My Levels Were What?

So when you do IVF and get a positive pregnancy test, they draw your blood every 2-3 days to make sure that your HCG levels are rising appropriately. By this point in the process, I am so used to being poked and prodded by needles and invasive ultra sounds(Sorry if I'm the one to break this news for those who are going though this process now) so it really was no big deal to go in for them to take what felt like gallons of blood to make sure my pregnancy was viable.

I went in for my blood test on February 6, 2015 for the doctors to find out that I'm pregnant- I already knew at this point that I was, if you want that story, go to my previous post. I was anxious to find out if my HCG levels were high enough to stay pregnant. They drew my blood that morning and I was supposed to get the results around 1pm that day. I was working again that day and wasn't able to answer the phone when the office called. After my meeting, I checked my voicemail and the nurse who called told me my levels were above 500 (She told me the exact number but I can't remember where I wrote it down- blaming the pregnancy brain on that one.) I didn't know what this meant so I did some research and in order to have a positive pregnancy your HCG level needs to be above 50. That means I was 10x what I needed to be to be pregnant. I was almost in shock that my levels were this high and I hadn't had any pregnancy symptoms.

I then started thinking about how and when we were going to tell our family we were pregnant, as no one knew we had even done the embryo transfer, at least that I can remember :) My brain is hardly working these days. While I was on bed rest after they transferred the embryos I made a little valentine that we were going to send out if we were pregnant. I am a planner, I can't help it. After that phone call, I had Costco print out the Valentine's so I could make it a scratch off valentine. I put gold paint over the heart and my plan was to send them to my family in the mail. and we would give them to his family when they came to visit the next week. Well, McKell had a different idea as he wanted to see their reaction in person so he convinced me, after taking the time to make them scratch off, that we would get them on FaceTime and send the Valentine to them in a text message so we could see their reaction. We did this the Sunday after we found out. We aren't very good at keep secrets for very long. I do admit that this way was much more fun, but also filled with many tears, of happiness of course.

I went in 4 days after my first blood draw for another blood draw and you want your levels to double every 2 - 3 days. Well, my HCG levels were now at 2,513, almost tripling every 2-3 days. I then started to do some more research, thank goodness for the internet, and found that high HCG levels is a sign of a multiple pregnancy, not with every case but about 50%.

I have always wanted twins, or my first 2 really close to each other, so I had a feeling that both embryos implanted but I was also hesitant to think this and get my hopes up for twins when the only way to confirm is to see it on the ultrasound.

I had to wait another week for my next blood draw as my levels were growing as they should. My next levels were 25,000. Who knew you could have soooo much of a hormone in your blood but still no pregnancy symptoms? The next step was to have an ultrasound to hear the heart beat. We went in another week later, Tuesday, February 24 for the ultrasound. Right as she put the monitor on me, this is what we saw:

I knew right away that there were twins in me! See the 2 little peanuts? The doctor wasn't too surprised as my levels were sooooo high and come to found out the other nurses had a bet going if there were twins in me. We were able to hear and see 2 healthy heartbeats at only 6 weeks along. It really is soooooo miraculous seeing those two little babies inside of me. When I reached 8 weeks, my fertility doctor would longer see me, she had done her job and I needed to find another specialist who would help with this pregnancy and deliver my babies. I found a fantastic doctor who specializes in twin pregnancies and high risk situations.

I can't say enough how blessed we really are for having 2 babies. We are also so blessed that we have had no complications so far- I am now 26 weeks along as I am typing this. I also get to see these babies in an ultrasound every month as there is no other way to measure and make sure they are doing alright. It's also been so crazy at how quickly my body has changed, once the babies decided to get out of back and pop out in my stomach.

Baby "Bump" at 6 weeks- More like booty bump :) My booty grew way faster than my belly.

Baby Bump at 7 weeks

Babies at 9 Weeks

Bump at 9 Weeks

Babies at 14 weeks

Baby Bump at 14 Weeks

Babies at 17 Weeks

Bump at 17 Weeks

Babies at 20 Weeks

Bump at 21 weeks

Baby A at 23 Weeks

Baby B at 24 Weeks

Bump at 24 Weeks

It is now getting harder to get both of the babies to cooperate and see both of their faces in an ultrasound. They are growing about a week ahead of schedule which is great. My due date is October 16, my doctor hasn't told me how far along he will let me go as he is anticipating an early delivery anyways but our goal is still October 16 so that these babies can come out as healthy as possible and we don't have to leave them at the hospital.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me have this experience. Pregnancy isn't always fun but I am so happy that I have been able to experience it and can't complain one bit about this pregnancy. I haven't even thrown up! All I do is sleep, which isn't a bad thing because sleep is fantastic. I also have to eat all the time! Like every 2 hours or else I am starving. I am also always thirsty and drink about 2 gallons of water a day. But other than that, pregnancy has been a cinch. I have passed my gestational diabetes and anemia test. The only "problem" we have come upon is that my Rh factor is negative and I just have to get a shot at 28 weeks.

I was so afraid of the complications that come with carrying twins as I have seen so many of my friends have to be put on bed rest or deliver way too early and I know that my Father in Heaven has taken care of me and calmed all of those fears so I can enjoy this journey.