11 Weeks

Well, I figured if I wanted to do belly pictures, I should start now!

11 Weeks

Meeting Dr. Langer

On September 7, 2012 we had our 9 week ultra sound with Dr. Foulk. Everything on our ultra sound looked great! Baby A measured 8 weeks and 6 days (2.17cm) with a healthy heart beat of 168 BPM. Baby B was measured at 8 weeks and 5 days (2.12cm) with a heart beat of 172 BPM. Dr. Foulk signed us off and released us to a regular OB. We are excited that we don't have to travel so far for our appointments, but we sure will miss Dr. Foulk and his amazing staff! They will always hold a special place in our hearts!

We we're referred to Dr. Kathleen Langer at Jordan Valley Hospital by Dr. Foulk. A patient of mine also highly recommended her. I called to make us an appointment but the scheduler said I would have to leave a message with the nurse to see if Dr. Langer could take us on as patients because she was reaching her maximum amount of patients that are due in March and April. Luckily for us, Dr. Langer accepted us as patients. We were so relieved!!

Dr. Langer wanted to meet with us at 10 weeks for a base line appointment on Sept 27th, 2012. Everything looked really good both physically and on the ultra sound. We got to see our cute little babies on the ultra sound again but we were not able to get pictures of them because they were too busy playing and doing flips! We LOVED Dr. Langer. She is so sweet, understanding and very educational. She talked with us on how another doctor from the U of U hospital will be helping her monitor our pregnancy. He helps Dr. Langer and many other doctors across the valley with patients who are pregnant with multiplies. We are excited to meet him and will hopefully get to do so at our 13 week appointment, which is scheduled for Oct. 8th. I am considered a "high intensity" pregnancy because I am having twins, which as of now means I will have more ultra sounds than the average person. I am also able to continue with my regular daily activities including going to the gym to walk on the treadmill, use the elliptical or ride the bike a couple of times a week. I just need to get past this "morning" sickness!

So far the pregnancy has been pretty hard on me. It has been tough being on so many hormone pills and shots for so long and being winged off of them has put my body in a lot of shock causing sever headaches and vomiting. However, as of Friday we finished up all hormone shots, pills and suppositories.Yay!! As of now, I am on prenatal pills and Metformin. My doctor told me the pregnancy gets much better once the hormone injections are released from my body. Also, I have been on antibiotics for a UTI. This has made it so I have not been able to keep food down for four days now. We finally called my doctor today and got my antibiotics changed. She gave me anti nausea medication so I am able to keep some food down. Even though the pregnancy has been really tough so far I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to carry our twin babies!

(Baby A at 9 weeks)

It was hard to get an ultra sound picture of Baby A

because Baby B was on top of it.

(Baby B at 9 weeks)

The bubble on the top left by the baby's head is called the Yolk Sac.

It provides early nourishment until the internal organs are formed.

Perschon Babies

Well, as most of you probably already know..... Ryan and I are expecting twins in early April 2013!!! We could not be more excited and thankful for the opportunity to be parents, thanks to the help of Dr. Foulk and his amazing staff at the Utah Fertility Center.We transferred two embryos on 7/25/2012 and had a 70% chance of becoming pregnant and a 30% chance of having twins. We had blood work done ten days and  twelve days after the transfer. At the twelve day blood work they told us I was pregnant. Then we had more blood work done at twenty days after transfer to confirm a positive pregnancy again. We just found out on Tuesday, August 28th at our first ultra sound appointment that we are having twins.

 I am currently 7 weeks and 4 days along. Both babies are growing perfect and healthy. At our 7 week ultra sound Baby A was measured at 6 weeks and 6 days with a heart beat of 134 BPM and Baby B was measured at 7 weeks with a heart beat of 139 BPM. We have another ultra sound appointment with Dr. Foulk a week from today for my 9 week appointment. If everything continues to looks good with both babies he will release me to an OBGYN.

I have had some pregnancy symptoms like "morning sickness." I am nausea all day long and throwing up in the evening. I don't have much of an appetite and all I want to do is sleep! I live on popcorn, soft pretzels, saltine crackers, popsicle, string cheese, some fruits, yogurt and water. Those seem to be the foods I can keep down right now. I also sleep every chance I can get!

These are the Embryos that were implanted on 7/25/2012

Ultra sound picture of the Embryos in my uterus

We took a self portrait to frame for our parents

7 week Ultra Sound
(When we found out we are having twins)

Embryo Transfer (7/25/2012)

Embryo transfer completed! We met with the doctor yesterday to go over the status of all 42 embryos. They are all looking really good and maturing well, so the doctor decided that today was the best day for the transfer. We made an educated decision with the doctor on how many embryos he felt would be best to transfer for our particular situation. However, we have decided to wait and share that information with everyone until we have better results. Ryan and I had the opportunity to watch the embryo transfer be completed and Dr. Foulk walked us through each step of the procedure. It was such a neat experience that we will never forget. I have had no pain following the transfer and it is actually hard to be on bed rest when you feel just fine. I am down on bed rest for 3-4 days and I am suppose to lay down as much as possible. After the first few days I can return to my normal activities,  but I can not be involved in physical activities that raise my heart rate or body temperature for a few weeks. The lab at Dr. Foulk's office called us today to let us know that they froze 14 healthy and mature embryos which is a large amount. Usually they only have 4-6 embryos to freeze per transfer.

