Weekly Check-in, MLK edition

[FastHands]

How's it goin ladies??

[FastHands]

OK I'LL START! lol

My due date got shifted after my appointment, so I feel like I got left-back a grade or something. lol. I'm 6w4d instead of 7w1d. Whomp whomp.

I feel pretty good overall. I stayed out too late on Friday, though. I felt fine while we were out, but I woke up with a (really unfair when I wasn't drinking) hangover headache, and I swear I haven't fully recovered. So sleepy. Nausea's worse, but I'll live.

I ordered Baby Bargains, and I'm excited to get started researching what I need. My mom is already in full baby shower planning mode, which is sweet / crazy / overwhelming. lol

[Deleted]

Also sign up for Lucie's List. I have already read most of BB.

I go to the RE for the last time on Thursday. I am 8w tomorrow.

Nausea would not quit this morning, but I am waiting for a friend for dinner that has interesting food like quail and rabbit and venison and duck. Let's see how it stays down, lol.

[FastHands]

Jan 20, 2014 18:31:35 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

Also sign up for Lucie's List. I have already read most of BB.

I go to the RE for the last time on Thursday. I am 8w tomorrow.

Nausea would not quit this morning, but I am waiting for a friend for dinner that has interesting food like quail and rabbit and venison and duck. Let's see how it stays down, lol.

:?
I am such a picky eater that I don't think I could handle that under normal conditions!

[andthentherewere10]

24.5 wks. Toured daycares today. That's all for me!

[kershnic]

Baby Bargains was a fun read. I read it close to cover to cover on our babymoon at about 16w or so. Very informative!

I was rear ended on my drive home from work on Friday night. Out of caution we went to L&D triage, and I ended up getting admitted overnight. I wasn't feeling anything but the monitor showed I was having contractions. It was kind of a miserable night. Then I had some mucousy discharge tonight that caused me to call the OB emergency line, but she agreed it was likely from being manually checked on Friday and not a big deal. So fingers crossed on that... It's scary to start to realize that I'm 29w with twins and although this is still crazy early, it's time to start thinking about the end... I'm terrified of a long NICU stay so I'm hoping so hard I can stay pregnant at least for another 6+ weeks.

At the hospital they did an FFN test that showed I had less than 1% chance of going into preterm labor within the next 2 weeks, so that helps. And I got the news that I passed my 3hr GD test! That's a relief for sure.

We still need to buy a car and pick a daycare. Our (very small) shower is next weekend. We made an appointment to attempt to switch doctors (and by extension hospitals). The cribs need to be put together next weekend. I seriously still need those 6+ weeks....

[jewel]

7w3d. I'll be 8 weeks this Friday, and have my last RE and first OB appointments that day. I will be really sad to leave all of the staff at the RE's office, but I really want to just be a "normal" pregnant lady and am hoping that everything is as uneventful as possible from here on out. I'm also looking forward to stopping my IVF meds some day (probably have another month to go still).

[FastHands]

Holy cow kershnic!! What a crazy week for you!! Glad everything is ok and you can still eat carbs.

[ecinereb]

Congrats @mrsspunky and jewel Hope your appointments go well. I remember being scared and excited about moving on from the RE.

I'm 22w5d. I feel like things are going to get uncomfortable pretty quickly here. I work with little kids and now that I've really popped, sitting on the floor is not so much fun. Can't wait for v-day in just a little over a week and then I think we need to really get on getting some stuff ready around here.

[speyedr]

Congrats kershnic on the 3hr pass and yikes at the overnight L&D stay! Keep those baby girls cooking!

I passed my 1 hour glucose test last week, yay! So relived to not have to do the three hour.

I have my shower this saturday and am so excited! My parents (my stepmom is hosting) paid to fly my best friend into town who otherwise couldn't have made it. It's mostly going to be family and really close family friends. I am hoping so hard for no snow as my drive is basically from one side of the Rockies to the other, about a 4 hour drive to my parents.

Did all my pre-admission paperwork for the hospital a few days ago as well. This is all starting to seem so real and I can't believe how quickly time is passing. 29weeks on wednesday!

[kershnic]

Thanks speyedr! Yay for passing your 1hr too! Funny that our showers are on the same day. I hope your drive goes well - dealing with that in the middle of January sounds a little scary.

[kershnic]

Jan 20, 2014 16:36:49 GMT -5 FastHands said:

OK I'LL START! lol

My due date got shifted after my appointment, so I feel like I got left-back a grade or something. lol. I'm 6w4d instead of 7w1d. Whomp whomp.

Not that 3 days is a big deal, but were you not charting and/or doing fertility treatment?  

