We didn't get back from OK until way late last night, so I was much too tired to post. I wanted to word it all exactly the right way and knew I didn't have the brain power to do it. So now, the much anticipated results of yesterday's ultrasound...
We arrived on LD's doorstep at the EXACT time she wanted to leave for the doctor's office. She was waiting on the porch for us and hopped in the car as we pulled into the driveway. We went straight there and arrived on time (maybe even 10 minutes early!) despite my panic about the time. LD signed in and we sat down in the VERY full waiting room. LD said "Man, I'm already getting hungry. And I ate breakfast!" This was at 10:15. We thought it wouldn't be much longer, since our appointment was at 10:20, but boy were we wrong! When we were still waiting an HOUR after our appointment time LD started texting her friend who works there asking what the deal was. We were informed that the doctor had had a delivery that morning and it had thrown everything off... We continued to wait. LD said her stomach was now eating itself. I told her "Next time, I'll make sure to have snacks in my purse."
It wasn't until an hour and a half after our appointment time that we were FINALLY called back. The nurse looked at the three of us with a puzzled look on her face and asked "So which one of you is LD?" LD raised her hand and she was sent into a restroom for a urine sample, then the nurse took N and me to wait in the very posh ultrasound room. As LD came back, N went to the restroom. The nurse started pulling out equipment for a pap smear, and a bunch of other things and LD said "I shouldn't need that, I just had it done at the RE's office." The nurse was very confused. She said "Why don't we have those records?" We explained that the pregnancy was a result of IVF and that the RE had done all of the testing prior to the transfer. She still looked confused and asked what doctor it was. We told her it was Dr. C in Dallas. She said "Did you just move here?" LD said "No, I live here. I went to Dallas for the IVF." Finally I said "I live in Dallas. She came to me for the transfer. She's pregnant for me." Suddenly a light came on over the nurses head "Oh! You're a surrogate!" I said "Bet that clears up why I'm here." We had a good laugh over it.
LD stripped from the waist down while I guarded the door from N entering, then we all sat talking and waiting some more. Finally a doctor came in. But not the doctor LD has seen before. This was her partner, who was trying to help her catch up. Fortunately, someone had warned her about the fact that this was a surrogacy situation, so we avoided the awkwardness of before. She began asking for LD's pregnancy history, then turned to me and asked "Is there a history of any genetic health problems in your family?" I then went into my laundry list of defects and said "Now you know why she's the one carrying and not me..."
FINALLY we got down to the business at hand. The room had an enormous flat screen TV on the wall opposite the u/s machine. We were able to watch as the doctor performed the u/s and it was utterly amazing. Almost immediately I saw two blobs that I realized had to be the embryonic sacs for our babies. The doctor confirmed that was what I was seeing. There was a hush over the whole room. As she focused on one sac in particular I clearly saw a little flash of movement. My eyes got huge and I said "Is that...?" The doctor said "Yes, that's your baby's heartbeat." I've never witnessed anything so amazing. Then she turned to the other embryo and once again we saw the flash of a heartbeat. I turned to N only to see tears in his eyes. This, of course, set me off and I began to cry as well.
The doctor measured each of the babies and their heartbeats. Yesterday was 6 weeks and 1 day of pregnancy for us. Thing 1 measured exactly 6 weeks, 1 day with a heartbeat of 111 and Thing 2 measured 6 weeks, 2 days and a heartbeat of 110. N called Thing 2 an overachiever.
We were given the pictures of our babies and I have to say that N and I were quite smitten over both of them. We left and went to lunch immediately (by this time it was after 12:30) and LD dug into a bowl of queso and started to feel much better. After lunch we went back to LD's house and waited for the kids to get out of school. We visited for a little while, then had to head home. We wished we could have stayed longer, but we had to get back to have dinner with N's dad, who still did not know about the twins.
This morning N and I are still in awe. I keep replaying the scene in my head. That first moment of realizing that our babies' heartbeats were flickering on that screen. People talk about that moment often and I never really got what the fuss was about. Now I get it. It's very emotional. I still get tears in my eyes when I think of it. I am truly blessed!
Later today I'm going to try to get the u/s pictures scanned into the computer so I can post them. They may not look like much yet, but they sure are adorable to me!
