Babies Update

So, I've been bad at blogging this pregnancy, but it's been a crazy couple weeks, so I thought I'd do an update. 

First, the good stuff. I've always gained exactly the amount of weight I'm supposed to during my pregnancies. This time around, however, I was really sick so I lost a bunch in the first trimester and have had trouble gaining it back. Finally, at 21 weeks, I'm proud to be putting on weight at kind of an insane pace and officially weigh the most I've ever weighed in my life. Here are the pictures to prove it: 

I know it's hard to tell, but these pictures represent a 7 lb weight gain and the difference of about 1 1/2 inches around my belly.  Also, babies Lytle are finally moving consistently, easing my anxiety and reassuring me that they're there. :)

Now, the non-good part. While I was in Utah this last week I had some problems with bleeding and cramping that landed me on the OB unit at Utah Valley Regional in Provo for a few hours. They didn't do a whole lot except check babies heartbeats and check my cervix. Babies looked good, but my cervix was open a fingertip. Also, I had some bacteria in my urine, so they gave me a single dose of antibiotics and sent me home to take it easy and to follow up with my doc in AZ. Only thing is: my doc couldn't see me for two weeks. 

 

Utah Valley Regional- I sent this pic to Ev to reassure him that I was fine, hence the "Love You"

 When I got home on Saturday, I was having menstrual-like cramping again along with more bleeding. So, I landed in an OB triage unit here in Chandler for another check-up. This time, they did a cervical length that showed my cervix had shortened almost 1 cm in the last 4 weeks. That wasn't a big deal, because it's still long like it should be. But they did decide that I definitely had a UTI that was causing all my problems, so now I'm doing a whole week of antibiotics. I'm feeling a lot better and I'm so glad our little ones are doing well. 

Chandler Regional Medical

 

"Can you count?..."

 We found out we were pregnant again on March 17th. Later that week, my 48hr bHCG (blood test for pregnancy hormone levels) QUADRUPLED (It's supposed to at least double)! We were absolutely thrilled and terrified at the same time. I worried every time I went to the bathroom that I would be bleeding and everything would end. 
     So, I have a lot of people asking what we're doing differently this time to make sure these babies get here with a heartbeat (maybe not in those exact words, but it's implied...) The day I got a + pregnancy test, I started heparin injections. This was something that, after three losses, was one of those, "Well, it won't hurt you, it'll only help you" scenarios. Basically, if I was losing babies due to an undetectable clotting problem, the heparin would probably help. 

That first week was hell. I mean really REALLY bad. It started with fevers. Then the body aches and chills. I missed a couple days of work because I couldn't get off the couch and my fevers were getting higher and higher. By the next Sunday, my fever was 103.5, so we went to the ER. My platelets had dropped 60,000, and my liver enzymes were up (probably because of the fever and tylenol use). It has a name: HIT- Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. The heparin was making me sick!!! Talk about frustrating...the thing that had given me hope that I could have a normal pregnancy was out the window. It didn't take long for me to get better once I stopped taking it, and now I'm on a regiment of aspirin, a butt-load of folic acid, vitamin D, and fish oil. We have high hopes (and a lot of faith) that these babies are going to be just fine!
 

So the title of this post, "Can you Count?" those are the famous words spoken by Dr. Speak at my 6 week appointment. We saw on the screen the following picture:

 Yes, I can count, and I knew it was twins. We had an unsettling next couple of weeks as we went between appointments with my OB here in K-ville and the perinatologist in Columbia; every time they put the probe on my belly, wondering if there was still going to be two babies.

This picture was labled wrong in CoMo, so I tried to label over it.

 By 10 weeks they were starting to look like babies instead of blobs. Baby B usually gets the shaft because almost every time I went in before 10 weeks (s)he wasn't in a good position.

Having had just one and now two babies at a time, I can definitely say that twins is...much more difficult. Everything happens so much faster, and stretches more painfully. Somedays I just sit all day because my round ligaments hurt too bad to walk. Don't think I'm complaining, though- just comparing. And I'm THRILLED and SO HAPPY to be stretching and hurting because it means these kiddos are growing!

12 weeks 6days. 

This is the perfect example of how baby B is in a bad position for a photo-op.

14W 5D

These babies are fraternal twins which is a lot less risk. (I don't think I could handle any more risk) At 15 weeks, we're feeling grateful for all the pictures we have of our sweet little ones and that we've had so many opportunities to watch them move and kick each other in head. We're in love with our little #3 and #4 children and hope to have an idea of what their genders are next week. I have 3 more scans before I leave Kville, so hopefully we'll know for sure before we leave.

I really need to say thank you for all the support and love we've felt from friends and family; for your prayers, fasts, and words or comfort and love. Random strangers tell us that they'll pray for us, which absolutely fills my heart with love for them. 

Sometimes when I pray I tell Heavenly Father that we've already buried 2 babies and we can't do a 3rd or a 4th. These babies are perfect and we haven't had any complications and hope that it stays that way. In the next few weeks, Evan will be taking his boards and we'll be packing up and moving to Chandler, AZ for 2 years so Ev can complete years 3 and 4 of med school. We're excited and I promise I'll be better at keeping up the blog with updates for the friends far away and the friends we're leaving in Kirksville (*tear).
Much Love!