It always drives me nuts that my OB and MFM have the wrong due date on my files.  It's only 2 days off so it's not worth fighting, but I think it's based on my RE counting wrong by accident.  I'm just like, I did IVF, there is really no debate about when conception occurred.  

[jewel]

Jan 20, 2014 23:55:33 GMT -5 kershnic said:

Jan 20, 2014 16:36:49 GMT -5 FastHands said:

OK I'LL START! lol

My due date got shifted after my appointment, so I feel like I got left-back a grade or something. lol. I'm 6w4d instead of 7w1d. Whomp whomp.

Not that 3 days is a big deal, but were you not charting and/or doing fertility treatment?  

It always drives me nuts that my OB and MFM have the wrong due date on my files.  It's only 2 days off so it's not worth fighting, but I think it's based on my RE counting wrong by accident.  I'm just like, I did IVF, there is really no debate about when conception occurred.  

LOL, it drives me crazy too! I made my first appointment with the OB, and the nurse on the phone asked me when my last period started. I explained that we did IVF, so the date of my last period isn't accurate, but I know the date of conception. We went back and forth like this 3 or 4 times, until I finally just counted back 2 weeks from retrieval and told her that was the date of my last period. She was satisfied, and told me how far along I was. Ha, ok, thanks for that.

[FastHands]

Jan 20, 2014 23:55:33 GMT -5 kershnic said:

Jan 20, 2014 16:36:49 GMT -5 FastHands said:

OK I'LL START! lol

My due date got shifted after my appointment, so I feel like I got left-back a grade or something. lol. I'm 6w4d instead of 7w1d. Whomp whomp.

Not that 3 days is a big deal, but were you not charting and/or doing fertility treatment?  

It always drives me nuts that my OB and MFM have the wrong due date on my files.  It's only 2 days off so it's not worth fighting, but I think it's based on my RE counting wrong by accident.  I'm just like, I did IVF, there is really no debate about when conception occurred.  

I was clomid and opks, so there's a little wiggle. Plus the date she gave me is based on u/s, not lmp. I'm sure it'll shift as time goes on.

[kershnic]

Jan 21, 2014 0:10:29 GMT -5 jewel said:

Jan 20, 2014 23:55:33 GMT -5 kershnic said:

Not that 3 days is a big deal, but were you not charting and/or doing fertility treatment?  

It always drives me nuts that my OB and MFM have the wrong due date on my files.  It's only 2 days off so it's not worth fighting, but I think it's based on my RE counting wrong by accident.  I'm just like, I did IVF, there is really no debate about when conception occurred.  

LOL, it drives me crazy too! I made my first appointment with the OB, and the nurse on the phone asked me when my last period started. I explained that we did IVF, so the date of my last period isn't accurate, but I know the date of conception. We went back and forth like this 3 or 4 times, until I finally just counted back 2 weeks from retrieval and told her that was the date of my last period. She was satisfied, and told me how far along I was. Ha, ok, thanks for that.

Exactly! You were smart to do that. Oddly enough my retrieval was actually on CD 14 so even that counting would be accurate!

[Deleted]

Jan 20, 2014 18:38:48 GMT -5 FastHands said:

Jan 20, 2014 18:31:35 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

Also sign up for Lucie's List. I have already read most of BB.

I go to the RE for the last time on Thursday. I am 8w tomorrow.

Nausea would not quit this morning, but I am waiting for a friend for dinner that has interesting food like quail and rabbit and venison and duck. Let's see how it stays down, lol.

:?
I am such a picky eater that I don't think I could handle that under normal conditions!

Haha, it was so good!

I had sauteed duck hearts and rabbit loin. YUM!

[FastHands]

Jan 21, 2014 8:43:21 GMT -5 @mrsspunky said:

Jan 20, 2014 18:38:48 GMT -5 FastHands said:

:?
I am such a picky eater that I don't think I could handle that under normal conditions!

Haha, it was so good!

I had sauteed duck hearts and rabbit loin. YUM!

Omg I am so glad I don't have fancy friends.

[picksthemusic]

9w5d here. We were bored at work on Friday afternoon, so we went and played with out in-office ultrasound machine and I saw my peanut. There was an obvious heartbeat, so that was awesome.

My NT scan is next week, and OMG I can't wait to see my baby again. I'm feeling much better about this than I was a couple weeks ago. Still unsure, but hopefully all my fears will go away once we see the peanut again next week.

Glad everyone else is doing well!

[mae141]

Jan 21, 2014 0:10:29 GMT -5 jewel said:

Jan 20, 2014 23:55:33 GMT -5 kershnic said:

Not that 3 days is a big deal, but were you not charting and/or doing fertility treatment?  

