When I first arrived, I took the glucose tolerance test. This involves drinking a cold 8-oz. bottle of a super sweet orange drink in less than five minutes. It is not as fun as it sounds. An hour later, they draw the blood and check your insulin levels. Because the clinic is moving from the 2nd floor (same floor I gave birth to Thomas on!) to the first floor this weekend, I won't find out the results until Monday. REALLY hoping I passed. This is an indicator for gestational diabetes, which is more common in women carrying more than one baby, since each placenta produces additional insulin (or something like that).
Then Tim and I went in for the ultrasound. I was 27 weeks and 3 days on Thursday, at the very end of month six. (Today I am at the start of my seventh month, and officially in my third trimester. Woo-hoo! Time flies!) The tech looked at all the body parts, as usual, starting with Baby A then moving to Baby B. We just loved when the babies would bring their hands up and cover their faces, or do other equally cute things. Both babies are head down at the moment, which is always nice to hear. Baby A is laying with her back to the left side of my uterus, facing right, and Baby B is spooning, with her back up against her sister. Baby B's feet are tucked up underneath my left ribs.
Babies are measuring great: Baby A is 3 lbs 0 oz, heart rate is 133, measures 30w1d and Baby B is 2 lbs 13 oz, heart rate 144, and measures 29w1d. Baby A has very long arms and legs, so that is why she measures a week further than B. The OB says that the babies' weight gain trending means they will be about 6-1/2 pounds at 37 weeks, and 7 to 8 pounds at full term. He says that means I will be aching more. Oh well, I'd rather be complaining for the next 12 weeks if it meant nice large full term babies!
Here is my latest collage from some of the u/s pictures, my Week 27 belly shot, and a sketch of what twins look like at 28 weeks. Click to enlarge:
The only down note was that the OB said that the fluid levels around Baby B are a little higher than average. They prefer to see 6 to 7, and hers was closer to 9. I'm hoping it is just because she had all that room in front of her to measure it so easily. But the OB said it could be for a couple of reasons. It can be a sign of gestational diabetes. Or an indication that the baby has some webbing internally from the esophagus on down that prevents baby from swallowing enough fluid. So they will keep track of it and see if it continues to increase or not. We are hoping it is nothing.
I will now start going in for appointments every two weeks. At the next one, they will simply look at the umbillical cord doppler (to see where it is located, that it isn't wrapped around the neck, and continues to have positive blood flow) and check the fluid levels. These type of appointments will then alternate with a full growth scan. I start the NSTs at 32 weeks. The NST is the non-stress test, where they strap me down with three monitors: one for each baby that tracks the heart rate, and one to track any contractions I might have. I think they last twenty minutes long, and they want to see baby's heart rate increase twice during that time. It has been a while since I did this with Thomas, so I might be forgetting a detail or two. I will have to go in twice a week for those.
I remember finding it very hard to drive after 38 weeks when I was pregnant with Thomas. I am now measuring that size, and still have another 12 weeks to go. So I do worry a bit about all this driving, especially with this lousy weather.
As for the babies, they move and kick quite a bit. I still haven't noticed any hiccups, yet. They really reacted to the loud music and noises when we went to see the new movie, Avatar. It was pretty amusing. As for me, I alternate between having rib cage pain and low aching back. I wear a brace sometimes for the back, but then have to take it off when the ribs start killing. I try to do twenty minutes of prenatal yoga a day to help with the aches. I still sleep pretty well, though, knock on wood. I get the Braxton-Hicks every so often, but nothing unusual.
A few days before Christmas, I had some severe stabbing pain in my left butt cheek. Lennox, one of my fellow November moms who is a doctor, said it is called "sacroilitis" -- sacroiliac joint pain; I was thinking it was sciatica, but the pain wasn't radiating down my leg. I was hobbling around like an old woman, limping and dragging my left foot. When Tim would call me, it would take me so long to get to the phone, that he was usually leaving a message by the time I answered! I did not have this last year, and it was throwing me for a loop! It hurt me even in bed, all night long. (And Tim had to help me climb into bed.) I had a lot of weight in there in my uterus, and it was lopsided at the time, both babies seeming to be on the left. I asked my OB nurse and she said I could try a chiropractor if I needed to. So that is what I did. My chiropractor, who had closed the office that day, told me I could come in and he would treat me! (He was going to be driving by within the hour.) All he did was an adjustment on my lower spine, and within three hours, the pain was gone! I was SO glad he did that for me.
I seem to be moving slower these days, napping longer in the afternoon, and aching a lot more than I have been. I try not to complain, because it beats the alternative. But I laugh sometimes, wondering where I am headed in the next several weeks! It is so strange to feel full term, yet be nowhere near giving birth (hopefully).
1 comment:
Man, it does get worse from here. ;) The aches and pains that I had during my pregnancy, and still so fresh in my mind! Just make sure and rest, don't overdue it!!
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