18 week OB Appt

Jan 18, 2012
18w2d

Today I had my regular appointment with my OB.  After our ultrasound and appointment with the MFM on Friday, I walked in with 3 pages of questions for Dr. Rosenberg.  I was very appreciative of his patience and understanding with my type A, need to feel in control of everything, personality.  When he came in the room he asked how I was feeling.  I gave him my typical report- "For the most part, good, aside from the typical pregnancy complaints."  He opened up my chart and asked how I felt about my ultrasound on Friday, I reached for my notes and said, "Well, I have some questions..."  He half grinned and leaned back and relaxed, I think he knew this was going to be a longer appointment than he had planned.  I started down my list one by one and we discussed each and every one of my concerns/questions.  At one point, he layed my file out in front of me and we just went over it page by page.  Finally, I just asked, "Can I get a copy of this?"  He giggled and said, "Absolutely".  I'll spare you all the medical hoopla and just say he really put my mind at ease about our latest findings at the ultrasound.  He said yes there IS a size discrepancy between the two babies and explained to me that they have consistently measured 3-4 days difference and that their growth curves have been consistent and thats wonderful news!  He also explained to me that with a twin pregnancy where the babies share the placenta, it is predetermined how the placenta will be shared.  You would think it would just be 50/50 but that's often not the case.  Its not uncommon for it to be shared 60/40, 70/30, etc.  Obviously, the closer the share, the better.

18 weeks and growing....

We also went over in detail all the other markers for TTTS and looked at the ultrasound findings for each of those areas.  Luckily, our babies both have 3 vessel cords, and a normal placental attachment which is really great news for our babies.  He also went over the amount of fluid in each sac and explained how that is measured to watch for risks as well and both babies had within normal limits of fluid as well.  Another thing to be grateful for!  So reassuring to be able to get all this info explained in detail by my Dr.

After all of that, we listened to the babies heartbeats.  Baby A resides on the right side and Baby B resides on the left.  We are officially able to distinguish between the two on the doppler, which is pretty exciting.  It takes a little more time for us to find the heartbeats, as I now have an anterior placenta.  (My placenta is in the front of the uterus and my babies are behind it so for me to feel them, they have to kick a lot harder!) This explains why I had ONE day of feeling them move and nothing since.  It looks like it will be a few more weeks before I can start feeling them regularly.

3 protein drinks/day

18 weeks and growing by the second

I've gained 25 lbs to date.... yep, that's right- 25lbs!  I'm officially on 3 protein drinks a day as a preventative measure for TTTS and unequal placental sharing.  Its hard to get all 3 down in addition to my regular meals and water intake, but I'm getting it done.  I'm also getting increasingly uncomfortable by the day and sleep is becoming harder to come by.  I'm trying to just take each ache and pain as they come and enjoy this pregnancy for all its worth.  I know when its over, it will seem as if it went by so fast.  And we will be closing the pregnancy chapter of our lives.  While I find carrying two babies to be much more taxing on my body than I had imagined, I'm still going strong.  Luckily, I have an amazing and supportive husband who has picked up all household chores and the majority of the cooking.  He's going above and beyond taking care of me, Ryder, and our girls!  I truly think I won the husband lottery!!