Everyone, be sure to hug your parents a little tighter the next time you see them!!
Tonight I'd like to request some prayers for my friend (and her family) whose dad will be having hospice coming in to make him more comfortable over the next few months. Prayers of peace & comfort for Mr. Bowers. And prayers for a friend's mom who passed away on Sunday - please watch over the Hoover family in this time of grief and sorrow. Prayers for any other parents out there that may need them.
Everyone, be sure to hug your parents a little tighter the next time you see them!!
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Hope everyone had a wonderful Monday. Those of us in Ohio (and some of you in other lucky states) woke up to a few inches of snow. Kinda ironic that it's snowing this week when most of the local schools are on "spring" break. ;) I had trouble focusing today at work - not sure what possibly could've been on my mind. Perhaps it could have something to do with the great news from last Friday! Even though you all know the results of the ultrasound, I thought I'd share a little more details about that day! Between the two of us, we had a mix of emotions on Friday morning. Of course, I was hopeful for good news. But as the morning went on, I kept getting more and more scared that we were going to find no babies in the ultrasound. My husband had an interesting dream the night before. In his dream, Dr. Williams found 12 babies just inside of me. And his instant reaction was asking if we could do the "selective reduction" that is done when a woman gets pregnant with too many babies. And I yelled, "NOOOOO! We will make it work." So needless to say, he was more scared that Dr. Williams was going to find a TON of babies. It was interesting to see the survey results coming in. For those of you that guessed that we would have 3 or more, her response was, "What are these people thinking?" I told her it's not necessarily what you all are wishing on us - it's just what you think might happen. ;) The next-door neighbors watched our nephews - so that my sister's husband could come along with us. So the four of us piled into the car and headed on out to ORM.
sister would just have one - since she wasn't feeling the same bloated feeling that I was feeling. My husband gave me a kiss and said, "We have two babies!" And I responded with, "I'm just glad it's not no babies." Like my cousin guessed, they did my sister's ultrasound in another room - so we headed into the room for ultrasound #2.
babies?" At one point my brother-in-law said "I mean... they're all going to sleep at the same time, right?" - and we all burst into laughter. (I'll see if the other 3 remember anything else of interest from this waiting room chatter.) Kelly, our embryologist, stopped by the back waiting room while we were waiting to congratulate us. We thanked her for all that she did and she wished us luck. :) When Dr. Williams was ready for us, we all headed back to his office. He kinda looked like he was drained from the news. ;) He was holding his handy dandy recorder, so I knew that we were going to get to watch him dictate a letter to Dr. Lindauer. Before he started he said, "Well, I'm probably going to have to do two letters today!" And then he asked, "You two don't have the same doctor do you?" But we told him that we did and that he could just do one letter to Dr. Lindauer. Watching him dictate letters has always been one of my husband's favorite parts and my sister said she enjoyed it as well. He basically filled Dr. Lindauer in our this past cycle and let her know that we were both pregnant with twins. (During the ultrasound he measured each of the babies and they were all about 8mm big and measuring at about 6 weeks and 5 days. So all of them seem to be right around the same size and point of development.) He read off the measurements from the ultrasound as part of his letter. And he handed me the string of photos from my ultrasound and handed my sister the string of photos from her ultrasound. He let Dr. Lindauer know that he wanted me to continue the progesterone shots through 11 weeks and that my sister should continue her estrogen/progesterone regimen through 12 weeks. At the end he said something about how he was sure that she would enjoy treating us. :) After 3 years of treatments with ORM, Dr. Williams was handing us back over to Dr. Lindauer's with 4 developing babies!! After Dr. Williams was done dictating the letter, he chatted with us a little bit longer. He told us that they've probably only had 3 times in their history where they've transferred embryos from one egg/sperm source into two women. But he did say this was the first time that all embryos took. He also confirmed that the babies are indeed quadruplets - even though they are being carried in separate wombs. He also said they would probably be one of the healthiest sets of quads ever born - since they are being carried as separate sets of twins. He told us that our full-term due date is November 7, 2013 - but that since we're each having twins, they would likely be born in October. He also said that the worrying doesn't stop at this point since before our worries were, "Will I ever get pregnant?" And he said that we've answered that question today and with parenting some different types of worries. He also warned us again of how sometimes early ultrasounds detect two babies and something the next ultrasound doesn't. But he said that we saw 4 heartbeats today and he has a gut feeling that we're going to be getting 4 babies! When we all stood up to head out, my sister handed me her ultrasound pictures and said, "Here you go!" Which made Dr. Williams crack up. ;) He told us to