Catherine's New Best Friend

Meet Catherine's new best friend -

Why Hello There!

I think this was Catherine's favorite and most anticipated baby purchase.  Every time we went to the store, she'd sit and relax in the chair section until ours was finally delivered.  

It fully reclines, fully swivels and rocks.  

Oh yeah!

She's already slept a few hours in it and said it was rather comfortable.  The seat is also a little wider which we thought would be good since we'd be holding two babies. 

It was delivered to the store a few weeks ago and getting it in the house was a little bit of an adventure since Catherine couldn't help out!  Thankfully, one of her friends came over to help me carry it in the house.  It came in two pieces, the bottom and the back.  The back I was able to carry no problem, but the bottom has all the mechanics and was much more heavy!  

But once it was in the house putting the two pieces together was so simple and Catherine was ready to sit!  She loves it! 

Every now and then I get to sit in it, and I love it as well.  I especially love that it doesn't look like a traditional baby chair so we can use it for a longer time than just when they are babies.  We have it out in the living room now since we anticipate spending most of our times with the babies there.  

As I told Catherine's co-workers, if they can't find her, they just need to look in her chair!

Catherine's Pregnancy

I do have to say that Catherine has been very lucky throughout this pregnancy.  Her symptoms haven't been that bad!

Here's a little description, trimester by trimester of what she went through:

First Trimester

Extreme Emotionality:  Catherine is not an overly emotional person.  She loves her job.  She is fine spending time by herself while I'm at class or doing something.
All of this suddenly changed.  I can't even begin to tell you how many times she just sat on the couch and cried.  And cried...and cried some more! 
I would come home from class and she'd greet me with "I've been crying for the past half hour." 
"Why?" I'd ask.
"Because I saw a picture of you." (all jokes aside on that one).
I empathized with her, but at the same time I knew it was a combination of fully coming to terms with the fact that we were pregnant and the surge of hormones coursing through her body. 
Finally, because I was still in class and felt torn leaving her crying so I could make it to class (seriously), we started making alternative plans for nights I'd be away.  Catherine would invite friends over or plan on going out so she wouldn't have to be alone.  It worked when it needed to and as the weeks ticked by the emotionality started to taper off. 

Not Feeling Like Herself:  Another thing that Catherine was dealing with, again due to the hormones, she really didn't feel like herself anymore.  Suddenly she was dreading going to work and was getting overly stressed by some of the drama going on there.  She cried constantly for no reason.  When we would talk about it all she would keep saying was "this isn't me..." and cry some more.  I think due to the hormones she felt like she was losing parts of herself.  Her confidence and sense of comfort were suddenly gone.  Thankfully, this didn't last too long she's perfectly back to normal now!

Super Sniffer: Catherine's nose was working overtime!  She started complaining about intense smells, like being able to smell the flowers along a highway or the garbage in a parking lot.  There were days I had to take out our trash every day.  This was when we had to start amending the things we ate/cooked and things started to get to be unappealing for Catherine.  Conveniently, she also couldn't do the dishes or load/unload the dishwasher, so I don't think she was so upset by this symptom - it did get her out of some of the most undesirable chores!

Gagging:  Catherine never got morning sickness (or all day sickness in reality).  She did gag (especially because of the smells) but never had nausea.  I did some research on how to ensure she didn't get as sick and read that making sure your stomach is never empty is one of the best ways to avoid sickness.  We put snacks on her bedside table so she could grab something before getting up in the morning and I bought her whatever she wanted for snacks to keep at the office or in the car (some of her go-to's in the early days were gummie snacks, apple sauce, granola bars and almonds).

Every little but helps.  By the way, that's supposed to be my head.

