The Best Diet in the World

I picked up Dr. Barbara Lu.ke's When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets or Quads and read the chapters on nutritional requirements. It is a diet that Texans DREAM of.

• All the dairy I can stomach, preferably whole milk, even ice cream
• Red meat (bring on the brisket, baby!), preferably twice a DAY (WOW!) or other protein
• The requisite vegetables and fruits (about 7-8 servings a day of EACH)
• Plenty of nuts
• Protein and fat are my friend for the next several months
• Eat every two to three hours
• Recommends eating grilled cheese with a glass of milk before bedtime to avoid waking up from hunger pangs (which has totally been happening--I had been eating fruit before bedtime in an attempt to help with this)

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are charts on top of charts on top of charts. For my height and weight and BMI, I should gain 40-56 lbs (!) so that my babies have the best shot at a healthy birth weight. I also have less time than a singleton to gain it in, because most twin pgs deliver early.

The morning sickness has kicked in. Yesterday it was all I could do to make it to the grocery store and remain vertical to make some dinner. Hubby went to the NCAA basketball game (Texas lost, boo) and I napped nearly the entire time he was gone. I felt nauseated most of the day, no matter what I ate. I found that if I ate less, the worse it was. But if I ate too much, I was still nauseated. I used to think this was total bullshit when I heard people complain about it. But it's for reals!

My nurse at the RE's office is a twin mom (although I do not think they were a product of my RE). She said for the first 4 months of her pregnancy she felt like she had a hangover every day. Something to look forward to.

OK, I have not made the transfer of the US pics from jump drive onto computer yet. Will do so soon.

Once again, Holy Shit!

It's twins!!!!! I gasped out loud when the doc did the US because I saw them right away. There are two sacs and two fetal poles. Two heart beats, the bigger one at 170 and the smaller at 130. He said normal is 120-180 as far as heartbeats go. They are measuring normally for a twin pregnancy, a little smaller than a singleton. There is still the possibility of losing one, which happens in 10% of twin pregnancies.

I'll BBL with some photos even. I've got some gross dishes in the sink.

Nervous

Can I just say how nervous I really am about this pregnancy? I am truly excited beyond belief and am much relieved for our IVF to have worked. But how many blogs and posts have we all read about the pregnancy that ended suddenly?

I have an online friend in a buddy group on FF who did IVF, got pregnant with nice strong numbers, but lost the baby ~ 9 weeks or so. I can't help but think about her and her heartbreaking situation a lot, but of course, I'd never want her to know how much it bothers me. I had been considering giving up acupuncture at this point, but perhaps I'll hang on a little while longer. I do feel more relaxed after it, and that can only be a good thing.

I am hoping my ultrasound next week (Thursday) will provide some reassurance.

Today's Ultrasound

On the ultrasound, there was one gestational sac that measured 5 mm, which is on target for this stage of the game. Dr. G gave me a due date for 11/13/08. He said that there may possibly be a smaller sac hiding somewhere that can't be seen yet, so I am returning in two weeks for a repeat. He did say at this point, the risk of miscarriage is still high (~20%), as would be with any pregnancy. It decreases with USs that show growth of the baby. He gave stats, but I can't remember them.


I had to blow my cover at work today. I was trying to figure out if one of my patients was going to be receiving chemo during a particular procedure. The doc said that he didn't get chemo during the procedure, but judging from his IV pole I determined he had chemo the previous day. I kind of wigged out because I had touched him with a bare hand absentmindedly while placing an EKG lead or something benign like that, and my mind lept to conclusions of birth defects at my hand. Several people reassured me though, that one is just fine as long as one does not handle bodily fluids barehanded (which of course, I'd never do). Whew. There are plenty of nurses that give chemo on a daily basis that have healthy babies. I guess I just need to chill.


Anyhoo, we are happy with our one baby. If there is a second one to come, we will be happy with that as well. At this point, we aren't feeling particularly finicky. We just want healthy; that is all we ask.

Second beta...

... was 1624! We have scheduled an Ultrasound for Friday at 10 AM.

IVF Follow Up Appt

Lemme see if I can remember everything that my doc told me about the cycle:

• My dose of 450 IU of Follistim is pretty much the max dose I would ever be on should I ever need to do this again. He said he could put me up to 900, but the studies the drug companies did found that this didn't necessarily give one more or better eggs. He said the studies found the maximum therapeutic range is 300-450 IU.
• The embryos transferred were 1 grade 4 and 1 grade 3. They grade them 1-5, 5 being the highest and 1 the lowest. He said grade 5 embryos are rare and don't need to be transferred, they can drive themselves into my uterus. So it seems I am sitting pretty with the grade 4 and 3. The grades have no effect on future SAT scores.
• The embryo that froze turned out to be a grade 4. He said it looked like it wasn't going to make it but it continued to grow, so they were able to freeze it.
• He said that when they drew my blood, they were measuring my hcg, E2 and progesterone levels so they could see if they need to alter the drug dosages that I am on. When they called earlier they said to continue the current doses. He said that any hcg over 5 is considered positive, and they would, of course, prepeat it to make sure it is still rising/doubling. He said that when it reaches 1500 is usually when a pregnancy can be visualized on US. It seems Wednesday I will get my blood drawn and they will let me know when to come in for an US.

I think that is about it!

I had the great pleasure of meeting Kathy today! She is as lovely in person as she is in the blogosphere and FF! IVF treatment makes for a great icebreaker; we lunched for an hour and a half, maybe a little more. We are cycling at the same clinic, although with different doctors. And it turns out we don't live terribly far from each other, either. Hooray! It is so nice to have someone IRL that you can talk about the ups and downs of IVF with. Kathy, I am hoping and praying your Uno is the stickiest of sticky beans. Wouldn't it be fun if Uno became a Dos? ;)

Beta is in......

.....and it is 724!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More on the rest of the appt and my day later. Must go grocery shopping while the rain is at a tolerable level.