23w3d

For some reason, I like to make up arbitrary rules in my head. Like, I decided that I wouldn't post again until I hit 23 weeks, and I decided to post my next belly pic at 24 weeks. Why? I couldn't tell you! But, I'm over 23 weeks now, so here I am!

I had another MFM appt. last Wednesday with Dr. Wall. It was the first one that Robert couldn't attend (he even went to all of the IVF monitoring appts), and Dr. Wall told me to tell him that he missed him and that men need playdates, too. I think that Dr. Wall likes Robert more than me! At any rate, we talked a bit about how I've been feeling and he decided that I was done working. Honestly, it was a relief. Work has been SO hard on me lately, even if only for a few hours, and it's difficult even from home because I'm so wiped out and need to try to rest so much. Dr. Luke's book says that moms-to-be of twins should stop working at 24 weeks and start resting 6 hours per day. That might be overkill for some women, but it seems about right for me. I have very little tolerance for much of anything except hanging out on the couch or sleeping these days!

Otherwise, all looked good with the babies. As Dr. Wall put it, I'm "stable crappy" these days. Babies look good, placentas look fine, BP is normal, and the uterine debris has been re-absorbed. The babies are hanging in there just fine... it's really just me that's struggling.

Anyway, I filed for my leave last week and scheduled it to begin today. I wanted to finish a bunch of work that was on my plate that was due yesterday, which I did, so starting today was good timing. I was able to leave feeling like my stuff was pretty much wrapped up. I've also been in communication with my manager for a long time, so we had someone prepared to take over for me. It'll be hard for me to go back, though, because this is a role where I am the one who generally knows all of the answers. But, after being off until Feb-March of next year, I'll be the one playing catch up. It's kind of scary to think about, actually. But, I know that it's the right thing to do for me and the babies, so we're doing it.

In other news, I went in for a single fiber EMG on Monday to finally determine whether I have myasthenia gravis. I was diagnosed with it about 7-8 months ago but then my neuro said that he wasn't sure that I had it after all and pulled me off my meds about 6 weeks ago. It's been VERY rough ever since being pulled off those meds, so I was both eager to take the test and a little scared of it. The test itself is where they basically stick needles into your muscles and shock them repeatedly for an hour or so. Because my worst symptoms are in my eyes, they decided to insert the needles into the muscles around my eyes. They then shocked me in pairs, where each pair was about 30 spaced out shocks followed by 30-50 shocks with no spaces in between. Simply put, it wasn't pleasant. At all. But, the good (?) news is that the test confirmed that I very obviously have ocular MG. Because they didn't test any other muscle, we don't know whether it's actually generalized or not, but I have symptoms of generalized, so I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Finally having a solid diagnosis will hopefully make my treatment plan much more aggressive. I hope that, eventually, I'm able to actually feel good. My goal until now was really just not to feel terrible.

My next appt. with Dr. Wall is next Wednesday. I'm sure that we'll talk about the MG and how to manage it for the duration of the pregnancy. I've already gone back on my meds, so hopefully they will begin to help soon.

Lastly, our mobiles shipped Saturday and I heard from the Etsy seller who is making our bedding that she is nearly finished. I also ordered our dresser, nightstand, and book shelf on a great sale from PBK last week. I can't wait until that all gets here and I can see how it looks! I'm not ordering any finishing touches like curtains/rug/wall decals until it all gets here and I can see the room together, so we're stalled for now. I am really looking forward to having a finished nursery. Sometimes, I go in there at night and rock in the rocking chair and try to imagine what it will be like to have two new babies. I'm still feeling pretty overwhelmed by the thought, but the more we get done to prepare, the more excited that I become!