Going to the Bathroom...CONSTANTLY:  I really didn't think that this would start in the first trimester, I thought this was a third trimester issue when the baby/ies would be applying pressure to the bladder.  Unfortunately, that's not the case and since Catherine has gotten pregnant, she hasn't slept through the night.  She gets up at least once a night to go to the bathroom, often more.  It's annoying, but it's also the bodies way to train you to wake in the middle of the night. Catherine says the babies are very active now when she wakes up for her bathroom breaks and we really think that the times she most consistently wakes up will be their future awake times as well. 

Second Trimester

Symptoms in the second trimester reduced dramatically (thank goodness)!  She was no longer emotional, felt more like normal, wasn't gagging anymore and could handle smells.  

She still woke up to go to the bathroom but some new symptoms were:

Slight Swelling:  Depending on how Catherine spent her day at work (sitting or on her feet) she started to experience swelling in her ankles.  Usually a night on the couch would solve that pretty quick.  Her hands also started swelling and now her wedding ring doesn't fit.  She thinks the hand swelling is the most annoying thus far.  

Discomfort Sleeping:  In the second semester Catherine's baby belly popped!  Before long, Catherine sought comfort in sleeping with her body pillow (thanks Brigid!) to alleviate some of the sleeping discomfort from her growing belly.  I swear, I had to pull teeth to get her to finally try this pillow, but now she loves it so much she told me she wants to continue sleeping with it after the babies come! 

Lactose Intolerance:  I would have to say, thus far, this has been the most traumatic symptom for Catherine.  Catherine drinks milk every day with dinner.  During our hot summer, ice cream was so refreshing!  We soon learned that Catherine was not processing the dairy well and had to switch our products.  We not drink lactaid milk and if Catherine wants to have ice cream (we had just bought a home made ice cream machine!) she had to take a lactaid pill.  Since we made the switch Catherine has been much happier, but I think she's going to enjoy eating regular ice cream once that babies arrive! 

Catherine is going to be eating ice cream in the middle of December. 

Third Trimester

The third trimester just started last week so I'm sure there will be more symptoms coming, but the discomfort sleeping and swelling have continued.  Also, the babies have started to become very active and since they are growing and are pretty strong, the kicks and movements actually hurt!  They have also started to react to some things like the sound of our voices and certain foods that Catherine eats.  One new, but totally understandable symptom is:

She's alive under there, I swear.

Extreme Exhaustion:  Catherine's basketball season is starting to get back into the swing of things and she's been working 6-7 days a week, as well as working long hours (she's out at an event as I write this!).  After a few days of working on this schedule, she comes home and crashes!  Usually sleeping for a few hours does the trick but it's something we are trying to be more mindful of.  With a twin pregnancy there is an additional risk of preterm labor so we are trying to monitor how she's feeling and when she needs to start cutting back.  Her goal is to work for as long as she possibly can, but to do that, she might have to sleep in a few days or forgo some late nights.  We'll certainly see more as the weeks go on!
  
We consider ourselves very lucky that we avoided some of the more unpleasant symptoms.  Every time I ask her, Catherine says that she is really enjoying pregnancy and she's glad that she did it.  I'm sure the next ten weeks will bring on some additional symptoms, but the end is close and it will be very worth it! 

We're having...wait, what???

After going to the doctor to pseudo-confirm our pregnancy, we were scheduled to head back a week later to see if we could determine how many of our four eggs were fertilized. 

During this process we joked about the "buy one, get one free" appeal of twins (Catherine is a super discount shopper after all), but I do think in reality we were just hoping for one healthy baby. 

Also, in all of our preliminary discussions with the doctor - going over all of the stats and facts about pregnancy and IUI - the chance of multiples didn't freak us out.  I mean our doctor did say that to get one baby, we'd need to release 3-4 eggs, which is exactly what Catherine had done.

Anyway, the doctor laughed at our wishful thinking and reminded us that at this point, whatever was done, was done! 

We started the ultrasound and boom, without a doubt, very clearly, two gestational sacks.  Twins! 

(Now, these weren't the babies - they are too small at this point to be seen - these are just the beginnings of their amniotic sacks forming in the uterus. They look like little air bubbles in the uterus.  Pretty cool to have a picture from so early on in pregnancy.) 

