I'll Take One of Each, Please

We went for our level 2 ultrasound today.  It was absolutely amazing.  We were both distracted by the technology of the ultrasound machine and it's interface, but you're probably more interested in the machinery of our babies than the ultrasound machine itself.  Drumroll, please...

We're having one of each.  We couldn't be more thrilled.  I cried when they told me that Baby A was a boy.  And I cried when they told me that Baby B is a girl.  I would have cried no matter what they would have told me.  I'm just so excited to be able to imagine them now.

And we are 100% sure of each of their sexes.  With the detail of these ultrasounds, it would be virtually impossible to have these incorrectly identified (you'll see below).  Not only could they clearly see Baby A's boy parts, but they could also see Baby B's girl parts very clearly.

They both look perfectly healthy.  We went to Duke OB/GYN to have this ultrasound done, because it's a special ultrasound that they only do with high-risk pregnancies.  Twins are considered high risk, even though they're pretty common these days.

This ultrasound was extremely thorough.  It lasted about an hour and a half, and they took over 150 ultrasound pictures of them.  We got 5 pictures that we could bring home with us.  Julie, our friendly ultrasound person (I don't know what the proper term was - she was clearly a very well-trained and educated medical professional, so I'm sad that I don't know what to properly call her), was wonderful.  She talked us through all of the body parts.

They looked at their spinal cords, kidneys, stomachs, bladders, leg bones, arm bones, feet, hands, heart details (including red and blue images of their actual blood flow - AMAZING), arteries and veins, placentas, umbilical cords, brains, number of bones in their 5th fingers, measured their heads... seriously, they looked at everything very closely to make sure that they are developing properly.

After Julie finished our 1.5 hour photo session, the images were sent to a physician (I'm not sure what exactly his proper specialty is, either - perinatologist?).  He looked at them for a few minutes and then came in to talk to us to let us know that they look perfectly healthy.

And, luckily, everything looks great.  All the parts are where they are supposed to be, and there were no abnormalities.  God is good.  We are so happy.  And now for the pictures.

Baby A is a boy.  Jason and I have had some discussions about the disproportionate size of his "endowment."  We think that's probably a common characteristic of a fetal little man, but it's still pretty interesting.  And, yes, we are proud.  =)

 

Here is our little man's footprint.

Baby B is our beautiful baby girl.  Here are her lovely girl parts.  (My kids are probably already embarrassed that I'm posting their privates on the internet.

Here is her lovely profile.  I think this is my favorite picture of this series (with the penis picture a close second).

Another profile of my gorgeous girl

Here she is yawning.  It looks kind of scary in the picture, but it was so cool to see her open her mouth and give a big yawn in real time (and to know that she's doing that inside of me).

I learn something new every time I go to the doctor.  We asked a lot of questions today.  My twins are very clearly on the right and left-hand side of me.  Sometimes they can be sort of "diagonally" on top of each other, but mine split pretty much straight down the middle.  Baby A (boy) is on my right, and little girl is on my left.

Both babies are pretty much the same size.  Baby B is about 4 days behind Baby A, but still well within a normal range.  

Their placentas connect to the back of my uterus, which is good, because that means that we could have a vaginal birth.  This would not be the case if the placentas were lower (over the cervix).  That is good news.

All in all, this has been a really wonderful crazy day.  I'm so excited to have a son AND a daughter.  We're still looking at lists of names... no decisions there yet.

We can't wait for all of you to meet them.  We can't wait to meet them, too.  =)