30 Week Ultrasound

It seems hard to believe that we’re already 30+ weeks into the pregnancy. Given how early I started having issues, I kind of didn’t expect to make it this far. We had our 30 week ultrasound on Friday and the girls seem to still be doing well. Since the doctor just did all their measurements last week, we didn’t do them this time.

It’s been over a month since we last got pictures of the girls, so I was anxious to get some updated ones and told the ultrasound tech that I’d love to try to get some 3D shots again if she had time (it was end of the day on Friday, so I knew she probably didn’t want to just hang out if she didn’t have to). She laughed at me, not because of the timing, but because apparently twins are nearly impossible to get good shots of since they’re usually on top of each other or squished against the placenta. Sure enough, the best we could get was the upper half of baby A’s face. Oh well, it was worth a try. It's hard to tell what you're looking at, but her eyes are in the middle of the picture. Still looks bald as can be. I guess we'll have to wait until I deliver to know what (and who) they really look like.

I asked the doctor about whether we had a new goal in terms of delivery date. It sounds like she’s now aiming for 34 weeks instead of 36 because of my breathing issues. If I’m magically doing better at the 34 week mark, then she may push the delivery date back out to 36 weeks, but that is unlikely. Luke mentioned that I was hoping for the girls to have an 11/11/11 birthdate and her first response was to tell me that she wasn’t going to deliver them that day just because I thought it was fun. But then as we talked about it, she seemed to open to up to the idea of it – that would put me at 34 weeks and 1 day. She said she’s working a half day that day, so it’d have to be first thing in the morning if we were going to do that. So it looks like we’re only 4 weeks away (at most) from meeting the girls J

The doctor is thinking that I’ll likely need to be back on hospital bed rest starting after my next appointment (next Thursday) which will continue until I deliver. She is concerned that the fluid is starting to build back up in my lungs again and that my oxygen levels aren’t being monitored closely enough from home. It’s going to be hard to stick to my strict bed rest this week knowing it’s my last opportunity to get things ready at home before the babies arrive. Fortunately there isn’t much left on the to-do list. I just need to be careful because if I start having more contractions or if my shortness of breath gets worse, then I could end up back in the hospital before Thursday.

I was talking to the nurse after my appointment and the doctor came by and told me she changed her mind and wanted me to go over to labor and delivery to check on my oxygen levels. She has already figured out that I’m stubborn and am trying to stay out of the hospital, so she wasn’t convinced that I was actually fine. I was determined to make it a brief trip and did everything I could to get in and out of the hospital as quickly as possible before they could find an excuse to keep me there. My oxygen levels were within the normal range (barely), so I was discharged in less than an hour. Whew – that was a close one!