contact them if there was anything else they could do and told us to keep in touch. He gave us all handshakes and hugs and we were on our way with our unbelievable news! The hallways of ORM has huge framed pictures of the babies that have resulted from their work. For years, I've dreamed of sending them a photo of our little ones and last Friday we made it one step closer to that dream. I must admit I was a little bummed that we didn't see Nancy - I'm sure she's so happy for us! :) During the drive home we tried calling my husband's mom, my mom, and my dad - but nobody picked up! We joked about how we could've called a bunch of friends - who were probably waiting for texts or refreshing the blog as we spoke. Finally we got a hold of my mother-in-law first. Her reaction was "Oh no....." (in a good way, of course) and then she laughed and congratulated us. My sister-in-law's reaction was, "Holy $hit...." then some laugher and congratulations. His brother's reaction was, "Uh-oh..." then the congratulations! When we got a hold of my parents after we got home, my mom just kept asking me questions. "So wait.... how many babies in you?" And then, "And how many in Kuddie?" ;) My dad's response was, "No kidding!" After their initial shock, everyone was very happy for us! We were getting a few texts from curious friends asking us if we had any news to share yet. After most of the immediate family was told the good news, we started leaking the news via text. We decided that I should just post a picture of the number 4 somehow - so that's how most of you probably found out by refreshing the blog on Friday afternoon. When we got home, we went to pick up the nephews from the neighbor's house and told them our happy news. They were also quite shocked and excited for us. The rest of the afternoon, we logged back into work. Needless to say, I was quite distracted and only did what had to be done. I felt like I should be flipping out more than I was - but I honestly was just so relieved that we had received positive baby news. I wasn't worrying about the fact that we were having 4 babies - because my husband was doing enough of that for the both of us that day. Many of you posted cute comments on the blog and sent us sweet text messages of congratulations! We were definitely feeling the love and appreciated all of you sharing in our joy that day. Quite an interesting turn of events in this long baby quest! Thanks, Gerschutz Family! :) That night my husband headed over to Dayton to watch the OSU & Notre Dame tournament games with one of his high school buddies. I went over to my sister's house - who had a bunch of friends over for the Buckeyes game. All of the friends there are part of our inner circle - so everyone was chatting all about the 4 babies on the way. When anyone asked where my husband was - I told them that he heard the news and left me already. ;) It was fun talking through all of the questions associated with us having 4 babies this fall. One of the most popular questions/statements is people asking me whether I'm going to get a new car. Apparently, people don't think that a Chevy Cavalier can carry 4 babies around. :) One friend brought over the sweet cake that you see on your left and another brought us an Easter lily. My sister also got her pregnancy journal from our friend - to keep track of her pregnancy for our babies in her. Such thoughtful friends we have! On Saturday night we hung out with a group of my high school friends at Elphie's house. It was fun to see them all and catch up. The excitement of our 4 babies definitely took over most of the conversation that evening. On Sunday morning, we shared our good news with one of the pastors that was asking how things went on Friday. We've been asking him to pray for us throughout - so we told him that his prayers definitely worked! It was our nephew's 10th birthday - so we had him, his parents, and his two younger brothers over to hang out in the afternoon. They told them that we were going to have babies- so when they got there, the two younger nephews kept asking us where the babies were. I told them that they weren't quite ready yet. ;) So following our wonderful news on Friday - we had a great weekend of friends and family on Saturday and Sunday! Well, it's almost 10:30pm - so I should probably get some sleep. We are feeling a little tired, but I'm sure we will get more tired before this trimester is over. Thanks to everyone for your love and support! :) We feel so blessed to have so many little miracles on the way. We also know that like most first-time parents, we most definitely have no idea what we're in store for this fall (times 4). But we are up for the challenge and are lucky to have such a supportive group of family and friends. In closing, I'd like to wish an official (yet belated) birthday blog wish to the 3/24 birthday kids.... Keenan (the new 10 year old), my OU...Oh Yeah friend, and my cousin, Greg. And I'd like to share a verse that Josclyn, Breann, and Annsley's mama shared with us today... good night!! Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." You know I will share the details of yesterday's ultrasound appointments with you at some point - but just wanted to add a quick post today. Below are the ultrasound pictures that show all 4 of our little ones. We are both pregnant with twins - who are technically quadruplets, even though they are being carried between two wombs. We were able to see all 4 little heartbeats flickering on the ultrasound screen. Pretty amazing and quite unbelievable! I think we're still in shock - but super excited about what the future holds for us. Thanks for all of your supportive hugs, phone calls, and texts!!
