The Growing Bump

With all of the hyperemesis, I hadn't gained much weight at all. In fact, April 24 was the first time I had any "documented" weight gain. Up until then it was "down three pounds, down seven pounds, down 10 pounds..." at least now I had officially put on some baby weight.

Here is a collage of my bump up until this point:

I was officially 22 weeks pregnant at this point, and went in for my check-up at Mother Joseph Plaza, where the Perinatology department was located.

First things first, they have me watch this "educational" video about Preterm labor and the signs to look for, etc. First of all, the movie was made in like 1980… and set in the NICU. They show you babies that are SUPER small, barely breathing, and hooked up to all sorts of machines. Stuff I have seen before, yes, but not stuff I want to look at while I'm carrying twins. Especially knowing that twins have a higher risk of being born premature. The Dr in the movie, if he even is a real dr, just throws out there that premature babies can DIE. Yes, another thing I know, but still… hello? You're showing this video to a PREGNANT woman… to pregnant women, in fact, since apparently they show it at all 20 week appointments. (Or close, since I'm 22 weeks.)

After suffering through the 8 minutes of the DVD, Dr Gesteland comes in and talks to me for a bit and decides its probably a good idea to do an ultrasound since Salem Hospital didn't even bother to check on the babies the night before. (I had gone in because I felt like I was leaking fluid.) No heartbeat check, nothing. She wants to make sure there is plenty of fluid in each sac and that my cervix is still nice and long. 

During the ultrasound, this little boy was nice and cooperative and we got a couple cute profile pictures of him. Baby girl, however, stubborn as usual. She was transverse and spine up so it was impossible to see her face. We could however see that her butt was literally right on top of her brother's head. Sibling rivalry at it's best. 

My cervix was nice and long, at like 4.3 CM. Nothing to worry about there, and there was plenty of fluid in each sac. Thank goodness!

Dr said to continue to drink lots of water, rest and no work at least until my next appointment (May 9th). I was beginning to feel like I'd never get sent back to work, because something was always happening with this pregnancy. Leaking of what seemed like fluid, dehydration... weird pain, etc. I felt like by the time they would tell me it was safe to work, it would be too close to delivery anyway and I'd just end up staying off work until the babies were born. We would see I guess!

One boy, one girl... two hearts beating wildly

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, it was confirmed on April 3rd that E & S are officially going to be having one boy and one girl!

As soon as they confirmed it via ultrasound, which took probably 60 seconds total (these two are NOT shy by any means) this song by Collin Raye immediately popped into my head.
"One Boy, One Girl" And I still think of it to this day when I am thinking about the twins. (Which, as you can imagine is pretty often.)

My mom went with me to the ultrasound, it was the first time I'd had anyone with me to any of the appointments aside from the embryo transfer. It was a nice change of pace. Going alone was all fine and dandy, but it got pretty lonely sometimes.

I emailed E & S IMMEDIATELY (I would have called but it was something like 2am over there.) and I couldn't wait for their response. I'm sure they would be ecstatic to know that the predictions were true. They could finally start shopping for blue and pink clothes, instead of the yellow and green clothes they'd been stuck buying.

Now that they knew the gender (or at least they would when they woke up) I couldn't wait to know what the names were. For now, I could call them baby boy and baby girl. It was much better than "baby a" and "baby b" that was for sure!

Putting my foot down!

By March 15, I had been sent to the ER another time, been in the nursing station and then actually admitted to the hospital that day. Dr. Lewis, whom I had actually requested to never see again, decided it would be best to finally admit me and have me on constant fluids for "a few days."

A couple days prior, I had requested to be referred to the Perinatology department up in Portland, who had done my 13 week genetic testing. I loved the OB up there and just the whole environment. They dealt specifically with high-risk pregnancies, and I was pretty sure I qualified. Dr. Lewis, as much as I LOVED him, was not pleased at the request and tried to assure me that "they could give me the same treatment here in Salem as the Perinatologists in Portland." HA! You mean, sending me to the ER every 3 days?

At least being admitted to the hospital meant that I had my own room and I was in the Labor & Delivery section of the hospital. In what they call the antipartum section. (Prior to delivery).

Being as dehydrated as I was, it took them 8 attempts that day to get an IV in me. They even had to call in an "IV therapist" to finally get one to stay. Talk about ouch!

It was the worst night I'd had in a long time, although I was actually hydrated for once. For longer than 5 hours at a time. I couldn't get comfortable with an IV stuck in my wrist, I had to pee more times than I can count and drag along my IV cart with me every time. It was a pain, and not something I wanted to have to keep doing.

