The Third Ultrasound - June 16th

We started the day very excited about the ultrasound, hoping that both babies were healthy and that perhaps we would be able to find out the gender of each. After the genetics review our prayers were reemphasized on their health and the gender became a bit of an afterthought. Still, just a few minutes into the ultrasound, at 9:24am, Patty, the technician was ready to tell us the gender of Baby A.

Baby A is a boy!

The next half hour or so while she continued to take all possible measurements on Baby A everything looked good and we were more than anxious for her to move on to Baby B. Finally at 9:55am, we found out...

Baby B is a girl!

The ultrasound lasted another 40 minutes with both babies measuring right on schedule, both 10 ounces. Then Dr. Subhasnini J. Ladella came in and did another five minute ultrasound, declaring everything to be okay. It reminded me of going to the dentist where the hygienist does all the work and then the dentist comes in for a few seconds for the expert opinion.

We left relieved at the health of our children and excited about having a boy and a girl.

Genetics - Pre-Ultrasound Consultation

Aspen, Christine's clinic, had told us we would only hear from them if there was something of concern as a result of the June 4th blood test. Since we had not heard anything we assumed no news was good news.

Aspen, also told us that whatever the results, they would be forwarded to the Minnesota Perinatal Physicians prior to today's scheduled ultrasound. Of course that never happened so that was a slight cause for anxiety as we sat down for a forty five minute meeting with Joan Steyermark, a "Certified Genetic Counselor."

Joan did a very personal yet professional job of trying to scare us to death about all the ways the chromosomes can cause problems, especially in people of our age. This is all high school biology stuff and nothing new but hearing it in the context of your own unborn children does up the impact considerably.

She then dived into family medical history questions which we probably should have, but were not expecting. Your first reaction is we have health family trees but as one thing after another springs to mind about parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. you begin to be be amazed that any of us are still alive.

In the end the statistics really aren't that bad for our situation, but you really don't want to be hearing about any small percentage chance of these problems. All of this more than heightened our anticipation for the actual Level 2 ultrasound which would be a good indicator of potential problems. (We were offered, but not pushed, the option of a amniocentesis to rule out more problems but declined due to the small chance that the test itself can cause complications.)

Doctor's Office

Today Christine had her third doctor's appointment. The doctor heard both heartbeats, both at 150 beats a minute. A vile of blood was drawn for a "routine" screening that detects various potential problems. Those results should be back early next week. The next ultrasound is scheduled for June 16th.

Doctor's Office

Christine had her second appointment today and all is well.

The Second Ultrasound - April 21st

Doctor's Office

Christine had her first appointment with Dr. Randall today and everything looks good.

The Twins First Ultrasound - March 17th

It's TWINS. The pictures aren't much to look at but on the live monitor we could see both heartbeats.