I can't even describe this moment and do it justice.  Shock.  Total disbelief.  Just staring at the screen.  We were certainly happy, but definitely shocked that we were actually having twins.




The doctor gave us a picture of our two gestational sacks and we headed on our way.  Catherine off to work and me off to my bootcamp class. 

At one point during class, my instructor, Jonathan, came up to me and said "Lisa, you look a little dazed today." and I said "Um...we just found out we're having twins" (Yes, my bootcamp instructor was the first to know) and he totally gave me permission to be as dazed as I needed to be. 

I explained to him all I was trying to figure out (and couldn't) was how to get two babies outside for a walk in the stroller when the condo we live in is surrounded by stairs. 

• Do I go outside, set-up the stroller in the parking lot, go back upstairs and bring the two babies out?  
• Do I bring them out one-at-a-time, but risk leaving a baby alone in the house or a baby alone outside?  

Days later, I realized I'd have to leave the stroller in the car at all times, and bring the babies out to it all at once, this solution gave me a place to put one baby while putting the first in the stroller (in the car, in a car-seat) and limited the things I'd have to worry about getting down a flight of stairs. 

Scenarios like this raced through our minds.  It took us a few weeks to completely wrap our head around the fact that we were having twins.  And we also had to keep in mind that:

1. We were in the first trimester and anything could happen.
2. Many doctors don't have you come in until the 8th or 9th week of pregnancy, and some pregnancies do start out as two but then end up just being a single pregnancy.  We had our knowledge of twins because we were with a fertility clinic that was monitoring us weekly but really, things could still change.  

Our fertility clinic did see us weekly up until the 8th week, then we got to 'graduate' to a regular OB.   At the third appointment (the one the week after finding out we were having twins) we got to hear the heartbeats.  It was also really cool to see how much they were growing from week to week.  During this time, they mostly looked like gummy bears.  We were also able to confirm that they were fraternal (not identical - so they are as individual as any other siblings in a family), each had their own sacks and placentas and we could even see the thin membrane that was separating them.  

Week after week, we would go and everything was looking great, so life with twins slowly became more and more a reality.    At the 8th week appointment, he did one final check to make sure there were just two babies (we held our breaths for that one) and we graduated on to our regular doctor.  

Things started moving pretty fast at that point.  I remember when being at 28 weeks felt so far away, and now it's here!  

Since we knew the dates of insemination, we had a 24 hour window of when the babies were conceived, so determining the due date was pretty easy.  Our official, 40 week due date is December 15th.  However, since it's a twin pregnancy, our doctors won't let the pregnancy go past 38 weeks, so our twin due date is December 1st.   It's about two months away and we're both excited and nervous! 

The Two Week Wait...and then...

Foreshadowing

After both of our insemination's, we just had to let the eggs and the sperm do what they do.  It was painful to wait two weeks and not know anything.  Catherine had some trips planned, so at least we were able to keep busy.  Catherine enjoyed the Final Four in Denver and I was plugging away at school.  But everyday I'd have to ask "Did you get your period?".  I asked everyday, sometimes multiple times a day.  We were eager, what can I say?! 

And then...April 6th came.  This was the day our doctor had told us to wait until to see if we were pregnant.  If Catherine didn't get her period, things were looking good. 

I remember everything we did on April 6th.  My parents came into town to drop off some furniture for us and we went out to lunch.  It was a lovely lunch, I had a ham and brie panini.  It was very good. 

After my parents left, we bee-lined to the grocery store to pick up some pregnancy tests.  If I had been left to my own devices, I would have gotten the best pregnancy on the market regardless of price, and perhaps a few of them.  But Catherine and I went together which meant there was the two of us, in the pregnancy test aisle, debating quality and price of pregnancy tests so we could get the most of the value (ex.  "this one is $10, you get one test and it's ready in 3 minutes", "well this one is $12.50, you get two tests and it's ready in five minutes").  Needless to say, this took awhile.  

