I learned three things today

Today was my first trimester screening test, where the babies are checked for indicators of Down Syndrome. I'm a little late getting it done, because for some reason when the doc asked me last month if I wanted to do the test, I said no. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY BABIES, I WILL LOVE THEM AND CARE FOR THEM ALWAYS! I was feeling... protective? A little "Earth Mother" insane? I really have no idea. What the doc should have said was, Would you like a free ultrasound to fawn over your beanlets? And your husband will leave work to be there with you, I know you love that. I would have been like: Sign me up, lady! Why didn't you say that in the first place?

Anyway, when I became jealous of everyone else's first trimester screening test ultrasound pictures realized what I had declined, I called the office and scheduled the appointment. DH came with me to wrangle Bean and try to get some good looks at the screen while I laid on the table to be poked and prodded. My heart did melt, though, when I looked over and saw that Bean had lifted his shirt and was rubbing his travel Magna Doodle pen slowly over his belly, just like the tech was rubbing the wand on mine. Could he be any more adorable? Surely not.

Anyway, the first thing I learned today was that I GROW FREAKING HUGE BABIES. We did realize this when Bean came out at a scale-tipping 9 lbs 14 oz, but surely that could just have been a fluke? It wasn't. The twins were measuring almost exactly equal (yippee!) at 13 weeks 6 days. If you go by my earliest due date, I am 13 weeks 3 days along. And since I plan to lobby for a due date that is 4 days later than that (based on my very first u/s with the RE), that would make me 12 weeks 6 days. Ummm, yeah. I'm trying to take this as a sign that I will have very healthy twins when I am full term, and not that I'm about to get a call from the doc's office that my one-hour glucose tolerance test from last week came back positive. Because me and gestational diabetes? Not gonna be friends. The only two food groups I eat these days are carbs and sugar -- surviving without them is not a future I am prepared to deal with. (UPDATE: I passed my test and do not have gestational diabetes! Yet! Anyone up for doughnuts?)

Here are the twins, in alphabetical order:

Looking pretty awesome, no? It's hard to remember that they are only about 3 inches long right now. They seem so big! It is always so amazing to see their spines, their brains, their arm and leg bones. And these two were WIGGLY today, holy cow. Twin A especially. I told DH that's his baby -- let him deal with the hyperactive one. It took the tech forever to get the nuchal fold measurements. Which brings me to the second thing I learned today. The measurements on both babies look fantastic. Coupled with my age, the doc gave us low odds of Down Syndrome. WOO HOO! With twins, they don't do the bloodwork portion of the test, because the results are less reliable. But he recommended I come back at 15-16 weeks for another test, and they will revise the odds based on what they see. We left smiling, of course.

And finally, the third thing I learned today....

Actually, you're going to have to wait for the next post. What we think we saw (or not) regarding the sex of the babies, coming soon!