Week 22 Appointment: Mostly Good News!

21 weeks

Today we had our 22 week ultrasound at the perinatologists' office. I think this is the first ultrasound where I was more nervous for myself than for the babies. I have been in a lot of pain from the bronchitis (don't you just LOVE how the cough hangs on, and on, and on.....). My belly has been screaming at me for the past week, threatening to rip completely apart with every cough.  Add that to the normal growing and stretching discomfort and you have the perfect recipe for pain.

So this morning, when my 3 year old sweetheart climbed into bed with me to snuggle and gently started caressing my belly with his little hand and the slightest touch had me cringing, I really started to worry about how on earth I was going to make it through this appointment today. I knew it meant baring my belly to be poked and prodded for an hour and the thought of the pain that would accompany that had me fighting back tears - no kidding. I'm such a wimp.

I said a lot of prayers, took some cough medicine and some Tylenol, and headed off to my appointment.  I was worried all morning for nothing. There were only a few moments of discomfort, and only one time when I had to grip at something to prepare for the pain. But my sweet tech (LOVE HER) saw it and immediately softened up.

The "singleton", Baby A, weighed in at 1 pound, 3 ounces - so he's grown 6 ounces since the last ultrasound. Baby B's stats were the same. I knew they must have grown because I have been feeling their movements so much more frequently the past several days. Baby A is really low and breech. His kicks tickle a bit. Baby B has shocked me a few times with his strength. I love it.

And then on to Baby C. Ah, that baby. I worry about him so. He's given us a real run for our money this pregnancy. He grew only 3 ounces and weighed in at 12 ounces. He should be at least one pound at this point, so he's 4 ounces smaller than average and 7 ounces smaller than his brothers. Again, the tech confirmed it had nothing to do with Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome and everything to do with his velamentous cord insertion. I nearly guessed his weight. I figured it would be 13 ounces because I feel him move about as much as I felt his brothers moving two weeks ago when they were 13 ounces. One ounce off, not too shabby.

I find it ironic that usually when I'm pregnant, I am spending my time worrying about how big the babies are - my oldest was just shy of 9 pounds at 38 1/2 weeks, and my son was 9 lbs 5 ounces at 38 1/2 weeks (it's my husbands' fault - he was about a 12 pound baby. Had I known that before I married him you might not be reading this blog right now!). Worrying about a baby being too small is a completely new ballgame for me.

The biggest worry to me, though, was his heart. The tech said she wanted to keep an eye on one of the vessels in his heart - she didn't say which one, but did show me on the screen. She said the blood was flowing through it properly, a good sign, and that it wasn't something I needed to worry about right now. She just wanted to make sure to keep checking its size and right now with him being so small it makes it more difficult.

Telling me not to worry is like telling a toddler to be quiet in the movie theater. It just ain't gonna happen. But I am trying not to jump to conclusions, and I am NOT googling it. For the record, I haven't googled the velamentous cord insertion either. My doctor already warned me that it's mostly doom and gloom in the search results, and that he really doesn't foresee it being much of a problem. So Google Search and I are not currently speaking, for the sake of my sanity.

So I will just continue to hope and pray that Baby C keeps growing and gains some ground and that his heart grows properly. He's certainly an active little bugger ("wild" is the word I think every ultrasound tech has used to describe him) so at least I know he's having a good time in there!

Oh, and for the cute factor this week - yesterday my son felt Baby B kick (his first time feeling their movement). With every kick he smiled big and said "I want to do that again!" It was adorable.