I had taken my iPad and my phone with me, and there was a TV in the room, but it still didn't help. I wanted to be home, and STAT!

They gave me round the clock anti nausea medicine, Zofran every 8 hours and Reglan every 6. It was the doctor's hope that the combination of the two medications would finally help with the vomiting. At least for the first afternoon and night, it didn't. Everything I ate at the hospital made me throw up. (It could be that it was because it was disgusting hospital food, but I was still throwing up nonetheless.)

During the middle of the night I woke up with a pretty intense headache that just kept getting worse. They gave me tylenol at first, and when that didn't do anything they gave me percocet. My headache went away, but then I was pretty loopy the rest of the night, and beyond uncomfortable.

The next day, my sister Katie planned to come up and stay with me at the hospital since it was Friday and she didn't have to work the next day. By the time she got there, it was almost 7pm and I was having an anxiety attack. I asked to be sent home, I was clearly hydrated enough and the medicine was SORT of working. I had been throwing up, but not nearly as much as I had been before being admitted. I couldn't stand being there anymore, I wanted to go home and I wanted the IV out of me! The doctor on call gave the OK for me to head home, just warned me that if I had to be admitted again it would likely be for much, much longer of a stay.

I got prescriptions filled for Reglan and more Zofran so I could continue the round the clock of both of them. Fingers were crossed that it helped, I did not want to go back to the hospital until these babies were on their way out!

That following Monday I scheduled my 18-week appointment with the OB up at Perinatology and also the "BIG" ultrasound for the week after. April 3rd was the big day and I couldn't wait to see the twins again and confirm for E & S what "kind" of babies I was carrying.

Cooking with E & S

On March 11, I finally got a break from feeling like I was dying and got reminded of why I was doing all of this.

E & S were in town visiting and offered to make dinner for me and my family. A homemade french meal, who could say no to that? I don't care how sick I'd been, I was determined to feel better, suck it up and have a great time with them. I had plenty of other days available to feel miserable.

I was so nervous to see them again, since the last time was before I had the embryo transfer. Although I'd felt like time was crawling, I couldn't believe how far we'd come! I was finally pregnant and actually showing that day. I think the twins wanted to show off to their daddies.

They got to Corvallis around 5 o'clock that day and were the cutest thing ever. Driving a Fiat they rented for their time here, and wearing their normal "French" attire of skinny jeans and sweaters. I still can't get over how adorable they are.

My sister Katie and my nephew Preston joined us for dinner, along with my Mom and Sarah and Jacoby (the nephew she was pregnant with when they met her originally). Where had the time gone? They had yet to meet Katie or Preston, and she was excited to meet the two men I couldn't stop raving about!

They brought all sorts of food with them, appetizers and two things to make for dinner. TWO things? Boy was this pregnant girl excited. (Just secretly hoping I could keep things down long enough to enjoy the French cuisine.)

Smoked salmon was what they had told me they were making, but it appeared to be a lot more elaborate than that! I helped to separate the salmon pieces while they did most of the hard work.

The first course turned out to be this AMAZING smoked salmon and shrimp little cake type thing, that had tabasco sauce and capers in it.

Let me tell you, it LOOKED amazing but tasted 100 times better. The next course was chicken wrapped in bacon. These men knew the way to this pregnant girl's heart! But, by the time I finished the salmon "cake" or whatever it was, I barely had room for the chicken.

Of course they brought what I imagine to be DELICIOUS wine with them from France, two bottles of Merlot that I couldn't stop staring at. My mom enjoyed it with them and I was stuck sipping on apple cider. Thankfully they only drank one bottle and I have the second bottle sitting on my kitchen counter just waiting to be opened! Likely it will be opened shortly after the delivery of the twins in celebration! (How far away is that again?)

After dinner, we sat and chatted about the upcoming events: the "big" ultrasound, the arrival of the babies and when they should arrive in Portland to be here for the birth. As cute as they are, it's hard to explain to them that there isn't really a set date for when they will be born. It could be anywhere between 32 weeks (or even earlier) to 40 weeks. And at this point, my doctor still planned on letting them make their appearance on their own accord.

They had been shopping in Portland the day before and brought some of their purchases to show us. Onesies and baby hats and mittens, and swaddlers! How exciting! I remember shopping being my favorite part in preparing for Peyton's arrival. They bought a super nice diaper bag, as well, that I will definitely have to search for if I ever have another child of my own.

