The Next Appointment

We were wondering when the next appointments will be. The next appointment is scheduled to be on Friday, December 12. From now on, the appointments will be once a month. We were so used to the once a week appointments and looked forward to them and then it went down to every other week. That took some getting used to because we were excited and anxious. Now, with the appointments once a month, it will be a little harder to wait but I guess it will give us something to look forward to. We can't wait until the next appointment!

12 Weeks

The babies are in their 12th week! Also the final week of the first trimester. They are growing and are healthy! We were able to "attend" the ultrasound via Skype. It was just Scott this morning as I had to work. I forgot to mention We both "attended" the week 10 exam since we were both off a couple weeks ago. The babies were tested for Down syndrome as we'll this morning. Results were negative but the Dr will do a blood test and the results will come in about 10 days. The twins are progressing along like the apps say. They are about the size of two little plums. Here are the numbers (and some pictures):

Embryo #1

Length: 54.4 mm (5.44 cm or 2.14 inches)

Fetal Heart Rate: 180 bpm

Nuchal translucency: 1.1 mm

Nasal bone: visible

Embryo #2

Length: 55.7 mm (5.57 cm or 2.19 inches)

Fetal Heart Rate: 178 bpm

Nuchal translucency: 1.1 mm

Nasal bone: visible

The next appointment won't be for another couple weeks. We already can't wait to see them again! We will post another update when we hear anything. In the meantime, thank you for reading and for your support. It means a lot to us! 

10 Weeks

Sorry folks! It's been a bit crazy lately. We haven't had much free time to update the blog. It's actually week 12 today, but I'm going to update you on the week 10 numbers first. That exam was on the morning of Friday, October 31, 2014. The babies are growing on schedule!

Embryo #1
Length: 29.9 mm (2.99 cm)
Fetal Heart Rate: 180 bpm

Embryo #2

Length: 32.7 mm (3.27 cm)

Fetal Heart Rate: 188 bpm

The First Video of the Twins

I finally got around to uploading the first video of the twins. The person you hear is the OBGYN who we'll call , Dr. E.

8.1 Weeks

Hello! We got news this morning our twins are developing as expected.

Embryo #1

Length: 12.8 mm

Fetal Heart Rate: 172 bpm

Embryo #2

Length: 12.7 mm

Fetal Heart Rate: 168 bpm

These numbers are in correspondence with the gestational age and of a homozygous twin pregnancy. 

AND we got a video shortly after we got the email. We were so excited to see and hear the heartbeats of the two!!! 

I'm still trying to figure out how to post that video and will do so once I figured that out. 

Happy Weekend!

Seeing Double

Morning all,
I can only guess how excited you must be reading this waiting all week for sat to come around and get an update on how Aaron and Scott are doing and how their baby is progressing. I know the feeling its exactly how I am too. lol! Well lets see, shit lets just get right to it. So our surrogate went in for her regular weekly sonogram everything looks good right size and shape and wait, what the....2 heartbeats?!?!?!?! Yes folks twins!! And we are told not the regular IVF twins. Our wonderful gifts have split 1gestational sac and 2 embryos, so  identical twins! WOW, yes you could have knocked us over with a feather. On all the previous check ups and ultra sounds we were told a singleton. We are so over the moon we can't stand it. We know its a long road from now till birth and anything can happen. So we love them from our home, pray and send every good thought in the universe to them while they grow and develop.

Prior to this pregnancy try we were pregnant twice before. We kept tight lipped about it and sadly as you know from reading our blog both times miscarried. This time we are being open and honest about everything thats going on. We will share our victories with you , like TWINS!! and if we have sadness we will share that with you all as well. But today we are pregnant! We are all healthy!  And we have TWINS!!

Gestational Age 6.4 weeks
Fetal heart rate #1 129bpm
                         #2 131 bpm

See you all next week or when ever we have an update. have a good week.

