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.

The Steele Babies are Ladies

Yesterday Jamie and I had our second specialist appointment at Perinatal Associates of New Mexico. During this visit our ultrasound was again one and a half hours, but we learned some very exciting news: our twins are girls!

Funny enough Jamie was more disappointed by this news than I was. She was convinced that she was having one of each. Going so far as to say that Baby A was a girl and that Baby B was a boy. I on the other hand was convinced the twins were going to be of the same sex. I was not sure if they were boys or girls, but I knew they'd be the same.

After informing us that the twins were girls the doctor proceeded to tell us that the twins might be identical. As I explained in Types of Twins, identical Dichorionic-Diamniotic (DiDi) twins can occur if the zygote splits within four days after fertilization. This came as a surprise to Jamie and I as we had been told in January that it was likely our twins were fraternal. Even though we understood the facts about DiDi twins we had put the thought of identical twins out of our mind. We will not know if the girls are identical until after birth and even then only if we perform a DNA test.

In any case, we could not be happier with the news. Both the twins and mom are extremely healthy. Everything is progressing normally and our next specialist checkup is in a month.

First Specialist Checkup

Last Friday we had our first appointment at Perinatal Associates of New Mexico which is a group of physicians specializing in high risk pregnancies. No matter the type of twin pregnancy, all twin pregnancies are classified high risk. As such, we will continue to see the specialists throughout the pregnancy. The attention to detail during this doctor visit was impressive. The appointment took a little over three hours with one and half hours of that time spent with an ultrasound technician.

The technician was very kind in providing us with a ton of photographs. Even cooler than the photographs was watching live video of the twins moving around. Both twins appeared to be doing back flips and full body twists. Of course all of this activity made it difficult for the technician to get the measurements she was after.

The technician eventually persevered getting all necessary measurements and capturing photographs at the needed angles. Throughout the appointment the technician provided us with insight into what she was looking for. Frankly, it is amazing what trained professionals can determine from an ultrasound. Thankfully, all measurements and vitals point to a healthy pregnancy.

Presently the twins are on-top of one another. To us in this ultrasound photograph it looks like they are sleeping on a bunk bed.

After meeting with the technician we had an appointment with the doctor. Our general OB/GYN had advised us that the specialist Obstetrician would provide a flood of statistics. This advice could not have been more correct. The statistics provided were a bit overwhelming, but boiled down to everything appears normal.

The fact that stood out during the information deluge was there will be around 13 people in the room when Jamie delivers. Two obstetricians, a anesthesiologist, a nurse trained in anesthesiology, a pediatrician, and six nurses (three for each baby). The remaining two people will be Jamie and I.

At this point Jamie is through her first trimester. She’s still battling morning (more like all day) sickness, but is looking forward to getting over it soon. We continue to be overjoyed at the prospect of having twins.