But finally, after being fiscally responsible, we had our two pregnancy tests.  We rushed home and I strongly encouraged Catherine to go to the bathroom.  You know, because people can totally pee on demand.  

Now, this was both of our first times taking a pregnancy test, so we weren't that experienced with it and the box said that it should take about three minutes for the results.  But I kid you not, it came back positive immediately! In fact, so quickly, we doubted it's reliability.  I called my friend Emily, we has a child and thus more experience with these tests and asked her for her best advice.  She said that a positive is a positive and we could take the second test just to be sure.  

There might have also been a lot of giggling and squealing, but that's besides the point (and that was Emily and me, Catherine went into instant denial and went to get the laundry!).  We took Emily's advice and took the second test, which also came back positive immediately.  

We couldn't believe it!  We were in shock because we really didn't think it would take on the first time!  All the research we had done had told us that it could take months for IUI to actually work, so that's what we had anticipated in our timeline.  We were excited, but also skeptical (or in denial) that we were actually pregnant and we couldn't wait to get to the doctors office to confirm! 

April 6th was a Saturday so we knew we could go early morning Monday to see the doctor.  When we arrived, we told the nurse that we had gotten two positives and we met with the doctor.  The doctor, before doing anything, congratulated us.  Although we appreciated it, we wanted a medical professional to officially tell us we were pregnant.  But I guess he trusted the tests we had taken.  He did an ultrasound, but told us that we wouldn't be able to see anything yet.  He was just checking Catherine's uterus to ensure that it could support a pregnancy.  He told Catherine to get another blood test and told us to come back the next week.  By then, we would be able to see the gestational sack(s) and exactly how many babies we had created.  

Even when the nurse called later that afternoon with Catherine's blood results, she never officially said the words "congratulations, the test shows your pregnant".  Instead, she told Catherine her blood work was fine and she should come back next week.  

We just wanted a professional to confirm our pregnancy!  It would make it feel so much more real! 

Still, we were over-the-moon excited!  We still had so much to figure out, but we were pregnant and couldn't wait to go back the next week and get more information!

Making a Baby

As I mentioned, we set the date for our first insemination.  Like the other appointments, this was another early morning process.  We set two alarms, just to be safe, and if I remember correctly, neither went off!  Thankfully, we were nervous and excited, so I don't think we slept well anyway and got up just a little late.  Regardless, we were a wreck that morning!  There was a lot of fumbling around to get out the door.  

We also had to remember to call the doctors office to let them know we were on our way so they could thaw our sperm (I ordered it off the clinic website and had it shipped directly to the doctors office). 

We were a little on edge and nervous, but we got there!  I think the gravity of what we were doing was really setting in for us.  

We really loved everyone at our doctors office and they were so excited for us and helpful in alleviating some of our nervousness.  We were brought into one of the exam rooms and they started prepping Catherine for the insemination.  We confirmed a million times that we had the right sperm (good thing I thought to write down the donor number that morning) and the doctor inserted the catheter where the sperm would be injected. 

Our doctor was really nice and actually let me do the insemination, so I could literally get Catherine pregnant (with some assistance, of course).  We had already decided to do this process twice in one month to double our chances of pregnancy.  Again, he checked Catherine's hormone levels and where she was in her cycle and decided that we should come back the next morning for the second insemination.  

The next morning, at least we got up on time, but we were still so nervous!  We headed back to the office and did the same process again.  We had a different doctor and she confirmed that it was the absolute perfect time for the insemination, so we were hopefully and excited (and understandably nervous) about what could happen.  

This all happened near the end of March, and the doctors told us to wait it out until April 6th.  If Catherine hadn't gotten her period by that date, we should call the office and come back to see if we were, in fact, pregnant.  

And thus, the waiting game began...again..............

