**********************************************************************************
I called the OB office on Wednesday the 19th because I was having some increasing pain over the past 4-5 days. I spoke with the triage nurse who talked to the doctor on call. Based on my explanation of the type of pain I was experiencing, he figured it was probably just a corpus luteum cyst. But he thought it wouldn't hurt to order an ultrasound. So I went in for my ultrasound at 11:00am on Thursday with strict orders from Nate to call him before, during (yeah right), and after.
Well, I started with a student sonographer. She told me that she would do her part of the ultrasound and when she was done, she would go get the "seasoned" tech. While she was performing the ultrasound, she wasn't explaining anything to me. But I could SWEAR that I was seeing two babies flash across the screen at different times. Eventually, she went to get the tech. The tech then told her that someone else wanted to talk to her but that she could stay for a few minutes if she wanted to...to which the student replied "I think I will stay for just a bit, so I can see what you see." Immediately, I knew something was up. The tech put the transducer on my belly, and immediately said "CONGRATULATIONS HUN, THERE ARE 2 BABIES!!" Oh Good God. I almost passed out! And I was still lying down! The student kept saying "you should see the smile on your face, it's priceless." I replied with "is that what it is?? Because I think the panic and nervousness are just surfacing!!!" I kept saying over and over "Nate is going to flip. Nate is going to flip."
They are both doing well. I was 7 weeks and 5 days based on my calculations at the time of the ultrasound, but both babies were measuring a bit ahead of schedule. Baby A was measuring at 7w6d and Baby B was measuring at 8w1d. And both heartbeats were identical at 160bpm. Baby A is currently residing on the left side of my uterus and Baby B is on the right. Here are the wee ones and their Internet debut...
You can see Baby B's yolk sac on the far left. This will supply the nutrients for the baby until the placenta takes over. His/her head is at about 2:00 with his/her feet at about 8:00. Baby A is still curled up a little bit more than Baby B. His/her head is on the left with the feet on the right. These were individual pictures the sonographer cropped together.
Here are both the babies in one picture together. You can see the membrane separating them. It's too early to tell if they're identical or fraternal though.
This picture is very similar to the first, but the ultrasound tech decided to write "TWINS" on this one!!
So the tech called the OB's office to confirm that everything is okay, and then gave me the a-okay to leave. I called Nate at work to tell him that the baby was where it needed to be (in my uterus and not ectopic like we feared!) and that they don't know why I'm in pain (it's because my ligaments are stretching faster than normal, but I didn't want to spill the beans just yet). Then he asked "so there's only 1?" Of course I couldn't keep it a secret until he got home. I replied with "well, not exactly (fairly long pause)...there are 2." He erupted!! He never even asked if I was kidding or anything, and he immediately wanted to call/tell everyone, but I told him to wait for just a bit.
Anyway, that is the beginning of our journey. The tech told me that I'll be seeing quite a bit of her because they will monitor this pregnancy fairly close...probably one ultrasound a month once I am in the middle of the second trimester. Oh, and as far as my pain goes (as stated above), I'm more than likely just stretching a little faster than normal, so my ligaments are becoming increasing uncomfortable in these early stages, but should let up soon.
