22 Week Ultrasound

Yesterday morning, Edward and I went for our 22 week ultrasound. We've officially transferred into the care of the High Risk Unit at the Civic (yay!), and we were able to meet with our OB immediately following the scan for our results and further consultation. It was great to be able to get everything done in one morning, and we now have access to nurses (and residents!) which means additional and more complete care.

The ultrasound went very well. The babies have shifted incredibly inside what is already a pretty confined space. Before, the babies were basically in a "C" shape configuration: Baby A lying across my lower belly, Baby B curving up along the left side, and Baby C lying across the top of my belly. Now, it seems as though Big Baby B is commanding more space: Baby A is curving up along the left, Baby B is pretty much lying straight up and down, top to bottom, pushing poor Baby C (who is still lying horizontally) up into my ribs. That would explain some of the less comfortable moments I've been having! The tech also gave us a cute tour of who is kicking whom in there (and where) - basically, it's a war zone! And, of course, they're ALL kicking me... it turns out that Baby A is the culprit within punching range of my bladder. Both Baby A and B are head-down, which doesn't concern the OB too much, although he is happy that C is "far from the exit", so that my body doesn't get any ideas about delivering these babies soon!

The scan also approximated their weights by calculating the circumference of the head, belly and femur - so it's far from an exact science. The average weight for singleton babies at their gestational age is 430 grams. Baby A is still the smallest (but the mightiest! This is the one I've been feeling the most, it turns out) at 422 grams. Baby C is 441 grams, and Baby B is a whopping 467 grams. 454 grams = one pound, so I'm very relieved that one of them has surpassed that marker, with the other ones not too far behind.

Everyone was very relieved to see that my cervix is holding up very well - it's now over 4cm, with the "danger zone" being anything under 3cm. Of course, the OB stated that this doesn't mean I won't go into preterm labour tomorrow, but it does significantly decrease the probability. We got a lot of compliments on how well the pregnancy is progressing - the OB said that he was very pleased, and the nurse said I was doing "fantastic". My blood pressure was on the lower end of normal, and I seem to have lost a few pounds since the last weigh-in (I was gaining a shocking 5 pounds every two weeks until this point!), so my body seems to be weathering the stress of this pregnancy as best as can be expected.

The next milestone is in a week and a half at 24 weeks. This is considered the outer edge of viability, so if the babies were to be born at that time, they *might* survive, albeit most likely with serious long term health complications. I'm still gunning for 34 weeks, obviously, but I will breath a sigh of relief once we get past the 24 week mark. It's hard to believe that if we are lucky enough to carry to 34 weeks, it will still only be a short 12 weeks until we meet our little ones!