New Pics of the babies...

Our babies already have totally different personalities. At every ultrasound thus far Baby A our boy has been a star. He seems to love having his picture taken and also provides picture perfect profiles which yesterday resulted in the ability to get some 3D pictures. The little girl on the other hand is either stubborn or shy, probably a combination of both. She resists the scan. She plants herself face down and then hide her face with her hands. Every time the tech, would almost have a good angle the little girl would move, or put her hands in the way. Crazy girl, especially since she's the one we need to check up on more due to her umbilical cord. We did get one 3D picture of the baby girl, but her hands are blocking her face, and she was moving so she kind of looks like an alien or something. Maybe we'll have better luck next time.



Here's our little boy sucking his thumb. Isn't he cute? ( I think he's just adorable. With his little hand on his head and sucking on his thumb).


Another picture of the baby boy since he was so cooperative and seemed to love the attention.


And our stubborn little girl, who wouldn't hold still and is using both her hands to block the shot which resulted in a kind of a scary picture. Crazy baby. She was being like her dad yesterday both shy and stubborn. Marcus often has similar reactions to my wanting to take pictures of him.

(Clicking on the pictures makes them a little bigger)

Growth Scan #1

The good news: The babies look good, moving like crazy all over the place. They both still have all of the parts that are important (especially the little girl with her umbilical cord issue) and their growth is good. The little boy weighs 15oz and the little girl 13 oz which is 9% difference which is exactly what it was 4 weeks ago. They want twins to be within 20-25% so the babies are well within that range, and they're both growing on the same growth rate as before, our little girl is probably just always going to be smaller because of genetics nothing to do with the umbilical cord at this point.

The bad news: My cervix length decreased a lot. Last time it was 3.6 this time it was 2.7 so almost a cm difference and once it goes 2.5 or under that's considered not safe. At this point they're not putting me on bed rest but they want me to be cautious of my walking habits and try to take it easy. They also want to re-check the cervix in 2 weeks instead of 4 to make sure it's not shortening any more. Once I reach 24 weeks they can do another test to see if I'm at risk for pre-term labor, and they will continue to monitor both the cervix length (every two weeks) and the growth of the babies (every 4 weeks). Marcus now wants me to quit my job, which is something I'm considering but I'm going to wait and see what the measurement is in 2 weeks. The shortening cervix was another one of my fears and I'm so worried about pre-term labor, especially right now. I'm only 21 weeks they need to stay put for a really really long time.

The neutral news: They probably will want me to see a maternal specialist who specializes in von willebrands because I'm having twins and there is so much more blood going to the uterus than with a single baby it's possible I may need DDAVP at the delivery. So now we just hope and pray that the cervix stops shortening and the babies keep growing they way that they are.

Proof Our boy & our Girl

I'm a little behind in posting these ultrasound pictures, but here's proof that Baby A is a boy and Baby B is a girl.

We're having...

a boy and a girl! We're ecstatic about the news and just sort of delirious in our excitement. In some ways it almost doesn't seem real. I think back to all those months (well years really) when I would go to Marcus crying asking if he thought we would ever have babies, and now we're having one of each.

Our ultrasound yesterday was one of the longest ultrasounds ever. We were there for over 2.5 hours and they were doing the ultrasound the entire time. They checked and measured everything on both babies, looked at their brains, hearts, kidneys, measured their leg and arm bones, and counted their fingers and toes. It took forever. For the most part everything is great.

The only concerning news is we found out our girl has a single artery umbilical cord which is a common cord defect which can cause some problems and can be a marker for some chromosomal abnormalities and other issues with the heart, kidneys, etc. It's most common in white women, more common in multiple pregnancies and more often seen in girls (how's that for lining up with the statistics). It can also cause low birth weight, restricted fetal growth, pre-term labor (which I'm already at risk for because it's twins) and other more horrible things that I don't want to write.

Right now the doctor was very optimistic. He said that he never guarantees parents healthy children but said it's a good sign that they were able to see all the parts they needed to see on our girl. She is smaller than her brother though. Our boy weighs 7 oz. and measured at 17w3d which is a few days ahead while our little girl was only 6 oz and measured at 16w1d a full week behind where she should be.

I'm trying to remain calm. The doctors are going to monitor her growth throughout this pregnancy and I trust that I'm in good hands and feel very comfortable with the specialist we saw yesterday. I should also add that in over half the cases with a single artery umbilical the babies are just fine, (although I put little stock in statistics because they mean nothing to the individual).

