10 Week Appointment

I had my 10 week prenatal appointment yesterday. I was a bit worried because I knew they were going to use a doppler fetal heart rate monitor and 10 weeks is the earliest they can detect a heart rate with this device. It's a little probe they put on your belly and it has a speaker that broadcasts what it picks up; it's pretty generic if you ask me. Since I've heard a lot about "vanishing twin syndrome" (don't get me started, it's scary), I was stressed that she would only be able to find one heartbeat. Well, she squeezed goo all over my lower belly and started searching. Baby B (right) was detected right away with a heartbeat of 178. Baby B is about 1 inch below and to the right of my belly button. She searched and searched for Baby A (left) and finally found he/she about an inch by my left hip bone -- really far away from Baby B. Baby A's heart rate was 171. They probably don't even know they are sharing the womb with each other! Over time they will soon realize they are sharing space. Those heart rates are normal and that was really the extent of my doctor's appointment except for my doc asking if we had local family to help us. She suggested we get a postpartum doula to help us, especially at night. No problem; I can follow doctor's orders! She also said I will only go to 38 weeks; they will induce if I don't go into labor by then. She also said it's likely that I may go on bedrest around week 24. There's nothing I can do to prevent it, it's just the norm, unfortunately. That's really going to SUCK!

I'll write again at week 12, which is when we will have elective genetic testing -- another sonogram with a nuchal translucency blood test. It will detect downs syndrome and other chromosonial disorders. Soon after, we're going to finally tell everyone the secret we've been dying to tell everyone since August 30th!