Next Steps

Last I left our getting pregnant journey we had decided on our method and doctor, and decided on our sperm donor.  After we accomplished that, it was a waiting game for Catherine's next cycle to begin.  It seemed like forever to wait, but finally Catherine got her period and it was time to get the process started!  

The doctor told us to come into the office on the second and third day of Catherine's period so they could start monitoring her cycle.  This started about one to two weeks of basic monitoring where Catherine would get blood tests done and an ultrasound to see how things were progressing and where she was in her cycle. 

He also started Catherine on an oral medication that would encourage her ovaries to create more than one egg during the next cycle.  She only had to take it for one week. 
Our doctor had a flexible appointment schedule when it came to these types of appointments, which was good and bad. Basically, we didn't need to call and make an appointment, we could just show up anytime between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and he took patients on a first come, first served basis.  For about two weeks, there were many early morning wake up calls to get to his office so Catherine could still make it into work by 8 or 9.  It was killer, but worth it!  

Usually we didn't have any issues with this policy, but on the first morning, everyone was at the doctors!  Both of his waiting rooms were packed and the seating outside his office was taken! 

But finally, we were able to determine when would be the best time to inseminate Catherine.  Through this monitoring, the doctor could see that Catherine had produced four follicles (eggs) that would be released during the next cycle.  He could even pinpoint how many were coming from each ovary (three from one, one from another).  He could also see how big and developed they were.  It was a really interesting process to see and learn about!  Our doctor was very happy with the four follicles that Catherine had produced.  He said that it typically takes about 3-4 follicles to create one baby using this process, so we were hopeful. 

In the end, we picked our first date for insemination and started making all the preparations (I ordered some sperm off the internet, totally normal!)

We were really excited, especially to finally have a date set to give it our first try! 

Getting the Nursery Ready

Over Labor Day weekend, we took advantage of Catherine's last few days off to complete our nursery as best we could.  A few weeks prior, we had did a major cleaning and put together the cribs.  Our mission for this day was to hang all the decorations and get all the furniture properly positioned.

We decided on a beach/nautical theme and we wanted something simple.  No decals on the walls since we hope to be selling our place at some point and didn't want it to scream "babies room"!

Here is a quick before of the original room when we were changing it from our spare bedroom to our nursery:

After the a major cleaning, paint job and putting the cribs together:

Almost everything we used for decoration was bought on our spring trip to Rockport, which is also where we got married.  We like that it all has some kind of significance to us.

So the 'Beach' sign, buoys, and framed pictures are from Rockport.  We plan on putting their names on the buoys but haven't yet since they are a secret.  The framed pictures paired with the red buoy says "dream" and the other framed picture with the blue buoy says "love".  

My mom painted the bookcase for us and we love it.  The framed picture says "May you always have a shell in your pocket and sand in your toes".  The lamp and clock we got at Ikea and then we added a small toy from Catherine's childhood and a childhood picture of her and her siblings.  I have some childhood photos I'm going to add but haven't gotten around to it.   

We moved the white chair from our living room into the babies room for night time feedings.  We did order a gliding/reclining chair and we're going to put that in the living room since we feel we'll spend more time there.  It actually looks just like this chair but reclines.  Catherine is in love with it and can't wait for it to arrive!

The wind chime is made of capiz shells and was purchased at the shell shop in Rockport.  It will be winter when the babies arrive so I'm not worried about the noise disturbing them at this point.  Now that it's summer and we have that window open, we hear it every so often and I love the sound of it. 

My aunt and uncle gave us the changing station they made when my cousin was born (he's now 21!).  We just need to secure it to our dresser top and that will be all done!

 

The basket (from Rockport) has diapers, diaper rash cream, wipes and other diapering supplies.  We have more diapers in one of the lower drawers for easy access (with twins, we'll be changing about 20 diapers a day!).

When it was done, we loved it!  Catherine has actually been going in the nursery to sit and do some work since she loves it so much!

It's nice to have it mostly done.  Now we can't wait for the boys to get here so we can enjoy it more!