thrilled to be a part in growing these little babies, I just would like to enjoy the journey a bit more is all.

I went into this thinking that my pregnancies were always relatively uneventful.  I knew there was a possibility for bed rest {especially with more than one baby} but I did not expect that until the end.  I was completely unprepared for this.  So the purpose of this post is not just for me to whine and feel sorry for myself, but to let you know that this is a real possibility and apparently completely normal.  

Crazy as it sounds.

A little scare...

Monday afternoon I started spotting and I of course, being the hormonal mess that I am, freaked out just a bit.  I called the Doctor's office and they assured me that for some reason there is a higher instance of spotting and bleeding with IVF versus traditional pregnancies done the old fashioned way.  This made me feel somewhat better.  Oh, and my blood type is negative so I could just be attacking the baby(ies) and need a RhoGam shot to help calm things down.  Great!  I am no stranger to the RhoGam shot.  I had one with each of my pregnancies but usually not until later.  So feeling a little bit better still.  A shot to fix everything.  I could handle that.  Then she said we want to get you here for an ultrasound just to be sure.  The nurse also said there was no way we could detect a heartbeat this early, but they needed to see what was going on in there.  And I'm back to freaking out again.  The nurse told me to stay calm and stay off my feet.  Just relax. 

So I get to LA for the ultrasound and Dr. S tells me that we should see a sac, but that because I am only 5.3 weeks along, we will not see heartbeat and it may be too soon to see anything in the sac.  So he does the Ultrasound.  He gets really excited and tells me that he sees one sac...oh, wait two sacs.  {I'm thinkin' stop right there mister!}  Thankfully he did.  So I am pregnant with twins! Yay! He also said they looked really good and I am thrilled, as are my IP's.

Then he starts zooming in on the little gummy bears and says, "I can't believe it!  I can see the heartbeat on this one!  Wow!  That's a great sign!"  Then upon closer inspection he sees the other one, and it's little heart was beating too!  We were all shocked and excited!  He said he is not worried about the spotting after seeing how strong they are.  So he told me he suspected the Rh factor to be the culprit for the spotting and they gave me the RhoGam shot and sent me merrily on my way.

Whew!  I can not tell you how relieved I was walking out of that office yesterday.  As a surrogate you feel such a sense of responsibility carrying another persons dream {or dreams} around.  I was so glad things looked good.  So I am watching the laundry pile and toys scatter from the couch today.  Taking it easy...doctors orders.

The boys are loving this whole Mommy on the couch thing.  They keep coming up and laying with me, bringing me books to read to them and chattering away about this and that.  It makes me think that maybe I need to slow it down a bit in general.  I am always running here there and everywhere, I pace when I talk on the phone and there is always much to be done around here.  Some days I think hmmm...I don't think I have sat down today.  Looks like I need to make that more of a priority.   

So that's the long and short of it.  We had a little scare, but all is well now.   I have my next ultrasound on Valentine's day.  I can't wait to hang with my IP's again!  I am most excited to see their faces when they see their little bambinos for the first time.  :)

Surro Mammas Lunch

I went to lunch today with some local surro-mammas and we had a blast.  It ended up being a 5 hour lunch but as the saying goes...time flies when your having fun.  I had a great time ladies!

On the way home I couldn't help thinking how important it is to have a good support system when going through this process.  Who better to be your sounding board than someone who has walked in your shoes, down that same path as you?  

I'm telling ya', all that girl gab is better than therapy in some ways...

Good times.