Typically, we've been scheduling my appointments first for our back-to-back appointments. But since these ultrasounds seemed to be a lengthy appointment and I wasn't sure about my sister's work schedule, I decided to let her go first - in case she needed to leave for work. She let me know earlier this week that there was NO WAY she was leaving before my appointment was done, too. ;) We still stuck with the original appointments and had her go first for a change.
Aunt Chrissy's Ultrasound: We were happy to find that both babies inside my sister had hearts beating and they were also quite active. Carol pointed out that both babies were actually breach at this point - but said that they still have plenty of time to move around and get in a better position. For the first baby (which she referred to as Baby A, but we all refer to as Baby C), she started with the head/brain and then moved her way down the body. When she was looking down on the head/brain and we could see a little hand moving around - I got a few tears in my eyes. So crazy to think that this was our baby moving around!! We asked lots of questions and she would explain what she was measuring. She checked to make sure the baby had eyes, ears, mouth, and nose - which were easier for us all to see. I was having a little trouble following as she was looking at the cross-section of the baby at their stomach, kidneys, etc.... We could see the spine pretty clearly and also the legs/feet and arms/hands. She also checked the umbilical cord to make sure that things were flowing in/out as expected. We could see the heart beating on the screen and she also measured the heart-rate, which I believe was at 152. So amazing to see the baby moving around on the screen!
I forget exactly when, but I think it was towards the end of the checking for Baby C - but at one point I think she stumbled across the genitals and stopped to ask us if anyone saw anything. The other 3 responded quite quickly - but I wasn't as sure what angle we were viewing the baby from. But when I realized it was a view from the bottom (as if the baby were sitting on a glass table) - I definitely saw a penis on the screen - no doubt about that. We knew we had a son! :) It was pretty exciting and I think my husband's first statement was something to the effect of, "Okay - we have a boy - it's NOT going to be all 4 girls." I don't think anyone was shocked that we had a boy - since there's so many nephews on both sides of the family. But it was exciting to just know!
When Carol moved to the second baby in my sister (Baby B to her, but Baby D to us) - she went through the anatomy a little quicker, since she had give us all the detailed tour on the first baby. We were all able to follow along for the most part and asked questions along the way! My brother-in-law's favorite part of the ultrasound was the measuring of the heart-rates - this little guy's heart-rate was about 150. This baby was definitely even a little more active than his/her brother! And again, not sure exactly when - but she stumbled across the genitals and we found yet ANOTHER penis. So we were up to 2 sons! :) :) My sister was not surprised as she's been pretty adamant that there would only be boys inside of her. :) Although we were most anxious to find out the sexes, the great news is that both of our baby boys are developing well. One of them measured in at 9 oz (Baby C) and the other measured at 10 oz (Baby D).
Mid-Morning Updates! In-between the ultrasounds, Carol wanted to check my sister's cervix to see how long it was and make sure that both ends were nice and tight. Although we are a close-knit bunch, we aren't THAT close - so my husband and I stepped out for that part of the appointment. While we waited - my husband sent a group text message to his immediate family and we called my parents. Everyone of course was very happy of the news of two boys! At that point, my husband said he would be fine if the rest were girls - but I was pretty convinced that I was going to have 4 sons! I know my mom was hoping for a girl - so she was also pretty convinced that we were going to end up with all boys. We also sent a few texts to some anxious friends that had been texting us throughout the morning - the Blickhans definitely win the award for most anxious with their aggressive texting (but we know it all comes out of the love). ;)
Carol called us back into the room and let us know that Chrissy's cervix was measuring nice and long. Although it's not a guarantee, it definitely is a good sign that she may be able to make it to the full 38 week goal. We know how to pick our gestational carriers! ;) Dr. Fox (perinatologist) came back to review the pictures/videos that Carol had taken of our two little guys. He was (of course) taken aback by our story - but super excited for us! He reviewed everything and told us that everything on the two boys looked good - no abnormalities in either of them. He also mentioned that Ohio Health would probably love our story and asked if we would be interested in sharing it. We said that we would be open to sharing our story - so we'll see what comes of that! :)
My Ultrasound: Then it was my turn! I was a little nervous and hoping that the babies inside me would be doing as well as their brothers. I think Carol was just an anxious as we were to find out the sexes of the last two babies - so she told us that she was going to skip the normal protocol and just find out the genders of both babies right off the bat. None of us argued with that approach. We were all pretty shocked (at least, I was) when we saw that there was no penis on Baby A. We have a daughter! We know that sometimes it's tucked away or not visible on the ultrasound - but Carol showed us 3 lines in the pelvic area that indicate via ultrasound that it is definitely a girl. Definitely got some more tears in my eye when we found out that we were going to have at least one girl in the mix. I was thrilled that my parents were going to get a granddaughter, that Chrissy/James were going to get a niece, and that our niece Chloe was FINALLY going to have a girl cousin on the Johnston side of the family. Carol then moved over to Baby B to see whether there were goods for us to find or not find. And I could not believe it when again, there was no penis! We are having two daughters, too! :) :) I would've bet A LOT of money that we were going to have 4 boys - still can't believe that we are blessed enough to get two of each.
After the excitement of finding out about our two little girls, Carol went back to business and checked the girls' anatomy just like she did with the boys. Although, all of the limbs and organs looked okay - they did find one minor abnormality on Baby Girl A. Babies should have 2 veins in their umbilical cord, but she only has 1 vein. It's not a major issue, since they have 1 vein - but it can sometimes cause a baby to have a low birth-weight. They said it's more of a concern if this is found along with other abnormalities. Since she was actually larger than her sister (10 oz vs. 9 oz) and nothing else looked wrong - they said it was nothing to worry about. So far, she seems to be keeping up with the rest of them and getting what she needs through the one vein. Other than that, both girls looked great - they were less active than their brothers, but we could still see them moving around. One of them was showing off their hands/fingers for us and the other did a nice long stretch of her legs. I can't believe that we're going to be parents to two boys and two girls.... YAY!! :)
Once the ultrasounds were done, Carol needed to check my cervix to see how it was measuring. It was just like the good ole' days with Dr. Williams and the vaginal ultrasound (which has been used to look for follicles and for our 7 week ultrasounds). The great news is that my cervix was also measuring nice and long - it actually measured longer than my sister's. ;) She also pushed down on my stomach to see how the cervix would hold up. Although it moved, it didn't open up - which is good because they want it to stay closed. So it looks like our cervixes are positioning us to be able to make it quite far in our pregnancies. Avoiding any pre-term labor would be fabulous! ;)
It just seems unreal that the great news keeps coming our way. Sometimes it seems so surreal - but the further we get in the pregnancies, the more real it is getting for us. It was so fun sharing our news with family via text, email, and phone calls today. Kinda crazy that the two boy embryos were put in my sister and the two girl embryos were put into me. We know that her womb is experienced at providing a good home to boys - so let's hope that my womb will give the girls a warm & cozy play for the next 4 months! What a day! :)