9 weeks: Graduated!

The sad news first: we lost Baby C.  It wasn’t a huge surprise; at my last ultrasound – the only one where we saw the third heartbeat – he was measuring a week behind, so we knew it was a possibility.

It’s sad, but I’m also a little relieved.  Three is more complicated than two in every possible way, from big, scary things like the babies being born very prematurely, to smaller, inconvenient things like the near impossibility of finding a decent triplet stroller.  There are two parents, we have two arms, I have two boobs – we can handle two.  So, I really do think it’s for the best.  Baby C was also the identical twin of Baby B, so in a weird way I don’t really feel like we lost a wholly distinct baby.  Assuming B continues to do well, I’ll never wonder whether C would have been a boy or a girl, what color eyes or hair they would have had.  I know C would have developed his own personality, but genetically I still have him with me.

Anyway, onto happier news!

 

Overall, my appointment went really well.  Baby A is perfect, in a nice big gestational sac with a heart rate of about 184 beats per minute.  She’s exactly where she is supposed to be right now.

 

Baby A

 

Baby B is the one that’s going to keep worrying me – although he is the right size, his heartbeat seems a little fast at 205, and his sac is measuring about a week and a half smaller than it should be at his gestational age.  Here’s what I’m thinking:

First, the heart rate - He was moving around a lot (so exciting to see!), which can increase the heart rate.  And the doctor said that 9 weeks is about when the heart rate peaks, so we might have just caught it at its fastest point.  I also haven’t read much about problems with fast heart rates, only slow ones.

Second, the sac – Babies B and C were in the same sac, but separated by a membrane.  When measuring Baby B’s sac, the doctor only measured from the membrane over, even though there was still a lot of the sac still being taken up by Baby C.  The nurse thinks the sac was crowded because there were two, and as Baby C and the membrane dissolve Baby B will take over his real estate.  Makes sense to me.

 

Also, the sac did grow since last time.  Not as quickly as the baby, but it is bigger.

Also, I think baby B is higher up in my uterus, where I’ve heard it’s harder for them to get a good image.  My uterus is also a little tilted, which from what I understand makes things even harder.  So the image might not be that reliable.

Finally, Baby A also had a slightly small sac last time, and it definitely caught up.  So maybe Baby B’s sac will catch up, too.  Time to drink even more water!

So even though Googling “small gestational sac” can give you nightmares, I’m not too worried.  As I Google more and more things, the main determining factor in outcomes seems to be whether or not the doctor is worried.  Whenever I read a story, if the woman’s doctor isn’t worried, she’s usually fine; if the doctor is worried, often there turns out to be something to worry about.  That has been true for me: the doctor wasn’t worried about my betas, and they were fine; the doctor said that Baby C might not make it because of measuring behind, and he didn’t.  My doctor isn’t worried about the heart rate or sac size – he said that everything looked good and that the important thing is that the baby is measuring on track.  So, I’m going to stick with that!

Finally, the most exciting news of all: I’m a graduate!  I’m officially done with my fertility center and get to go to a normal OB starting next week.  There were lots of hugs, and promises to send pictures and come back to show off the babies.  I’m going to miss my little fertility center family!