14 weeks!!

Can you believe 14 weeks already! Time is starting to go by so fast.

Here is week 14 Development update:

You and your little buckaroo have roped your way right into trimester numero dos! Are you ready to rock!? Okay, okay… maybe just a little rolling and poking. Needless to say, your baby will definitely be making themselves known in the upcoming weeks. At about 3.5 inches long, their little body and limber limbs are coordinated enough for loads of complicated motions. In fact, their whole body is moving right now! You're not feeling it because their current size is still a bit too small to make an impact you'd recognize. Still, their movements are recognizable on an ultrasound. Speaking of which, you shoud be scheduling one with your health care provider! Week 16 is the classic date as you can usually determine whether your little one is going to pee standing up or sitting down. Your baby is also starting to develop the ability to move their eyes this week, although the eyelids still remain fused shut. What's more, they can make all sorts of fun facial expressions as they practice squinting, frowning, and grimacing. Cute development of the week: their little hands can grasp at things and they may already be sucking their thumb!

1st Ob appointment

I had my first Ob appointment with Dr. Dardarian today. It went well, nothing too exciting so that's good. My records from Dr. El-Roiey did not get to them yet but that was ok. This appointment was more filling out paper work and answering some questions. I did get to hear the heartbeats which is always great to hear. Not to get to detailed for the guys reading but my cervix is high up (good) and closed (also good).

No pictures today and I won't have a Dr. type update for another 3 weeks. My next appointment is on Jan. 21st and my next ultrasound (find out the sexes) is on Feb. 11th.

I hope everyone has a very safe and happy New Years!!

Merry Christmas!!!

We had our 1st trimester screening yesterday. We were not able to get a early surprise of knowing the sexes as i had hoped for. The tech did not feel comfortable guessing for us becuase it's too early. But we did get almost an hour of looking at the little ones. Here is a picture...

Happy Holiday's!!!

Mike and I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!! We did not get Christmas cards out this year but promise to have special ones next year. :-) We want all of you to know how much you mean to us. Your love and support has meant the world and there are no words to truly describe how grateful we are to each and every one of you.

Have a safe and happy holiday season!!!

Love,
Mike, Julie, SoCo and Baby A Hart and Baby B Hart
:-)

Week 12 Ultrasound

The appointment today went great. They got so much bigger and they both were moving around so much. He did show us a quick 3D version but no picture. That was very cool to see. Mike was able to make features out more then i was but I just can't explain how cool it was to see the 3d version. On the 2d version we did get to see the spin and the face of the one baby. It was a little freaky because it looked like a skull was looking at ya but it was the cutest skull. :-) They are measuring a day apart and are measuring bigger then what was expected. So they are growing very well. All this holiday party food I've been having is paying off. haha.

So overall it was an great appointment but it was also sad becuase it was the last time I was going to be seeing this Dr. for this pregnancy. I meet with my regular Dr. on Dec. 29th. I like this Dr. as well but got very use to the nurses as well where I have been. But i'm sure things will be great. As long at the babies are healthy that's all that matters.

Here are the pictures from today. I scanned them in upside down and I forgot to flip them. But the one you can see the profile again.

12 Weeks!!!!

We have another appt. tomorrow at 3:00. I will post pictures as soon as i can.

Here is week 12 fetel development report...

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

11 Weeks!!

Here is our week 11 update:

Maybe you’ve noticed… your baby is a super-duper grower! Your lil' fetus will be gaining a substantial amount of weight this week and has already achieved fruit-size-status comparable to a plum. What's more, your little scientist is already starting to explore their body, focusing most intently on touching their head, and especially their face and mouth. Their mouth in particular will provide them with hours of entertainment. This happens not only because your baby is gaining coordination, and is therefore able to move a hand on command, but also because their palms have gained sensation and can actually “feel” what it touches.They're also developing their swallow reflex this week. And lastly, your baby's smelling and other olfactory senses will begin developing this week, which when combined with the maturing taste buds, will provide your baby with their first experiences of taste and smell.

Ultrasound Pics!!

Sorry it took me so long to get these up but here you go....

Today's appointment was amazing. We saw movement and heard the heartbeats!! Baby A was first up. The picture is actally flipped becuase the baby was laying upside down so I flipped the picture to make it easier to see the head. We heard the heartbeat first and then it was like he started to wave at us. I kept laughing becuase it was so cute. Baby A is on his side. Oh and for now I'm saying HE becuase that is what the Dr. was saying. :-) But we won't know for sure for a while. Anyway, he was waving and moving his feet so much. The sound of the heartbeat was also just amazing.

