Happy Thursday Thirteen

Oh my gosh, it is Thursday. Well, you know what that means. I need to come up with thirteen something-or-other. Hmmmm.

Okay, I've got it.

Bear with me, this is going to be annoyingly upbeat. How about 13 Reasons Why I'm Happy?

1. Have you heard, I'm pregnant!?!
2. Not just that, but we're expecting TWINS!
3. I have the most amazing husband!
4. My family is wonderful!
5. I'm healthy! I can breathe, I can walk, I can see! The list goes on and on.
6. This country can be crazy but I am proud and grateful to live here.
7. I have so many fabulous friends in my life! It constantly amazes me.
8. For the above-referenced friends who I don't get to see or talk to as much as I'd like, I have things like email and facebook.
9. The future is bright! I can't predict what it holds, but I firmly believe it will be fantastic.
10. Every day I get to go home to a house that I love.
11. I have so much to look forward to...from dinner tonight to our September vacation to the birth of the snowbabies.
12.  My problems are not real problems.  Someone told me once that real problems are ones that are fatal or devastating - like cancer or hunger. The things that I "worry" about pale in comparison.
13. Finally, I am happy that I happy. To a great extent I believe you are in charge of your happiness, and I am thrilled that I have the ability to choose wisely.

Double Trouble! Double Fun!

Most of you have already heard the good news, which I simply could not keep to myself. We are expecting twins! Two for the price of one… double trouble… Yes, it is a double blessing and we are thrilled.

There are a lot of emotions right now. For the most part, we’re elated. But like with any pregnancy, there is a little bit of worry. Twin pregnancies are a little more risky for mom and babies. I guess we’ll cross whatever bridges we come to when we come to them.

To be totally honest, at this point, we’re just glad there aren’t three. With our high numbers (13dpt beta: 1064, 15dpt: 3,940; 18dpt 13,460) we were starting to think maybe one of the embryos had split and we were going to have triplets. That really freaked us out.

Fortunately, it is *just* (ahem) twins. I’m feeling great overall. I’ve had two short bouts of morning sickness, both of which lasted a total of about 3 minutes. Nausea, a little vomiting, recovery. Boom. All done. Not great, but really, pretty good when you think about it. Ever since Musselman weekend, I’m a little tired, but nothing too extreme. I can pretty much do everything I usually do. I just need to work out the sleep intermission issue.

The second sonogram will be one day next week. We’ll get to see another picture of the snowbabies! Here’s the shot we got today (forgive my lack of photo editing skills).

In case you can’t see anything, don’t worry. We couldn’t either. The big thing to notice about this photo is that there are two circles in the middle, which are two separate sacs (that means fraternal, versus identical twins). Inside each sac are embryos that are roughly the size of kidney beans. We got to see their little tiny hearts beating on the screen. Way cool!

Pregnancy & Exercise

I'm just back from a most excellent workout at the gym. Of course, my definition of excellent has changed significantly as of late. Today, in meant 30 minutes on the elliptical in zone zero (around 130 bpm) followed by super light weight lifting just to make me remember that there are muscles in there.

I am totally and utterly confused by all of the conflicting information about exercising during pregnancy. My most recent conundrum is the vastly different recommendations I have heard for maximum heart rate when you're expecting. SG said no higher than 150. A pregnant friend, who is in much better shape than I, said her OB told her not to get her heart rate above 140. What the heck? Doesn't one's fitness factor into these broad recommendations?

After weeks of frustration about this, it occurred to me that the  recommendations might have more to do with not elevating the baby's heart rate too high. That must be it.

I will keep reminding myself that I am now a "baby house" [thanks for that gem, Julie S.] and that my primary job is to take care of the life inside of me. So, if that means running 15:30 miles, as I did last night to keep my HR under 150 [ugh!] then that's what I'll do.

Feeling Great

I feel obligated to announce that today I am feeling great! I got a full night's sleep last night, and a nice elliptical workout yesterday. I've also gotten back to our usual routine that involves fresh fruit and vegetable juice every mornings, and lots of other healthy eating. I feel energetic and lively.

The Knight has promised to spoil me with lots of healthy and delicious food and beverages for the next 8 months. I asked him how that would be different, and he said he is going to step it up, big time. Do you see why I married him?

