Telling and the 2T

Hope everyone had happy holidays, whatever kind you celebrate or don't celebrate.  This time of year can be filled with contradictions of happiness and sadness and I hope the happy outweighed the sad.

What do you know, I'm officially in the second trimester, by whatever measurement you use!  I'm 14w2d today.  Which is crazy.  I am amazed and SO beyond thrilled to be here.  I know when I've seen other IFers reach this point I've commented "WOW, how did that happen so quickly" but seriously it feels like it's taken for flippin' ever to get here.  I can't even remember actually going through IVF it seems so long ago.

I'm doing pretty well.  My ovaries finally seem to be calming down.  They were only 8 cm at my scan last week!  And, I'm having fewer times each day when I feel like I just have to lie down before the pressure from my uterus on my ovaries has me bending over in pain.  I count that as a win!  My nausea had gone away but seems to be coming back.  I start feeling sick around 3 pm and can't make it go away until I go to bed at night.  I'm not complaining, it's just odd that it went away but came back again!

I'm eating pretty much all the time.  That's a whole other post, but I'm supposed to gain 20 pounds by 20 weeks with the twins (because I'm aiming at 35 to 45 pounds overall and it is apparently best to gain early with multiples both in case they come early and because it will get harder to eat a lot later on).  I'm not entirely sure how much I've gained right now (because I had a big gain at the beginning with the OHSS), but I think I still need to gain 10-12 pounds in the next six weeks to hit the goal the doctor set.  Trying to do this in an at least somewhat healthy manner is easier said than done!  It'd be easy to eat 2700 calories a day if I could just eat cookies and french fries all day... Luckily the doctors aren't concerned about my vegetarianism with all of this and I've been good about getting enough protein and the right kind of protein.  My DH has been great about finding me food and reminding me to eat before I start to get starving.  The hunger just sets in so suddenly if I miss a large snack.  (Yes, you may all whack me over the head about this as it is ridiculous to be frustrated at having to eat TOO much.)

Speaking of food -- have you tried Noosa yogurt?  Nectar of the gods, I'm telling you.  Expensive and full of fat.  But outstanding.  I'm loving it and loving having the excuse to eat it.

My parents' visit was great.  My mother took me maternity clothes shopping on Tuesday.  It's funny because I've been so conscientious about hiding the bump that I hadn't realized just how pregnant I look when I put on something form fitting.  It's kind of crazy.  My mother was overwhelmed and having a ball.  Every time I put the "fake belly" on to see how something would fit later on she'd just go "OH!!!!!!"  She bought the babies their first gift -- a stuffed bear.  It was really a great bonding experience.  We talked a lot about IVF and infertility and she told me about some of what she'd been fielding over the past three years from all of our relatives, etc.  Very grateful to have her deal with the "well, maybe they're just trying too hard" and "if they just stop working so hard it will work" so that I didn't have to.

We also went to see The Muppets!  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  Couldn't stop crying from nostalgic happiness.

We also baked some of my favorite Sephardic goodies which made me really happy.  We talked about my grandmother because we could both picture making everything with her and it was nice.  And, now I've got some yummy snacks.  They're heading out today which is a good thing because I really need to get back to work.  (Um, you know, after I finish blogging.)

As for the telling.  We've told family and my mother has told extended family.  The best responses so far:

My father-in-law:  My DH handed him a card with the twins' ultrasounds that said "congratulations, your grandparenting duties are about to double!"  He looked at it for a second but kept talking to my BIL.  Then glanced at it again, then kept talking.  The rest of us are all staring at him waiting for a response. Finally, someone said, "read the card."  He read it and looked at me with a gleam in his eye and said "Twins?"  Later he told me, "well, the twins could be from [wave of hand referring to fertility treatments] this, or it could be because I have brothers who are twins and cousins who are twins."  Um, yeah, it could be or it could be because they transferred two embryos directly into my uterus.  You know, whichever.

My stepmother-in-law:  My FIL handed her the card and said "B, look at this."  She read it.  Looked at my SIL and screamed "R!!!!  Twins?!!  Really?" And then ran over to hug her.  Um.   My SIL started backing away and said "NO!!"   Yeah.  Then, finally B figures it out and comes over to me and gives me a huge hug. 

The entire extended family on my mother's side:  My mother says "Rebecca's pregnant.  With twins!"  They say "No, you're joking."  See, after my cousin had triplets, they all seem to think that my mother is just kidding that I'm having twins to try to equal them.  Of course, then we'd have said we were having quads...  That would have been "funny." 

But, the number one response has to be my cousin.  The one whose brother just had triplets by IUI after 3 years of IF and two losses.  (The babies are doing great, by the way.  Still tiny but all looks good.)  My mother had just finished telling her all about the pregnancy and IVF and what we'd been through to get here.  She showed her the day 5 blastocyst pictures and all the ultrasounds and my cousin ooh'd and aah'd over it all and was incredibly excited.  Then, they went into the kitchen together and my cousin says "See, all they had to do was let go and let G-d."  My mother couldn't even respond she was so shocked.

Uh.  Really?  Let go and let G-d?  Or, you know, "pay lots of money, take lots of drugs, have a surgery or two, have eggs forcibly removed from your body, have sperm directly injected into your eggs, have embryos carefully selected and transferred back, have another one put into suspended animation, wait, stress, take more drugs, bleed, worry, bend over in pain..." 

More like "Let go and let science." 


I think there's a market for a maternity shirt in that.