Then Baby B I think was asleep. And on his back so the pic is of him facing us. It was also harder to hear his heartbeat at first because the doc said this one is up a little higher and it was harder to get the doppler to hear the heartbeat. (doppler is what the thing is called that let's us hear the heartbeat) Also Baby B was not moving. Then all of a sudden as if Baby A said to Baby B..."Hey We're on TV start moving"...the baby started to wave and move it's arms and legs. It was so funny.

I feel Baby A is already taking after Mike and is the performer. This was a great appointment and so great to see how much they have grown. I think seeing them move and actually hearing their heartbeats it's sinking in even more that we are actually having twins.

10 weeks....

WAHOO! We're 10 weeks along!! I can't believe we're in double digits. :-)

A little update from monday's post...I'm feeling A LOT better. I think i might have been a little dehydrated. I usually drink a lot of water during the week at work and at home but more at work. I think being home for the holiday's I wasn't drinking as much and may be why i so sick out of the blue. But I'm back to drinking my water and eating my snacks.

Tomorrow we have another ultrasound. Our appointment is not until later in the day so no pics until around 3:30.

Here's the week 10 fetal update....

Though he's barley the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature. He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy. If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin. In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

It's Begun....

Morning Sickness. Well so far today it's all day sickness. I'm praying as quickly as this has come it goes away. On Friday the day after thanksgiving, I had some chickie and pete's fries at the Flyers game...and the babies let me know they did not like them later that night. But then I felt fine for the most part and the rest of the weekend. I felt a little nauseous last night but nothing I haven't felt before. Then this morning I had my breakfast and i was about to walk out the door to go to work but nope I went right to the bathroom and saw my breakfast again. I will try not to get graphic :-) I then thought I would be fine since until today if I did get sick once i got sick i was fine. So I drove to work which was about a 40 minute drive. Got to work and got sick again and then again. So after an hour I left and have been working from home. I'm very very grateful my work allows this because I don't know what I would have done if I couldn't work from home.

I got home and thank goodness i did when i did (although I do have bags in the car) I got sick as soon as I walked in the door. Well i did make it to the basement bathroom. I took a little nap because i needed it. Then later on, I got some ginger ale and made some toast. I thought I was in the clear but nope...got sick again.

So I've gone from hardly any morning sickness to throwing up 5 times within 7 hours. UGH!! But I will admit since they say the more you get sick the healthier the babies are I have a little smile with each time i hug the toilet. LOL!!

Week 9! and Happy Thanksgiving!!

We're at week 9 today! I'm feeling good. Nauseous here and there but I can't complain too much. I'm so very much looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night at Mike's Aunt Denise's house. I have been thinking about Turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes all week.

I'm starting to get little more of a belly. My pants are fitting still but a little tighter around the waist on some. Shirts on the other hand are not looking so great but luckily I do not have to dress business like at my work and I could wear a sweatshirt every day if I wanted. So I know I'm lucky with that.

Here is the weekly fetal development update I got:
Congratulations! Your amazing growing baby has been accepted into to the fetus-club, a very exclusive and exiting new stage in their prenatal development. Basically, this means the little sweet pea has graduated from swimming embryo creature to a recognizable human being! This week in particular, the irises of their little eyes can function, but (frustratingly for them?) their eyelids remain fused shut for a while yet. Their external ears are formed and their inner ears are now filled with fluid—so your little one is already developing their sense of balance. Your baby's little swimmer legs are still relatively, although other bodily developments are going forward at a nice pace: their kidney is actually functioning now, which means they’ve started urinating (this might seem charming now but wait till you have to start buying diapers!).

I also want to say that for this Thanksgiving, I'm very thankful for the miracles I have inside of me and for all of our family and friends who have been so supportive. We could not have gotten through this journey without all of you. And a special thank you to Mike who is always there for me. I'm very grateful and thankful to have you in my life and as my husband. And I absolutely cannot forget about our SoCo girl. She was meant to be our first baby. :-)

I wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Congratulations Desiree and Eric!!!

I'd like to congratulate Mike's cousin Desiree and her husband Eric on their new little girl Estella Grace born on Nov. 23rd at 8 1/2 pounds.

