Update 8/9/2017 Twins are 4 years 8 month

Hey everyone,

I didn't realize it has been so long since putting up a post.

The twins, Sebastian and Mila, are now nearing 5 years old and it has been quite the ride. We have a few frozen embryos still and I'm having a hard time trying to decide what to do with them. We can't have more children because it has been a struggle surviving this long! Hands are so full with them, working from home.

Mila is starting pre-k soon, I hope, and Sebastian just isn't ready. I am going to have assessments done on both of them and see what happens.

I hope all is well. Feel free to ask questions anytime.

twinmomrita78@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/ritalucero

Twins- Nearing 9 Months Old

We have relocated our family to Texas. The twins are almost 9 months old, Sebby has 4 teeth and Mila has 2. Seb also learned to clap and wave this week. Mila is scooting all over the place.  They are such happy babies and yes, a handful.



With my mommy makeover, I have slacked compared to what I am capable of, however, I am down 26 pounds. Primarily with eating right, staying active and drinking Shakeology.

More updates coming!

I am seeing a surgeon tomorrow for my cs scar complication. It has been an issue since March and I currently have a couple holes open. It's gross and needs resolved so I can move on already. I am told there is something in there... So, update to come.

Love. Peace. Prosperity.

Rita

Electric Carts, Wheel Chairs & Contractions... OH MY!

 

Well, I have embarked into the third trimester and the latest level of frustration.  Don't get me wrong- I am so proud to be carrying two tiny miracles but I have been so independent and active for years and staying in bed so much and staying inactive is hard.  Mostly mentally but also physically.  I easily pull muscles in my neck just due to sleeping or laying wrong.  I do see a chiropractor a few times a week but this far along, I am being lazy and going less.  I don't wanna get ready to go.  Ugh.  I am whining.  I know.

I am now 34 1/2 weeks along and the twins are doing great.  They are beautiful as ever.  It is amazing that a year ago we tripped into fertility treatments and went down the following road:

• trying to conceive 8, 9, 10 years
• attempting to adopt outside of using an expensive agency to only come out of it with horror stories
• being told we could not have children together due to my husband shooting blanks (azoospermia)
• finding out he had sperm after all, just needed a biopsy to get them out
• planning our IVF and succeeding after 1 vigorous round
• finding out we were expecting, not only expecting but having Boy/Girl Twins!

So, here we are.  Ready for our family to grow by 4 beautiful, cute, little feetsies!  We have gotten the nursery ready, had our unisex baby shower and had a few uneventful visits to the Labor & Delivery department at Methodist Women's Hospital.  We have decided to have the twins together in one room for the time being to help them feel most comfortable since they have been 'womb-mates' for their fist 9 months in-utero. 

I have been experiencing those fun Braxton Hicks contractions for a few months now.  They have gotten stronger this week.  Well, so strong on Monday night that they became consistent for the first time and I actually thought I was going in labor.  I had a perinatal and OB appointment earlier that day finding out that my cervix was soft, 38" so measuring 38 weeks for a singleton mama, no dilation, Sebastian way head down and Mila is booty down.  When I went to Labor and Delivery that evening I had contractions consistently for 2 hours (ended up being a total of 3 hours), going from 8 min 55 sec down to 5 min 56 seconds apart.  I get hooked up to the monitor and they were just done.  Ugh. Seriously.  Am I losing my mind.  So, I have come to the conclusion they are just more of the Braxton Hicks contractions beings they stopped and were pain free- just very hard and tight.  It was just frustrating.  I thought I might actually have a little excitement but ended up feeling a little silly.  The pain between my legs is insanely painful at times - my pelvis.  Sometimes I cannot walk much till there is a little change in the babies position or a little time passes.  I have graduated into the situation of riding in wheel chairs (thanks for pushing me around Hobby Lobby, Mom!) and electric carts at grocery stores.

(scar from open DS weight loss surgery)

So, here I am two days later chilling out in bed with Kanye West filling my bedroom with tunes and Young & the Restless playing quietly in the background.  My two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels watching my every move.  Yep, this is my life right now.  I am so fortunate to be home and carrying two precious miracles that I truly never believed I would ever be lucky enough to carry myself.  I already love my babies so much that I am a little impatient to meet them.