Just in case they aren't able to be here for the birth, they suggested I take the diaper bag full of their purchases home with me and ready for when the babies are born. Even though I told them they won't need much while they are at the hospital, it made them feel more comfortable knowing the babies would have their OWN things.

It was brought up during conversation about how anxious they are to find out the genders of the twins, and my mom suggested they "talk to me about that!" Ah mom! I was trying so hard to not say anything to avoid getting their hopes up. But, I figured why not! It was the last time I was going to see them before the babies were born (or close to their birth) and at least I could share the early predictions with them in person.

E got out his iPhone and asked if we could record a video of me telling them. He recorded my sisters and mom saying who they were and what part they played in this whole adventure, and then they recorded me telling them (and reminding them it wasn't 100%) what the genders MIGHT be.

I wish you could have seen their faces. Even knowing that these predictions could be totally wrong, they were glowing with excitement. I'm pretty sure I saw some tears come out of S's eyes. I think he was most excited at the possibility of a girl. This way, they would have one of each!

After the recording of the predictions, they had presents to share! They had bought Peyton a Captain America car that came with a Captain America and some sort of missile thing that shot off the back. He was pretty excited!

For me, a book! It was called "The Secret" and it looked way fancier than any book I'd ever bought. Apparently when E & S read the book it changed their lives completely, and they hoped it would do the same for me. I couldn't wait to get started!

After taking pictures to document the history of it all, it was time for them to head back to Portland. Their flight home left the next morning and I'm sure they would be exhausted.

Hugs and "French" kisses helped say goodbye, and I was on cloud 9. It didn't matter how terrible I had felt up until that moment, even hours before their arrival, I remembered the exact reason I was going through all of this. E & S glowing with excitement seeing my belly growing, hearing of the gender predictions, and talking about the actual birth of their beautiful babies... it all made sense again.

Could this get any worse?

March 2nd came around and I was still throwing up everything. Reglan didn't work, Zofran wasn't working, nothing!

I had a dr. appointment scheduled for that day and was hoping for some answers! When I saw Dr. Lewis and he asked how I was feeling, I was kind of like, really? you don't know how I am feeling? Haven't your nurses told you that I have been in the ER twice in the last couple weeks?

Apparently he wasn't aware. That made me really confident in Kaiser, although as I'm sure you can tell I was already more than irritated with them.

He did a bedside ultrasound to check on the twins, and then asked me, yes ASKED if I thought I should be admitted to the hospital because I'd been so sick and dehydrated. Last time I checked, I wasn't the doctor here. Are you really asking my opinion on what I think my care should be? I have no idea! You're supposed to tell me!

He came to the decision that we should send me upstairs to the nursing station for IV fluids to at least get me rehydrated. That's all they would do if he sent me to the ER or hospital anyway, so I figured why not?

I get to the nursing station, and to my surprise it is EXTREMELY nice in there. They have a leather chair that reclines for all of the patient rooms. WAY better than an uncomfortable ER bed, that's for sure. If I had to keep coming in for IV fluids, I would certainly choose this over the ER any day.

They got the IV all hooked up, after a failed attempt on my left arm. Literally, my left arm is always terrible for getting blood drawn or an IV put in. I even warned the nurse that she likely would have to use my right arm, but she was adamant that she could get it. Boy was she wrong and it HURT! For her to be able to hurt me with an IV is really saying something, because I felt like a pin cushion at this point.

Once the IV was in my RIGHT arm, like I had told her from the beginning, she started a bag of fluids, this time with something called thiamine in it. Apparently it is some sort of vitamin mixture which should help restore all that I'd been losing with the hyperemesis. Being that I was at the Kaiser nursing station, instead of the ER, they actually had an IV pump they were using instead of just letting it drip. Hopefully that meant I would be out of here WAY quicker than I was out of the ER.

The nurse asked me how the IV felt, and leaned my chair back so I could relax. Aside from still being nauseas it all felt fine to me and she said she'd come to check on me later.

Shortly after she walked out of the room, I felt like I was going to throw up. That would be normal for me, but then I felt like I was on fire, literally, and it was getting hard to breathe. I called for the nurse and could tell by her reaction when she walked in something was wrong. Apparently, I was as red as an apple. Her reaction only made me panic more and my breathing was turning into hyperventilation. I heard over the loud speaker in the building "Medical emergency in the nursing station. Medical emergency in the nursing station." Clearly, that was me.