(Photo courtsey of text from Estella's Aunt Janice!!)

They're Growing!!

I had my ultrasound this morning and both babies are looking great!! One is measuring at 7weeks5days and the other one is 7weeks6days. Their hearts were beating away and they looked beautiful. The Dr. said they are right on target. It was such a relief after being so sick to see they were growing as they should and their hearts beating so well. I did not get a heart rate number though I just got to see them.

When looking at the pictures below NO we are not having 4 babies! LOL!! The top picture is more focused on the baby on the Left which we'll call Baby A. And the bottom picture is focused on Baby B on the right.

8 Weeks

Another week has gone by and I'm happy to say I'm feeling so much better. My cold/flu for the most part has made its way out. I still have a little bit of a cough and sneezing but other then that I feel good.

Now that the cold has moved on I am starting to feel other "pregnancy symptoms" but not that bad. I am much more tired. I went back to work Monday and for the past two days as soon as I get home I lay down and sleep for a couple hours, wake up, eat and then go back to bed. And my days are getting harder to stay awake. As far as nasuea, I feel it here and there but not to the point I'm getting sick and it goes away pretty quickly. I got sick a few times last week but I think that had more to to do with the cold.

So all is good and tomorrow morning I have another ultrasound. I can't wait to see the heartbeats again. I know all the medicine I was taking was ok to take according the Dr's but I just want to see the heartbeats again to put my mind at ease.

Here is the weekly fetal development update:

Woohoo! You've got one whole inch of baby inside of you! Your little embryo has finally reached the one-inch mark (30mm). And if it were possible to take a peek, you could actually see your tiny baby without a telescope! What’s more, your baby is finally starting to take on some very distinct human features. For starters, their little tail (really just the spinal cord) has disappeared completely. It’s nice to know your baby can no longer be mistaken for a sea creature! Additionally, both their toes and fingers are prominent with very little, if any, webbing. Upper and lower limbs all show recognizable joints (elbows and knees) and the lower limb bones are starting to ossify. But don’t expect your baby to resemble either parent quite yet. Right now, your baby’s head is disproportionately larger than the rest of their body--making up almost half of your little one’s height and weight!

Week 7!

We're into week 7 now and I wish I could say things are going so great but I've been sick sick and more sick. But not the sick I would have liked as in Morning Sickness but Flu type sickness. Sore throat, coughing, sneezing, congestion. UGH! I went to my Family Dr. and both he and my fertility Dr said I could take Tylenol cold and robitussin. So i've been taking those for now. I'm feeling a little better but it just sucks!!

And everyone tells me the babies will be fine but of course I worry. I guess I have to get used to that. :-) I'll worry about them for the rest of their lives. We have our next ultrasound next thursday on the 20th and I will feel so much better when we get to see those heartbeats again.

Until then here's my 7 weeks update:

Fetal development in pregnancy week 7:
Your baby is really beginning to develop more physical definition this week – their oversized head isn’t just large and oblong anymore, it’s actually a little bit pointy. The tiny receding tail bud is now starting to be overshadowed by the growth of their legs, which are now complete with knees and the beginnings of toes. Their eyes and ears are the most visible features on their head and their miniature bones are starting to harden throughout their body. You also have some variation on a boy or a girl at this point, although their genitals won’t be visible enough to determine which color cigars you’re going to buy until around the 16th week.

Flickers

We have heartbeats!!! We saw two beautiful flickers this morning. The Dr. did joke about not remembering how many he put in and maybe there were 4 or 5. I think Mike almost passed out at this point but we still have two and their little heartbeats were beating away. Our one little guy was still a little smaller then the other but nothing to worry about and his heart was beating just as fast.

Below is our picture from today. You still can't see much but you can tell the sacs are much bigger today. I go back in two weeks for my next one. I will see Dr. El-Roiey 3 more times, at 8weeks, 10weeks and then the last time will be at 12 weeks. At this point I will be released to my regular Dr. It will be sad but it will be good news too because that will mean I'm out of my 1st trimester!!

We have heartbeats!!! We saw two beautiful flickers this morning. The Dr. did joke about not remembering how many he put in and maybe there were 4 or 5. I think Mike almost passed out at this point but we still have two and their little heartbeats were beating away. Our one little guy was still a little smaller then the other but nothing to worry about and his heart was beating just as fast.