So that leads us to our birth plan.  On November 27th, 2012 at 1:30pm we will go ahead and do a quick amniocentesis (wish me luck) to see if the lungs are mature enough to do a cesarean section the next day at noon.  Yep, we are on the books ladies and gentlemen. I am told that we will only do one poke and in Sebastian's sac to see if he is ready since boys lungs normally mature slower.  I am excited yet scared.  I have made the decision with my perinatal specialist to do a c-section.  Not only because I am a high risk mama with these twins but also because of my previous surgery- Duodenal Switch weight loss surgery done 9/4/09.  We don't know if there is extensive scar tissue or bowels adhered to my scars so... Dr. Robertson will take his time as he is the one assisting my ob Dr. Berryman.

Our back up plan if their lungs are not ready at week 36 will be to do a cs the week of 12-10-12.  We originally had 12-12-12 scheduled but since we are gonna attempt week 36 with the amniocentesis, the surgery scheduler had to remove my 2nd date since it's 'illegal' in the office to be scheduled twice.  BOO!  I really would love the date of 12-12-12- it's just sweet.  LOL- don't judge :)

Now, these plans only will take place if I do not go into labor on my own.  Which I really may not.  It sure doesn't seem as if I will ever really know what a real contraction pain is- which is probably a great thing.  Pregnancy is just crazy.  It has been hard as a heck for me, however, it's not uncommon to find me rubbing my belly (massaging a baby one at a time) while smiling.  The sensations of each baby are so unique with their movements.  Mila is very gentile and docile.  Sometimes hardly moving or just lightly tickling me with her toes.  Where Sebastian (baby a) is my little break dancer, lol.  He lets me rub his knees and feet as he slowly slides them across the palm of my hand.  He moves a ton and he is very strong.  He is certainly a mover and a shaker.  When on monitor at the dr and l&d, we often have to turn down his monitor cause his movement makes so much loud noise as if he is saying "look at me, look at me!"  It's really cute.  (smiling mommy right here).  Every time that I try to video record what I call an alien movement, they stop.  Oh well, I have locked the memories in my brain.

Now, back to waiting for the calendar to progress forward.

We have the Christmas trees up and ready for them and their first Christmas! :)

Little This & a Little of That (a recap & more)

I find it amazing that I have embarked on the third trimester.  It's been a crazy journey this year.  From traveling to 18 cities in 2 months for work holding back our IVF process to injections, severe all day morning sickness, at home health coming to give me an IV, a lot of time in bed and several appointments-- I now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am 27 1/2 weeks along with di/di boy girl twins and proud as any mama can be.  We are both so proud.  Nathan and I wanted children since getting together over ten years ago.  Last October 2011 we started the fertility journey after nightmares in the adoption process were reoccurring.  The last being a local girl pretending to be pregnant with another girls child that she would adopt to us.  We had it.  No more.  Last October we were told that Nathan had no sperm.  We were told that we could not have children together.  THEN we went to Dr. Maud Doherty and our lives changed.

Nathan did a testes biopsy and we found out within 15 minutes that there was hope and swimmers! Yay! Best news ever!  Insurance doesn't cover donor sperm. Boo!  But we no longer had to take that route.  So... our journey began and here we are now.  Just a few short months away from delivering our beautiful twins: Sebastian Marcus and Mila Lorren (me-la lor-ren).  We couldn't be happier.

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

Transfer: Such a Beautiful Experience

Time for the Transfer 

April 5, 2012 Thursday

So, we received calls each morning letting us know how great our beautiful embryos are doing.  As previously  mentioned, we retrieved 11 eggs and 10 fertilized on their own.  We remained at ten beautiful healthy embryos.  Dr. Doherty called us the morning of the procedure to do the transfer to uterus.  She said the embryos were just beautiful and did we went to transfer one or two.  We decided we wanted two.  

Just before our 9am arrival at the Methodist Women's Hospital (Reproductive Health Specialties) I was prescribed Valium for the procedure so I took one.  I was told to have a large breakfast and a very full bladder.  At the office I did my normal blood draw and my husband and I were walked over to the hospital where we given our stylish gowns to put on.  We couldn't help but giggle when getting eye contact with each other since we thought he looked a little silly.