A handful of EMTs rushed in the room, as they were turning off the IV. They gave me oxygen to help with my breathing and flushed the IV site with clear saline. Clearly, I was allergic to this "vitamin mix" they had given me.  As if constant vomiting wasn't bad enough, I got to go through the trauma of learning a new allergy, the hard way.

I was only 14 weeks pregnant and already I was done. This so far had been the worst experience of my life. I felt terrible saying and thinking that, but I was a mess. Emotionally, and physically. I couldn't keep anything down, I was STARVING and my clearly intelligent OB wasn't helping matters. All I wanted was to eat and drink like a NORMAL person. I would be fine throwing up once or twice a day, but to not be able to eat or drink ANYTHING was absolutely not ok.

I was lonely, realizing how terrible it was to be pregnant without a boyfriend/husband or SOMEONE there for me. My friends were MIA and my family lived an hour away. Peyton was with the babysitter all the time and I was home alone, going absolutely insane. It was bad enough feeling sick but to feel like I was living on a desolate island with no one to help me was even worse. I felt like I was never going to make it through the whole pregnancy. Why had I decided to do this again? Oh yes, because pregnancy with Peyton had been SO easy and I wanted to help E & S have a family. It was hard to think of that, though.

Genetic Testing and early gender predictions!

On February 21st, I had an exciting trip up to Portland for the 13 week genetic testing. This was all new to me as I never accepted the offered screening when I was pregnant with Peyton. There was no need! I didn't care one way or another for one, and two I was so young that my risk of having a baby with a genetic disorder was very slim.

The genetic testing consisted of both blood work and an ultrasound. At this point blood work was nothing to me, and I barely felt the prick of the needle. The ultrasound was the exciting part.

The tech was extremely nice and we got a ton of pictures of both babies, even a couple in 3D! I never had a 3D ultrasound with Peyton, so it was very interesting to see with these two. Especially since there were two babies!

My mom says she couldn't really tell what these 3D photos were supposed to show and it was more creepy than anything. I think it's awesome! Look at those two itty babies! 

The ultrasound tech made some early predictions of what they were, too! She said, and even showed me, that she was pretty sure there was one of each in there. One boy, one girl! How perfect is that? 

She told me not to tell the intended parents, E & S, until after the 20 week ultrasound because she didn't want to be wrong. How could I keep this a secret!? It was so exciting and I know they would be thrilled! 

But, what I know about E & S, they would also think it was 100% and start shopping galore! I should probably wait until it was 100% confirmed. 

The Dr. came in to talk to me after the ultrasound was done and said that all signs point to normal babies! She said of course we had to wait for the blood work, but from what was shown on the ultrasound there was a very small chance of any disorder. She also needed to know the age of the egg donor, to which I had no idea. I never was told, and never really needed to know. I guess a call to Carrie at ORM would help get that info!

Carrie was apparently out on leave, but I was told all that they could give me was her year of birth but not her age. Isn't that basically the same thing? Strange rules they have, I swear! Found out, though, that she was born the same year as me. It brought a lot of questions to mind about her, and why she had chosen to be an egg donor. I felt so much older than I am, having gone through all that I have in my life, but I imagined this super young girl that had no strings in her life and was just donating eggs for extra money. My imagination was all that I had, and all that E & S had besides her medical history. What made her decide to do something this big? How could she not wonder about all the babies she had helped create? 

For me, I could never be an egg donor, as I think I've mentioned before. It will be interesting enough to see how things pan out after the babies are born. I couldn't imagine having so many children running around out there that were MINE. Genetically, at least. 

The ER, my new home

On February 16th, I had my first of many trips to the ER for this pregnancy.

At around noon that day, I started feeling like someone was sitting on my chest and was having trouble taking deep breaths. Add that to the constant vomiting and I was a huge mess.

Because my insurance had switched to Kaiser, there were new rules I had to follow when it came to going to the ER or urgent care. I had to call first, and speak with the nurse advice line and be instructed to go to the ER or urgent care, based on what the situation was.

I think I called around 12:30, shortly after I realized the chest pressure wasn't going away. Of course, ALL of the nurses happened to be on lunch. "Really?" I thought. They couldn't stagger their lunches so that they were always available?

So the wonderful receptionist took a message for me of what was going on and said that a nurse would call me back. Awesome.

Literally, two hours later, I finally heard back. Apparently after lunch they have a daily meeting. How effective was that? Have everyone gone at the same time? Ridiculous!

I wasn't surprised when they sent me to the ER, but I was beyond frustrated at this point.