5.1 Weeks

This is a few days late. It's been pretty crazy at home with a few projects going on. Now, to the important stuff! I am happy to announce: according to the doctor at the clinic in Villahermosa, Mexico we are 5.1 weeks pregnant! The doctor did a ultrasound and saw the gestational sac. She says that is all she expected to see at this point in the pregnancy. Another evaluation will take place again on Saturday. 

Now, it is a little confusing she is 5.1 weeks pregnant right? Right. We thought so too since the embryo transfer was done on September 8. That's not five weeks ago. That's only about two and a half weeks. So we asked about that. The doc says, "by rule, the pregnancy time has to start counting from the last menstrual period, so we have to get a "corrected last period"; from the day the embryos are transfered we have to substract the days they are old (3 in this case) and then we have to substract another 14 days, this give us that the corrected last period, in this case it would be August 22th, it means that every friday she will get one more week of pregnancy." It's still kind of confusing!!! Oh well, at least things are supposedly going as they should. 

Hopefully, I won't be so late on the next update! 

 

The First Blood Test Results

Hi everyone. We join our story all ready in progress. The 2WW, or two week wait. It was surprisingly not that bad. The results for the beta test were last sat and so far we are.... Pregnant!! Our hCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) number was 174. The range 14 days into a pregnancy is 3 - 426. Cue the balloons the confetti the band and the nonstop candle shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Hey at this point we will try anything. And the slow small voice that says be careful and don't tell anyone, just in case. As you can obviously tell we are not listing to that little voice and instead blogging the ups and downs and ins and outs, whatever the out come may be. We will be getting another update tomorrow. This will be a blood test and ultrasound to investigate how the embryo is progressing. That its attached itself to the uterine wall and looks to be growing. I guess at this time we will also know if there are 1 or 2 embryos. The hCG numbers are supposed to double, every 48 hours. Like most other people that we talk to and blogs we read we hope for a healthy baby but either way we will update you all as we progress. Thanks for reading see you soon!

Hi again. Scott here to update all those who are following, thanks again for reading and taking an interest in whats going on in our lives. Since the last update we have more positive news. Our beautiful egg donor was able to donate 14 eggs for us which were fertilized at our clinic in Mexico City, CEFAM. We used a process that is called egg splitting. Where 1/2 of the eggs our fertilized with the genetic material from both dads. so 7 and 7. These grew in the lab for 3 days. This resulted in 4 and 3 ready to be implanted embryos which were then graded on an ABC scale and 2 were chosen to be implanted into our surrogate who is 21 years old and looks to be a lovely girl. We were able to SKYPE with her just minutes prior to the transfer. This was a nice option that we choose to take so we could at least hear her voice and somehow makes this very scientific process seem a little more human. We chose to not gender select which is another option.  The gender select while something that is legal and offered in Mexico could further narrow your options and this for us was not something we wanted to do. Our transfer took place on sept 8th. Our surrogate was feeling healthy and was able to leave the clinic and return home a day later. Now we wait...........depending on if you transferred an 3 day or 5 day embryo it is a 12 day wait or a 14 day wait for whats called the Beta test. This test checks for Hcg hormone in the surrogates blood stream. it will tell you if you are pregnant or not. Tomorrow Sept 20th is our 12th day. DaDaDaaaaam! To say were anxious for the results is really an understatement.  We have been here before, twice, so we are holding our breath. We ask for your good thoughts and we should have an update for you in a day or so.

Hi all,

This is Scott blogging today. we thought we would give a quick little update as we blaze through this hot summer which is more than half way through btw, as crazy as that sounds. We have been told that our donor has started stimulation and our surrogate is on birth control. What this all means is that the donor and the surrogate have to sync cycles. The donor will take a few days of shots to stimulate her egg production when they have cycles that are the same. This is all good news and means things so far look good and are progressing as they should. We are now waiting to hear if they cycles have in fact synced and if so then we will proceed with egg donation and fertilization. This is a step by step process for those that are new to this. Everything, we have learned, is a building block for whats planned next. So we are careful to be excited but happy for any positive forward movement. Thanks for reading we will be back soon with more happy news we hope. in the mean time we wish you luck in your search for the correct way for you to build a family.