It always drives me nuts that my OB and MFM have the wrong due date on my files.  It's only 2 days off so it's not worth fighting, but I think it's based on my RE counting wrong by accident.  I'm just like, I did IVF, there is really no debate about when conception occurred.  

LOL, it drives me crazy too! I made my first appointment with the OB, and the nurse on the phone asked me when my last period started. I explained that we did IVF, so the date of my last period isn't accurate, but I know the date of conception. We went back and forth like this 3 or 4 times, until I finally just counted back 2 weeks from retrieval and told her that was the date of my last period. She was satisfied, and told me how far along I was. Ha, ok, thanks for that.

My "official" due date was a day early and my OB would not change it. She went by the first ultrasound where the blob was measuring a day ahead. Baby arrived on her real due date, exactly 38 weeks from the retrieval. She knew when she was really due! 

[anna7602]

Duck and rabbit are good, hearty peasant food to me, not "fancy," but still yummy.

Anyway, I'll be 13 weeks tomorrow. I got all my maternity clothes back this weekend from the friend to whom I had loaned them and I finally found the "missing" box of maternity clothes that I was sure I had hung on to when I loaned out my clothes. Turns out I took them to France with me in the hopes of getting pregnant there, shipped them back here after being unsuccessful on that front and then angrily shoved the box way at the very top of a closet when we returned from France without a baby in tow. Angry me really thinks ahead...

I'm finally coming out of my queasy exhaustion. So yay for clothes and yay for feeling normal.

kershnic I am glad you are okay. Keep cookin', babies!

[dana2006]

Doing great! I had my NT scan last week and the measurement was a bit high (3.1 mm). So I had a blood draw for a Harmony test right there too. The doc was pushing cvs and amnio hard on me, and was verging on fear-mongering. I turned those down since it had always been my intention to take just the Harmony test. It was cool to see during the ultrasound how much the baby had developed, but also a bit creepy b/c I could see the teeth and skeleton. Anyway they gave me an elevated result based on the first tri screen: 1 in 55 for trisomy 21 and 1 in 95 for trisomy 18 and 13. I was a bit anxious waiting for the harmony test result (99% accuracy, so a lot more reliable than the first tri screen), but kept telling myself that I need to enjoy this pregnancy in the meantime. Telling work that I'm pregnant (after a coworker straight out asked me, lol) and seeing everyone's wonderful reaction really helped in that regard. Work has also been insanely busy and helped distract my mind.

I just got a call that my harmony test came back negative for all three trisomies: the odds went down to 1 in 10,000. So I'm relieved.

[FastHands]

Yay, dana!! Glad your results were good! Is the Harmony test similar to the T21? I still know nothing about what testing options there are or what my preferences are..

[dana2006]

Jan 23, 2014 16:00:00 GMT -5 FastHands said:

Yay, dana!! Glad your results were good! Is the Harmony test similar to the T21? I still know nothing about what testing options there are or what my preferences are..

Thanks! Yes, Harmony is very similar to T21 from what I understand. There's also the Panorama test. They are developed by different labs, but are similar in that all test fetal dna in maternal blood for the 3 most common trisomies: 21, 18, and 13. I was not too keen on taking the first tri screen, given the high false positive rate, but could not figure out a way to go directly to the Harmony test. I called my insurance a couple of times and nobody I spoke to had even heard of these tests. In the end I just defaulted to the first tri screen, since it's covered and it's a chance to see the baby again. During the scan the tech was very chatty at first, then got really quiet. I didn't ask her questions, thinking that it might distract her. She finished up and hurriedly went to fetch the doctor to talk to me. That's when I knew something was not right. The doctor rattled off a litany of potential issues based on the NT measure alone, and was really pushing me to decide on the spot to schedule a cvs. I said absolutely not. She then pushed the amnio, saying it has a less risk of mc than cvs and in any event, my risk for DS is higher than that already, so why not take it?  Yeah, no sensitivity at all. Then she mentioned the Harmony test. I said, bingo, that's the one I've wanted from the beginning. So a nurse took two vials of blood and that was it.

In retrospect, a small part of me wished that I had skipped the first tri screen altogether. But then I wouldn't have gotten the Harmony test and would be wondering what ifs. If I could do it over again, I'd do a lot more research before the NT scan and ask a ton of questions. As it was, I had only the vaguest idea of it going in, and was too dumbstruck to ask any questions, like whether the tech saw the fetal nasal bone, how much weight the nt measurement and my age factor in the final result, etc. I googled for two days afterwards, and read all these stories about women given bad results but the baby was born perfect. That helped calm me down. I just wish the Harmony and other similar tests could replace the first tri screen so most of these women could be spared the agony. Maybe in a few years that'll be the case.

Holy crap that's long. I felt like I was holding my breath for the last 10 days, and just wanted to share my lesson learned .