12w3d: NT recap

First, I still have two! We saw their heartbeats right away and I started crying. The tech was like, "Umm..." and I went on and on about my loss, infertility, all the bleeding and cramping (and Sarah, an SCH is a subchorionic hemorrhage--mine was originally diagnosed as an intrauterine sinus bleed, and then either Bitsy's chorion migrated and laid down a placenta over it, or else the angle from the dildocam was just never good. They're very common and usually don't threaten the baby at all, but they're scary because you have bleeding/spotting a lot, and nothing strikes fear into the heart like blood on toilet paper and/or undies).

Anyway, throughout all this, both babies were jumping all over the place. No idea why the tech didn't take measurements then! It was so much fun to watch them, moving their little arms and legs, kinda flailing around in there. I wish my husband could have been there. They look like little babies now! They even have (vague) facial features. I kept saying, "They're so gorgeous!" and "Look at the tiny hands" and stuff. The tech was probably very unimpressed, because I imagine one twelve-weeker looks much like another, but...so beautiful to me!

Then as soon as we got serious, Bitsy fell right to sleep and would not budge! Clearly, Bitsy takes after Daddy, as I am a light sleeper and JimDear has slept through actual earthquakes (and my multiple trips to the bathroom each night). The tech couldn't get the measurements she needed, despite having me cough a lot and poking Bitsy with the probe, so she had me drink a bunch of orange juice and go walk the halls for 5 minutes. Then she still couldn't get them, so she called the doctor in. I took the opportunity, while lying on the table, to do a bunch of my belly dance stuff--hip drops, belly rolls, hip circles and snaps, etc. That seemed to do the trick, (much less soothing than a stroll around the hospital!), because the doctor placed the probe on and they were jumping around again.

We got our measurements--Itsy's space was 1.15 and Bitsy's was 1.04. Which was such good news! Itsy is very low and measuring behind--this time a week--and has an anterior placenta, which may be part of why (s)he is always measuring behind. It's hard to see down there! The peri said he wasn't at all concerned and I shouldn't be either. Knowing the placenta is anterior eased my mind a bit, as I've had trouble finding both HBs on the doppler lately.

I decided against CVS based on the NT results, and against amnio unless something comes up to make us very concerned. He said that T13 and T18 are both usually very easy to spot on a Level 2 ultrasound, and those are our main concerns. So we scheduled that for 18w1d. (Which is only 6 weeks away!!! Holy crap!) And I told my husband he HAS to take the day off, plain and simple. And yes, we totally want to know the sexes. Gotta name these naughties!

They did do my blood, but cautioned me that the results wouldn't be very accurate. Why then do it at all, I dunno. I guess if they were still super high or super low, it would indicate something? I seriously bled all over the place with the finger-stick. They had to get a 2nd card because my blood was alllll over it, and I still had plenty left to make the 5 dots on the new one. I've been off the aspirin for 4 weeks now, so I don't know what that was about. It was kind of reassuring regarding my SCH though, because if a tiny pin prick caused all that, well, then whatever's going on in my uterus is probably not all that grave.

All told, the appointment took a bit over an hour, and it was really fun. Not that I recommend having uncooperative babies, but it did mean I got to spend a lot of time looking at them!