Shortly after Sophie's first birthday, Judd and I decided to start the in vitro process again. We had two frozen embryos just waiting for us to give them a chance at life. Everything went so smoothly when we did in vitro and had Sophie. Our Sophie embryo was fresh, and these were frozen. Would in vitro work for us this time too? We used both embryos to give us the best chance that one would make it. For the past year I had a framed picture of these embryos on my nightstand. I'd hold the little picture as say, "Momma is coming to get you and bring you home." To me, they were my future kids, not embryos, not blobs.
The clinic did a blood pregnancy blood test about a week after the in vitro process. I had a feeling I was pregnant because I didn't feel well. The phone call came with the test results confirming I was pregnant. The pregnancy hormone level was 97, a perfect number for one healthy embryo. A week later they did another blood test to confirm I was still pregnant. I was, and I felt it. Just a few weeks pregnant, morning sickness was already starting. Yuck!
At my first ultrasound appointment my doctor pointed out the baby's beating heart and little amniotic sac. I pointed to another section of the screen and asked, "What's this?" She replied, "And there's its buddy! There's
its beating heart and
its amniotic sac."
And time stood still.
"Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?" I kept repeating. There are two?! Yep. Two. Two babies. Two. One, Two. Two…Two. My husband smiled from ear to ear. He was so happy he could not contain himself. I, on the other hand, could not even wrap my brain around it, accept it, or talk about it for five days. Two babies. In me. At the same time. Plus a one year old. Two babies! So much for the "97 hormone level usually means one healthy embryo." Ha! I was not prepared for two. If you've never gone through fertility treatments, perhaps it seems ridiculous not to think one could get pregnant with twins if you placed two embryos in. But, if you understood how small the chances of just one of them working was, let alone both of them, you would understand my shock. It was less than a 10% chance that both embryos would work, so I didn't give a second thought. Eight weeks of nightly shots in the hip completed completed our second successful in vitro experience. Of course, in the end (pun intended), it was all worth it.
This second pregnancy was much harder on me. I battled morning sickness for months and was exhausted from taking care of Sophie. I didn't feel like exercising. I felt miserable. My stomach got so big with the twins. It was mentally and emotionally hard too. At seven months I was so uncomfortable I didn't know how I could possibly make it two more months. I complained all the time. It got to where I couldn't carry Sophie, tie my shoes, sleep, lean over the sink to wash dishes. I felt like I was of very little help around the house. At least I could still watch Sophie, so she didn't have to be in someone else's care.
Six weeks before my due date, Judd and I took Sophie to the park. I felt so bad I just stayed in the car and watched my little girl play for an hour with her daddy. She was having such a good time, and I was miserable. Blah! Later that night, my water broke. We called a friend to come watch Sophie and headed to the hospital. I was having contractions, but not in much pain. I took my time getting my things together and arrived at the hospital about two hours after my water broke. When they examined me they told me I was ready to have the babies, but they needed to confirm both were head down. Unfortunately, baby B (the baby up above) was head up. I would have to have a C-section for both babies. An hour later, at 2:11, Piper Jentry was born and at 2:12, Riley Autumn was born. I just caught a glimpse of them before they whisked them off to the NICU. They were tiny, and six weeks early. They weighed four pounds and eleven ounces and four pounds and seven ounces.
