Update on our girls....

We had another routine ultrasound this morning to check on the girls.

Both babies look great, growing just like they should be. I am 21 weeks, 3 days pregnant today, and Baby A measured 21w5d, while Baby B measured 21w6d. We are so happy that the babies are growing like they should be (and even more so than "average"-sized twins!).

In the past few ultrasounds, Baby A has been our calm, relaxed baby and Baby B was the crazy little monkey. Today, it seemed like they decided to reverse roles. Baby A was kicking all over the place (and boy, did I feel it!). I don't think she liked the pressure being put on my abdomen (and her!) so she tried to kick it away. Her heart rate was a strong 148 beats per minute and she is still laying low in my uterus. She's currently in a vertex (head on one side of my belly, feet at the other) position, but that could change at any time. They're still small enough that they can pretty much do somersaults whenever they want to. Baby A weighed 15 ounces, which is just a half an ounce shy of what her big brother Michael weighed when he was born. Amazing.

Baby B is also doing very well, although today she decided she wanted to take a nap during the ultrasound. Silly girl. Her heart rate was a strong 143 beats per minute (very close to what her sister's was) and she was laying almost right on top of her sister - so a little lower in my uterus than she was last time. Her feet are up in my ribs (and, yes, she does love to kick me there). We got to see a pretty good shot of her profile on ultrasound, and (not that I'm biased), but she's pretty darned cute! Baby B also weighs 15 ounces. So as of today, I'm carrying just about two pounds of baby. Wow.

We also had a routine OB visit with the perinatologist, who I love. She was so excited to hear that we're having two girls - she even suggested names for us. She said Baby A should be Abigail and Baby B sould be Beth (see... first initial A and B). Sorry, Dr. Howitt, I can honestly say, those AREN'T the names we've chosen! =)

Things continue to look good for the pregnancy. I'm up to a 12 pound weight gain, which the doctor said is just fine. She warned me that we're in the "danger" part of a twin pregnancy - twenty to twenty-four weeks. She said this is when it's most common to go into premature labor so she advised me to call her if ANYTHING strange happens (whether it's just ONE contraction or my water breaks or if I just feel "funny.") Once we get to twenty-four weeks, we reach the point of viability outside the womb, so even though it would still be VERY scary for the girls to be born that early, they would have a good chance for survival. If you ask me, I intend to cook them for a LOT longer than 24 weeks. I'm thinking something closer to 36, 37, or 38 weeks sounds good to me!

We are scheduled for another ultrasound (and another appointment, this time with one of the midwives) for two weeks from today.