Another week

Our appointment yesterday was a long one. We had our second growth scan and were hoping that the twins would have grown equally, along with our girl of course! Funny that right now our girl is giving us the least amount of trouble, while the boys are the ones we worry about most. I am sure that will change at some point once they are here! Here's what we saw and found out about each.

Baby A (girl): She was in a normal amount of fluid (about 5) and moving around. She is still hanging out down at the bottom. As she was being measured we saw her yawn, as if she was completely bored with our presence. It was fairly easy to measure her stomach, arms, legs, and head (we even saw the brain and measured the cerebrum), and heart, but it was hard to see her whole spine since she was curled up most of the time. The tech wasn't worried since she had seen the brain so well. She had grown since our last level II ultrasound and now weighs about 1 pound! It was so nice to watch her while they measured everything since we knew that she was our most "normal" baby-this must be what people feel like when they only have 1 baby in there.

Baby B (boy): I think he was the most active baby during this ultrasound. He ended up facing the "camera" for a lot of the time, which he usually does at every visit. We were able to see eyeballs this time on all the babies, not just the eye sockets. It was crazy! His feet were tucked all the way up under my ribs on the right side-nice. The tech had a difficult time measuring his heart since he wouldn't stay still for very long. It was a bit tricky to measure most of him because of his movement! Even if he sat still his arms would be moving, which would make shadows right where we needed to see. Hopefully he calms down by the time he comes out into the world-otherwise I am going to be one tired momma! He also had good growth and weighs about 15 ounces. As she measured his fluid I began to worry (what else is new). His fluid was about 8.4. Normal range is between 3 and 8. So he is considered to be polyhydramnios. He looked as though he was enjoying his extra large amniotic sac as he moved around, but it is not a good thing.

Baby C (boy): So, now that we know Baby B has too much fluid, we move on to our other little boy. He obviously looks like he is in less fluid, but is still moving around. That made me feel a little better since he didn't look like he was "stuck," which is what they talk about with twin to twin transfusion. On to the measurements. He had also grown well, like his siblings. Since he was moving, she had a hard time measuring some areas on him too. She went through most of the areas and I stared intently at the screen for clues. Most of the time, he was measuring at or ahead of where we are. She says, "No visible bladder; he must've just peed." Now I am freaking out inside-no bladder means definite TTTS. Luckily, she was right and after a few minutes the bladder was visible and refilling. I am going to give myself a heart attack! She did an extra test on his heart and turned the doppler on, which she had not done with the others. She did not explain why she was looking more closely, and I didn't ask, just prayed that there wasn't really a problem and she made a mistake. I pretty much held my breath for the remainder of the ultrasound. What else could go wrong is what I was thinking at this point. I also thought about how we were laughing and joking at the beginning of the exam when we were looking at the girl, and now we were quiet and somber during the end for this boy. What a rollercoaster! After all the measurements, he weighs about 14 ounces. She measured the fluid and the first pocket was around 6 and the second was around 7. One sigh of relief.

Now we wait for our doctor to come in to measure my cervix and check for a few things himself. My cervix is still long and closed-yea! The tech told him about the fluid levels and something about baby B's heart (I was confused about it being baby B). So our doctor started to look at the babies and was talking about how the doctors like to look at certain things for themselves with multiples because of operator fatigue. I was hoping that certain things were measured correctly, except the important amniotic fluid and baby C's heart. It was the last appointment of the day, so it was possible! He proceeded to turn on the doppler function and listened. After a few minutes, he turned that off and was just checking out the kiddies. The tech came back in and said it was baby C, not B. So he turned the doppler back on and listened again. I thought he was checking the heart this whole time, but I was wrong. He finally said that he was checking the blood flow on the placentas, even though they don't normally do that this early. He didn't seem concerned with what he found, and actually said, "I may have over-reacted before." I said enthusiastically, "I hope so!" He checked the fluid in baby C's sac and had a level closer to 4-still within normal. He also said that since they were moving so much (which he likes to see), the thin membrane between them was also moving a lot. So it was a bit harder to get an accurate fluid level. He said he was really happy with their growth, which made me feel better too. Time to wipe off the goo, again, and go into a normal room. Almost done!

Blood pressure and weight good, fundal height measurement-38! Oh goodness, almost full term size for a singleton and I am only a little over halfway! I am going to be HUGE!!! My uterus is all the way up to right under where my bra sits-explains the nasty heartburn! The nurse said that now I will start filling out on the sides more and then the top will come down a little. Fun! Dr. K came in and restated that he was really happy with the growth of all the babies. He said that I passed my mid-term report card and was pretty happy with everything at this point. He asked if the weekly appointments were getting to be too much at this point. I told him I would come in everyday if I could, so he said we'll keep doing the weekly checks. Thank goodness. The next growth scan would be in 4 weeks this time-and I thought to myself that'll be the safer zone at that point since I will be 25 weeks. I can now start taking Pepcid since the other meds haven't worked. I also mentioned the tightening again and he wanted to know how often it's happening. The last couple days it wasn't as often, but over the weekend it was most of the day. He said anytime it happens, empty my bladder and lay down. If they aren't gone within an hour of doing that, I need to call and they'll tell me to come in for monitoring. I am now supposed to be on rest more than I am up now-I can get up for about an hour, but then have to lay down for a few hours. That might be part of my problem. Since we are so close to a safer point, but not quite there yet, I will definitely be on top of that more. I am scared that I will go into pre-term labor and lose these little guys. So I think we will be making a trip at some point before 25 weeks, unless my uterus actually cooperates and stops on it's own!!

Sorry this was so long-a lot of info! Just imagine being there for these appointments-they are draining. We stopped for food on the way home and then both fell asleep on the couch at 8. I have to rest up for the shower this weekend-that'll definitely wear me out too! Later I will add pictures of the babies and of my ever growing belly, since I have heard someone requested it!