Lucky Friday the 13th

We left Thursday night around Lucy and Clara's bedtime for our trip to Long Island for my first ultrasound appointment. We had booked a hotel room that was about 5 minutes from Dr. Braverman's office so that we could drive down the night before and be close in the morning. The drive went pretty well despite hitting some snowy roads for about an hour in Pennslvania. My mom came along to help with the girls and to be able to watch them at the hotel during my appointment. 

We arrived at about 11:45 pm and W checked in while I waited in the car with my mom and the girls. We pulled around close to the room and waited while W unloaded the car (we didn't bring much because it was just overnight). He set up the pack and plays and then came down to get us. Lucy had first opened her eyes when W checked in. I asked my mom not to talk to her but she didn't really listen and was still making eye contact with her and smiling. 

We got up into the room and tried putting both girls right into the pack and plays. They both immediately started crying. So, we pulled them into our bed and laid down with them. Clara went back to sleep pretty quickly and was easily put back into her pack and play. Lucy, on the other hand, didn't go back to sleep until close to 4 am. We tried giving her Tylenol because I knew she was cutting a big molar, but that didn't seem to help. We tried putting her back into the pack and play multiple times and she would just cry. You can't really let your kid cry in a hotel room.   

The hotel had a free breakfast so we went down in the morning. There we met a couple that said they were pregnant with twin girls. When they asked us if we had any other children we said no and then asked them the same question. They said they had three others...triplet boys! Can you imagine?!

I was so nervous I barely ate. We put the girls down and left around 9:20 for my 9:45 appointment. When I checked in they gave me a cup for a urine sample. I tried my best but was only able to give them a super small amount of urine. There wasn't anyone in the waiting room and they called us back fairly quickly. The nurse was one I remembered from last time. She took my blood pressure and it was surprisingly good despite how nervous I felt. She left the room and we waited for Dr. B. 

He came in after a few minutes. He again said that if he didn't say anything right away it didn't mean anything, he just wanted to get a good look first.  

We saw a beautiful little baby that measured 6w6d and on par with when I thought I ovulated. My due date is 10/3/15. We heard an amazing heartbeat at 141 beats per minute. I asked Dr. B to check which ovary I ovulated from and he joked it was so I could tell my child when they someday ask. Sure enough, it was the one without a tube. When I said that he said the tubes actually lie overlapping on each other. I guess I didn't realize how close in proximity they were. 

He checked the doppler blood flow and it was pretty uncomfortable. He made more jokes as he seems to do and said the blood flow to my uterus was slightly constricted but that the blood flow from my uterus to the baby was great. He didn't think there was any need to change any of the medications at this time. He asked about the immune panel and I said it was pending. I asked about Neupogen and told him it was denied by my insurance. He said once the insurance company denies it there's no point in appealing it. I asked about donated meds and he said he would check if there were any. He then asked,"See you again next week?" I then reminded him that we lived almost 5 hours away, so he said he wanted me to get another ultrasound next week locally. He said he'd like to see me again around 10 weeks and we said we'd be able to make that work. 

I then asked him if he allowed children in the office. He said he didn't have any problems with it but knew the infertility patients sometimes complained about it. He liked to see it as what could be for those patients and said it would be great if we brought the girls in for some pictures. 

When I went to check out the nurse said my urine sample was going to be enough and that I didn't need to try again. I asked her about Neupogen and she said she'd check. It took her a little while but she came back with 4 vials! I was so happy and grateful as they are each $360 OOP and one of them lasts about 3 1/2 days. 

Since the appointment was so quick I texted my mom to see if the girls were sleeping. We didn't hear back from her so we went to a plaza nearby the office we've been to before. We went into a few stores and grabbed me a coffee before heading back to the room. 

The girls woke up when we got back and we packed everything up. We headed back to Dr. B's office for them to see the girls. There was another child and another couple waiting in the room. The other child was around the same age and we were talking some with the mom. I could tell the other couple wasn't pleased to see all the kids in the office. After a bit Dr. B came out and we got some pics of the four of us with him and then passed the girls off. They immediately started crying (as I suspected they would) and we got some funny pics. Dr. B was a good sport to smile while holding two crying babies. He told them, "Last time I saw you two you were just circles." I guess they didn't think he was too funny. 

From there we headed into Manhattan. My mom fed the girls snacks as we drove. We parked in a garage about 7 blocks from a restaurant and Children's museum I had scoped out. We walked to the restaurant and had an amazing lunch of dosas. The girls ate them and also loved trying something new. We were both impressed when Clara was gladly eating chicken curry. 

We then walked around the corner to the Children's Museum of Manhattan. This museum was a bit pricey as we had to also pay for the girls (most museums around here don't charge for children their age). It was so worth it though! The girls had such a great time. They were both walking all over the place and loved all the slides everywhere. Every time we moved on from one thing to the next they were sad. It was 5 floors that were all so much fun! There was a lot for kids their age and they had a ton of fun playing and watching the other kids. We stayed for a few hours and then headed out from there. It being their nap time we expected them to sleep for quite a while. 

Lucy had other plans. The ride home wasn't fun with her even with the DVD players we bought. They helped some, but she was teething and exhausted, so didn't want to be in her carseat. I ended up in the backseat with them for most of the ride home. We stopped at a rest area for dinner (soup dumplings that we had picked up in the city before heading out) but unfortunately there weren't any tables there apart from the ones outdoors and buried under a least a foot of snow. We improvised and made it work on a bench and then let the girls walk around and tire themselves out. 

For the rest of the trip Lucy mostly slept but would wake up crying about every 15-20 minutes. It wasn't a fun 3 remaining hours to say the least. With traffic and stops our ride home took 7 hours. Luckily both girls went down in their cribs and slept the rest of the night once we got home. 

I'm feeling so much better about things having seen and heard that little heartbeat. It's so amazing to think there's another little baby growing inside me. Next week I'll probably end up at the local fertility clinic for my ultrasound unless I'm able to get in at my ob's office. I'm hoping things continue to go well and stay uneventful.