Letters to my Babies - Week 9

 

 

We are so thankful for this pregnancy! After sharing our journey through infertilty on the blog, I knew I wanted to log our newfound 40 week journey of pregnancy on the blog as well.Not knowing if I’ll ever be able to experience pregnancy again, I have chosen to log our pregnancy by writing occasional letters to our babies. The letters will keep my readers posted on how we are doing each week, but the letters will also, someday, be something that our little ones can go back and read over, as a reminder of how much he or she was loved from the very beginning of their existence. You can read week 5 here and week 7 here.

This letter is a few days late, but today is the first day since our last doctor’s appointment that  I’ve actually felt like sitting down and writing, or doing much of anything for that matter.  I had about four days in a row where pregnancy symptoms made me feel as if I had been wiped out with the flu.  Like most women, my first trimester has been spent feeling sick.  Some days are just worse than others, and then once in a while, I get a good day.  Today is a good day, and I’m thankful for that.

 

On Wednesday, we went in for our last appointment with our RE!  It was a little bitter-sweet to say goodbye to our fertility doctor and nurses who we have been working with since January.  They have requested pictures of you once you are born, which we gladly told them we would send.  Then we gave hugs, thanked them for all of their help with getting us pregnant, and left the office for the last time.  YAY!  It was another pregnancy milestone for us.  My doctor told me that it appeared the problem was simply getting me pregnant, because now that I am pregnant, things could not possibly be looking any better than what they are! He is beyond trilled with my progress and how well the two of you are doing, considering the fact that we were labeled a high-risk pregnancy from the very beginning.  It was such a relief to hear him say those words. From the very first time we saw those two pink lines on a HPT, things have gone smoothly for us and without any complications.  We couldn’t be happier about that!  We were told it would be a high-risk first trimester, and they have kept us under close care from the beginning.  Thankfully, every checkup has indicated a normal, healthy first trimester.  After experiencing such disappointment with our infertility, this whole pregnancy process has been more than we could have ever asked for!  Each checkup is just a reminder of how blessed we really are. 

 

One of the good things about being under such close care in my first trimester is that we have to have ultrasounds around 6, 9 and 12 weeks.  Most people don’t get to actually see their babies on a screen that often and as early as we have.  It has probably been the biggest perk of this whole process for me.  I think I may actually go through ultrasound withdrawals once we enter the second trimester, as I won’t get another ultrasound until we find out your genders.  It has been the neatest thing to see how much you are growing and developing this early in our pregnancy.  I knew that you were LIFE from conception, but if anyone has doubts that you are life even this early, I just point to my ultrasound pictures.  I point to your little hearts that were clearly beating at our six week ultrasound and to your little bodies that were clearly formed by our nine week ultrasound.   You were life from the very beginning, and don’t let anyone ever tell you differently.  You will be born into a world where the life of the unborn is not valued by many.  The earliest lesson I can teach you is that whether you were planned or unplanned…..it doesn’t really matter…..you are not just a nine week old fetus…..you are two precious LIVES growing inside of me.   



At nine weeks Baby B is blurry due to constant movement, while Baby A is calm and relaxed.

It was surreal to see the two of you in our first ultrasound.  That was, of course, the first time we were officially told we were having twins.  In our second ultrasound, it was crazy to see how much you have already grown.  I’m told you are the size of an olive at nine weeks.  Even at that size, your little heads, arms, legs, round bellies and umbilical cords were clearly seen in the ultrasound.   When you first appeared on the screen, the first words out of our doctor’s mouth were, “Wow they are really growing and getting big!” This might also explain why I am already starting to show so early in my pregnancy.   The nine week ultrasound may have also given us our first glimpse into your individual personalities.  Baby A was very still in all of our pictures and seemed to be calm, cool and relaxed.  In fact, Baby A had a perfect pose for the 3D ultrasound picture.  I’ll be curious to see if you stay this way, and if you do indeed have your father’s low-key personality.  Baby B, on the other hand, seemed less content.  You moved around the entire time they were probing me and trying to get some pictures.  You are blurry in every single one of your pictures, because you were moving so much! In your 3D ultrasound, you look like a gummy bear rather than a baby, due to your constant movement!  I’ll be curious to see if you were just active during the ultrasound, or if your personality is just busier than Baby A and a little less content.  If so, you take after your mother. 

 

Baby A 9 week 3D ultrasound

Baby B 9 week 3D ultrasound

After our ultrasound with the RE, we had to go to the hospital where we will be delivering you, to sit down with a nurse to go over paper work, basic pregnancy health with multiples and my basic first trimester blood work.  Rather than taking my over the counter vitamins, the nurse is making me switch to a prescription prenatal, folic acid and vitamin B6 in hopes of it all helping my nausea.   She also prescribed something to help with my pregnancy digestion issues, in hopes that I would be less bloated and have more of an appetite.  She believes much of my nausea is blood sugar related, since I was hypoglycemic prior to pregnancy.  With some of her tips for eating and the new prescriptions, I’m hanging on to hope that I feel a little better in the last few weeks of this trimester than I did in the first few weeks.

 

Less than three weeks until our first appointment with our OB and another ultrasound.  I’m anxiously waiting to see your growth and am excited to know that we are very close to finishing out the first trimester of this pregnancy.

 

Love,

Mommy