We were brought into the same IVF room that I was in on Monday for the retrieval.  They wheel you on a cart/bed to the outside of the doors, they open, you walk in and present your name and birth date to the man behind the glass door which reminded me of the fine Oz from Wizard of Oz.  Well, he happened to be a little late this morning so it was comical to hear him get scolded for not answering his phone or answering the glass doors right away.  It lightened the mood for sure.  

Dr. Doherty and her wonderful staff helped me up on the infamous stir up table as my name band was verified and the room then darkened.  I could see the ultrasound machine to my right and my DH sat in a chair just at my left shoulder.  Dr. Doherty mentioned how we will be able to see the embryos on that screen before they are transferred.  That is when Nate pointed out to me the larger screen to his upper left side.  It gave off a coral color light in the dimmed room as we waited to be able to 'see something'.  Then a moment later I see the petri dish and my name and info on it before they take the labeled top off revealing the treasure.  There are what appear to be translucent globs in a liquid a few spots- nothing that would appear familiar to me.  Then they point out that two black spots were the embryos.  We observed as they sucked them into the catheter that would be the portal of transportation to my uterus. :) Ahh.  This is so moving.  I feel tears go down the sides of my face and directly in my ears.  Yup- wet ears.  LOL But I didn't care.  I was moved.

*we have 10 embryos, transferred 2 and froze 8

After the catheter did its part it was flushed back into the petri dish to confirm the embryos were not stuck in it. "All Clear." I hear.  I wipe my tears.

I was on bed rest for 24 hours meaning NO sitting up at all. Eat laying down- no jokes. It's boring but you gotta do it! :)

So- we have five days before I do my beta pregnancy test to see if our little embryos have attached.

If one attaches, we would have a singleton given a healthy pregnancy.  If either split, that creates identical twins and if both do not split but both do implant/attach then they would be fraternal twins- etc.  We would be due just before Christmas with a singleton.

We have 10 healthy embryos- we implanted 1 and 2 shown previously in this blog. The other 8 are being frozen.

Right now I am still doing PIO (Progesterone in Oil) injections in my upper buttocks and it sucks.  Let's not play.  It doesn't hurt to do it but the after effect gives me headaches and bruises for days.  Not so sure the first one has gone away yet.  I need the progesterone for a healthy environment for the embryo to attach and imbed into.  The oil is so thick that Nate has to push the plunger down after I put the needle in.  I am switching sides but that makes little difference after this long.  All4Baby... All4Baby

From Menopur Through Retrieval

We are working the calendar. I can't believe how this is moving along.  Tomorrow is our transfer already. Yep, let me fill you in on what has happened over the last week.

-

I realized that I was in need of about 26 more vials of Menopur and Aetna was causing hoops by not honoring refills and they did not send me what I needed- they sent 40 instead of 60.  Luckily, I was helped by Dr. Doherty's office and my medicine was rushed for $2,500 ding on my insurance and $50 copay for myself.

I also did Ganirelix one evening after going to an ultrasound appointment to find out the size of the follicles. We were looking at six on the right side and seven on the left. They were 11-12 in size and needed to be near 18.  The Ganirelix caused a injection site reaction and was not much more than just annoying.

Ganirelix: Injection Site Reaction

Friday, March 31, 2012: Trigger Shot HCG

This shot is the most time sensitive and the most important. I had to do it at 10pm.

Monday, April 2nd 2012: Retrieval

Nathan and I had Nate's dad bring us to our appointment. Due to Nate's lack of vas deferens he must do a testicular biopsy to extract sperm.  Today was the day to retrieve eggs with me put under and Nate in an outpatient procedure doing a testes biopsy for sperm.  This would be the first time his sperm and my eggs would meet.  They have been probably screaming that they couldn't get out all these years!  Retrieval went well for both of us.

