31 Weeks! Today marks the 31 week mark in our pregnancies - yahoo for us! And although I'm sure things could change at any moment - so far, the babies and our bodies aren't showing any signs of them arriving anytime soon. We're hoping they stay in for at least 5 more weeks - which also happens to be my 34th birthday (10/10 for those of you that I haven't brain-washed with my birthday)! Only time will tell, but we appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts that these babies don't show up in September.
Monthly Ultrasound Update: Yesterday, we had our monthly ultrasounds at Riverside Hospital with Carol and Dr. Fox! When Dr. Fox first heard of our story during our first ultrasound appointment back in June - he asked if it was okay to share our story with their PR department. We agreed and since then I've been talking to Christina - who actually helped coordinate the "One Born Every Minute" filming and actually recognized Chrissy from the show when she saw one of our Facebook videos online. She ended up reaching out to our local newspaper, The Columbus Dispatch. After hearing about our story, they wanted to do a story on us - so they joined us for our ultrasound appointment. They didn't want to disrupt the appointment - so just stood in the back of the room like "flies on the wall" and listened in on our appointment. They are going to come to our house on Wednesday to interview us and get some pictures of the nursery. The nursery is set-up for the most part, but I do want to get our beautiful hand-painted-by-friends alphabet letters hung on the wall by next Wednesday. ;) I'm sure they will do a wonderful job telling our story and I think it will end up being a nice keepsake to share with the kids someday.
Our Boys: Like always we kicked off the ultrasound by checking in on the boys who are nice and cozy in their aunt's womb.
Despite his aunt's pleading - Baby Boy A (the lower of the two boys) is still in breach position. He was definitely playing up his "cute" card during the ultrasound by rolling around and opening/closing his eyes for us. So amazing to see! His heart-rate was nice and steady at 138. Carol also showed us how he was doing some "fetal breathing" - which is basically breathing in and out the fluids. She explained that this is something that babies will do intermittently in the womb to practice for breathing air.
While Carol was taking the various measurements this time around - I asked her what is used to calculate their estimated weight. We learned that they use the measurement of the head, waist, and femur to come up with the estimated weight - based on historical data of measurements during pregnancy and actual birth weights. It is still an estimate - but at least gives them some way to estimate the size throughout the pregnancy. Baby Boy A weighed in at 3 lbs and 5 oz yesterday - he was estimated at 2 lbs 1 oz back on August 8th.
Baby Boy B actually did make the flip - so he is no longer breach anymore. Carol was showing us how Baby Boy B had his foot real close to Baby Boy A's head - looked like he was about to kick his brother in the head. The fact that he flipped gives us hope that his brother will also make the flip within the next couple of weeks. He was also showing off his fetal breathing skills for us and his heart-rate was at 139. According to his measurements, he now weighs about 4 lbs and 2 oz! That is a big jump from last month's weigh-in at 2 lbs. 5 oz - just under a 2 pound gain for our big boy!
Below are a couple of pictures from the boys' ultrasound. Since Baby Boy B has his head down, it was harder to try to get some good pictures of him. And the 3-D pictures still kinda freak me out - but hopefully you can make out Baby Boy A's face in the 3-D picture on the right. The other picture is just showing how Baby Boy B's foot is right in line with Baby Boy A's head. We did get to see a little bit of hair on the back of their heads - but couldn't tell the color via the ultrasound screen. Our little guys are growing and doing great. So crazy to think my sister has 7 lbs and 7 oz of Johnston boys in her! :)
Baby Girl B was much more alert than her sister! As you can see in the pictures below - she was showing off her limberness by having her straightened leg right infront of her face for a little bit. We did see her doing the fetal breathing and her heart rate was about 156. We couldn't see her hair based on how she was positioned - but she had her arm going back behind her head, so it almost looked like she was playing with her hair. Baby Girl B weighed in at 3 lbs 2 oz - last month she was 2 lbs 1 oz, so she's gained just over a pound. I was definitely glad that the girls had both gained weight.
We found out that both girls are still head down - Baby Girl A is still much lower than Baby Girl B. Since she was so low - it was very difficult to get any good ultrasound pictures of her. Below are a couple pictures of Baby Girl B. In the one picture she was showing off her flexibility and limberness - she had her legs stretched out infront of her face! It wasn't up there for very long - because when Carol went back to try to get some 3-D pictures, her leg was no longer in the way. The 3-D picture of her face is a little lumpy - but you can see her eyes, most of her nose, and part of her mouth. Definitely looking more like a baby - but still a little creepy! ;)
Overall, the babies seem to still be developing and doing great! Despite the girls' waist measurements being a little small - neither Carol nor Dr. Fox seemed super-concerned. Tomorrow we have an appointment with Dr. Lindauer - looking forward to seeing her. Good night!