Adventures with ultrasounds

Today was the day...ultrasound day!

I was pretty nervous going in - after my miscarriage last time, I was terrified that the radiologist wouldn't be able to find a heartbeat. I gripped Mr Bibliosaur's hand tightly as she began the scan - when nothing was immediately visible, my heart began to race. The radiologist must have seen the look of fear on my face, because she calmed me down by explaining that I have a retroverted uterus, which can make it harder to see past the bladder and into the baby's home. After a minute or two, she suddenly pointed at the screen.

"There. Do you see it?"
I shook my head. It all looked like a gray blur to me.
"Just there. Do you see where it's flickering? That's a heartbeat."

I was so relieved! A heartbeat! Our baby was there, and it's heart was beating! But I still couldn't see it very well, so she asked me if I wanted to do an internal scan (lovingly known as the dildo-cam), and after a moment's hesitation, I said yes. I knew that we would still only see a blob, but I wanted a better look at our little one, just to settle my nerves. Poor Mr Bibliosaur didn't know exactly where to look! I don't think he ever thought he'd be in the room while someone stuck a wand up his wife's hoohaa.

As she positioned the wand to get a better view, it scanned past what I thought might be the baby. But she kept going, so I figured I was wrong - and in a moment, she'd located our little one, again pointing out the heartbeat. The picture was still grainy, and our baby still looked like a blob, but it WAS better - and such a sweet relief to see it's little heart flickering! After taking a few measurements, she cheerfully said, "So there's your baby"...

Like the lolcat magnets? Mr Bibliosar did that. I love what a nerd he is.

...then repositioned the wand back toward the first area I'd seen, and then added, "...and there's your other baby!"


Yes. OTHER baby.

Twins.

We are having TWINS.

I started shaking, laughing and crying at the same time. We're having TWINS!

There wasn’t a thick, wall-like division between them, so the radiologist and my doctor both said our little ones are quite possibly identical! I know the bowed shape in the image makes it hard to see, but hopefully you can tell what I mean - they’re at completely opposite ends, so it was hard to get them both in the same picture, which is why it looks kind of warped.

She did a few more measurements and took their heartrates - a normal heartbeat at 7 weeks is 90-110 beats per minute, but I was told that they like to see them between 120-160, so our little jelly beans are right on target: Baby A was 125, while Baby B was 130.

They're also right on target for my estimated due date - my ovulation date says I'm 7 weeks today, and Baby A was measuring at 6 weeks, 6 days, while Baby B was 6 weeks, 5 days (the difference of a day doesn't mean much - B was much harder to get a clear shot of, so the measurements may be slightly off and they're likely measuring the same).

Needless to say, we’re thrilled...and surprised...and completely and utterly terrified! I'm still shaking right now, and Mr Bibliosaur and I keep looking at each other and laughing. Twins! We're having TWINS!