18 Week Ultrasound

I'm a week late in posting about our milestone 18 week ultrasound - we've been dealing with a sick Sprocket since last Monday, and as all of you animal lovers know, it can be incredibly time consuming ($$$ consuming!) and emotionally draining to have a pet with unresolved medical issues.

In any case, this is most certainly a Good News post, so l'll focus on the babies!

We were pretty nervous going in to this ultrasound last Monday. We hadn't seen the little ones in 6 weeks, and although I could feel sporadic movement in my uterus, it was impossible to guess how many babies that movement represented. This was also our first ultrasound at the High Risk clinic at the Civic Hospital, and we were impressed by their technology and empathetic bed-side manner.

The tech started off by making sure all babies were present and accounted for - all three had very good heart-rates (145, 148 and 155), and all three measured and weighed within the normal range for their gestational age. The next step was to carefully examine each one to ensure all major physiological structures were intact and functioning (brain, kidneys, bladder, heart, etc). Of course, we were offered the opportunity to find out their genders too, but we declined. That being said, one of them flashed us unexpectedly and I got the distinct impression that Baby B is a girl! The tech didn't say too much while she was scanning - there was a lot of wiggling and flipping going on, so she had to concentrate to get the right angles for measurement. All in all, the ultrasound lasted a good hour and 15 minutes, so we knew she was being very thorough!

Waiting until Thursday to review the results with our OB was a little stressful. The tech didn't seem to overly focus on one particular baby, or body part, so we felt somewhat reassured that we would receive good news. Our OB was thrilled with the results, telling us that the Civic's best prenatal radiologist reviewed the scans and found the babies to be "perfect". He did note that one was a little smaller than the others, but still within the normal range so he was not yet concerned about its growth. In fact, its very rare to have non-identical multiples measuring the same - size discrepancy is to be expected.

He also made note of the length of my cervix. This is an important indicator of preterm labour risk, and although I'm technically within the norm, it is a little shorter than they would like to see at this stage of my pregnancy. Thus, the dreaded B word was mentioned, and I'm now on modified bedrest. This means that I'm allowed up and about, but I should be off my feet for most of the day, and no malls or extended shopping trips for me! I've already started a few lists for Edward, and bought some stuff on-line, so hopefully we'll get everything covered by the time we need to use the nursery.

Monday is our 20 week ultrasound (we're going every 2 weeks now), with another result session with the OB on Thursday, This time, my mother will accompany me to the scan because Edward is starting his new job (a lateral move within the organization) the same day. Hopefully, all the babies will cooperate, and Nana can have her first look at the latest additions to the family!