The Twins Are Here!!!

 

For those who don't know, my sister-in-law and I had overlapping IVF cycles last November. Last fall, my brother was diagnosed with azoospermia and after testicular mapping it was determined that conception was possible through IVF and sperm extraction. Her egg retrieval was two days after mine and it has been so nice to go through all everything together and at the same time. She knew how scary IVF was and we could commiserate during our pregnancies. God bless Shannon--she carried these beautiful babies to 37w6d!!! They are healthy and beautiful. Mike and I drove up to Seattle today to meet them--they were about 13 hours old by the time we got there. These are the first children for my brother and #3 and #4 for SIL, who has two teenage boys from a previous marriage.

 Arthur_Cormick was born August 4 at 22:40 weighing 6 lbs 9 oz and 19.5".  Sadie_Eliza came at 22:46, 6 lbs 3 oz and 19.5"! Aren't they the sweetest?!
Arthur was SIL's grandpa's name. McCormick was my mom's maiden name. Sadie is just a name SIL loved and Eliza is a tribute to all the Elizabeths in both our families.

Shannon, my sister-in-law, was able to deliver them vaginally with minimal complications! Her water broke about 0430 yesterday morning and because of the increased risk with twins they headed to the hospital right away. Her contractions weren't picking up at all (the nurses eventually decided she had had a premature rupture of membranes and wasn't actually in labor) so they started her on a low dose of pitocin, gradually increasing it over several hours. By 2230 she was fully dilated and ready to push! She delivered in an OR, just in case they needed to do an emergency c-section and get one or both of the babies out quickly. Arthur was out in two contractions (!!!) but Sadie floated to the top of the uterus, was breach and had to be pulled out by her feet, with some difficulty--the OB was elbow deep in Shannon's uterus trying to pull her out--for this reason Shannon, who had hoped for a natural birth, was grateful she elected for a low dose epidural. She couldn't imagine going through all that and feeling everything and I don't blame her.  Sadie gave them quite a scare due to some difficulty breathing at first but once the NICU got her crying, all was well. Both babies are excellent nursers and they are all going home tomorrow! I share this so all of my readers who are mamas of multiples know that vaginal twin deliveries are totally possible! I am so proud of my sister-in-law.


It was so much fun to watch Mike with the twins. It was his first time around newborns and he was just in total amazement. I'm so excited to see how he's going to be with our little girl and both of us are so anxious to meet her now that we've snuggled these cuties.

 Soaking up that intoxicating baby smell....

 

Uncle Mike and Arthur (that's proud big brother in the background)

Sweet Boy

 Sweet Sadie

Three Weeks Post-Surgery

For the past two days, I've had NO PAIN! Woohoo. It's like something 'clicked' and the sharp pains went away. I'm not ready to go out and run a 5K by any means, but I definitely feel much better.  I wore jeans for the first time yesterday and my incision scabs finally fell off. Here are some pictures of me 3 weeks post-surgery. I'm on CD30 with no AF in sight. I've never been so anxious for my period to show up. I just want to get this next cycle started and see what's in store for us. Lucky #34? No, there's no chance I could be pregnant. My blood test before surgery was negative and I've been in too much pain to even think about sex since then.

My beautiful bruise is still healing.

Thank goodness the incisions were tiny!

I'm so ready for this weekend. This week hasn't been particularly stressful or anything but I've spent way more time on the computer e-mailing customers than actually sewing orders and making money. This weekend we're heading to a little Bavarian-themed village in the Cascades called Leavenworth.  I've been there once before, when I flew to Seattle in 2009 for my brother's wedding. Mike's never been since he was in Iraq at the time. It's so charming. Lots of yummy German food (with plenty of veggie options--I love WA!) and even more importantly, loads of good German bier! We're going with my brother and sister-in-law and it should be a really fun time.

Speaking of my brother, you might remember that I posted a few months ago that he was diagnosed with azoospermia. He had his testicular biopsy several weeks ago and finally got the results yesterday. The doctor explained to him that the reason the test results take so long is because it's basically like finding "Where's Waldo" in Manhattan. Anyway, the bottom line is that they found sperm which means my brother is capable of having children! That's the best news I've had in a long time and I'm so happy for the two of them. They are going to meet with the doctor next week to discuss their options but they'll likely be heading down the IVF road too.


I hope all of my lovely readers have a wonderful weekend. BIG CONGRATS go out to Mrs. E and Diana for their recent BFPs. I wish them both sticky babies and pregnancies full of wonderful memories.

Whoa...I'm a Grown Up.

Do you have those moments where it hits you, that you're a grown up? I know, I know. Only children use the term "grown ups" but whatever.  Whoa....I'm a grown up.  I have these moments pretty frequently. I can drive, I have my own house and I love to grocery shop.  I haven't lived with my mom and dad in over seven years and I still trip out when I realize that I no longer need their permission for anything. Being a grown up isn't always fun though. Bills, sending your husband to war, your dogs being bitchy and fighting in your backyard (this happened to me today) and of course, the struggle of infertility.

Today I talked to my brother. I'm the baby of five and my brother is 11 years older than me.  He married my SIL two summers ago after they reunited on myspace 20 years after high school. She has two kids from her first marriage and for the past fifteen months they have been trying to have a baby of their own. He recently received the primary diagnosis of azoospermia or zero sperm. Either his body is not producing any sperm at all or he is producing and it's not going where it needs to go. If he is producing sperm then they could potentially conceive with IVF and a testicular biopsy to retrieve the sperm. He doesn't know what to do. SIL already has kids from her first marriage but my brother has none. Do they want to go through the expense of IVF? Their insurance covers absolutely nothing infertility related and one cycle will run them about $20k.  If they don't do IVF, will they regret it?  My brother talked about being on his death bed and all alone because he had no kids to surround him. What a sad thought.

I told him that he can't put a price on fatherhood. That he needed to compartmentalize the financial aspect of it and think about everything else first. Does it suck? Yes. Is it unfair? Hell yes. I told him that they've been trying for the past year to have a baby so what's changed? Has his desire to be a father been lessened? I know it hasn't.

I told him what I thought. The words came so easily. In that moment, my grown up moment, he was not just my big brother,  my elder,  a semi-foreign person that I've looked up to all my life. He was an equal, a person new to the world of infertility, a person struggling with the emotions of infertility. This grown up thing kind of sucks sometimes, you know?

I know it is ultimately his decision whether to pursue IVF and it is a LOT to process. As odd as this sounds, I hope that they do get a chance to agonize over this decision. As hard as it is to make a decision like this, I could only imagine that it would be even harder to hear the news that you will never be able to have a biological baby.While it's nice to have someone in my family who can relate to my struggles I really do not wish infertility on anyone, especially my family.

Six months ago my brother told me that I was oversharing when it came to my infertility journey and that some things should be kept private.  After all, what big brother wants to picture his baby sister with her feet in stirrups, right? But things are different now. Testicular biopsies, semen analyses, IUI, cervixes, sex. I talked to my brother about all these things today.  Whoa....I'm a grown up.