We ended up 11 eggs retrieved.  I would receive a call each day on the quantity, quality and status of the eggs.  Day 1: 10 out of 11 fertilized on their own and were considered grade a by day 2

I have been doing the Progesterone in Oil shots and those are NOT fun. I can handle injecting the needle but its had to twist around like I want to.  The oil is so thick that I have to have Nate now push in the plunger.  It hurts the next day and then for a few days after. Ugh. I just researched that some sit the vial in warm water a little while before injecting so I am going to try that today. Yup. Anything to ease the bruising feeling I get with each PIO shot that I have to repeat through the pregnancy test around April 16th.

So, here we are the night before transfer.  Dr. Doherty is calling us early to discuss how many to transfer. I think it will be two like we discussed when we started this journey back in October.

Here we go!

4 to 6

Menopur Injections:

I have been doing Menopur injections since last Thursday.  I went in for blood work and an ultrasound on Sunday morning and my eggs are being produced as needed, however, my  lining isn't thick enough.  We moved from 4 vials of Menopur per day to 6. When I prepare the syringe, I am using 1cc of sodium chloride (dilutent in liquid form) to all powders, six vials worth.

My next appointment for blood work and ultrasound is Wednesday morning.  At that point we will then probably more to the next injection.  Our retrieval is only about a week away.  For the retrieval, Nate will get a nerve block to get his testicular biopsy done while I will be put under and fully sedated.

Use a Jabbing Motion to Inject Intramuscular?! What?!

I'm figitng. I am nervous and my stomach is upside down.  Only a few short days until the shots start. Lots of shots.  I have never been scared of needles and shots but this many and not done by a medical professional makes me queezy all of a sudden.  I have shots that need to be taken both Intramuscular and also Sub Q.  With the sub q injections, I can use my upper thighs or I can pinch my belly to use that area.  In the upper buttocks/hip area, I am pretty sure the intramuscular and stabbing action needed is what frightens me there. :)  I'll be fine but it makes me nervous.  I am hoping Nate will be good at helping with the injections.  The timing is important though so I am sure there will come times when I need to do them.

We have delayed our IVF from January to now (March 2012) because of my extensive travel schedule.  For work I have had the opportunity to travel to more than 15 cities in the US and Canada in less than eight weeks.  I did get some great experiences in before starting this actual process.  With Nathan's azoospermia, we have no choice other than medical intervention for us to conceive or at least have a chance at it.  As a reminder, Nathan carries the CF (cystic fibrosis) gene and was born without vas deferens which are the vessel for sperm to be carried out of the body.  After having a testicular biopsy, we found sperm and here we are now on a calendar. An actual cycle that we have planned for months.  I feel fluttering of nerves as I blog.  Excitement and possibility just pump me up.

So, over the last five weeks I have taken birth control pills to start regulating my body.  I took the last dose yesterday the 18th of March, 2012.  On this Wednesday morning at 7:30 is my sounding.  This is where the cervix is measured and the shape is noted.  I will then be given the ok to start injections which we believe will be the next day, March 22nd.  The injections will consist of the following medications, however, some of this is cloudy to me and I have a lot of questions on Wednesday so bare with me while I learn this myself :)

With these injections we want to produce several eggs in one cycle.  Menopur which stimulates the development of follicles.  There is also Ganirelix which suppresses hormone production, prevents ovulation and allows improved stimulation of ovarian follicular development.  Chorionic Gonad prepares the oocytes for the final maturation process which takes 36 hours for eggs to be released after injection.  The last of the items I will be using is Clomid- I am not positive as this is one of my questions for Wednesdays appointment and Progesterone which prepares the uterus for attachment of on the lining.



Nathan and I will have retrieval on the same day and I will be sedated but Nate will not be.  He will receive a block again as when they did the initial testicular biopsy.  When the follicles have matured, I will do the HCG injection and 34-36 hrs later I will have my eggs removed from my ovaries with a needle and ultrasound probe guiding it.  The retrievals will be either April 1st or 2nd with us resting the remainder of the day.  At that time there will be an Embryologist that mixes eggs and sperm for fertilization.  2 or 3 days later will be the embryo transfer to my uterus.  At that time I am on bed rest with only bathroom privileges for 24 hours.  This is our now planned infertility journey.  We can just pray and hope that the embryo implants and the pregnancy sustains.

So here I am.  Preparing for this very important journey...