I got to the ER, checked in and was immediately seen. At least these people were efficient! My BP and my heart rate were elevated, and I had lost even more weight since the last time I was weighed. Down 7 pounds now.

They did an EKG and a chest x-ray to make sure it was nothing to do with my heart, and then hooked me up to an IV to get me rehydrated. All of the vomiting, what they referred to as "hyperemesis" or severe morning sickness during pregnancy, had severely dehydrated me.

After they confirmed that the EKG and x-ray were normal, they wanted to try and figure out how to stop the nausea and vomiting. I was already taking 3 Zofran a day, like clockwork, and it clearly wasn't working. They tried Pepcid to try and help with the chest pressure, thinking my esophagus was irritated from all the vomiting. The Pepcid almost immediately gave me blurred vision. I was texting my mom and sisters to let them know how things were going, since no one was able to come with me to the ER, and suddenly I could barely tell it was my phone in my hand. Apparently a common side effect of Pepcid. Not anything I'd ever want to take again!

After there was no change, aside from my vision, they tried Phenergan for the nausea. That didn't help either, and instead made me very restless. My legs would not sit still and I felt very anxious to get up and be active. And I STILL felt sick. This clearly wasn't working.

After being there over 5 hours, my sisters Katie and Sarah came up to sit with me while they figured out what was going on. Sarah, being a CNA, asked the nurse (really good looking one, might I add) if they wouldn't mind doing an ultrasound because up until this point of my visit they hadn't even bothered to check on the status of the babies. I was so out of it from all the medicine that I hadn't realized they were only concerned about me. Clearly it would be important to also make sure the babies were ok!

Per her request, they did an ultrasound and both babies were doing great. Baby "A" kicked baby "B" super hard while we were "watching" and it was literally the cutest thing ever. Already there was sibling rivalry and they had a LOT of time left to spend in there.

Once they confirmed the babies were okay, and that I wasn't experiencing any actual heart issues, they sent me home. I was to follow up with my OB in a couple days.

That night, my sisters and I went to Red Lobster and I was actually able to keep food down for once. Amazing! Apparently the combination of the IV fluids, Pepcid, Phenergan and the Zofran I was taking worked well enough to fight off the nausea for now. I took full advantage and ate like food was going out of style. Lots and lots of crab!

The weekend went by and I called to follow up with my dr that following Wednesday. A little more than a couple days later as instructed, but I finally had the energy to do something other than sleep and throw up. I still wasn't feeling any better and the night at Red Lobster was the only time I'd been able to keep food down, or water for that matter. I knew I was likely dehydrated, yet again.

When I called in, I was hoping just to schedule a follow up appointment but when asked why I ended up speaking with the advice nurse line again! They sent me straight to the ER. Go figure.

When I got to the ER, I was beyond frustrated that I wasn't seen right away. Shouldn't a pregnant woman take precedence over those who were likely there just to get pain meds and be sent home? I literally waited about 45 minutes before I was seen, but only because I finally put my foot down. I was getting worse just sitting in the waiting room and finally felt like I was going to pass out. They took me back to the triage room and checked my BP and it was 136/87. That finally got their attention!

I got hooked up to an IV, what would soon become a routine of mine, and then started to try more medicines to help with the nausea. I made sure to remind them that Pepcid and Phenergan were not good options!

After about 5 or so hours there, I was sent home again. This time with a prescription for a medicine called Reglan. It had seemed to work at the hospital, but they gave it to me with Benedryl and it basically just put me to sleep. We would see how well it worked once I was home!

I was pretty confident I'd be back in the ER soon, as I was there twice in a week in a half already. This pregnancy sure wasn't getting along with my body. And all I kept hearing from the dr's was that it was worse because it was twins. Thanks doc, real helpful!

Surrogacy in the media

I'm taking a break from MY story to cover the whole topic of surrogacy. Today (real time) there was an article in the Portland Tribune about International Surrogacy. In fact, it was the front cover story.

Portland Tribune - Surrogacy gives birth to industry

The article actually features John Chally, one of the co-founders of NWSC. It covers a lot of the laws around surrogacy in other countries, specifically France where NWSC gets most of their international clients (intended parents.) 

When I saw the article, I immediately thought, "Hey! This is about me!" How cool is it to be a part of something that is changing the world, literally. Not just because I'm going to be giving birth to two babies and helping a couple become parents, but I'm part of something much bigger than that.

