"High Risk Clinic"

March 15, 2010:

We met with Dr. Regenstein in the High Risk Clinic today. First, we spent about 45 minutes with Ellie, who did extensive ultrasounds of the growing tribe in my tummy. These scans were taken transvaginally - hence the sharper resolution:

Baby "A" is the one said to be "presenting", or closest to the birth canal. This is the "singleton" baby.

The identical twins are identified as Babies "B" and "C"
And here's a close-up of Baby "B":

After the ultrasounds were done, we met with the Doctor in her office. She explained the inherent risks of a "higher order" pregnancy, not least of which is that the "median" gestation for triplets is between 32 and 33 weeks (full-term single pregnancy is about 40 weeks), at which point the babies would be quite small and require a lot of time in the hospital before they could come home with us. She explained how the procedure would be done if we chose to reduce our pregnancy, and explained that because the singleton placenta is "presenting", it would be the one to keep - the twins would be reduced. So, our options are to keep three or reduce to one. We have time to think over our options, but honestly, it's not something either of us is looking forward to thinking about.