Monday, September 18, 2006

Lookin' good!

Today was our FINAL appointment with Dr. Grainger, who is our fertility specialist - he's been great. He wanted to see us one more time before we could be released to Theresa's normal OB/GYN doctor. We definitely have a healthy baby that is all of 1.5 inches long, with a heart rate of 160. Awesome! We even got to see the baby move a bit before he/she got tired and went back to "sleep". In this photo, you can definitely see that the brain and spine have formed, among other things.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

One Instead Of Two

We had our second sonogram today, and we had some good news and some bad news.
The first baby is doing great, but the second baby is no longer with us.
This is called "vanishing twin syndrome".

The Mayo Clinic's Complete Book Of Pregnancy & Baby's First Year gives this explanation:
When an ultrasound exam is used in the first trimester of pregnancy, twins can be diagnosed as early as six or seven weeks past your last menstrual period. However, succeeding exams sometimes reveal that one of the twins has died and virtually disappeared. This phenomenon is sometimes called the vanishing twin syndrome. Up to one-half of all pregnancies that begin as twins result in a single fetus that is carried to term.
The cause of vanishing twin syndrome is unclear, but there might have been a problem with the genetic material or early development of the fetus...However, vanishing twin syndrome appears to be a spontaneous event, and there is no evidence to indicate that the mother has any control of this outcome.

This explanation pretty much fits us to a tea.
Theresa is doing just fine, and we still have one slightly larger bundle of joy to be SO thankful for.
The journey continues...