Egg Retrieval (7/22/2012)

Well, I had 58 eggs retrieved, 42 of them fertilized and are looking really good according to the lab! They will call us for an update everyday on the embryos and to let us know when they will be transferred back into my uterus. It is usually 3-5 days after the retrieval. Dr. Foulk said surgery went very well. I was in a lot of pain when I first woke up but Dr. Foulk gave me a pain pill and had a heating pad on my stomach to help ease the pain. I spent the day in bed with a heating pad, movies and slept as much as possible!

Ultra Sound Appointment

Well, we are officially full force in the IVF process. I am given two shots a day by Ryan, take a prenatal pill, metformin and baby aspirin. The shots I am receiving are called Bravelle and Menopur. They are hormones that help the follicles turn into eggs. The shots BURN going in, but after a few minutes I can't even feel where Ryan gave me the injection. Of course there are the side affects from the medications, HORRIBLE headaches, stomach aches, sleepiness and the occasional emotional breakdown!

7/17/2012

Yesterday was the first of many appointments we have this week. They did blood work to check my hormone levels. We were told no news is good news, but if my hormone levels are not high enough they will call us to up my dosage of Bravelle and Menopur. My symptoms of headaches, stomach aches and sleepiness are all "normal" and good signs. Well, we got a phone call from Dr. Foulk's office. It turns out my hormone levels are higher than normal so I did not have to do an evening injection and they decided to lower my dose for the morning! I was so happy I got to skip an injection.

7/18/2012 

Today, we did an ultra sound to see the size of the follicles that are turning into eggs. They are already measuring at 13mm, which is really good. The nurse practitioner counted 25 in my right ovary but did not specify how many were in my left. She told Ryan and I that the average IVF case has 15-20 eggs extracted at the day of retrieval. She said it's looking like they will be extracting 40+ eggs on me. They wont all be fully matured, but they will need to be removed. My body has gone into Ovarian Hyper-stimulation Syndrome, which means my ovaries are swollen from being over stimulated by the medications. This is causing me to have cramps and feel very bloated. This is common with PCOS. They also did more blood work on me today and my levels are still a little high, so I will not have to do a night injection tonight or tomorrow night! So far we are right on track with our IVF calendar and things continue to look promising for us!

7/19/2012

Well, today's ultra sound went great. The eggs are maturing and getting bigger just as they are         suppose to. I now have 59 eggs. YES, 59!! Which is a ton, but it will give the doctor more eggs to choose from. Everyone at the doctors office was shocked to hear how many eggs I have. I guess "go big or go home" right?! I have also been officially cut off all hormone medications! Dr. Foulk's Nurse Practitioner called me and told me that I do not need to take anymore injections of the Bravelle or Menopur. Today, I started a new shot called Ganirelix. It is used to stop my body from releasing the eggs. I only have to inject the Ganirelix once a day, but at the same time each day. I also have to drink at least 20 oz of Powerade which is used to counteract the water in my tummy. The electrolights in powerade help break down the fluids in my stomach to help reduce pain and swelling.

7/20/2012

And then there were 72! I now have 72 eggs, but not all of them are mature and will need to be extracted. The most eggs Dr. Foulk has extracted is 92. We are hoping I am not his new record! My estrogen level has skyrocketed due to the amount of eggs I have and my body going into ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome. To help bring down my levels I must drink a 30mg protein shake a day and drink lots of powerade and very little water. We will have a better idea of when we have my eggs extracted after we get the result of my blood test later today.

Dr. Foulk's office called tonight to let us know that my estrogen levels are great and we are going to have the my eggs retrieved on Sunday July 22, 2012 at 9:00am. Today, I had to have a "trigger" shot called Lupron which is like HCG and gives the eggs a last minute maturity boost before being retrieved.

7/21/2012

Today, was an easy appointment. I was literally at the office for a 2 minute blood draw. They checked my estrogen levels to make sure they did not skyrocket again. Everything was perfect and I will have my eggs retrieved tomorrow morning.

Fundraiser Lemonade Stand and Yard Sale

On June 30th and July 1st we had a "Fundraiser Lemonade Stand and Yard Sale" that was held at our house. First and foremost, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO OUR PARENTS AND SIBLING for putting together the yard sale. We had such an amazing turn out, better than what anyone could ever anticipated. We also want to thank everyone for all the donations made to us to help make the yard sale so successful. Ryan and I were so overwhelmed with all of the love and support our families and friends have shown us, we can not thank you enough.