Now, there are certainly a lot more things in the media than just today's article in the Tribune. In a sit-com called Suburgatory one of the main characters dates the woman who is a surrogate for one of his best friends. An odd situation, but it just shows that surrogacy is becoming more and more of a "normal" thing. Far from normal, but less uncommon.

Not to mention the hilarious movie, what I consider a "spoof" on the whole thing, Baby Mama starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler which covers surrogacy in a different light.

Even Addison from Private Practice considered the idea of surrogacy when she couldn't conceive herself.

Even with all of the publicity, with celebrities using surrogates for multiple different reasons (some of which I don't agree with), why is it criticized SO much? With the technology that we have, with how far science has come that this is even possible, wouldn't the whole thing be celebrated?

I suppose it is because much like with topic of gay marriage, "different" scares people. Either that, or they don't truly understand. I'm leaning toward the latter. Surrogacy is a very complicated matter, as my reader you have probably gathered that from my posts, but not enough people stop to ask the right questions. Probably for the fear of asking the "wrong" questions or that even with the answers they get, they still won't understand.

If adoption can be accepted, if the world can "accept" (although I wouldn't say that is the right word) an "Octomom" who used fertility drugs to have 8 children, how is it that surrogacy is so far fetched?

Questions to ponder for you, that I still ponder myself.

A new doctor and a "graduation"

February 3rd came around, and I was still on bed rest. Nothing new had come up as far as symptoms, but they wanted to be careful. I was throwing up just about everything I put in my mouth (except chocolate milk, most days) and I still felt very light headed and weak when I did much of anything.

I had my first appointment with my actual OB (who was actually brand new to me because of a switch in insurance) and I was nervous. I had called Kaiser, my new insurance, and told them I needed to schedule an appointment because I was pregnant. Didn't get into the details yet of the surrogacy, just needed to be seen. They just put me on whoever's schedule they could to get me in. Dr. Lewis was that person.

I was nervous when I got to the clinic, I'd never had Kaiser before and had heard mixed reviews from people in the past. I thought their whole institution felt like a cult, even when I was at the clinic. That place was HUGE and there was a section in the building for just about everything. It was like a hospital, basically, only seemed even bigger.

First impression of Dr. Lewis was fine, other than my whole life I'd only seen female OB's, and he was certainly not female. I think that was what I was most nervous about. They did a bedside ultrasound as they called it, on the tiniest little ultrasound machine I'd ever seen, and verified that there were still two heartbeats. I think Dr. Lewis was more excited to see the twins than I was, probably because I'd been seeing them a lot with all the ultrasounds at ORM. Not that I wasn't excited, he just acted like it was the coolest thing ever. (Should have been warning sign number one. Doesn't he see this more than I do????)

They did a pap test just to have one on Kaiser's medical record for me, and also ordered a "real" ultrasound for the next week. He said he'd also like to do a glucose screening while I was here next week (way earlier than I remembered being done with my first pregnancy) but he said it was important to check it early with twins. Fair enough.

He didn't make any determination of me being on bed rest still or not, as Carrie and Dr. Bankowski at ORM still had orders for that anyway. Back home I went.

On February 8th, I had my ultrasound at Kaiser but the tech didn't really get the best view of the twins because my bladder wasn't full. My sarcastic attitude wanted to say, well I can't keep ANYTHING down even water, what do you expect?? Instead I said, sorry and left it at that. From what I could see on the ultrasound, though, there wasn't a sign of any tear. Good news!

The next day, on the 9th I had my last and final appointment with ORM for a blood draw. I talked to Carrie about how I'd been feeling, MISERABLE, and how I'd actually lost 5 pounds to date. She wasn't pleased to hear that and said that with twins they want me to have gained 20 pounds by 20 weeks pregnant. I was 11 weeks at this point and down 5 pounds... and there was NO way I was going to gain 20 pounds PLUS make up the 5 I'd already lost in the next 9 weeks. And, being honest, as I usually am, that seemed PRETTY EXCESSIVE to me. If I gained 20 pounds by 20 weeks, likely I would gain about 60 for the whole pregnancy just because of the rapid weight gain near the end of pregnancy when the babies are growing the most. I kind of took what she said with a grain of salt. I had been trying everything I could to not be sick, but the Zofran they gave me just wasn't helping anymore. We would see where I was in 9 weeks and if it matched up to their "hopes" of weight gain. All I really wanted was to not be sick. That was my biggest hope.

I was officially graduated from ORM and would see my normal OB until the twins arrived. It seemed so weird that it was my last appointment, we had been through so much together and I loved the staff at ORM, even with the confusion at times, I would certainly miss them.