The Big One!

For women carrying a single baby with no complications, there may be only one or two ultrasounds during the course of the entire pregnancy. This would be one of them. It's usually done around twenty weeks and is the longest and most detailed ultrasound of any pregnancy. You may recall that during the first trimester our scans consisted of a crown to rump measurement which determined the size of the babies, though little else. At the second trimester mark, the crown to rump measurement was no longer taken, and instead size was gauged by the measurement of head, belly and femur.

As of yesterday's ultrasound I was 19 weeks 5 days, so it was time for the big one. The ultrasound lasted over 90 minutes due to all the measurements taken. We were excited to be scheduled with Emily, our favorite tech, who chatted with us the whole time making it pass very quickly. For each of the four babies she measured head, femur, abdomen and fluid. She verified that each baby had nostrils and lips, ruling out the possibility of a cleft pallet on any. She checked each little brain to be sure it had two halves, and each heart to verify four chambers. She checked each umbilical cord to be sure they had three vessels. She checked kidneys, spine, bladder, and bowels. And guess what? Everybody looks perfect!

Here's a short recap of where everyone stands developmentally.

BABY A:

Measuring 20 weeks 1 day
Weight: 13 oz. (362 grams)
97th percentile
Gender: Wouldn't you like to know?

BABY B:

Measuring 20 weeks
Weight: 13 oz. (355 grams)
95th percentile

BABY C:

Measuring 19 weeks 6 days
Weight: 12 oz. (351 grams)
94th percentile

BABY D:
Measuring 19 weeks 4 days
Weight: 12 oz. (337 grams)
89th percentile










Everybody is doing so well. Doc J is pleased that their development is so close together. We hope it can stay this way.

What you can't tell from the pictures above is where each baby sits in relation to the others. Keep in mind that each placenta is attached to the uterine wall, so the placentas cannot change position, but each baby has freedom to move within each individual placenta. Here is the position on which they had settled as of yesterday, probably something you don't see every day!

Talk about "putting your heads together!" The cluster of heads you see are just below and to the right of my belly button. How cute is this? You may notice that something seems missing from this picture, one Baby C perhaps. The Baby in question, unwilling to join the rest of the pack, has decided that a far more comfortable position would be directly beneath the front of my rib cage. So I have a head lodged there, along with my organs that had been shoved skyward, causing quite a bit of pain. I keep jabbing at the rib trying to jolt the Naughty One into heading south for the summer, but to no avail.

I'm behind once again on belly pics this week. Here is week 19, though tomorrow will be week 20 already. We found out at the doctor's yesterday that my uterus is already measuring a whopping 34 weeks!

Though Doc J says we are all doing great, he cautioned us yesterday that we are entering the scariest time of the pregnancy. The next eight weeks are crucial for us, and there is a lot that could go wrong. We need the babies to stay safe inside for a minimum of eight more weeks. Preterm labor before that would be disaster as the babies have only a very small chance of survival prior. The larger my uterus measures, the greater the danger that my body will decide it's time for delivery and try to begin labor.

Please continue to pray for all of us, and pray that my body can stay strong a while longer.

Love and blessings,

Jen