The Twins are 3 1/2 Months Old!

Whoa! Sure, I know, I know.. time flies.  I do love watching the twins learn new things and grow.  I don't miss them being tiny beebies for more reasons than them being so unbelievably tiny.  They are doing great and we sure enjoy each others time. :)

Right now they are just waking up from a little morning nap, laying next to me on our littered king size bed.  We always have our dogs on our bed so it seems much more like a twin sometimes.  I still find it hard to believe I have children let alone twins and boy girl twins.  I absolutely am aware of the blessings I have received from above.  Sigh.

The twins are now smiling a ton and carrying on baby conversations and just starting a little bit of giggling.  They go back to the doctor in a couple weeks so we will have them weighed at that time.  I am not sure what they weight right now.  But Sebastian no longer fits into newborn easily and Mila is no longer in preemie.  Ahh, milestones.

It has been much easier handling the twins sleeping and feeding schedules for the last month or so.  I am so thankful for a few things.  One being double swaddling where you use a blanket to secure their little arms primarily and then tuck them into a sleep sack.  This has helped Mila tremendously since her little arms cause so many problems with her when resting and eating.  The second thing is that the twins are now sleeping uninterrupted from about 11pm to 5 or 5:30am.  It sure helps a ton.

Nathan has discovered that babies make him tired.  He often starts falling asleep when holding and even feeding them.  True story.  With Nate's position demanding an unacceptable amount of hours, we are seeking something else to help our family out.  We want dad in our lives and not worn out, working and stressed.  Nate is seeking a life-work balance and we have our fingers crossed the change happens soon so we can move forward.

It's so amazing to be on this side of the table now.  We did our time battling infertility.  I went through a long twin pregnancy that was less than pleasant for me on many levels.  We have twins.  I can't believe it.  We love them so much and never thought it could happen.  We are 34 and 35 years old so starting late is better than never.  I was so close to never.

This picture is from when they were five weeks old and balding much like Mr Burns on the Simpsons.

Amniocentesis: Lung Maturity at 36 Weeks

36 weeks? Wow!  Tomorrow is our amniocentesis to check for lung maturity.  If it's positive the scheduled c-section will be the next day at 1:30.  I am very excited for tomorrow. More excited than scared. I did think they would test both the twins but my perinatal doc said we will choose just pick one sac to test.

If the dipstick test shows my protein level is a 1 or 2 they may just do an emergency cesarean section due to preeclampsia.  Up until now I have only had traces of protein spilling over along with several symptoms including high blood pressure, floaters, headaches, anxiety, etc.  My blood pressure is normally low since knocking off 145 pounds but the last few weeks it stiffly teeters on 140/90.

When arriving at my appointment tomorrow they will first be doing the urine test and an ultrasound to find the area where there is easy access to the amniotic sac of either twin.  If the dipstick test is acceptable then it is time to do the amniocentesis.  An amniocentesis is a fast procedure that scares many. Its when a hollow needle is used to drain a small amount of amniotic fluid from the mothers uterus.  The fluid is then tested for cells that can determine the maturity of the unborn child's lungs within an hour.  They will monitor me for about thirty minutes to ensure there are no complications such as water leaking from the amniotic sac or start going into labor.

I'm thinking that by 3/CST we will know if Wednesday, November 28th will be our twins birthday. :-)

Pregnant Or.... Not?

Since the retrieval and transfer, I have had various symptoms that have continued until now.  I should be nearly six weeks along and due at Christmas, however, our first ultrasound is Monday (our 7th wedding anniversary) so we will know more then.

My symptoms have included:  sudden extreme fatigue, sore and swelled breasts right away, urgency to urinate, craving really hot tomato juice, don't sleep well at night, loss of appetite earlier in day, cramps in low abdomen. I swear I feel the baby or babies changing my body which is super cool!  Ice cream upsets my stomach and so do sweet drinks like cappuccino.  My sense of smell is super human!

Have I ever mentioned that when I want to do something I am impatient? I wanted to know so bad if either of the 2 embryos we transferred had implanted. I put post-it notes up counting down the days until our first beta test.

It was so hard during the 2ww (2 week window) after the transfer.  It was too early to take home pregnancy tests (hpt) but I couldn't resist.  I was reading profusely soaking in all the information I could on the experience of others and the science behind hcg beta blood tests.  What is hcg?  That silly fad diet I am so not a fan of (no offense to anyone)?  Ahh, yes. HCG is a hormone found in pregnant women.  So.  I did a trigger shot of HCG on Friday the 31 of March and then within 36-72 hours the embryos were ready to be retrieved.  Then I did the 3dt (3 day transfer IVF procedure) as previously  mentioned.  Well, you need the hcg out of your body to get an accurate result on your hpt.  The first pregnancy test I took at home was one of those outdated interpret-the-line tests.  It was negative.  Well.  It was much too soon since.  However, what that test was possibly telling me is that the hcg from the trigger shot was out of my system.  I read and read and believed that it takes a maximum 10 days to be out of your system.  HCG is what pregnancy tests read to determine a pregnancy.  BFN.

I didn't take any hpt's that next day but did the following 4 days.  All POSITIVE.  BFP!!  Started testing positive 7dpt3dt.  My transfer was 4-5-12 and retrieval was 4/2/12.

