Today’s ultrasound and meeting with the nurse midwife offered a wide range of emotions. First of all, the ultrasound was really amazing. Technology is so cool! Greg and I got to see our little jelly bean and hear the thump, thump, thump, thump of the heart beating. Check out the photo! The “halo” is the yolk sac. This gives the baby nutrients until it hooks itself up to the umbilical cord. I like to think of the umbilical cord as a beer funnel of sorts for babies. Think about it – when you want the nourishment of barley and hops, you just put your mouth on the hose, tilt your head back, and enjoy. Speaking of tilting heads, the head is towards the bottom of picture with the body coming out to the left.
All my lady parts are measuring just right and they gave me a due date of Jan. 22…or it could be the 25th. I can’t remember….there was a lot to take in during the appointment because I also got the news that the ultrasound revealed a 2nd fetus that was no longer viable. To my ears, the news was delivered like something out of a Charlie Brown cartoon: “mwah mwah mwah mwah twins.” I probably would’ve peed my pants had I not had to provide another sample minutes earlier. Apparently, I was pregnant with twins, but one stopped developing in the 6th week (the other is 7 weeks and 3 days). I was shocked because as far as I know, there is no history of twins in either of our families. I am sad, but relieved the other baby seems to be healthy. Apparently this is called “Vanishing Twins Syndrome” and is very common, especially in women over 30.
Upon alerting the “girlfriend network” stat, I heard back from Natalie, Danielle and Heather that they had all heard of this and that the women they knew all had a healthy baby from the surviving egg. The nurse midwife did say this has increased my risk of miscarriage, so that totally freaked me out. From the research I rushed to the computer to do, it seems like this is not a cause for major concern. Nevertheless, Greg and I are hoping and praying that I make it through the next several weeks ok! For more detail on vanishing twin syndrome, check this site. http://www.americanpregnancy.org/multiples/vanishingtwin.html
The good/bad news cycle of the day continued when I got the news that my paternal grandfather passed away that morning, exactly 3 months to the day after my mom’s dad passed. My grandpa "Wag" died at 98 years old and a few weeks shy of his 50th wedding anniversary with my grandma. We should all be so lucky as to live as rich and as long of a life as he did.
All my lady parts are measuring just right and they gave me a due date of Jan. 22…or it could be the 25th. I can’t remember….there was a lot to take in during the appointment because I also got the news that the ultrasound revealed a 2nd fetus that was no longer viable. To my ears, the news was delivered like something out of a Charlie Brown cartoon: “mwah mwah mwah mwah twins.” I probably would’ve peed my pants had I not had to provide another sample minutes earlier. Apparently, I was pregnant with twins, but one stopped developing in the 6th week (the other is 7 weeks and 3 days). I was shocked because as far as I know, there is no history of twins in either of our families. I am sad, but relieved the other baby seems to be healthy. Apparently this is called “Vanishing Twins Syndrome” and is very common, especially in women over 30.
Upon alerting the “girlfriend network” stat, I heard back from Natalie, Danielle and Heather that they had all heard of this and that the women they knew all had a healthy baby from the surviving egg. The nurse midwife did say this has increased my risk of miscarriage, so that totally freaked me out. From the research I rushed to the computer to do, it seems like this is not a cause for major concern. Nevertheless, Greg and I are hoping and praying that I make it through the next several weeks ok! For more detail on vanishing twin syndrome, check this site. http://www.americanpregnancy.org/multiples/vanishingtwin.html
The good/bad news cycle of the day continued when I got the news that my paternal grandfather passed away that morning, exactly 3 months to the day after my mom’s dad passed. My grandpa "Wag" died at 98 years old and a few weeks shy of his 50th wedding anniversary with my grandma. We should all be so lucky as to live as rich and as long of a life as he did.
