The twins are growing strong! Friday - August 3, 2007

I am now 13 weeks along. Today, we went in for another ultrasound and follow-up appointment with our high-risk maternal-fetal medicine specialist/MD. It was a great day and we've posted the latest photo of the twins.

Both babies checked out wonderfully. They both have healthy heart beats, and both are measuring the same size from crown to rump @ 6.79cm, which is approx. 2 days ahead of their gestational age. This made us really happy because last Friday, baby B was a little behind in growth measuring @ 5.16cm, while baby A measured 5.79cm. It seems baby B’s been very busy!

Much to our delight, the MD entertained us with a very early gender check. To give you a little background... a fetus first begins showing genitals around 12 weeks. But for several weeks, both sexes will have genitelia that extend from between the legs. So, with an ultrasound scan you’re best bet of getting an accurate “sex” scan is between 17-19 weeks. At this stage (13 weeks) sex can be guesstimated by the direction the nob points. IF the nob points upward (or toward the head) it will most likely be a boy. And, for girls, it typically points out or downward. We had a difficult time making a guess with baby A, partly because of position. But, the MD placed a confident bet on baby B being a BOY. Very exciting… and Dan, of course, is thrilled!

This week is the first week I’ve felt good in 9 weeks. I haven’t had the urge to throw up or felt like passing out until 1:30pm every day – hooray! I've gained 9.5lbs, which I am very proud of as there is a lot of pressure on me to gain weight early on with the multiple pregnancy. My belly is sticking out like it did with Gabby at about 19 weeks. I can’t fit into any of my normal shorts, pants, or skirts that don't have an elastic waistband. It's like a singleton pregnancy on speed—you grow outward so much faster. And, you KNOW you're showing when the checkout person at Whole Foods looks at you and says "How are you - you're not about to pop, are you?" Yes - this really happened to me yesterday. I almost fell over... in my head I was trying to think of a good comeback but couldn't get past the fact that I'm only 13 weeks and with Gabby I wasn't even showing yet. Whateva!

The official due date is on February 9, 2008 (40 weeks), but twins arrive on average at 36 weeks, so we’re expecting them in January 2008.

Please continue to keep the babies in your thoughts and prayers. While it's easy to say you hope for a girl/boy gender-wise... our ultimate hope and goal is to end up with two healthy and strong little kiddos!