Thursday’s ultrasound was lovely—the Science Babies have arms and legs now (if you use the terms “arms” and “legs” somewhat loosely), though you couldn’t see them properly on Baby B, because it was curled up upside down far away in the top back of my uterus, looking cocktail shrimp-y. I was quite hungry at the time, and had been sitting in the waiting room trying to decide what to have for dinner (this is an involved process, and involves considering and discarding a stunningly specific array of options) and during the ultrasound of the decidedly shellfish-y Baby B, my mind suddenly piped up “Mmm, maybe takeout gulf shrimp spaghetti from D’amico!” horrifying me entirely. I ended up having a tuna melt, in case you’re wondering.
Anyway, Baby A’s arms and legs were clearly visible, and it’s heartbeat clocked in at 170. It was actually measuring a day ahead, at 8w6d, which pleased me tremendously. A was stretched out, head up, and we got an excellent picture, which I will try to post later. Baby B, as mentioned, was curled upside down in a corner looking delicious cleverly like a comma (with flippers), and only measured 8w3d, though Perky NP thought that might have been because B was so curled and frankly hard to see, being further from the probe. B’s heart rate was 185, possibly because it could sense that its Host Body was mentally comparing it to a foodstuff.
The Science Babies are big enough now that it is difficult to get both in a picture, and it is astounding to see how much they grow in only six days. However, the ultrasound smorgasboard is about to end: my OB doesn’t want to see me for four weeks, and my next scan will be my Nuchal Translucency at the Perinatologist’s office on November 5th, when I will be 12 weeks, 2 days. And by “will” I mean theoretically, you know, if they don’t DIE in the meantime. Not that I would know if they did, what with the lack of goo-smeared probes jostling for position in my nethers. I raised this concern with Dr. Schrodinger (I believe my exact—very delicate—phrasing was “No ultrasounds? But how will I know if they’re dead?) and he started to give me a pretty little speech about things we can and cannot control, and my face must have done something terrible without my consent, because he broke off to laugh and say “I can see this is a concept you are wrestling with.”
Only since birth, my friend.
I asked about dopplers and he said they can usually pick up the heartbeat by 12 weeks, though he has heard it as early as eight or so. He pulled a funny little machine from his pocket (not a euphemism):
“Would you like to try it now?”
I leapt onto the table.
“Is this a “pants on” thing or a “pants off” thing?” I asked demurely.
It is, in case you are wondering, a “pants on” thing.
Alas, it was too early, and all we could hear was my own heart and what sounded like the desolate winds of the English moors. But I am thinking of ordering a doppler for myself next week, when I will be 9 1/2 weeks. Have any of you used them? What was the earliest you found a heartbeat? I suppose it will be difficult to distinguish between Science Babies, am I right?
Last Friday my RE told me I could stop my progesterone, which I ignored entirely. Thursday my OB assured me that if my RE said I could stop, I could really and truly stop, and I almost didn’t do my shot that night, but at the last minute couldn’t bring myself not to. I am nine weeks today, and perhaps I will start weaning myself tonight. My OB did tell me that continuing the progesterone wouldn’t do any harm, so I suppose I will keep up the nightly stabbing, reducing the amount until I run out or feel less panicked at the thought of flying without a net, as it were. So…30 weeks?
I do understand that by now the embryos should have fashioned themselves cushy little placentas, but if they are anything like their mother, they were totally meaning to get around to that particular action item, but haven’t yet, and probably won’t until the last possible moment, and will only do it then because there is nothing good on TV.
My mother is home for a two week visit from Switzerland, and I had dinner with her last night. I was telling her about this latest ultrasound, and how B was curled up and hard to measure.
“That’s the lazy one, maybe,” she said.
“Well, but its heart was faster—185 beats per minute.”
“Lazy and nervous then. Aww! It’s just like its mother!”
Indeed.
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
i thought about a doppler, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. i envisioned myself trying to hear the heartbeat on a daily basis, not being able to find it due to sheer ineptitude, and barging in on my doctor on a daily basis because of it….
so glad to hear that the science babies are doing so well!
I’m so glad for you, Alexa. What wonderful news! And I’m glad that on top if it, your mom is home to celebrate with you. Hooray!