Zzzzzz

I have so much to blog about. I made a list during what we like to call my "sleep intermission" last night. Speaking of which, today I will write about sleep.

Sleep. Oh, sleep.

I have to think that at week 5 of my pregnancy, it is simply too early for my sleep patterns to be so messed up.  Perhaps this is just my body's way of training me for the inevitable sleep deprivation that will happen in 8 months. In any case, as someone who believes that sufficient sleep is the cornerstone of health, I am not too pleased with how things are going right now.

I realize that as the pregnancy progresses, sleep will become more and more - shall we say, challenging. But for heaven's sake, I am 5.5 weeks. This is nuts! Over the past week, most nights I find myself waking up (and staying awake) in the middle of the night. So frustrating.

I don't know what is going on. Saturday was pretty funny as I was so exhausted that I fell asleep while cheering for the sprint, then I slept through the entire pre-race talk, then I took a nap at the hotel. I was then out like a light by 8:15 (but then I was up from 1-3 am).

I love sleep. I believe in sleep. I am convinced that getting enough sleep is essential for maintaining one's health and it is a very high priority for me. Yes, I know this will soon change :). Here's hoping that I can get some good sleep between now and the due date. I know I'm really going to need it.

Sorry for the suspense

Greetings from Ithaca, New York. If you're keeping track, you know that Wednesday was the big day. The much anticipated pregnancy test.

I am thrilled to report that cycle 2 was a success and I am PREGNANT! I mean, really pregnant. Unlike last time, when my hCg level was 14, my first beta was over 1,000. Holy cow!

The plan to surprise my mom kind of backfired. I gave her a gift bag with some yarn (she had talked about knitting a baby blanket) and a book about being a grandma. She totally didn't get it. Looking back, it was kind of funny...but lets just say it wasn't the reaction I was hoping for. Since I kept the whole transfer thing a secret, it was more like stunned disbelief than overjoyed, but the joy and excitement came eventually.

When we called my sister, she cried and exclaimed this is the best thing to happen to her in her entire life. :) The future big brother and sister (the Knight's kids, my terrific step-kids) seemed genuinely happy to hear the news. My step-grandparents (my stepfathers parents) were really happy to hear about the baby on the way but they were very resistant to the whole idea of being great-grandparents. Funny, since they're 91 and 94. For that matter, my stepfather is having a hard time grasping that he will be a grandfather.

We are pretty excited! It feels so surreal... More later, I promise.

It's Thursday Again!

Here are my thirteen updates for today:

1. No news to report on the IVF front. The embryo transfer last Friday went well. The pregnancy test is scheduled for next Wednesday (7/13). Fingers crossed!
2. To be honest, I’ve had enough of the injections. I look and feel like a pin cushion. My backside is all bruised and my butt feels like I slipped on some ice or did a really tough glutes workout.
3. I’m also feeling the effects of the hormones – mostly just physically in the form of PMS symptoms.
4. I’m midway through the required post-transfer no exercise week. (Sorry, I don’t consider walking exercise.) I have been walking the hills of Lake Barcroft and really enjoying it.
5. The job situation is still the same. It is so incredibly frustrating. My office tried another approach to hiring me and hit a another brick wall.
6. I love holiday weeks! I love how Thursday feels like Wednesday, and Friday is here before we know it.
7. I am really in a good place mentally. I have so much to be happy about and I choose to focus on those things instead of the challenges.
8. More vacation news: I am super excited to report that less than a week after coming home from our fabulous transatlantic adventure, we have another trip to look forward to.
9. The Knight, the lovely stepdaughter, and I are headed back to Disney for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Hopefully I’ll be okay to run (slowly) at that time.
10. We, okay I, offered to pay for the lovely stepdaughter’s registration if she wanted to do her first half marathon at Disney. A week after we booked our trip she took us up on it. We were so excited to suck her into our madness – I mean, introduce her to the joys of running - that we couldn’t say no.
11. It will be a whirlwind weekend but it is going to be fabulous.
12. The race is called Wine & Dine because it coincides with the Epcot Food & Wine Festival. Can you think of anything more fantastic?
13. The only disadvantage – from my perspective – is that the race begins at 10 pm. As a morning person, I’m not thrilled about this but I’ll figure it out.

Thanks for reading!