I'm
FINALLY starting to feel better and not like death warmed over all
the time. While I know I am truly blessed to be carrying twins (and
even pregnant at all!) I won't lie, it was a rough few weeks.
Violently throwing up and peeing myself at the same time became
routine for me, and I was perpetually nauseous. This weekend I hit my
second trimester and I'm finally start feeling like myself again. I
have enough strength and energy now to have good workouts again and
not drag myself through them. I still can't believe I've gained 20
pounds the first trimester. And that's with working out all the time!
But now that I'm no longer sick all the time I'm laying off the bread
again and back to drinking my green smoothies in the morning. I'm
definitely starting to get a baby bump. The hubs loves that. It's so
cute how he wants me to look bigger so he can feel all proud that "he
put those in there." LOL. I'm not feeling any movement yet, but
it does feel like I've got tennis balls or something stuffed in my
pelvic area. Which is making me have to pee every five minutes. If it
gets any worse I may need a catheter bag! Perhaps Coach makes one?
;-)
Today we had our appointment with maternal fetal
medicine. I didn't get to meet our doctor this appointment, that is
scheduled for next time. We got to have an ultrasound, which we
really love seeing the little ones on the screen. They had to do the
NT scan as part of the first trimester screening. When I went in a
expected to do the ultrasound vaginally as that's how they've been in
the past. To my surprise, it was the kind over the belly. We're
progressing! There's always that moment of nervousness when they
first appear on the screen. Just want to make sure everything still
going okay. But there they were, both of them squirming around like
crazy! The nurse said that they are stacked sort of like bunk
beds and in slightly different positions - Baby B (the one on top) is
facing head down and Baby A (at the bottom is sort of sideways).
Which doesn't make sense to me because in looking at the picture they
don't look like they're in opposite directions. But what do I know?
So she started the NT scan on Baby B first. (It will be
so nice to find out their sex so we can name them). This consisted of
checking for a nasal bone and measuring the space or fluid sac in the
back of the neck. This is to for signs of Down Syndrome. Baby B was
in the right position and everything measured out okay. When it came
time to check on Baby A, the little guy (or girl) decided to be
complicated. As soon as the nurse started checking it out, it started
squirming around all over the place. I was watching it on the screen
with bewilderment wondering what was going on. Then it hit me that
the baby was actually turning itself around to face my back! I could
tell the nurse was getting frustrated but I wasn't sure what we could
really do about it. She finally made me get up and empty my bladder
again and move around a little bit. Then when I laid back down she
started poking at my stomach until the baby actually flipped back
over! That is so crazy that poking around down there actually makes
them move. And what's even crazier to me is that I can't feel that at
all! At least not yet. Luckily, Baby A was finally able to be
checked out and everything looked okay. I was actually kind of
surprised that the ultrasound picture wasn't as clear as the one at
my doctor's office and this was at Winnie Palmer Hospital which is
one of the best in the country. What I like about the one at my OB's
office is they have a giant 50 inch screen in front of you so you can
see the images up close. Seems like the picture is definitely more
crisp there, too. But luckily I will be going to both doctors
frequently so I'll get to see them at both places. Oh and the nurse
said she thought one MIGHT be a girl and at first said she thought
the other MIGHT be a boy, but once Baby A changed positions she
couldn't get a clear shot. But she did say she was only guessing
because it was hard to get a clear view. Ahh!!! I want to know NOW
damn it! The boy/girl combo is definitely what we're hoping for, but
for some reason I have this nagging feeling that it could be two
girls. Only time will tell! I have an appt with my OB next Fri so
fingers crossed she'll be able to tell by then...
The next step was the doctor coming in and checking the
images to see if everything looked okay. It's not the doctor I'll
have there, I'll get to meet him in August. But it's still one of the
maternal fetal medicine doctors. He said everything looked good and
asked which screening I was getting done. I told him the genetic
counselor suggested I do a integrated sequential screening, which is
where they draw blood now and then in another month and compare the
two numbers to give you a probability of down syndrome and trisomy.
Which is a whole lot of waiting! Especially since those with
singleton pregnancies get a fancy new test that gives them the
results at a 98% accuracy rate within a few days! But it doesn't work
with twins. :-/ This doctor suggested we do something called a
modified sequential screening which just means will get the results
back from the first blood draw and then still do the second one next
month. The results of the first test gives an 80% accuracy rate and
then when you combine the one from the second blood draw it jumps up
to the high 90s. This doctor recently transferred from New York and
said that's what they do there and honestly New York is so much more
progressive than Florida I was totally on board with it. Especially
since we'll get some results back sooner. So, back to more waiting!
Baby
B Sucking thumb
Baby
A (looking a bit creepy)
The
Twins together. Baby A being a little bugger and turned around
.JPG)