I’m with Megan on the doppler issue. I’d freak out every time I couldn’t hear heartbeats…My doc would take it away from me! Ha!
This is such wonderful news! The science babies sound like they’re doing wonderfully. I am so excited for you!
At 10 weeks, they tried to find the heartbeat with the doppler and couldn’t, which freaked me out so much that they offered me an ultrasound if I were to come back the next day. But, my point is more that I would imagine it would be hard to find by yourself at home any earlier than 10 weeks, considering they couldn’t find it in the office I went to (and they could find it at 11 when I went in for IV fluids due to HG). And, knowing myself, I wouldn’t be able to find it until much later than that.
I totally got the doppler when I was pregnant. And, yeah, I freaked out every time I couldn’t find the heartbeat, but Matt had a much easier time finding it so I was usually able to avert panic until he got home. It was really good for my peace of mind. Plus, cool!
I am so so thrilled that everything is going so well. I know nothing about the Doppler but I will say that it is the most amazing thing when you get to hear those little heartbeats for the first time. Well, I only heard one. Obviously.
Congrats Alexa!
I have a Doppler…in fact, IN FACT, I can send it to you if you want. I live in England as you know, so it’s a bit antiquated – you have to use a hand crank, and the sensor bit is shaped like a massive trumpet that you have to hold up to your ear, but other than that, it’s fine.
I kid of course. About the aged nature of my doppler that is. I’m still offering it to you, no strings attached. This time.
Great to hear the Science babies are doing well.
Yea. More wonderful news. By the way I don’t think there is anything wrong with Science Babies looking delicious!
I would hold off on getting the doppler. You can really drive yourself crazy, especially because I understand they’re not that easy to use for the layperson. I would be scared it would cause you more stress and worry than it’s worth.
Okay, I think babies out of the womb are delicious looking so I think there’s nothing wrong with thinking your in-womb babies are any less than delectable. My friends with babies know full well that if they let me hold their little ones, there’s a strong possibility that they will come back without an ear.
I’m thrilled to hear everything is going so well. You are my inspiration for my upcoming IVF!
I got mine at 12 weeks and it took 20 minutes, but I managed to find pob’s heartbeat by being very very calm and persistent. It’s way way down low below the pelvic bone, so I don’t recommend trying any earlier than that, probably drive yourself bananas. But in the 12w-20w period the doppler kept me sane, I highly recommend them.
I highly recommend the doppler too. It has been such a lifesaver – I ordered from Amazon the Bebe model they have for about 100 dollars. I received it the day before turning 11 weeks and I was ready to take deep breaths and be searching around for hours. Instead I found it almost instantly – found it easily each time after that too, even though sometimes it does take a while (don’t ask me how I manage not to freak, I am the nervous type…but each time I have found it just in time before a breakdown). I had heard that with an anterior placenta sometimes they are harder to find, but I guess so far I have been lucky. It is pretty low above the pubic bone, as Thalia said. Congrats on everything looking good!
YAY thats great news!
I got my doppler at 13weeks, but we didn’t try before that, so can’t tell you much more.
Sounds like a great ultrasound :)
I managed to get a HB on my doppler just before eleven weeks, so you’ll be able to check up on A and B by yourself real soon
J
Oh my god, this post is hilarious.
And damn you, now I want D’Amico and I am 280 miles away from one.
Grinning and grinning and grinning for you!
Wonderful…
I say yes to the doppler, though I think I waited till 12 weeks-ish. I can’t imagine how you will tell twin heartbeats apart. I understand the often have different heart rates but sometimes the same. I wonder if the more expensive version that does the counting for you would help. Maybe worth a call to the company to ask.
I also refused to go off the progesterone until 12 weeks, but of course mine was oral so a lot easier than a needle. Then again it made me too dizzy to drive so perhaps we can call it a draw.
Congratulations on Classy Science Babies/Shrimps. It sounds like things are going great, and you can expect things to be fine at 12 weeks. But yes, I know. I know all too well. I am 11 days out from my 10w1d scan, and don’t think I’m not totally freaking out about it. My fiancé says he will disown me if I get a doppler. I was looking at them on ebay, and they popped up on “recently viewed items” on the ebay screen when he was looking at something else. He’s like, “What is this? Another item to add to your insanity that will tell you ABSOLUTELY NOTHING?” Perhaps he was referring to my internet pregnancy tests that I took every day until about 6 weeks. In fact, I may go take one now!
