Patience is Overrated

So I've written a blog post with this title before. It's so true though. Patience is overrated.

For some reason C and I were thinking that we would have another scan this week as this weekend will be two weeks since the last one. I was wrong. At this stage, the scan happens every FOUR weeks, not two. How are we supposed to wait four weeks? That's an entire month.

I guess the good news is that everything is OK and there is no need for a scan every two weeks. But I got so used to seeing the updates, new pictures, little alien, peanut-looking things turning into what now actually looks like a little human. Oh well. Guess we have to wait.

Now that we are at 13 weeks, we're starting our second trimester, or ending our first, depends on what you read. Think maybe we'll start to think about planning now. Maybe even look at baby stuff. And we might even buy a book or something (any suggestions???) to start to learn more about what's about to happen come Nov/Dec.

On another note, could you please ask summer to return to London? I prefer sun and warm to rain an cold. Thank you.

I guess I'm not patient with the weather, either. Do you see a theme?

Congrats to our fellow bloggers Jeff and Kevin in DC who just had an amazing (and 10 lb!) little baby boy. It's so cool to watch other people who have been on this journey reach the point where all the waiting, all the emotions and all the dedication pays off.
 

Surprise Scan

The weather is finally great here so we decided to head to the beach for the day. On the train ride back, we got an email with our latest scan results. Everything is on track and both twins are measuring about 12 weeks, 3 days. We are technically at about 11 weeks and 3 days so they are definitely growing ahead of schedule!

So we thought we were going to get the scan later this week, but Dr. Jolly apparently had an appointment this weekend and was able to do it early. This was our 12 week scan, which included the NT test. Everything looks great, according to the OB. Here is what it said:

- Active and passive movements were seen.
- Liquor was adequate (don't know what this means)
- Placenta along anterior and posterior wall, low lying, not previa, grade 0 (don't know what the last part means)

- Twin 1: BPD 16mm, HC 61mm, Nuchal lucency 0.8mm, nasal bone seen, ductus venosus shows normal flow (don't know what this means), no obvious gross congenital anomaly.

- Twin 2: BPD 16mm, HC 64mm, CRL 47mm, Nuchal lucency 0.9mm, nasal bone seen, ductus venosus shows normal flow (don't know what this means), no obvious gross congenital anomaly.

So we're right at about 12 weeks. We are excited, but cautious still. About a week or two and we'll be done with the first trimester. I suppose in another month or so we'll have to shift from being cautious to actually planning.

Is this for real?

Looking at the image on the top right, I'm starting to feel like it might be.

All good

It's been a busy week this past week, which was probably a good thing as it kept us from obsessing over the waiting game and worrying too much! Over the past week, we were happy to find out that everything went OK with our surrogate. We are now expecting twins and as of the latest scan, both of them are doing well and measuring in at about 10 weeks and a few days.

We are so happy that everything went well, but know that this is still very early and that we shouldn't get too excited. I think the thing that made it different for us this time is that the scans really do resemble little alien-like babies. And I mean that in a good way. It's really the first time that we can make sense of what's happening in there... and that's kind of exciting.

Heartbeats were coming in at 156 and 162 bpm, and the one with the 156 heartbeat is measuring in at 31mm, the other one is a bit bigger at 37 mm. Still a long road to go, and we're not over the first trimester hump yet. But we're keeping hopeful.

In two weeks we will receive the next scan, which will be right at about 12 weeks. Now we wait again!

Have a great weekend everyone! It's been a good week!

Latest Scan

It looks like time has gotten away from us again and we've realized that we haven't updated the blog in the past two weeks or so. Here's where we are at...

Two weeks ago Saturday, we received an email from Dr. Shivani's office that said our surrogate had came in due to light bleeding. We of course freaked out. They did an emergency scan that day and found that everything was totally fine. No issues at all. Apparently, this is fairly common. Who knew!?

That said, we had a scan at 7 weeks, instead of the normal 8 weeks. You can see it below. All four embryos were fine, all four had heartbeats detected (124, 126, 132, 136 bpm), and the next step was to wait two week for the next scan and update.

We heard from the doc on Monday and the specialist has seen our surrogate and believes that everything is looking really good so they have decided to schedule the mandatory reduction for Saturday. Bummer to have to go through this, but we don't have an option. I've read about many people who really struggled with this and I can now understand why. The only saving grace to it all is that we have no option in the matter. Otherwise, we'd probably be having quadruplets.

We're thinking good thoughts for the next few days and wishing our awesome surrogate and the docs in India all the best.

More to come next week. Hopefully continued positive news!

6 Week Scan

It's funny how quickly a week passes by, while at the same time feeling like it has taken forever. It's been nearly two years since we've gotten this far along in the process and we nearly forgot how annoying the waiting process is! Patience is the name of the game though (I suppose).

So I woke up on Thursday morning, the day that this week's scan was suppose to take place. I hadn't heard from the doc so I waiting a few hours. Ok, I waited one hour. And then sent a short note "just checking in." They quickly responded -- side note: Dr. Shivani and her team have been AWESOME at responding quickly to any of our emails or calls -- and said that the scan has been scheduled for Friday. Ughhh. Another 24 hours of waiting.

It was worth it.

The email came in this morning and much to our surprise showed that there were not three, but FOUR "well defined gestational sacs with live embryos." Heartbeats were detected in all four (110, 118, 124, 126 bpm). Ummm. Great news right?

We're keeping our fingers crossed still and we'll see in two more weeks how everything progresses. It's super exciting but still super early. Based on the CRL measurements, we are at 6 weeks, 1 day. So much can happen over the next 6 weeks, which will be the end of the first trimester. Twins are the max that surrogates are allowed to carry, for both their health and the health of the babies. So we'll have to see what happens and deal with it in a few more weeks.

But until then, we're really lucky to have received good news, yet again this week. And we'll see just how slow the next two weeks go before we see our next scan.

Here's a few pics. So cool.

Lucky Three

Just a quick update...  Right on schedule we heard from Dr. Shivani's office that the scan was done and that three gestational sacs were identified. So awesome. Super early of course but the fact that we have three chances for things to work out is really great.

Next week we'll have even more good news hopefully. Until then, here's the picture.

I always like to see the pictures!

Super. High.

So I decided to take a look back at old blog entries over the past two years. Have two years already passed by since we started this whole process?

I was specifically seeking out the results of our first Beta HCG report. So it was June two years ago and the first blood test that they did was 23 mIU. We thought that was great at the time as it was more than 0! Unfortunately, that didn't work out. But...

We just got our blood test back from the transfer that took place on March 27 (transferred four embryos at Blastocyst) and it is... 831.25 mIU! Ummm. That's super high. Super. High.

We know that we have to keep guarded on this one and that we've been through this all before. BUT we have been through this with an initial blood test of 23 and this is 831. I'm hoping that this means that we have had really good luck this go around.

And now we wait. Next week will be the first scan to see what exactly is going on. The next scan (assuming all is good) would happen the week after.

Great news in what has been a tough week. We're headed in the right direction.

Thanks for everyone's encouraging comments. They no doubt helped make this a great start with the new clinic, donor and surrogate!