Med School Momma: 17 weeks and a belly pic

We had a perinatology appointment yesterday. Everything went great! This was a semi big appointment because 16 and 17 week ultrasounds CAN determine how a modi pregnancy will go. Of course there are always things that can come up quickly, but early ultrasounds are able to predict possible future complications. Between 16 and 17 weeks, if the largest vertical pocket of fluid in both twins has a difference of 4cm, the chance of TTTS skyrockets to dangerously high levels. Twins won't necessarily be diagnosed with it at that time, but it is a big indicator that it will come up later in the pregnancy. Normal fluid levels are between 2cm and 8cm and you want to see the fluid levels close to the same level. At my appointment the fluid were both 6 cm!!!! Identical fluid levels are the absolute best case scenario! The twins were moving like crazy and my MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist) said that he couldn't ask for any better looking modi twins! Their membrane is very thin and he did comment on that. That is very normal in a modi pregnancy, it just indicates that they had a late split. They are definitely Normans, Jared and I are always late to everything, we should have known that our embryo would make the decision to split late.

The doctor also checked the genders again. Still girls. He showed us the three lines on both girls. We have now had 3 different doctors tell us girls and so we are going to start registering since we know that there is no way these babies are going to turn into boys. I've been having a lot of fun looking at girls stuff, but I think I'm one of the weird women that think that boys things are cuter for infants. I hate boys clothes once they get out of infant clothes though, they just want to turn little boys into little men way to fast. Jared cringes whenever I put Mason in adorable pastel overalls, but I think it makes him look more like my little boy and less like my little man. Speaking of Mason, here is a pic of my sweet baby doing what he does best, getting into things he shouldn't. :) Oh he also spilled milk to go along with his cereal on the floor and now that area smells bad, guess I have to find a good carpet cleaner. ;)

Finally at 17 weeks I feel like I've hit 2nd trimester! I have a little more energy and I'm not running to the bathroom every few minutes. Most twin moms I've talked to said that this phase should last till 22 weeks and then I will hit a brick wall and things will go downhill until delivery. I have already had to buy a maternity belt because the girls think my cervix is a dance floor and kick it as much as they can. For anyone that hasn't felt that before, it HURTS!!! I've also had extreme back pain. Basically I feel like I am 28 weeks because I have the energy of 2nd trimester, but all the aches and pains of 3rd trimester. I'm also starting to get the nesting bug, which is good because I don't have much time to get everything ready before I won't feel like moving out of my chair. I wasn't going to decorate the nursery, but now I realize that it would be sad if these are the only girls I have and I miss my chance to decorate a girls nursery.

From now until 27 weeks my prenatal care will include high risk ultrasounds every two weeks and OB appointments every 4 weeks. At 27 weeks things get fun, I will start having testing done at labor and delivery biweekly. (I'm sure other twins mom's know what this is for, I don't remember what the doctor said). And once a week I will be seeing my high risk doctor for an ultrasound. So 3 appointments a week until delivery. That should make my pregnancy fly by!

Here are the girls.