I wish I had more situations where I could ask “pants on, or pants off?” :)
I used a doppler from about 10 weeks until I started to really feel them at 20 weeks with my twins. It really eased my mind when I could find both heartbeats, but you should always do it with your husband in case you get frustrated and panicky if you can’t find them. After a while you will know exactly where they like to hang out. I’m 37 weeks pregnant with twin girls from IVF and I feel like I’m reliving all of the scary moments through your blog. I was sure they were dead on multiple occasions, sure they had Down’s Syndrome, convinced my cervix was opening at 26 weeks, and now I’m only hoping they decide to leave soon. So, just remember that luckily your body is much smarter about these things than your mind. I hope you are as uncomfortable as I am right now in about 28 weeks.
I bought the HiBebe (stupid name, okay product) at twelve weeks. It’s harder at the beginning, but at this point I can find both heartbeats faster than the doctors.
Whether or not you can tell them apart depends on their positioning, I think. I have one hogging the good end of the uterus and one jammed way down at the cervix, so it’s usually not too tricky to figure out which noise goes with which one. Your mileage may vary, of course.
I didn’t get a doppler because I’m a complete stress case and I know having one would have made things worse. Instead, I cried for a day before every appointment until I could feel movement because I was sure my baby was dead. I also haven’t read any pregnancy books because the first one I picked up talked about fetal death and there was more panicking and crying. I listen carefully to my doctor, call whenever I have a question or need reassurance, and let my husband convince me that everything is fine. I am 28 weeks now and everything is going really well, she’s healthy and about a week too big. I like to joke that she’s big and robust like her mama!
As for the progesterone, my OB told me to go off at 9 weeks as well but google told me that the placenta takes over progesterone production completely between weeks 12 and 13, so I weaned myself during that time.
This is wonderful news! Both science babies seem healthy, great heartbeats! Hope all continues to go well!
Mmmm…shrimp.
You crack me up, Alexa. I’m so happy that things are going well!
I used to get the weekly pregnancy updates from Babycenter.com and it always unsettled me that they compared the baby to various food items, especially when they were small enough to be bite-sized, like a grape and a shrimp.
And for what it’s worth, I didn’t stop Progesterone until 13 weeks.
Why not go for the doppler? If it puts your mind at ease, then I say go for it.
I rented a doppler from Stork Radio. You can rent the higher end ones for the cost of a new lower end one and supposedly they have an earlier detection.
I found the heartbeat from around 10 weeks, though not always consistently. Basically my thought was if I can’t find it now, I will try again in an hour or let H try. One of us could almost always find it on the second try. That was the best thing, knowing right away how things were going.
It might be harder to tell them apart though, but still being able to hear the heartbeat is the best thing. We used ours every day or two up till about 24 weeks, then just once in a while for the next couple of weeks before sending it back.
I could feel movement after around 21 weeks, but that wasn’t consistent in the beginning, so I kept the doppler on hand. Good luck!!
You are a pretty adorable exclamation point of anticipating wonder. A balloony exclamation point
:)
So wonderful that everything is going so well Alexa. Absolutely wonderful!
Mazel Tov on all the good news. The shrimp cocktail analogy is brilliant. Brilliant!
I had a doppler with my twins. It was a sensitive one, so I could hear heartbeats at 9 weeks. A word of caution: get a digital one. That way you can track the actual heart RATE and know you’re hearing two distinct heartbeats as opposed to one heartbeat whose sound waves have travelled. There’s a question about the heatlh of dopplers (over-use). It may agitate the baby and/or interfere with development; there’s not a lot of information on this because home-use dopplers have only been available recently.
Hello! I found your blog the other night and am loving it. I just love the way you write–you make me laugh out loud!
I am also pregnant with twin “science babies” and am a wreck most days. We’re 11 weeks 2 days. At our last scan one little guy was jumping all around while the other was pretty quiet. Both heart rates were in the mid 150s, but I, of course, was concerned about the sac size. While the fetuses measured about the same, one sac was smaller than another. I swear I’ll look for anything to fret over.
I wish you all the very best! I’ll continue to check in to hear about your Science Babies!