Below is our picture from today. You still can't see much but you can tell the sacs are much bigger today. I go back in two weeks for my next one. I will see Dr. El-Roiey 3 more times, at 8weeks, 10weeks and then the last time will be at 12 weeks. At this point I will be released to my regular Dr. It will be sad but it will be good news too because that will mean I'm out of my 1st trimester!!

6 Weeks!!!

6 weeks!! I'm still feeling pretty good but I do have more moments where I start to feel nauseous but I think snacking throughout the day is helping. Below are updates I got from a couple websites on fetal development by the week. Tomorrow is our 2nd ultrasound where we hope to be able to see two heartbeats flickering. I'll update as soon as I can tomorrow.

Fetal development in pregnancy week 6:

This is going to be a busy week for your amazing little embryo. Their brain is still growing remarkably fast; miniature hand plates are starting to develop and the early formations of what will be their fingers are already visible. Also, the lower limbs do not develop quite as fast, so they’re pretty much still flippers. Up until this point, your baby has been very curled up with the head and tail in close proximity, but this week their trunk and neck are beginning to grow and straighten as their tail recedes into its resting position in the back. Even though your little miracle is only 6 weeks old, they’re already capable of demonstrating reflex responses to touch!

My Heart Belongs to You!The first heartbeats have begun! The baby is now an embryo and is about 1/17 of an inch long. Growth is very rapid this week. The umbilical cord develops. The eyes and ears begin to form as well as an opening for the mouth. The heart has begun to pump blood and most of the other organs are well under construction. Buds form on the body that will become the arms and legs.

Phillies Parade and the weekend

I wasn't sure how I would be at the parade but I I got through it and only went to the bathroom 3 times! LOL! I was exhausted by the end of the night but it was totally worth it. And the rest of the weekend was just as nice and relaxing. I started to feel a little more nauseous here and there but I'm still doing pretty good. And the idea of twins is sinking in a little more each day. It's what we wanted but it was still a shock to hear it's a reality.

Here's a picture of mike and I from the parade.

It's Twins!!!

I added arrows to show where the two sacs are. We still have to say our prayers that we can see two amazing heartbeats next week. Although seeing them next week would be very early. But I wasn't expecting to find out how many today. We are just thrilled. This has been an amazing week. We are pregnant with TWINS and the Philadelphia Phillies are the WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!

Also, my Dr. today said my due date is July 3. This would be 40 weeks. He was going by my transfer date but I'm going to keep it at July 1st for now which is going by my retrieval and fertilization date. But now that we are having twins they will most likely make their way into the world early to mid June. Yes, right around when the Flyers will hopefully be on their way to winning the Stanely Cup. :-) And no we will NOT name this kid if it's a boy, Stanley. haha.

Update: I got my numbers back from today's bloodword and our HCG number is now at 3975.

I went to a website about HCG numbers i found the following:

HcG or human chorionic gonadotropin is a hormone produced by the placenta shortly after implantation. The hCG hormone will begin to rise and should increase normally every 48-72 hours for the next several weeks. In a normal pregnancy it increases by at least 60% every 2 days.

So after using the calulator that this website has my 2-day HCG rise was 92 %!!

5 weeks!!!

Below is info I received in my weekly development email:

Fetal development in pregnancy week 5:
The changes to your growing embryo are not quite as drastic this week as they've been in the last few weeks. Growth is now largely focused on their little head, which is starting to develop much more rapidly than the rest of their tiny body. This is because their amazing brain is undergoing some very crucial and rapid development in order to effectively regulate their heart rate, blood circulation, and other vital functions. As for the rest of their miniature body, what were simple limb buds last week are limb flippers this week and the tail is more expressed. Amazingly, within a mere five weeks your little miracle is already developing the rudimentary forms of their liver, pancreas, lungs, stomach and nasal pits while their little heart is already increasing its circulation. Your baby is now a whopping 4-6mm in length.

My Dr. appointment is tomorrow morning. Not sure what we will be seeing or be told tomorrow but I will post as soon as I can with details.

Our Embies!!

Well here they are....our little embryo's. These are the two little ones that were implanted on October 11th. Mike and I did get to see them before they were put in and they had grown even more then what this picture shows. Modern medicine is really amazing. I guess you can even call this their 1st picture.

