Exploding head and NT Scan

On Saturday I had my IVIg done by a nurse in my own home. She actually had to travel 2.5 hours to my home and then she forgot the Dextrose Solution. The dextrose is an IV bag of fluid that they use to flush the actual Gammagard (Gamunex) with. It's basically like saline. That way they can keep me well hydrated and hopefully prevent some of the side-effects of the IVIg. The nurse ended up calling Dr. Z and asked him if she could please do this one infusion without the Dextrose. She said she would have me drink a lot of water and hopefully that would make up for it. Dr. Z wasn't happy but said that since he didn't want me to wait any longer he would agree this one time.

We did the infusion and it took about 4 and half hours. I felt fine throughout it and was happy I could do it in my own home and not have to drive all the way to San Fran to have it done. I couldn't believe the many supplies the nurse had though. All of which I get to keep since I purchased them...can't wait for this bill! I even own my own IV pole now.... should make an interesting hat rack when this is all done with.

About 3 hours after the infusion a bad headache started up (Sat evening). If you've followed my pregnancy to date you'll know that I've had about 6 migraines in my 1st trimester. Not fun. My entire family suffers from migraines but this is ridiculous. Typically I had 1-2 a month before my pregnancy and was able to take a medication to make them manageable. I knew pretty quickly that this headache was different than my others. Migraines are bad but this was just different and maybe even worse. The front of my face, especially around my eyes and at the temples felt like it was going to explode. The pressure was so intense I couldn't help but cry from the pain. Just touching my eyelids was incredibly painful… My blood vessels were huge and you could take my pulse by touching any vein on my face. This didn't let up at all and I had my NT Scan on Monday w/ the high risk OB/GYN (Dr. H). He's located about 45 mins from home and I managed to drive there. My husband met me there since he works nearby. We had to wait over an hour for our appt and I'm sure that all of the patients in the waiting room thought I was the highest risk in the room. I was shaking, pale and couldn't stop holding my head. I looked like hell. In fact J said it looked like I'd just come back from a 24/7 week long bender of drinking and partying all day and night long. Basically he was saying yes, you look like hell. Finally we had our NT scan and we saw both babies. One was measuring exactly on date at 13 weeks 3 days and the other was measuring a little ahead at 14 weeks. This concerned Dr. H a little just b/c you really want to do the NT measurements before the babies are measuring 13 weeks 6 days but he said it could be b/c the baby was stretched all out so he decided it was still okay to go ahead and do the measurements. They looked great and had strong heartbeats. He did the measurements which took forever b/c the babies wouldn't cooperate. One was dancing all over the place and wouldn't sit still for a second while the other was kicking back like a cool cat and wasn't going to roll over to make it easy for the doctor. Dr. H kept pushing and pounding on my tummy to try and get him/her to move but it was not working. Finally the baby was in a decent enough position to take the measurements. Dr. H wouldn't tell me anything at all b/c he said we had to wait for the blood tests to know anything. I caught some of the measurements and it sounded like the largest were 1.6mm for one of them and 1.4mm for the other so I'm hoping we're okay. Those sound like good measurements from everything I've read. I should find out the official results in a week or so.
He didn't even attempt a try on the sexes and I didn't care. I was so happy to see the babies growing and thriving. It makes it all worth it.

It amazes me that they are doing so well when I feel like death run over twice. I'm a little concerned about my weight too. In the beginning of my pregnancy I lost 5 pounds b/c of the hyperthyroid issues and then I put that back on plus 3 pounds. So I've really only gained 3 pounds over my normal pre-pregnancy weight. Not good at all since I started out a little underweight. I was told they wanted to see about a 10 pound weight gain on me in the 1st trimester since I was pregnant w/ twins. I actually can't believe I've only gained 3 pounds. I have a little baby bump and my boobs have already gone up almost two sizes. I hardly recognize my own chest. It's just so hard to focus on food when you feel horrible. And I get sick to my stomach w/ the headaches so that doesn't help. Going through the kidney stone and thyroid issues wasn't helpful either. And I can't believe the amount of protein I'm supposed to eat...150 grams a day for twin pregnancies. Are you kidding me! I could easily be a vegetarian. I eat some chicken or fish maybe 2 times a week pre-pregnancy. So now I am really trying. I'm eating high protein yogurt, more milk, lots of eggs, cheese and having meat entrees every night when I can get the food down. But even that doesn't amount to even half of the protein I should be getting. I tried the protein powder smoothie idea and couldn't force it down. It was so chalky...yuck. I need to try some different brands of whey protein powder or something.

So it's now Weds and my head is a little better...not a lot. I pretty much spent Sat through today in bed and only got up to spend some time on the computer to read a few blogs and try to eat. Yesterday I gave in and called the local OB/GYN and begged for him to help me. He prescribed some pills that have codeine/butalbital/caffeine in them. They must be safe enough since they were prescribed by an OB/GYN but the pharmacist freaked me out by saying he wouldn't recommend then for a pregnant woman since they're a class C drug. So the bottle is sitting in front of me and I haven't taken one. I will though if it starts to get worse again. I just can't take it anymore. I'm doing the ice packs on my head and I tried Sudafed thinking maybe that would help with the pressure. Don't even mention Tylenol, b/c that might as well be sugar pills for the good they do. If you have any other ideas for relief from headaches/migraines in pregnancy let me know b/c I will worship you forever if you can take away this pain.

And that has been my week so far. And to end on a positive I have to say nothing, absolutely nothing compares to seeing two strong little babies on a u/s screen. Those images from Monday will get me through... at least until the next u/s :-)