Improvements

The last few weeks have been really good! Things have been looking great with our babies, and each appointment has been better than the last. At our 29 week appointment, Baby A's fluid had finally gone down to about 8 or 9 cm, which was a huge improvement, and indicated that things were evening out after all!  However, at that time, they noticed that his heart wall was a little thickened, so they had me come back and see a cardiologist the next week.

When I met with him at 30 weeks, he looked at both babies' hearts and everything looked fine! This was a huge relief; those hearts have been through a lot. I also had an ultrasound at that time, and they were looking great! Fluid levels were 6cm and 4cm, which was the best they'd ever been. Their estimated weights were 3lb, 7oz and 3lb, 1oz. Right on track for their age and not too different from each other! Finally, a happy appointment. The new concern though was that one of the blood flow measurements for Baby A was abnormal. My doctor said that after laser surgery, lots of weird things can happen and it doesn't necessarily mean anything, but she wanted to be on the cautious side and keep an eye on it. So, from now on I'm going in twice a week. I am glad to have a doctor who is so thorough and cautious. The other little concern at this appointment was that my doctor checked my cervix, and it was now dilated a fingertip and effaced 50%. Which doesn't necessarily mean anything yet- some people stay at that level for a long time, but I still would have felt better if I wasn't dilated at all.

My last appointment was yesterday (still at 30 weeks), and it was even better. Both babies looked great and fluid levels were perfect. My cervix was the same, and my doctor did a fetal fibronectin test. This is supposed to detect a protein that indicates that labor is going to happen soon. A negative test means there's a 95% chance that I will not deliver within the next 2 weeks. So it was a huge relief that it came back negative! In 2 weeks, I'll be 32 weeks, almost 33. I know that's still early, but it's nice to know that as long as nothing big changes with the babies, I'll likely at least make it until then!

And a few belly pictures. . . I haven't grown at a normal gradual pace, because of how much amniotic fluid levels have fluctuated. I feel like I was huge at 24 weeks, then a little smaller at 25 weeks because of surgery. Then, I grew again quickly until 28 weeks, but then at 30 fluid had gone down again so I got smaller. So, the last 6 or 7 weeks have just been weird with a fluctuating belly size. I guess now looking at the pictures next to each other, it's hard to tell a difference. But, I could definitely tell. I feel like I'm finally at a normal size for how far along I am.