20 Week Ultrasound

My mother and I went to the Civic on Monday for the 20 week ultrasound, and she got to see the babies in action for the first time! I was expecting that the technician would do a brief headcount and that would be it, considering all the detailed measuring was done two weeks earlier. However, she still examined the hearts, brains, kidneys, bladders and spines of all three and the ultrasound was nearly as long as the first. She mentioned the difficulty of getting a good look at some of these vital organs with three of them in there - with an singleton, you can change the angle for a better view. With multiples, there's usually someone else in the way!

Edward and I went for our results on Thursday, and our OB was very pleased with the ultrasound. He noted that Babies A and C are exactly the same weight (about 10.5 ounces), which is within the normal range. However, Baby B is a good 12 ounces, which places it several weeks ahead of its siblings. He told us that as long as A and C continue to thrive, he's not at all worried about the discrepancy - and B has been the biggest from the very beginning. I definitely feel this baby the most, and yesterday morning it delivered a kick that made the newspaper on my (even expanding) belly jump. It's wonderful to be able to feel their movement on the outside, even though they're still fleeting at present, and I'm really excited that Edward will have the opportunity to experience it, too! My cervix has also lengthened considerably, which is great. But the OB warned me that it will grow and shorten throughout the rest of my pregnancy, so I shouldn't be too pleased by what is likely a temporary gain. I'm still on modified bedrest.

Our next ultrasound is July 21st (22week 2days), and from here on in, our care will be managed by the High Risk Unit at the Civic. It's MUCH easier for us, logistically, because the Civic is a fifteen minute drive from our house - but our meetings with the OB are twenty-five minutes away. It will be a lot less complicated to have everything centralized at the Hospital. Plus, once we get settled in there, they will give us a tour of the NICU so that we have a better understanding of what to expect. They strongly encourage us to go, as it is not the sort of place you first want to see when your babies are admitted.

At our prenatal class we were told that it could take them 45 minutes to an hour to sew me back up after the c-section, and that Edward would be able to accompany the babies to the NICU immediately after their birth. I'm thinking I'll arm him with a camera so he can document their status and report back to me. The NICU nurse was saying that a lot of frazzled new fathers get so overwhelmed trying to keep everyone and everything straight when their babies are admitted to the NICU, that they return to their wives virtually speechless. Edward is a very level-headed person, so while I don't expect that the situation will alter his approach too much, I think it's wise to give him a few tools to help jog his memory - after all, enquiring minds will want to know every little detail!