Back to the doc's at 27 weeks

Today's appointment was for the "full biometric ultrasound" - each little part of the babies is measured. The sonographer is pretty familiar with where everyone is, so it doesn't take quite as long as it used to - about 45 minutes today. The ultrasound machine is able to measure the different parts of the baby (head, brain, stomach, waist, arm bone, leg bone, etc.) and then runs it through some sort of algorithm that gives an idea of how "old" the baby is. Our "gestational age" is 27 weeks, 2 days. One of the boys (we think it's Max) and Caroline measured at 27 weeks 3 days. The other boy (Daniel, we presume) measured at 28 weeks, 2 days. But the oddest thing is that their little arms and legs are still SUPER long! In fact, the sonographer asked how tall I am and where the stretchy limbs might come from. Perhaps our plans for athletes in the family will come true.

We asked if there was any way to tell how much the babies weigh and wouldn't you know it, there is! The same program predicts the weight of the babies based on the measurements! Baby A (Daniel) is currently 2lbs, 10oz. Baby B (Max) is 2lbs, 7oz. and Baby C (Caroline) is 2 lbs, 5oz. That's seven and a half pounds of baby in my belly! And I've personally just weighed in at half a pound over my pre-pregnancy weight. Of course, those babies can all double in size OR MORE in the next eight to nine weeks...YIKES!

After all the photos, blood pressure, etc. we met with the doctor and went over the next steps. Next Tuesday marks 28 weeks which means I get to start measuring for protein in my urine, and feeling for kick counts - at least 10 in a two hour span. We also talked about the delivery. It will be by C-Section, hopefully planned for 36 weeks, but it could be earlier if there are any problems. Hopefully there won't be any problems. Unless I have to be under general anesthetic, Joe will be allowed in the room to hold my hand, which is good news. They won't schedule the C-Section until week 33, since there are still so many factors that put me at risk for an earlier delivery. Fingers crossed that everything stays on track!

For the pain update - the hands are still primary - swollen fingers, numbness in the thumb and three fingers and both sides, pain when I sleep. But I also have some sort of muscle pull/strain in them middle-right of my back that would be easily treated with anti-inflammatory drugs which, of course, I can't take. So I muddle through, trying to find a comfortable position. IT's salso starting to get uncomfortable to be on my feet for prolonged amounts of time, or to roll over in bed. There's a lot of pressure on my groin from the weight of the babies and all the other junk in there and it gets worse when I move from sitting to standing, or put on my shoes (one leg up) or roll over from one side to another. And I can only imagine it'll get worse over the next two months. But it'll be a small price to pay if all the Salvateenies come out OK!