I also asked the doctor about the any possible complications related to the surgery I had to remove the septum. He told me that for the most part it shouldn't be an issue but that depends on how big the septum was. (I honestly couldn't remember) but he's good friends with my doctor who did the surgery so I think he'll check with her. If it was a certain size they'll recommend that I don't attempt a vaginal birth and just have a c-section (which there's a 50% chance of me needing anyways due twins) so that was a relief that the septum stuff for the most part is a non-issue.

One last piece we also found out that with the girl I have an anterior placenta which is kind of a bummer since it makes feeling fetal movement more difficult (but there's not really any extra risks with an anterior placenta). To date I haven't felt anything (the doctor asked) and now it might be even longer before I feel her move, although I wonder if I'll feel the boy soon, since his placenta is different. It's all so weird. Hopefully soon I'll feel something.

Now that we're done with the potential problems back to the happy news. They also measured my cervical length (which they will continue to do throughout the pregnancy as well). It was 3.7 cm and as the doctor put it was long and closed, good news. We also wanted to tell surprise our moms with the news about the sex of the babies (because I've had years to plan how I would share all of this kind of stuff).

We enlisted the help of my sister and Marcus' brother and ordered one pink flower and one blue flower. On the card I had the woman at the flower shop write, "Hi grandma I'm a boy and I'm a girl" Love, the S---- Babies. The lady at the flower shop was hysterical she was so excited to be assisting in this event and you would think she had some personal stake in all of it. It was fun and I'm glad we had willing siblings to help deliver the flowers so they could tell us the reaction of the moms. All in all it was a great day and we're just going to pray that our little girl grows big and strong and that her cord defect will be a non-issue. We go back in four weeks for another growth scan so hopefully she'll grow a lot in 4 weeks.

I had my MIL take a picture of the flowers for me (since I obviously didn't get to see what I was ordering). They turned out cute I think. I'll post pictures of the ultrasound once I have them scanned.

Dr. Appointment news...

Overall it was a fairly boring appointment but they did manage to annoy me on several different occasions. At my doctor they make you arrive 15 minutes early so you can go in the back and get weighed, blood pressure, and tell them why you're at the appointment. This is all fine but for once I would really love if they would at least glance at my chart.

When the nurse asked me why I was there I just said for a routine pregnancy appointment. Her next question to me, "Have you done a urine test with the lab and was it positive?" I was a little confused as to what they were testing for, then it dawned on me she wanted to know if I had my pregnancy confirmed. Good lord. I'm over 15 weeks pregnant, I've seen this doctor at least 3 times, and I've had 6 ultrasounds. Open the chart and have a little look.

All I said was yes several months ago we're a little beyond that now. Then the doctor I usually see wasn't there today, which is fine, but nobody told me that. I saw a random mid-wife I've never met before, which again is fine I guess, but I prefer my regular doctor and I hope they don't think they can just switch me.

The final annoying piece is we're still waiting on the blood test results from our NT scan. We had the scan almost 4 weeks ago and still no blood test results (apparently they have them somewhere and they're normal) thanks that's helpful, but I want the actual numbers.

So I was annoyed for most of it. As far as weight gain I've gained a total of 5 pounds, 3 pounds since my last appointment five weeks ago, which doesn't seem like enough for me. In everything I've read they say that in twin pregnancies the gain should be more. However, the midwife seemed unconcerned. She also said my uterus was growing appropriately so I guess whatever. I'll keep attempting to eat and hope for the best.

We had a quick ultrasound to check on the babies and they're both doing well, jumping and moving all over. It's so weird how much they're moving and I can't feel any of it yet. Sometimes I pay extra attention just to see if I'm missing anything but so far nothing, hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to feel something. I also had my blood drawn today to check for Spina Bifida and other such problems. Wonder if we'll ever get those results. And then it was over. Marcus seemed kind of disappointed. I'm not sure what he expects at these things (and frankly I have no idea what to expect either), but he just looked at me and said, "That's all?"

We go to the a maternal medicine specialist person in about 2 weeks to check my cervical length and also to have the anatomy scan. So if they cooperate we'll know what we're having soon, and I'll see my doctor again in another 4. Very random appointment (and I missed my first class of the semester).

NT Scan

We had our NT scan yesterday and everything looked great. Baby B's neck measurement was 1.1 and Baby A's was 1.8 which is on the low side of normal. We're still waiting on the blood test results. This was by far the best ultrasound that we've had. Our babies actually look like babies and we could see them moving all over the place.