P.S. Happy Birthday, Julie!! :) Today marks 7 weeks for our little babies. Our little sweet peas should have now each grown to be the size of a grape. Here are the highlights of their development at this point in time: 7 Week Embryo
We hope to get more confirmation and reassurance that things are going in the right direction with our back-to-back ultrasounds tomorrow. At first I thought we would hear the heartbeats tomorrow - but my sister was saying tonight that she didn't think you heard the heartbeat until the 12 week mark. Of course I've googled for images of 7 week ultrasounds and they vary quite a bit. Some of the images you can see the shape - somewhat resembling the drawing above. But others just look like little blobs. Hopefully I won't be a "bad mom" like Rachel on Friends - when she couldn't see her baby on the ultrasound screen. :) Either way, I hope we get some ultrasound pictures to bring home - which we will of course share with you all. My sister and I are both still feeling pretty "normal" - no morning/evening sickness or extreme tiredness yet. My sister said she does feel a little tired earlier in the nights - but that could just be due to her demanding work schedule and mommy duties. I was starting to feel like my lack of working out and eating habits were catching up to me - outside of the pregnancy. So I went for a 2 mile walk on Saturday and a 3 mile walk on Sunday. It felt good to get out and get some fresh air - even if it was a little chilly. This week I've tried to make healthier food choices this week after reading about "the pregnancy diet" in my "What To Expect When You're Expecting" book. Despite that, I have noticed this week that I feel very bloated in the afternoon and evening. Nothing to complain about at this point, but my pants are definitely much more snug on my drive home from work each day! Tomorrow will be another huge milestone in this journey - my ultrasound is scheduled for 1pm and my sister's will be at 1:15pm! We've had lots of ultrasounds throughout the years to check on follicles leading up to procedures. But this will be our first post-treatment ultrasound where the goal is to find some babies! Tomorrow's ultrasounds will happen at Ohio Reproductive Medicine (ORM) - with Dr. Williams or one of his colleagues. If all goes well, then Dr. Williams will turn us over to our normal OB, Dr. Lindauer, for the rest of the pregnancies. A friend recommended Dr. Lindauer to my sister and I followed suit when I moved back to Columbus. Dr. Lindauer is super sweet and knows what we've been going through. She's been getting updates along the way from Dr. Williams, my sister, and our friend who recommended her. Excited to hopefully start scheduling our next appointments with Dr. Lindauer! We go back and forth about what we think the results will be tomorrow - it's so weird to think that we will soon find out. But tonight, my hubby thinks that we're going to find out that we're having two babies tomorrow - one in me and one in my sister. I kinda have a feeling that we may be having 3 and that I may be the one carrying the twins. It has been interesting seeing some of the survey responses coming in tonight. If you haven't already, don't forget to give us your predictions via our survey link. We know that taking care of two babies would obviously be easier than taking care of three or four. But after dealing with infertility for so long - we also know that beggars can't be choosers. Besides, God doesn't give you more than you can handle, right? At the end of the day, the ultimate goal for us remains to have at least one baby - any more is just icing on our cake! :) We appreciate all of your texts, prayers, and positive thoughts. Praying and hoping for more great news to share with you all! Tomorrow is the big day! :) We are pretty excited to find out the results of tomorrow's ultrasound. We thought it would be fun to take a quick poll tonight and tomorrow morning to get your ultrasound predictions. If you have a minute - please follow this link to take the 3 question survey.
