Meeting our babies

We had our formal 16 week ultrasound Friday.  We were getting snow and ice that day...most snow Nashville has gotten in several years, so the roads were predicted to be really bad.  I was worried my 1pm appointment would get canceled.  But the office called that morning telling me they'd be closing the office early and they would like me to come in NOW if I could.  So I called my husband at work, and we both headed in.  It was a lot of fun.  And we were able to find out the sexes. 

We are having a BOY (Baby A) and a GIRL (Baby B).  We are thrilled.  We really did not want 2 girls.  (Sorry girl fans!)  So when the sonographer told us Baby A (baby closest to the cervix) was a boy, both my husband and I were thrilled. 

The reason they do a 16 week ultrasound w/ a multiple pregnancy is to check the length of the cervix.  My doula said 3-4 cm is normal.  Mine was 5cm, and Dr. Brown was very happy about that.  I really think he is starting to root for me!  A short cervix can be an early indicator of preterm labor, so the fact that mine is so thick, is really great news!

Because our babies are obviously fraternal, we do not need to worry about TTTS (Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome), which can cause problems.

Baby A (the boy)'s placenta does not appear to be over the cervix.  I was so thrilled about this one, because a low lying placenta over the cervix is a definite c-section. 

The babies are growing at the same rate and measuring 16.5 weeks.  Right on schedule!  Yes!

Heartbeats were great.  The boy's was 158 and the girls was 167.  So that nulls the theory of boys having a higher heart rate.

The ONLY blurb of our results was that the boy has a cyst in his brain.  This can be an indicator of Down's Syndrome, but the sonographer said because there are no other markers present, there really is no need to worry.  She said these cysts generally go away in the 3rd trimester.  And that all the limbs are normal length, and the kidneys looked good as well.  Dr. Brown didn't seem concerned in the least either.  The sonographer actually said she wishes she was not required to tell parents about these cysts, because they almost always go away, and just cause parents to worry.

So all in all, a wonderful report!  Poor little boy is squished though!  :)  The little girl wiggled her rear-end at us the very first time she got the spotlight.  It was hilarious.  She was just shaking it back and forth!  She was doing flips for us too.  She was head down, and while on the screen flipped around breech!  She's going to be a firecracker!