Wonderful OB Appointment!

We had a wonderful OB appointment yesterday morning.  We started by getting a growth scan (ultrasound) first thing in the morning.  They checked to be sure that the babies are growing well.  Baby A is 1 lb. 10 oz. and Baby B is 1 lb. 9 oz.  I was glad to hear that they are both right on target, because I feel Baby A (boy) kick a lot more frequently (or a lot harder) than the little girl.  I'm glad that she's doing well in there.  I was starting to worry about her just a bit.

For the first time, we could see one of their faces very clearly.  We could only see Baby B's face, because Baby A's face was getting interference from the other baby (either that or a bad angle or something).  It's hard to capture her little face in the still shots that they print for us, but we were able to see it very clearly live at the ultrasound.  I cried when I saw her, of course.  She just looks like such a perfect little person.  It's amazing.  I can't wait to meet her.

The babies are both still head down, which is great.  I'm just hoping that they stay that way for another 3 months or so.

They also took another measurement of my cervical length during the ultrasound.  It was back up to 4.2 cm!  I'm thrilled!  We were at 4.5 cm around 12 weeks, and then somehow got down to 3.1 cm at 19 weeks (which is not good).  The cervix is basically what holds the babies in, so you do not want it getting smaller early on in the pregnancy.  I'm still not sure whether the 3.1 cm measurement was a fluke or a mistake in the records or if my cervix can actually get that much smaller (30% smaller?) and then jump back up to 4.1 cm again.  That's a little confusing, but I'm just happy that it's back to 4.1.  The measurement technique that they used yesterday is supposed to be more accurate than the one that was used for the 3.1 measurement, so that also increases my confidence.

We also had an appointment with the OB, who said that everything looks great.  My blood pressure is something like 106/68 - awesome.  My iron is right on track (just over 12 - not surprising, considering that I eat red meat and about 3 eggs every day).  My weight looks good, and the babies are thriving.  The babies are also the same size, which is great (one of them isn't taking the bulk of the nourishment and starving their sibling).

The OB said that they wouldn't let me get to the 40 week mark (August 11).  So our babies will definitely be born in July at the latest.  Of course, we hope that they do not come before July, because we want to give them plenty of time to develop strong little lungs.  My biggest fear is that they will come early and we will have to leave them in the NICU.  I don't think that will happen, though.  Positive thoughts, positive thoughts...

It was just a great appointment.  I'm so thankful that my babies are growing - now if we can just decide on what to name them!

Here are the pictures (if you click on a picture, you can see a larger version of it):

This is Baby A (boy) showing off his boy parts.  They love to give us pictures of their genitals for some reason.

Here is an assisted picture with labels so you can more easily see what you're looking at.  It's like looking at him from the viewpoint of the seat of a chair.  You're looking up at his thighs and cute little hiney.

Baby A (boy) from the front.  This one has lots of shadows, so it's hard to figure out without assistance...

... and here is some assistance.  Here is the little guy with his Groucho Marx get-up.  You can more easily see where his eyes, nose and mouth are in the above picture.

Baby B (girl) showing off her girl parts.  They are much harder to see than the boy parts, of course.

Here is some assistance.  The lines running down each of her legs are her femurs.  This is the same as the first picture of Baby A - it's like you're looking up at her from the viewpoint of the seat of a chair.

Here is our beautiful little girl. 

And her gorgeous profile.  She takes after her daddy.  =)

And here is a combination of her perfect profile a shot of her from the front.

Here is a shot of both babies from the front.  The little guy is on the left and our little lady on the right.