Zora & her proud parents :) Tonight the newest Polikoff entered into the world shortly before 4PM Central time. And "the Sequel" turned out to be a girl, just like her big sister! :) We are so thrilled that little Zora has arrived. She weighed over 8 pounds - about a pound more than her big sister was at birth. And I didn't catch how long she was - but based on her parents' heights (and shoe sizes), I'm sure she's on the longer side. I don't mind admitting that I was wrong as I predicted that #31 was going to be a boy last night. My sister and my husband both predicted she would be a girl - when will I learn that they are always right?
My cousin pointed out that the trend of being an "all girl" or "all boy" family has continued with Zora's birth. My cousin and his wife have two boys, my sister and her hubby have two boys, and now there's two girls for the Polikoff family. So perhaps we can assume that Sophie will have a little sister someday! Zora's mommy warned us not to mess up the trend by having a mix of boys and girls this year. ;) We can't wait to meet Zora in early May when the family gathers for a shower for Baby #32's Mama. It was fun being PUPO with my fellow 79'er - even if it was just for a few weeks. Tonight's song is dedicated to Zora! :) (FYI - I tried to find a youtube video of the Pioneer Laser Disc karaoke version of this song with the ice-skaters - but no such luck.) Good night!! Good Evening! We hope that you all had a great weekend. And I hope that those of you that were out celebrating St. Patty's Day had a couple green beers for me. :) Last year at this time, my sister and I had just gotten back from our cousin's wedding in Guam. My husband was out in Vegas for March Madness and I was bound/determined to go out somewhere on St. Patty's Day for some green beer. I did succeed in my mission after tracking down some friends via Facebook. I must've known that I wouldn't be able to have any green beer this year. ;) I'm definitely fine without the green beer this year and rather enjoyed being the designated driver on Friday & Saturday night. I seriously love the fact that I can't drink because I'm PREGNANT. :) I also enjoy not being able to clean out our cat's litter box - though I admit my husband took care of it the majority of the time anyway.
Dentist appointments for the past few years have served as 6 month milestones, reminding me that I still wasn't pregnant. So it was kinda fun to go in to my dentist appointment last Monday, knowing that I was pregnant. :) I always get the same dental hygienist who is very sweet. When she asked about any changes to my health recently, I responded with, "Well.... I'm like barely pregnant." She congratulated me and said we did x-rays last time, so perfect timing. Throughout the cleaning, she asked more questions - which eventually led me to share how we did IVF and and how my sister was also pregnant with our baby. She just kept saying, "Wow!" :) When I asked her what was new with her - she told me that she was actually pregnant, too. She's 15 weeks along and due in September. They are just expecting one baby, but she said she always thought twins would be fun. My next appointment isn't until September and she'll be out on leave, so we both wished each other luck with the rest of our pregnancies. For the past year or two, I've been going to Roxanne for eyebrow waxing and haircuts at the mall. She has a little boy - so at one point awhile back she asked if I had any kids. And I responded with something to the effect that we're working on it or that it's taking longer than expected. She asked if we looked into any treatments - so I let her know everything we'd already tried. So ever since then I've been giving her updates each time I see her. She was super-excited about our 2013 plans and hopeful that things would work. I went in to get my eyebrows waxed this weekend and it was fun to share my good news with her. :) Like the rest of us, she was shocked to hear that we were both pregnant and can't wait to hear how many babies are on the way. She's going to have to wait a little longer to find out (whenever I go back for my next eyebrow waxing) - but the rest of us will find out in 5 more sleeps!! This weekend, we were treated to delicious dinners on Saturday & Sunday nights by some friends to celebrate our wonderful baby news. The real treat was just spending time with them, but it was sweet of them to also pick up the tab. Thanks, McMullens & Georges!! Tonight at dinner we also received a pregnancy journal for me to document the pregnancy. You all know I love to document things, so it was the perfect gift. The funny thing is that last Thursday, another friend asked if we had pregnancy journals yet and told me that she was going to get them for us. So when I received the pregnancy journal tonight, I