The First Appointments

Around 5 1/2 weeks, I started having morning sickness. But I am still unsure why it is called morning sickness when I was sick ALL DAY long!!! I was constantly nauseous. I did a lot of gagging and dry heaving and thankfully minimal puking but it was still too much for me. I pretty much laid on the couch all day. We ended up quarantined due to close contact and I was honestly glad to be at home through some of the sickness as I couldn't function. I asked about medications and was told to take a vitamin B6 and Unisom combo. I took the vitamin B6 three times during the day and then took it again at night. (You cut the pills so it was a small percentage.)

Joys of morning sickness; or all day sickness

At 6 1/2 weeks, on November 18th we got to have our first ultrasound. The nurse came in, weighed me, etc. and then took my blood pressure. And then she took it again. I knew something was up but wasn't surprised. She asked me if my blood pressure was usually high and I told her no but that I was very nervous and panicked. She asked me what was going on. I told her I was terrified there was more than one. She told me we would get through it, to take a few deep breaths, and took my blood pressure again and it was better. Now don't get me wrong... I love twins but the pregnancy complications of my water breaking at 26 weeks, hospital bedrest for 5 weeks, and a NICU stay due to one of them coming out not breaking for 4 1/2 weeks is something I would rather avoid! Does it mean with one that I would avoid this again... no not necessarily but multiples definitely increases the chance for it to happen. We proceeded to the ultrasound and I am pleased to say there was only 1 baby!!! I seriously let out a sigh I didn't realize I was holding! The baby measured right on track and had a heartbeat of 124! We were very happy! 

November 18th- Our little peanut... and only 1!

Our gift from the infertility clinic!

 After trying the vitamin B6 and unison combo, I still got no relief. I dealt with it after awhile but I couldn't eat, was forcing myself to drink, and still was miserable. When I called in they asked about what I had done (trust me... I tried the peppermint, mints, ginger candies and gum, eating small meals, etc. and it didn't help) and she asked me if I took anything during my first pregnancy and I informed her I did take Zofran with the twins. But seriously... I do not remember being this sick with the twins!!! She prescribed it to me and I was thankful. I picked up my prescription and within 40 minutes of taking the first dose I felt relief and I was sooo glad. It didn't eliminate it completely but it was enough that I could function. I still had many moments of nausea, gagging, dry heaving, and even a few puking episodes but I could eat a little. I noticed I needed to eat every few hours or I would get nauseous. And of course the last thing you want to do when you feel that way is eat but it helped. I hated any and all meats and anything with spaghetti sauce but could handle pizza. And holy aversions to smells. I gagged every time I had to open our fridge... something in their smelled... not bad... just smelled! Of course no one else in my family could smell it! Lol Peanut butter was something else I could not stand. It truly was rough. The kids started saying I had covid symptoms and I was terrified they would tell others and then people would freak out. So we decided to tell them sooner than I would have liked. They were soooo excited and still are! We had them open a box with a balloon that said baby, they each got a shirt that said boys 1 and girls 1 and then their was a baby onesie that said tiebreaker coming July 2021, and a new baby book. It was awesome to experience it with them. Once we were done with quarantine (after Thanksgiving break) we all headed back to school. I was seriously unsure how I was going to make it through the workdays but I managed. There were some trips of running to the bathroom which were thankfully close to the classrooms I work in! But I made it through each day... some barely! :P The kids did not tell a single person for a whole week but I finally told them they could tell people at school and they wore their shirts. It was great to let them spill the beans! At this point all parents, grandparents, and siblings knew too! 

Shirts to tell the kids

November 26th- The kids were sooo excited to find out

At 11 1/2 weeks I started to feel some relief from the morning sickness and scaled back on taking the Zofran and then went to taking none at all. I still have an occasional smell that gets to me or gag but overall I think I have passed the stage of morning sickness. 

The exhaustion is real... I seriously was going to bed at like 6 P.M. most nights. But it was a toss up of sleep or be sick so I slept! I thankfully never woke up sick throughout the night! There are still somedays I struggle with the exhaustion but it is better. I am starting to feel more human again and I am thankful!

At 13 weeks, on January 4th, I had my first appointment with my OBGYN. I am seeing the same doctor as I did with the twins and I am super excited about that. Our appointments are an hour one way but in my opinion, it is worth it. This doctor was with me through everything my last pregnancy, knows my history, and has a NICU right there if we were to need it again. I met the nurse who weighed me in, took a urine sample, did my vitals, and got some information from me. And then I got to see the doctor. Now mind you, I had the twins 7 years ago to the day and haven't seen this doctor since. He remembered me, asked how the twins were, remembered what Paul's job was when we had the twins, remembered what my stepdad does, and remembered that he did my mom's surgery shortly after that twins were born! I don't feel like just a name with him... he remembers and cares. He did tell me some things about my pregnancy with the twins that I didn't know such as I had high blood sugar but yet passed the gestational diabetes test. He also informed me that the day I delivered, I had labored for awhile but no one believed me and not a single contraction was traced until I was being wheeled out for my C-section. But when the doctor finally came and checked me (the on call doctor as it was a weekend), her eyes got huge and I knew I was quite far dilated already. I learned that when I was checked, I was already 6 cm!!! I also knew I had to have progressed pretty far as I remember telling them and feeling the need to push as I was being wheeled out for my C-section! It was interesting to learn. With that being said, he said it is hard to determine if preterm labor or pprom came first for me. I did come in with a water break and no contractions so I think pprom came at 26 weeks and preterm labor came at 30 weeks 6 days when I delivered the kids. Either way, I had both. He said the question is now do we do something different with this pregnancy and if so, what? We have no idea what caused my pprom. It could have been many things. But because it has already happened to me, I have a mark against me for it to happen again. But that isn't to say it will! I could go full term with this baby. You just never know!!! We did decide that I would do my anatomy scan with the maternal fetal medicine doctor (high risk doctor) so that we can check out everything and see if he notices anything. I saw this doctor a few times with the twins and actually saw him 2 days before my water broke! There was nothing that was found during that ultrasound that indicated my water was going to break early. After all the discussion and planning, my doctor did a quick ultrasound in which I got to see the baby! It is growing right on track still. I got to hear the heartbeat this time and it was at 158 bpm. He printed off some pictures for us since Paul is not allowed to come to these appointments. We got a close up of the face and you can see the nose, eyes, and other facial features. I was a happy camper that all was still well! I did learn I have an anterior placenta which means the placenta is in front of the uterus. This is not a big deal at all except that I may not feel movements until later on compared to normal. I had to schedule all of my appointments up until deliver before I left. I am going every 4 weeks, then every 2 weeks, and then every week. We are scheduled right up through the beginning of July which was surreal to me. I may have even nervously laughed as last time, we did not schedule appointments like this and I didn't make it through 1/3 of my pregnancy!!! 

January 4th- 13 weeks

13 week baby!

We decided to do a Facebook announcement after this ultrasound and the response was overwhelming in a good way! We got a ton of comments, likes, messages, phone calls, and more! It truly was amazing!!! We are very blessed!!! 

Part of our announcement