As far as how i'm feeling, I'm doing ok. While watching the phillies game last night I started to feel sick but I think it was more of the cheesesteak i had for dinner then any type of "morning sickness" (m/s). Mike was also not feeling well after eating. I did have some high cramps which i felt were more indigestion pains then anything. I also did get a little sick. I will admit at first I thought I was actually getting m/s and this did make me happy. But i really believe it had more to do with dinner. I learned my lesson and I won't eat anything that I feel before eating is not right. I won't eat it just to eat it. I'll make something else. :-)

Holy Moly we're really pregnant....

At 13 days past a 3 day transfer (13dp3dt) we received our positive pregnancy!!!

Our HCG number is at 436. Yes this is a high number. Whether there's one or two in there this is a good number to start off with. The nurse told me they would like to see this number at 150. Our next appointment is on Thursday Oct. 30th where they will do blood work and an ultrasound but will probably not be able to see how many are in there just yet. We then have our following appt. on Thursday Nov. 6th where we will find out how many we have cooking.

We're still in SHOCK!!!

We're Pregnant!!!

We knew this day would come but we weren't sure when. I told myself that when we do get pregnant that I would start a blog to record our experience and share in our joy with all of our friends and family.

The beginning of our journey began back in 2001. Mike and I met playing one of the games we love HOCKEY!! This was a co-ed foot hockey league in Manayunk, PA. Mike did not know it was a co-ed league but got the clue when I showed up wearing the team colors and ready to play. Then, four wonderful years later in August of 2005, we were married. Our goal was to buy a house before we thought about starting a family. The next year after buying a house in Ridley Park, PA we had the talk about starting a family.

You don't think when you are having this talk that it will take a long time. You think ok we decided we're going to have kids and next month we'll be pregnant. Well after a year we were still waiting. We went to the Dr. and we tried different things and then it was decided we'd go with In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). This was a very hard thing to hear but we believed in our Dr. and knew he would do all he could to help us grow our family.

IVF, is a very stressful and emotional process that I would not wish on anyone. A lot of medicine, a lot of needles and a lot of anxiety. But with everything you go through, it's all worth it because in the end you will hold your child in your arms.

Our 1st IVF cycle was in Jan. 2008. We were positive about this cycle but knew that a lot of times the first cycle does not take. Like many others ours did not. It was very hard to hear that the test was negative but we were lucky that in our cycle we were able to freeze 5 of our embryos. This led us to our next IVF cycle which was a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET).

The FET was less stressful and less meds but the anxiety was there. We began this cycle soon after our 1st in March 2008. We were again positive for this cycle but for me it was hard not to think of the last one. And again we had another negative cycle. Looking back maybe i should have waited and took time off but you can't change what happened and it just wasn't meant to be at that time.

At this point, we did decide we needed a break and get back to our lives without thinking about needles, medicine, IVF or even babies. And this break I feel was the best thing we did. At this point it's mid-April and we took the whole summer off. We were angry in the beginning of how could this fail again. But after time we had to accept that it just wasn't the right time. We both believed it wasn't a matter of IF we would ever have a child of our own but WHEN we would.

The beginning of August we decided we were ready to begin the process again. I decided, I was going to do everything I could to be the healthiest I could be. One major thing with fertility drugs and dealing with the stress of infertility is weight gain. :-) This hit me hard. But in August I decided I was going to take charge and try to loose as much of the weight I had gained through all of this. And I was very proud of myself that I did just that. I didn't loose all of it but I was happy with what I did loose and I don't know for sure but I like to think this contributed to my pregnancy today.

Our 3rd cycle was about to begin, this also happened to be our last cycle that my insurance would cover at 50%. So we had a lot of hope in this one. At this time, with the recommendation and guidance of my mother-in-law, Sherri, I began to follow the philosophy of The Secret. I won't go into too many details here (you can look for your self online at http://www.thesecret.tv/) but it's about the law of attraction and how your feelings and beliefs affect situations in your life. I definitely recommend anyone to look into this. I believe it really help me have a better outlook not only on the IVF process but about life in general.

On October 11th, we transferred 2 beautiful embryos. We were going to transfer 3 but the Dr. recommended only 2 this time. Now the 2 week wait (2ww) began. I felt all sorts of different things. But everything I felt could be attributed to the medicine i was on. Although I did feel a little different then i did the past two times. I was feeling very positive but also cautious because it was hard not to remember the previous two cycles.

Then today on Oct. 24th at around 1:50 we got the call. I heard the nurse’s voice and I could tell it was a happy voice. She told me I was pregnant!!!!!

Our dreams did come true...