12 Week Appointment and NT scan

We are 12 weeks pregnant today!! YAY!!!

We went into the RE this morning for our NT scan (also called an ultrascreen). They did an ultrasound and looked very closely at each of the babies. They are growing like weeds!! Baby A is measuring 12w3d (3 days ahead of schedule!), and baby B is measuring 12w1d (1 day ahead of schedule). Their heartbeats today were in the 150's. At 12 weeks the heartbeats usually drop from between 160-180 to between 120-160. The 150's is a lovely place to be=).

So during the scan they measured the babies, listened to their heartbeats, and made a special effort to measure the amount of fluid behind the babies necks. They measured this fluid several times on each baby. Anything under 3.7 is considered "normal". Both babies were well under that. The highest reading they got on either baby was 1.5. So, all clear on that test! They also took my blood, and they will contact me in a week or so with my updated risk profile. They didn't seem concerned at all. Neither am I. Oh, and for those of you that are wondering, they refused to even take a peek at the babies privates and make a guess at the sexes. Bummer!

So, after our visit today, we were officially released to our OB! Yay for graduation from the RE!!! What a wonderful day!! We are very excited=).

Here are the pictures from the ultrasound today. She took a gazillion pictures, but she only gave us 2. . .cheapskates!! I will try to get some more pics taken of my belly so you guys can watch me grow as well. The thing is, the babies are sitting low, so I am big low, but nowhere else! And it's not a nice round anything. . .I think I look ridiculous honestly! Anywho. . . here are the pics! We go in to see our OB next Wednesday on May 5th.

10 weeks already!

We had our 10 week ultrasound visit with our RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist) this morning. I thought that after this visit I would be discharged to my OB, but no dice this time. Maud (the RE) is hanging on to me for a bit longer. I am of course seeing my OB at the same time, but Maud is refusing to fully discharge me. Oh well. More monitoring for me! No hard feelings there!

We decided to go ahead and schedule the NT screen for the babies (also called an ultrascreen). The scan is used to determine our odds for having a baby with Down's Syndrome or one of the Trisomy's. It's totally non-invasive to the babies - just blood work from me and the information gathered from the extra long ultrasound. The outcome doesn't really matter much to us as we wouldn't terminate regardless, but it's a LONG ultrasound of the babies, and any sneak peek of the kids I get I love!! Maud will be doing the scan on 4/27, so just two weeks away. I will be 12 weeks then. Still to early to determine sex, but pretty darn close to the end of the first trimester (which I can hardly wait for!).

I must say I have been pleased in the last couple of days because some of my morning sickness has started to go away! Woo hoo! I still feel pretty cruddy most of the time, but now I can eat some normal food instead of living on graham crackers! I had chicken and mashed potatoes yesterday - YUM! I was so pleased=). Today, not so great, but that's okay. Being able to eat normal food sometimes is at least a bonus=).

Okay, so that brings us to the ultrasound pictures from today! They are so much bigger than they were at 8 weeks and they are starting to look like babies! YAY! We have another ultrasound tomorrow with my OB, but unless the pictures are better than these I probably won't post them. Enjoy!!

Gettin' bigger by the minute!

I have been informed that it is time for me to post an updated picture of myself to my blog (good thinking Chris and Bryan!). I would have to say that I tend to agree! I feel quite a bit bigger than last week. It must mean that the babies are doing well and are growing big and strong (even though they aren't even an inch long yet!).

At 8 weeks gestation, babies are on average about the size of a raspberry (only .63 inches). They already have little arm and leg buds and are moving around like crazy inside of momma. How AMAZING is that?!

And how do two little raspberry sized babies make me look this big??? LOL=). I think I look WAY bigger in the first pic than I do in the second pic! I have to keep in mind that tops no longer fit the same way they used to, so in order to get a good view of my "baby bump" I need to put my hands up there to show you where you should be looking, and yeah, it bumps out a little bit!!





And the cutest thought of the day - my Aunt Chris and Uncle Tim have twin boys - Bryan and Justin - and Bryan said today that he can't wait until our twins are 5 years old so he can play soccer with them! How perfect is that??? I too am excited for the babies to play soccer with their twin 2nd cousins. That will be an AWESOME day! I'm so happy you are excited for the babies Bryan!! =).

I hope you all are having a blessed week! With Easter on Sunday it is an excellent reminder to give thanks for all of the wonderful blessings God has provided us. I thank God every day for the wonderful gift of life that we have been given, for my wonderful husband and family, good jobs, and nice home, and I of course cherish every day I get to spend with the babies (even if they do make me incredibly nauseous)!! I hope you all are well and are just as blessed as we are!!