January 11, 2011

Steele Baby might be Babies

The Steele Baby might be babies. Put another way, Jamie and I might be having twins.

Due to a previous ectopic pregnancy, Jamie is in the high risk pregnancy category. Her status means that she will have more and more frequent tests than most women have during a low risk pregnancy. The first round of tests began with blood work which confirmed her pregnancy via a test of her human chorionic gonadotropin (hGC) levels. Two days later a test showing a doubling of her hGC confirmed a healthy pregnancy.

The second test showed Jamie’s hGC levels did not just double, they nearly tripled. To our relief our doctor’s nurse assured us this was not a problem. However, Jamie’s high hGC levels indicated the pregnancy was far enough along to perform an ultrasound. The ultrasound would be the final early confirmation that the pregnancy was healthy.

During our appointment the ultrasound technician immediately confirmed that the pregnancy was in Jamie’s uterus. Upon zooming in she said “we have two dots.” Jamie and I happy to hear the pregnancy was in the right place paused for a moment, before I said “wait, what does two dots mean?” The ultrasound technician quickly replied “well, twins do happen.” Jamie swears that upon hearing this news I went white as a sheet. I am sure I did, as the first thought that raced through my mind was “how am I going to pay for college?”

The technician took a number of pictures, documenting the size and position of each embryo. Our doctor then came in confirming that yes they were twins and that both embryos looked healthy. The doctor then explained that from indicators on both of Jamie’s ovaries it appears that the twins are fraternal.

Everything documented here took place from December 29th – January 5th. The Twelfth Day of Christmas (January 5th) will now always hold a special place in our hearts.

This early ultrasound does not guarantee that we are having twins. There is a 21-30% chance that this will result in a vanishing twin. To confirm the twin pregnancy Jamie has another ultrasound scheduled for January 19th, after which we will have our first prenatal appointment.

We had never considered the possibility of twins, but as the shock subsides, elation over the possibility ramps up. Waiting for the second ultrasound is proving to be very difficult.

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