Baby B kept trying to put it's hand in it's mouth and then every so often it would just jump then it would rest and the tech would poke my stomach and it would jump again, and Baby A was moving all over the place and at one point went upside down on it's head. Hilarious and they were so cute. We could see their little hands and feet which they would cross and then uncross, and it was the first time that it really seemed real that we were having babies. Two little babies that are ours. It's crazy and I'm so in love with them already. I'm probably a little bias but they were the cutest 12 week gestation little babies I've ever seen (I suppose they're really the only ones I've ever seen) but I'm so grateful that they're both doing okay.

Their heart rates were great and their measuring a little head, our little Baby B which the RE cautioned we may lose has caught up. I'm hoping to scan the pictures at some point from the ultrasound but for now here's a not so good picture of Baby A and Baby B.


First Baby A


And here's Baby B who was a lot more cooperative so we have clearer pictures of this one.

Everything looks okay...

The ultrasound showed two healthy babies with strong heart beats and no noticeable reason for the bleeding. What a relief. Marcus and I were a mess before going, to the point that Marcus has been preparing himself for the worst.

Baby A: Measured 8w4d (three days ahead yay!) with a heart beat of 176 bpm.
Baby B: Measured 8w1d (right on target) with a heart rate of 164 bpm.

Both the ultrasound tech and my OB said that those heart rates were perfect and everything looks great. I still wish we had a reason for the bleeding or better yet that it would just stop happening. Marcus was so cute yesterday when it was over, you could just see the relief in his eyes. Poor guy.

This is also the first ultrasound we've left where everything looked okay. So okay in fact that I don't have to have another ultrasound next week (first time in four weeks). I'm hoping for a very uneventful next few weeks until our next appointment on December 8th.

7 weeks /First OB appointment...

I keep waiting for an appointment when I leave feeling like everything is okay. *sigh* Overall the appointment was standard medical history, a bunch of forms, weight (123 still haven't gained anything), exam, tons of blood work, etc.

I caught my OB up to speed on the bleeding and the last ultrasound with the second baby measuring behind, so she decided to do another ultrasound. Both babies still have heartbeats but now both are measuring behind. The baby that was measuring 6w1d last week is now measuring 6w according to her machine. How is that even possible? And the second baby that was measuring 5w6d is now measuring 6w4d. They should both be 7 weeks.

What the hell? Now I'm really freaked out that something is wrong with both babies and there's nothing I can really do. I'm hoping it's just a matter of different machines. My OB's machine was older and she did say she was having a hard time getting a reading. I go in next friday on a better machine for another ultrasound but until then I guess I'll just continue to worry.

She also told me to cancel my appointment with the RE tomorrow, but part of me wants to go and see if she gets a different reading on the dates using her machine. Marcus is really worried and I feel so bad because there's nothing that can be done. I wish he would have been able to go to this appointment with me.

Right now I'm trying to be positive as of today both babies have heart beats... I'm trying to hold onto that.

6 weeks 1 day and pregnant with twins!

We had our follow up ultrasound with the doctor today to check on the status of our baby and hopefully see a heartbeat. Instead we found another baby and saw two heartbeats. Holy crap! There is a little bit of concern with the second baby though because it's measuring at only 5w6d and the heartbeat was much slower, and it just doesn't look as healthy as the other one.

My doctor was very cautious in warning us that she doesn't know what's going to happen, but given the smaller size and slower heart beat it's possible we'll lose that baby.

She also still sees an area in the uterus where I might still be bleeding. We'll go back next friday for another look to see how they're both doing, but for right now I'm pregnant with twins.

Below in the first ultrasound picture you can see the two sacks, the one on the bottom is noticeably smaller. The other two images are of the stronger of the two babies.

Huge scare this morning...

I woke up to red blood this morning and immediately panicked. It was only 6:30 so the doctor wasn't open yet not to mention the whole confusion about who to call the RE or the OBGYN. I called urgent care and spoke to a doctor who wasn't very helpful but said go to the lab and do another HCG he would order it. Only when I get to the lab he didn't order it and according to all of the people at urgent care there was no record of my call, which just about pushed me over the edge.

I called my RE (again) and my doctor called me back at 9:00 and had me come. The ultrasound looked normal for this stage in the pregnancy so for right now the baby is still there, but she did see what could be blood in the ultrasound. I'm still spotting some and I'm terrified. I go back in on Tuesday for another ultrasound, and I'm suppose to limit all activity. I don't know how I'm going to make it these next few days.

The first look at our little pebble. 5 weeks 1 day. We're hoping it snuggles it and hangs around for the next 35 weeks.