Dr. Lindauer came in with so much excitement and joy for us - such a sweetie. It was nice for my husband to finally meet her. After congratulating us - she started talking to us about twin pregnancies. We are considered high-risk just because we are carrying twins. The good news about us carrying fraternal twins is that there is little less risk - since each baby has their own placenta. I guess more complications/issues can arise when identical twins are sharing one placenta. She also said that we will definitely get more ultrasounds with twins - so they can check in and see how they are both doing. For now, we will just have appointments with her every 4 weeks until we get to the 28-week mark, then we will have appointments every two weeks. And she also said we'll probably switch to weekly appointments a little sooner that someone that's only carrying one baby. The chances of C-section are also higher - because with two babies, there's a greater chance that both aren't in the proper position. And she did say they will send us both out for a high-risk ultrasound around 18 weeks (we'll be 18 weeks on June 6th) - which is when we can find out their genders. :)
Since I was overdue for my annual exam, my husband got to see all of the excitement that comes with that - but I will spare you the details. Once she was done with that, we got to get back to the much more exciting baby business.
Dr. Lindauer said that she would try the over-the-belly ultrasound first - to see if she could spare me one more internal ultrasound. I told her that either way was fine and that we were just excited to be looking for babies instead of follicles. The good news is that we were able to check out both of the babies with just the over-the-belly ultrasound! It is amazing how much they have changed since our 7 week ultrasound with Dr. Williams. They actually looked like babies on the screen this time. And the most amazing part was that we could see them both moving around on the screen. :) :) So amazing to see two of our little miracles up on the screen moving around - it did bring a few tears to my eyes. It's still hard to believe we have little babies developing - seems more real each time we see them. We didn't get to hear their heartbeats, but we did see their heartbeats flickering on the screen again. She measured both of them and they were both measuring at exactly 12 weeks - so they are both right on track for their development. Yay!!!
Dr. Lindauer definitely took a few ultrasound photos for us - so I will do my best to try to help you see them. I think it's easier for us to see them in the pictures - since we saw them up on the screen. I texted a couple pictures to my dad and spent quite some time trying to describe where the baby was in each photo. She labeled the ultrasounds as "Baby A" vs. "Baby B." "Baby A" just means that it's the baby that is furthest one down and the one that would come out first. I know the babies will probably move around within their own individual sac, but I don't think that the actual sacs will move around or shift so that Baby B would be further down later on. But I don't know for sure, so I will try to remember to ask her later this week during my sister's appointment.
After the ultrasound excitement, we had a few more things to take care of before we left. I had to get my blood drawn for a couple tests. Then we sat down with Amy, one of the nurses - who walked us through a folder filled with pregnancy info and just general info about contacting the doctors after-hours. (I didn't think we'd be getting any more folders since we had graduated from ORM.) She also gave us a little gift bag from Similac full of different magazines, information, and give-aways. On our way out, we were able to schedule our next appointments back-to-back for Monday, 5/20 - our nephew, Oliver's birthday. I will be first at 2:30pm and then my sister will be at 3pm.
It was a great appointment - we are both so thankful and excited that two of our little babies are still doing so well. My husband commented on how much smaller the rooms were than the examination rooms at Ohio Reproductive Medicine. Their rooms are just designed for the doctor and the patient and spouse - they don't need to have room for the embryologist and a nurse, etc.... When we go back on Wednesday for my sister's appointment - we'll have to figure out a way for him to see the screen, yet not their aunt. :)
- They are each a little over 1.5 inches long and about the size of a fig. (Click on this link if you're like me and not real familiar with the size of a fig.)
- The babies bones are starting to harden and tiny tooth buds are starting to form under the gums.
- The babies may soon be able to open and close their fists.
- The babies' skin is still transparent - allowing many blood vessels to show through.
Thanks to everyone for their continued love and support. We are so grateful to have such loving family and friends. We really appreciate your enthusiasm and love being able to share this journey with you all. And although we know that we have no idea what we're in store for later this fall, we are super excited to become parents (times 4) and planning to just take it all one day at a time. In closing, I'd like to shout out a Happy 3rd Birthday to Quinn and a Happy Belated Birthday to Ethan! I'd also like to request prayers for Mr. Frase - that his tests went well today. And please continue to pray for the Bowers family and for the Robbins family. Good night!!