Thirty-two weeks and counting

On Tuesday Jamie's uterus measured in size to that of a singleton pregnancy at 43 weeks. As you can imagine Jamie is very uncomfortable. Her OB/GYN has indicated that if she does not enter labor before 38 weeks she will schedule a cesarean section. Between the heat and her discomfort she is not relishing the thought of being pregnant for another six weeks.

But the good news is on Thursday, July 14, Jamie crossed the milestone of being 32 weeks pregnant. Singletons and twins are much more viable after thirty-two weeks. Meaning if the twins were born today they would probably spend a month in the intensive care unit, but statistically speaking would be okay. Reaching this point is a huge deal for a multiple pregnancy as premature labor and birth is very common for multiples.

We both attended the growth appointment at the specialist on Friday. Jamie has this appointment every month and it typically lasts two to three hours. Of all the appointments Jamie attends each week this is the longest. Not only does this appointment include a multitude of tests which Jamie and the babies undergo each week it also includes measurement of both babies. To give you an idea of what this entails major parts of this appointment include

• Fetal fibronectin test - indicates if a woman is entering preterm labor by testing for fibronectin in the vagina (imagine a strep culture)
• External fetal monitoring - monitors fetal heart rate and presence and duration of uterine contractions with external sensors
• Transvaginal ultrasound - using a vaginal probe determines the length and strength of Jamie's cervix
• Obstetric ultrasound - typical external ultrasound with an emphasis on measuring particular bones to determine a baby's height and weight. In addition to growth they also test vitals measuring heart rate and rates of umbilical cord pumping

It is a lot of tests, but thus far both Jamie and the twins have been hitting all of the right numbers. Currently Baby A is 4lbs 3oz and Baby B is 3lbs 15oz. Both babies are 16.7 inches long. One of the great things about having tests so frequently is we have seen our babies almost weekly for most of the pregnancy. We have not uploaded a lot of the ultrasound photos as they have become overwhelming even for us, but wanted to upload the most recent 3D Ultrasound images of their faces.