Almost 8 weeks!

Tomorrow is the official 8 week mark and I'm so excited!  We're up to the size of rasberries!

This has been a very trying two weeks for me, as morning sickness kicked in right after the 6-week mark. From all the research I've done, morning sickness with twins can be twice as severe and last much longer than morning sickness with a single pregnancy.  I'm trying to stay positive, but all-day nausea has a way of just getting you down.  Luckily I'm married to the most amazing husband, who has been supportive and caring these last few days and has bought every remedy found on the internet!

As many of you know, we saw heartbeats at our last visit, 6w5d which is the reason you all know about the twins!  The reactions were PRICELESS and I am forever grateful that Kevin recorded all of the reactions and put together such an amazing video.  

Back to the last visit, we saw the heartbeats, which was incredible.  It's hard to put into words what it was like to know that two little lifeforms are starting to shape inside my womb.  I also have the video from the ultrasound, but I'm going to add it a little later, it's not uploading to the site correctly right now.

Here are two pictures from the last appointment, both babies measured about 5mm in length, and have already staked claim at opposite ends (I hope that doesn't mean they already hate each other).  

The next appointment is scheduled for 8w5d and from what we can find the babies should look like little gummy bears at that appointment.

It all began on January 18th....

First of all, welcome to our blog!  This is my second attempt at blogging, but I think it's more important than ever to keep family and friends updated on our lives!  We still haven't broken the news to anybody yet, but I figured I'd start blogging and let you catch up once you know!

As some know, Kevin and I decided at the end of last year that we were finally ready to start a family.  While living in Germany, away from family and friends, it might not seem like the best time to start a family... but we were READY.  We had some hiccups along the way... but Kevin is an eternal optimist and we just kept chugging along.  Last year we dealt with turing down a dream job, cancer (just a little skin cancer), death in the family, a personal loss and a diagnosis of a blood clotting disorder.  We were happy to say 'goodbye' to 2011 and excited to see what 2012 had in store for us.

On January 17th, I was having a rough day at work... I mean REALLY rough.  I wanted to be pregnant, more than anything, and on that particular day I had given 7 newly pregnant women prenatal vitamins at the pharmacy.  I had to hold my tongue at the 5th patient because I was just fed up!  By the 7th patient I was furious, I said to a coworker, "From now on just tell them to avoid the crazy lady at the pharmacy and go buy your own prenatals from the PX, for your own safety!"  The next day, feeling impatient and drained, I took my first pregnancy test of the month... It took the full 5 minutes... The waiting was intense (I may have stopped breathing a few times).  And there it was... an almost invisible second line!(!!!!!!)

I didn't want to get my hopes up but I couldn't stop thinking that any line is a positive line.  So I decided not to tell Kevin until I was sure and just go about my business.  If you have known Kevin and I for any significant period of time, you'll know that I don't keep secrets from him very well.  He came to see me at lunch and sure enough I said, "Maybe baby?!".  Kevin was extremely excited and was almost ready to post it on Facebook for the world to see.  That evening, the minute I got home, I ran upstairs to take another test (ok, two).  The first test had a real, no-joking, faint pink line.  So I immediately took the digital test out... after waiting an eternity the most amazing little word popped up, "Pregnant".

I rushed downstairs and blurted it out to Kevin (even though in my head I've planned a million cute and clever ways to tell him).  We were thrilled.  I was officially 3 weeks and 5 days PREGNANT!

Fast forward to January 25th.  4 weeks 5 days pregnant (which is still so exciting).  I had an appointment with an OB in Amberg, an appointment which was made long before I found out I was pregnant.  Right after I got back from Florida I found that I have two clotting disorders; I am heterozygous for Factor V Leiden Mutation and have a Protein S Deficiency.  Because of these disorders (which don't cause any harm unless I actually have a clot) it makes pregnancy high risk so I had scheduled the appointment to see if we could do anything before we found out.  My "pre-pregnancy" appointment turned into my first prenatal visit.  Our OB, Dr Kreig, is a German physician who specializes in fertility and high risk pregnancies.  At our first appointment we went over my medical history and he started me on Lovenox shots immediately.  Lovenox is a low-weight heparin shot thats works as an anti-coagulation agent to prevent clots.  I'm also taking 81 mg baby aspirin to help with clotting as well.

Kevin, my savior, also asked Dr Kreig if he would do an ultrasound.  We got our first glimpse of our little baby as a little black dot.  I saw two dots, but the Dr didn't seemed concerned with both dots, only one... so I naturally assumed he knew what he was doing and the thought of twins went away.  On cloud nine, we both left the doctor thinking we were on our way to one healthy baby.  I got a call later that evening that my labs came back looking great, but because of the Lovenox shots they wanted to see me in exactly one week.

On February 1st Kevin and I went in for our second appointment at 5 weeks and 5 days.  This time no blood work, just an ultrasound.  As the ultrasound started Kevin immediately sensed something as he saw two black blobs quickly appear and disappear as the Dr got everything in place.  Sure enough, TWO.  Two black blobs, two babies... TWINS!  My heart just about stopped.  I wasn't taking any fertility drugs, so this was completely unexpected!

Dr Kreig told us that twins carry a higher risk of miscarriage, which makes me a double high risk pregnancy.  He says the good news is that they're fraternal twins, which makes it a little easier because there's no chance of getting tangled in the others' cord.  Right now our goal is 12 weeks, once we hit that mile marker the risk goes down.  It appears that for the time being, we're going to be seeing the Dr on a weekly or every-other week basis.  Our next appointment is February 8th, and we're hoping by that time to see heartbeats.  As soon as we see heartbeats we're going to share this amazing news with our families!!

Pregnancy so far has felt like a very draining process.  I'm extremely tired all the time, but luckily haven't had any morning sickness (which is said to be more severe and last longer with twins) so I'm enjoying an appetite while I still have it.  I'm so excited for the journey that is in store for Kevin and I, and I'm hoping this blog will allow our family and friends to feel like they're a part of it as well.

As of today I have passed the 6 week mark, so today the babies are about the size of lentils.  They're only 0.25 inches long and their hearts are starting to beat this week!