My first beta test was 10dpt3dt and I was PREGNANT with a beta result (reading hcg levels) of 145. The next test needed to yield a 290 and we ended up with 375.  After doing research and speaking to my cousin (pregnant with twins), we learned that these numbers are within the twin range on the beta master list.  Could it be true? Could both of the beautiful embryos have implanted?  When Dr. Doherty was told of my high beta levels she had replied that they should be that high as they are the best embryos she has seen in years! WOW.  What a compliment! LOL

So, here we are and we should be nearly 6 weeks pregnant.  I am so excited for Monday's first ultrasound but scared at the same time.  I hope all goes well.  I am sure it will though!

The only sad news I have to mention is that we were only able to freeze 3 embryos- the other 5 didn't make it and that did make us sad.  We are attached to these embryos we have a picture of.  So, we really do want twins.  We are 100% unable to conceive on our own without the help of IVF due to male factor infertility.  We must retrieve his sperm to get it via testes biopsy.

Onward we move. Muah! -The Lucero's

Born WITH a vasectomy? Huh?!

Today, I want to explain exactly what we are going through with Nathan's medical condition that we were not aware of until the fertility testing began last month (November 2011).

It was a bright weekday and I was on my way to pick up some lunch.  My cell phone rang and that isn't that common.  I usually just get text messages anymore.  It was the RN calling with the results from Nathan's semen/sperm analysis.  She said we found the problem, Nathan has zero sperm.  None.  She was stern.  She said something about urology, infertility, a specialist.  I instantly started to think of so many different things, my eyes welled up and I pulled into the Home Depot parking lot.  I was so shocked and confused.  I knew nothing about the possibility of zero sperm.  What did this mean?  The information we were given was interpreted as quite negative.  I was devastated.  I asked a few questions and it did not sound promising.  Did I just hear that I would need a sperm donor?  Was this really happening?  The next few days were horrible.  We did get an appointment set up with two doctors: a Urologist and a fertility doctor whose name I kept hearing.  Nathan either has obstructive or non-obstructive azoospermia.  Azoospermia is the complete absence of sperm in the semen.  The volume was also lower than the norm.  Obstructive means he is producing sperm but it is being blocked somewhere.  Non-obstructive could mean something as serious as testicular failure where no sperm is even being produced.  Now, there are other medical conditions where there is little sperm or low mobility- we had none of this.  There was no sperm whatsoever in the first analysis.

After having our first visit with Dr. Maud Doherty at 192 & Dodge Street in Omaha, we felt so much better.  Whether we needed a donor or could 'find' sperm, there were choices.  She did explain what was needed to be done and in what order.  We needed to start with blood work.  Then possibly a biopsy of testes.  What?! Nate's mouth drops to the floor, he starts talking a lot- obvious sign of his anxiety.

Next, testing for retroactive ejaculation where sperm escapes into the bladder instead of with the semen and out of the body.  Nate went in and still- no sperm in his semen, low volume even after extended days and no sperm in his urine which was also analyzed.  We had completed the hormone tests for Nathan and his fructose levels were low, his testosterone was normal.  He appeared to be a healthy man at 34 years old.  This made Dr. Doherty believe that Nate had obstructive azoospermia.  So, it was time to find the exact cause.  This would be slightly scary for Nate at this point.

I brought Nate to the Methodist Women's Hospital that also helps men by having the wonderful urologist and booked up Dr. Morton.  Talk about the nicest and most helpful person in an uncomfortable situation.  Nathan was given a local anesthetic in an in office procedure to biopsy his right testes.  His left would remain untouched in the case of later sperm retrieval for IVF.  Nathan was given a 'block' so he wouldn't feel the biopsies.  (nathan gives me full permission for OUR fertility journey, he's so damn cute!) we hope this helps another couple out there.

Dr. Morton was able to tell by a physical evaluation that Nathan was born with Congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD). There was a needle like gun that made one click noise each draw, filling a very large test tube with pink like fluid.  Poor Nate.  He looked ok.  Eee.  I allowed him to decide if he wanted to attempt this and I am so thankful that he did because 15 minutes later we were told there was SPERM! Yay!  This would be IVF depending on my CF screening.  And again, we wait.   It was a rough few days for him as he healed and he was prescribed percocet / Oxycontin.

Nate recovering from testes biopsy

See the image below re: Vas Deferens

Nathan was basically born with a vasectomy.  In the case of a vasectomy the vas deferens are snipped and thus the sperm can not travel to the semen and out of the body.  Nathan was born completely without those vessels that transport the sperm out of the testicles where it is produced and to the semen.

Now, why was Nathan born this way?  We were about to find out but had more tests and more waiting to do.  Next, the CF gene test.  We were gonna screen him for the Cystic Fibrosis gene in many of its mutations.  He was positive.  This is why we were having this problem of infertility, obstructive azoospermia.  The CF gene that Nate carries isn't even the most common mutation per Dr. Doherty but that is what has caused this/ medical condition demanding medical intervention and assistance in having a child.  If I have the CF gene and Nathan has it we know, then we are at a 1 in 4 chance of having a child with the Cystic Fibrosis disease.  This is a tragic disease.  Dr. Doherty fully recommended we not use Nathan's sperm if the case is we both have the gene.

I called a couple times to see if my results were back on the CF screening.  It had been exactly a week.  I can't wait.  I need to know.  But, during a conference call- I got the call I was waiting for.  I tested negative for the CF gene.  We would proceed with the IVF (in vitro fertilization).  We have Aetna insurance and are allowed up to $30,000 in fertility treatments.  So... here we go.

That brings us to today's date:  12/19/2011