The Twins - Before Birth
19 October 1997
Conception - this is the official date, based on ultrasound dating.
19 November 1997
(6 weeks 3 days) First visit to the OB/GYN, just for an ultrasound to check everything's OK. This was also the day we found out we were having twins!! I think I took it somewhat better than Debbie, who went into shock for a week or so. Apparently that's normal...
Here's the ultrasound. Click on the image for the enlarged size. As of this date, we are calling the two babies A and B until we know the sexes, since that's how they're labelled. The babies are the light-coloured blobs inside the larger dark areas.
2 December 1997
(10 weeks 2 days) First official visit with doctor. He did a number of tests, and another ultrasound. Here it is, you can click on it to make it bigger.
The image is not of great quality, but the fetuses are clearly visible, and marked by the crosses. You can clearly see the babies inside the amniotic sacs, and if you look closely you can see the membrane separating the two sacs. This, apparently, is good as it means the babies are not sharing the same nutrition source, so they have a better chance of growing healthily.
9 January 1998
(15 weeks 5 days) Starting to get bigger now, and somewhat more human. Here are two nice pictures. The first is "Baby A", who looks suspiciously like one of the aliens on the X-Files!
The next is "Baby B", and this shows his/her profile.
They are both apparently healthy and growing normally. The ultrasound technician guessed that they are both boys... It's probably a bit early to tell, but we shall see.
25 February 1998
(20 weeks 3 days) Another visit to the doctor and another ultrasound. Debbie has been feeling lots of fetal movement for a week or two now - both babies have been kicking significantly on a daily basis. I can even feel the stronger kicks. She is also increasing in size at a pretty decent rate.I thought this visit was pretty cool, and the ultrasounds are below. However, Deb was disappointed that the babies did not cooperate in allowing us to see what sex they are. Apparently both are quite shy - one was hiding everything completely, and the other's umbilical cord was in the way of a decent view (the tech took a guess at a girl, but I don't know what she was looking at!). Anyway, we'll just have to wait and see - gives us something to look forward to at the birth...
Here is Baby A...
...and here is Baby B.
More updates will be posted here at approximately monthly intervals.
As promised, here is a picture of what Debbie looks like on the outside at 20 weeks. Click on it for the full-size image. This picture actually makes her look quite a bit bigger than she really is - not sure why, but perhaps it's the t-shirt.
14 April 1998
(27 weeks 2 days) Finally, I've got around to scanning the latest ultrasound images. Anyway, we have more information regarding the sex of at least one of the babies. Baby A is in a breech position, and as such it wasn't possible to determine his or her sex. However, this baby kicks and squirms a lot and is generally obnoxious, so we think it's probably a boy, but we'll have to wait and see!!Here is Baby A's foot...
Baby B was much more cooperative, and we know with fairly decent certainty that it is a girl. We got two nice pictures of B: here's her head and body...
...and here's a leg and a foot.
Everything appears to be going well as far as the babies are concerned. A and B weigh approximately 2.3 and 2.7 lbs, respectively, and apparently growing happily. Debbie, however, is starting to get to the point where she doesn't want to grow anymore!!
6 May 1998
(30 weeks 3 days) At about 2:30 a.m. Debbie's water broke (at least for one of the babies)!! We went down to the hospital to see what was going on. Apparently, Baby A's membrane had ruptured, and Debbie was experiencing mild contractions (although she couldn't feel them). She was given medications to reduce the contractions and to stimulate the babies growth, the aim being to keep them in for as long as possible. (It is possible for babies to remain in the uterus for weeks after the membrane ruptures, but statistically most babies are born within 48 hours.)Since she appeared to stabilise and had no significant signs of labour, I came into work later in the morning. At 3 p.m. I called her in the hospital, and everything seemed fine, but I thought I would go back in to see her anyway. I arrived there at 4:25 p.m., where I was met with an empty room and a nurse telling me that she was being prepped for the OR!! Apparently, in the space of about an hour, she had dilated 8 cm, and Baby A was doing his/her best to get out...
Anyway, I was told to put the sterile stuff on and go in for the delivery...
Phil Cunningham
cunning@atmos.albany.edu