Week 8 Update!

Busy Day! It started off with an early appointment with the Perinatalogist (maternal fetal specialist). We were anxious but also excited to see our little sweet peas again.

While having the ultrasound, we received the news we had been hoping for: There was the dividing membrane! Our babies are in TWO SEPARATE SACS! Whew. Talk about relief. This makes them mo-di twins, which is MUCH less risky than the rare mo-mo type. I cried immediately, and apparently hadn't realized how much anxiety I was holding in about this situation! We heard the beautiful sounds of their heartbeats, and they were even stronger than last week. They've both grown a lot since last week, and are right on target with growth and development. I'm posting the first snapshots of our little ones from the very first ultrasound until the one we had today.

Later, we went back to my OB for the first time since being at REACH. It felt amazing to be "on the other side" and in the office for such a happy reason. This visit was complete with lots of questions answered, and we were sent away with an entire binder full of information about classes, visits, and any and all things relating to our pregnancy. That should keep this information hound busy for quite a while!

We will return to see our Perinatalogist and our OB in four weeks, on April 26th. We'll be wrapping up the first trimester that week, so the ultrasound will reveal babies with little arms and legs and they will have grown so much. It will be difficult to wait that long without the weekly monitoring I've been receiving, but I trust that everything will continue to move smoothly as it has so far.

In short, our pregnancy is still a high risk one because our babies are sharing a placenta. What that means is frequent monitoring throughout the pregnancy should complications arise. We were surprised to see the individual sacs this early, but it was confirmed and we can see them clear as day. EVERYONE is relieved about this. Thank you for keeping us in your positive thoughts and prayers. They have been heard!:)

5 weeks 4 days

6 weeks 6 days

7 weeks 6 days

(look closely and you can see the sacs and membrane between them!)

Please keep thinking about our little babies and praying that they listen to mommy, daddy and doctors and continue to grow and develop as they have so far.

Another great day, another reminder of how blessed we are.

Heartbeats!

The week went by and we went from sheer happiness to sheer panic and back to happiness over and over. We're learning to stay off the internet-at least for twin research! It can be a scary place. We have scoured the articles about twins and learned lots about the different types of twins. We have identical twins, which are monochorionic (meaning they share a placenta). Then, they will either be diamniotic or monoamniotic. If they are mo-di, they share a placenta but have their own amniotic sacs. If they are mo-mo, they share both the placenta and the amniotic sac. Mo-mo twins are much higher risk, and much, much more unusual. Mo-di is still high risk, but a better scenario for the babies, as they would each have their own "swimming pool". So, after researching, we have learned that through an ultrasound, a thin membrane can be seen between the babies, indicating that there are two amniotic sacs.

This can usually be seen between weeks 8-12, but has been also found later in pregnancy, too. (23+ weeks!) We were hopeful that we would spot ours at the ultrasound, but our doctor said it's still too early for it to be seen. Not to worry though, it could show up in the next week or two.

This ultrasound was incredible. We were anxious about "vanishing twin syndrome" and any other complications that might have occurred within the week. Then, a huge sigh of relief came. There they were, measuring almost exactly the same size (baby A-8.5 mm and baby B-8.6mm) and the ratios of bodies to yolk sacs looked great, too. He said they were right on target for this stage of development. Then, we were able to HEAR their heartbeats. I truly cannot describe the amount of joy and relief felt when we heard those strong beats. Baby A measured 127 bpm and Baby B measured 130 bpm. Our doctor said they were right within the range he liked to see at this point. He could clearly see that there were two separate babies (a good sign) and said that everything else looked like it was progressing along great.

He is sending us to a perinatalogist (maternal fetal specialist) and we will also start seeing my OB.

Both appointments are Thursday, March 31st, when I'll be a little over 8 weeks along. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and keep your fingers crossed for us to find that dividing membrane!

I am feeling great, and enjoying every moment of pregnancy. I am certainly feeling symptoms, but I actually welcome them, as they remind me that I'm pregnant! Fatigue has been the largest symptom lately. I am completely exhausted by 7:30-8:00 at night! Growing two babies is hard work! And I couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

We're Pregnant!!

On March 1, 2011, our worlds were turned upside down. We had anticipated the window of time when we'd be able to test, and the day had finally come. We had been gaurdedly optimistic about some early pregnancy symptoms, but certainly didn't want to get our hopes up too high or too soon. I couldn't sleep, but T.J. made me promise I wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night just to test! (ahem-this has happened once before). So, we set the alarm for 6:00 a.m. and popped out of bed right away.

The two minutes wait was nothing like the "two-week-wait" we'd experienced up until that moment, but time seemed to stand still as we waited. We had played several scenarios in our mind before, in order to prepare ourselves. I couldn't stand the anticipation of T.J. seeing the test and then having to pass along the news to me, so we tried to look at it at the same time. Once I saw the test, I immediately started crying and screaming. T.J. says that for a split second he couldn't tell what the result was because apparently I was blocking his view from the test. Once he saw it we both cried and thanked God over and over and over again for this blessing. I couldn't wait to confirm it at the doctor's office, so I went right in that morning. Later that day, the nurse called and her words "oh yes, you're definitely pregnant" rang sweetly in my ears. :)

Our journey to parenthood has begun!