Blueberries

"Baby's brain -- both hemispheres! -- is growing fast, generating about 100 new cells every minute. Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place. "

More bloodwork results from yesterday: Estradiol=2150 (so even though I dropped a patch, my E2 still increased!). I get to decrease 1 more patch beginning on Sunday (1-4-09). That'll leave me with 2 patches and 1 Estrace tablet. Maybe I'll be off estrogen entirely in 3 weeks? Hope so. Progesterone=38.47, which while is still great, they wouldn't decrease PIO. So, that leaves me with 1cc PIO every other day and Prometrium supps three times a day. Maybe next Tuesday's b/w will look better and I can decrease some Progesterone again. I can't wait to be DONE with PIO. What a PITA (I know, stupid joke).

Hope everyone has a swingin' New Year's Eve!

Hormone updates...

I didn't post these the other day as I didn't want to take away my big news, but we had other good news as well on Friday. My E2 came back pretty high at 2026. Big improvement from the last measurement (199). They let me decrease down 1 Vivelle patch. Therefore, on Saturday I only had to put on 3 patches-yippee! Also, my P4 came back pretty high as well at 55.7, so I was able to choose either to decrease PIO to every other day or take 1 Prometrium out of the mix. Umm...my butt could really use a break so that was an easy choice! I skipped my first dose on Saturday night. It felt so good! Both levels getting re-checked tomorrow morning, so hoping all has gone well with my decreases.

To answer a couple of your questions, up until just a few days ago, I really haven't had many symptoms other than extreme fatigue. Lately, I've had some lovely heartburn and indigestion issues to deal with along with an increased appetite. I can eat and then be hungry again in an hour. Hope that one is really short lived, otherwise I'm gonna gain a lot of weight.

A quick due date explanation: my singleton gestational due date is Aug. 16, 2009. My twin due date by average gestation is July 26, 2009. Hope that clears up any confusion.

"Here's looking at you, kids"

"Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow." My favorite line from The Wizard of Oz and I thought it was quite fitting for today. Steve and I are just thrilled! We can't believe that this really worked! Their heartbeats were both strong and both are measuring right on schedule. Twin A is measuring 6w4d and Twin B is measuring 6w6d. Yippee!! Our new twin due date will be July 26th.

I'll finish off with some more Wizard of Oz...as our favorite wizard (Dr. Schoolcraft) gets all of the credit...

"Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high,

There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.

Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue,

And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true."

Sweet Peas

"Growing like crazy, baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks and chin. Those little hands and feet- still webbed like paddles- might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as yours!), and blood is starting to circulate."

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Picture tag...

This was our engagement announcement pic. We went to a local arboretum to shoot some photos on a very hot July evening. I remember feeling so bad for poor Steve in a button down shirt on a 90 plus degree day. But, he looks good no matter what the temp outside. :-) This one was taken next to a pond, hence the cattails in the lower right-hand corner. Also, I told him to wear a nice blue dress shirt. He wore a shirt that's got his initials on the pocket-"SEW". So, every time I look at our engagement photos, I chuckle.

The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same. NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

Except, I'm not tagging any particular blogs this time. If you're interested in participating and follow my blog, consider yourself tagged!

P.S. In other bizarre pregnacy behavior, Steve encouraged me to POAS tonight just to be sure I was still pregnant. Being that I'm equally crazy and quite impatient waiting for this u/s to get here, I obliged. Good news, it turned up very dark immediately. Bad news, we are insane. Oh well, still pregnant.

Appleseeds

"Your embryo (looking kind of like a tadpole) is starting to form major organs (heart, kidney, liver, stomach) and systems (nervous, circulatory, digestive). Baby's presence in your uterus triggers production of hCG (the hormone detected by pregnancy tests)... which triggers production of other hormones like estrogen and progesterone... which trigger all those great symptoms you've probably been noticing!"

100th post!

Wow, there were a lot of times I didn't think this blog would make it to 100 posts, but we did it! I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for my supportive blogger friends, I would've let it go a long time ago. But, as I've said many times, you all are the best!

One thing I've been thinking a lot about for a while: changing the title of my blog. I really like it, but apparently so do other people! There is actually a message board with the same title! So, I'm mulling over some new title names. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! I may even put up a poll in a few days with some ideas.

The current poll is pretty much over: landslide opinion-72% of you think we are having twins. There is a tie for triplets and singletons at 12% (triplets were winning until my post below when I mentioned thinking we were only having one). Then the funny one was for the quads and only 6 (2%) of you selected that as your guess. Thanks for participating in the poll!

Counting the days down until next Friday's ultrasound. Steve and I need some patience, but we really have none. Hopefully, the holidays will make our wait fly by...

Estrogen and Progesterone updates

I had hormone bloodwork on Monday. Estrogen had dropped to 199. They want it to be > 300. So, I've added Estrace to my arsenal of meds. I have to take one pill at bedtime. And, I get to remain on my 4 patches of estrogen as well. I was hoping it would be >1000 so I could start weaning, but that doesn't look likely for a while now.

Progesterone looked good at 40.5 and they just want it to be >20. So, at least that was good news. It was 51 at my first beta, but my nurse said it wasn't unusual to have some hormone fluctuations. But, no med decreases, so I'm still on 1cc PIO and 3 Prometrium/day.

I'd be very surprised if we are having more than one baby. Between my lower E2 and P4 levels and the fact that I'm having almost no symptoms other than fatigue, it just seems like we are having one. We are very blessed regardless of the baby quantity in my uterus!