Are these babies growing! I had a super quick check up with the nurse practitioner today and when she measured my fundal height she said she was surprised and that these girls had grown quite a bit. The fundal height measurement is when they measure from the top of your pubic bone to the top of your uterus (as felt by pushing slightly on your belly). With a singleton pregnancy, the measurement is usually close to the number of weeks you are in gestation. With a twin pregnancy, however, there is no "right" number- they only use fundal height to track a steady growth pattern- no matter what the number. So, back to my visit, this number had apparently gotten quite a bit higher since my last visit. We heard the babies' heart beats (130s and 140s) and did another FFN test due to the contractions I'm still having (it came back negative again). Our visit was cut a bit short because the ultrasound technician was ready for me, so I moved along to her room to have a look at these girls.
It appears that the fluid levels have evened out a bit and neither baby has a lot more than the other. They are also pretty similar in size now, instead of the 20% gap in size we recorded about 5 weeks ago. We couldn't get a view of either baby's face, as they were both being incredibly camera shy, but the ultrasound tech was able to tell me she could see lots of hair on both babies! I've never heard of seeing the hair in a ultrasound, so that was a surprise to me. Once the tech had everything she needed, she told me the size and gestation estimates, based on all of her measurements. Both babies are measuring 35+ weeks and about 6lbs each! I think it's safe to say that these girls can slow down a bit in the growth department if they plan on staying in there until 38 weeks. I don't know about carrying 2, 8lb babies! I know it's only an estimate, but still... they are looking very good in size.
I, on the other hand, am looking pretty big in size. I no longer walk, I officially waddle, and it's hard to put on my shoes. Luckily, I live in southern California and can wear flip flops every day, even in December. ; ) I'm still being told to take it easy, stay off of my feet, and lay down as much as possible, although with the holiday season here that is increasingly difficult. I did finish all of my Christmas shopping early, though, so there will be no more big shopping trips for me. Now to figure out how to wrap it all when I can't sit on the floor or reach very far in front of my belly. lol
About Me
- Alison
- I'm Alison, a thirty-something, married, mother of two girls, with a passion for animals of all kinds. My family adopted our goofy, lovable dog {Charlie} from a local shelter. It breaks my heart to know there are countless animals out there being mistreated {to say the least} and I would love more than anything to help even one animal find a loving forever home. Think adoption first. Find a local animal shelter or animal rescue... don't buy your next pet... rescue him/her!
Oh...poor girl. I know carrying twins gets rough. But I'm thrilled to hear things are going well for the babies and they are perfectly healthy. My surrogate carried babies who were just over 5 1/2 and 6 1/2 lbs so she had a little over 12 lbs of babies. I'm hoping you don't get to 16! Twelve was plenty. And I'm sure you know the weights are only an estimate. We were told about 7 lbs each so luckily the babies weren't quite that much.
ReplyDeleteYes, these ultrasound estimates can be off by quite a bit. I wish I could remember how much they estimated my other surro-twins would be towards the end, so I could remember how much they were off! They ended up being 6lb 13oz and 7lb 10oz when I delivered at 38 weeks. It's all a big guessing game for now...sometime in the next 5 weeks we'll see how accurate they were! : )
DeleteHi, I just discovered your blog and it's such a fascinating story!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I have three kiddos of my own (3 1/2, 1 1/2, and 3 months... the 1 1/2 year old was the only planned one, lol) and with my middle child, we could see hair on her u/s too. Sure enough, she was born with lots of it! Actually, all three were born with lots of hair, but she had so much that we could see it in u/s and it surprised me too.
So sorry I didn't see your comment sooner! Thanks for stopping by! Yes, the hair in the u/s pic was definitely a first for me, but my own girls were born practically bald, so there wasn't much to see! lol
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