had to text her to let her know that we just got one. :) We definitely appreciate the thoughtfulness of our friends - we are so lucky to have you all in our lives! My fellow 79'er cousin's due date was yesterday - but it sounds like the baby is still warm/cozy inside her belly. I'm guessing that he/she will make their appearance this week - but we'll see. Prayers for a quick and easy delivery for Carly's little sibling! And please continue to pray for Breann & Ansley - they are making progress, but still have a long road ahead of them. Their parents could probably use a few prayers as well - can't imagine the emotional roller-coaster they have been on for the last few weeks. And prayers for another friend's appointment on Wednesday! Happy Friday! Hope that you all had a great week. My week was jam-packed and felt quite long - so I'm glad it's Friday. At this time next week, we'll know how many Baby Johnstons are on the way. :) We definitely think that hearing the heartbeats will make things seem even more real - we can't wait! It is still very early-on in the pregnancy and we have a long road, but it's hard to contain our excitement these days. From our perspective, the ultimate goal is to still have at least 1 little baby still developing - the more, the merrier, of course. We had a 2.5 day meeting at work this week that I helped to host. Folks from our Atlanta office flew up for the session - so we all went out to dinner on Wednesday night. The dinner included drinks on Wednesday night. But it's tough to "fake" drink in public - so I just stuck to Sprite and water. I don't think that many people really noticed/cared. A few asked if I wanted any wine, but I just said that wine hits me quick and that I prefer not to drink if I have to drive. Nobody really argued with that. :) I was sitting in-between two ladies that have kids - so we were talking about their sons throughout dinner. At one point the one lady said, "Annie will have to have a baby and experience it for herself someday." Then she added, "But not until after this project is over." I just laughed and smiled. This project is scheduled to go through January of 2014, so there is a good chance that I will be bowing out of the project for some maternity leave. :) Since we basically locked ourselves in a conference room all day - lunch was brought in each day. The 2nd day our lunch was deli sandwiches and salad. But it is said that eating deli meat (unless it's steaming hot) can be bad when you're pregnant - it has something that may cause miscarriages. So I ended up making myself a salad and just getting a 1/2 sandwich. The ironic thing was that while I was in line getting my food, another lady was asking this girl if she avoided deli meat back when she was pregnant. In case I had forgotten, that definitely would've reminded me - but it was already on my mind. I just pulled out the meat from my sandwich and ate the bread/veggie part of the sandwich along with my salad. It worked out just fine! 6 Week Update: Around this time, the embryos are each about the size of a sweet pea and their heads are over-sized in proportion to the body. (Note: Their mama is a Kortlandt and big heads run in the family - so that may or may not go away.) Here are the highlights of the rest of their progress thus far:
It still amazes me how much is going on so early in the pregnancy. Just hoping and praying that they are continuing to develop inside of my womb and Wamba Land (my sister's womb). Pregnancy Symptoms: My sister still feels pretty normal and hasn't noticed any real pregnancy symptoms yet. I feel like I'm feeling some - but then I always wonder if I'm just making them up in my head. My boobs are still a little sore from time to time. And this week I noticed that if it's been awhile since I've had something to eat (which doesn't happen often) - I do start to feel a little off. I'm feeling very bloated and full - but I think that's just my lack of working out catching up to me. I'm hoping the weather gets warmer soon - so that I can start going for walks in the morning or night. We are heading out to the FunnyBone Comedy Club with two of my co-worker friends tonight. It's tough to fake-drink in public, so I'm going to just have to come up with some excuse. We'll see if they question my non-drinking too much or just let it go! In closing, I'd like to shout-out a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to JL! :) My sister and I are 6 weeks pregnant today - whoooey!! :) Tonight we went out with some friends to celebrate Sara's birthday. Happy Birthday, Sara!!! Such a fun night out with the girls! I need to get to work early tomorrow, so I'll have to fill you in later as to what's going on with our babies at this point in the pregnancy. Stay tuned... :)
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