Ultrasound #2...Fraternal or Identical?

So last time I blogged I mentioned that we were going to tour a birth center and that we would find out if the twins were fraternal or identical...well our appointment was yesterday! We had been looking forward to it and couldn't wait until Wednesday came! The birth center was an hour away with traffic, but we were so excited about the appointment it seemed like we were driving for FOREVER!! Finally we arrived (5 minutes late because MapQuest had said it would only take 45 minutes...) and went in and had to fill out some forms. Then we took a tour. The rooms were much smaller than the last birth center we visited (Nativiti) and the waiting area was much smaller too. It was nice, but when compared to Nativiti not quite as nice. Then we went into the waiting room and talked with one of the midwives. She seemed really nice, but afterwards Adam and I both had the same feeling...we just didn't feel right about the whole thing. I don't really know how to explain it, but we just didn't get the same feeling that we felt at Nativiti with the wonderful midwives there.

So....we decided to look into other options. I made an appointment on May 19 with a doctor that came highly recommended from the midwives at Nativiti, Dr. Gerald Bullock. He is an older doctor...in his 70's, and has tons of experience delivering twins vaginally. He's also more old-fashioned and is not so quick to jump to all the medical interventions they do these days. The reason I didn't want a hospital birth was because of all the interventions they try to push on you...and a lot of doctors these days will automatically set you up for a c-section if you are having twins. They won't even let you try to birth them naturally. Also, my mom had a mini-stroke with the birth of my sister, and that is the only birth they used petocin on...so I just really want to find a doctor who is on the same page as me and won't force those interventions on me. I still might consider a home birth, but I feel like this is the way I'm being lead right now.

Ok, on to more exciting news...the ultrasound! The birth center we went to said they couldn't do the type of ultrasound we needed so they recommended SonoMasters. We called them as soon as we left the birth center and they were able to get us in that same day! We were sooooo excited!! We love ultrasounds...I think its becoming an addiction, lol! The place was really nice and the ultrasound techs were so sweet. They zoomed in on the first baby they found (Baby B) and it was so neat to see! Last time we had an ultrasound (3 weeks ago) we could barely see anything. This time it actually looked like a baby. Baby B was kicking its little legs and moving all around. It was the cutest thing ever! Then they moved down to find Baby A. Well we thought Baby B had grown a lot...we were shocked when we saw Baby A...it was HUGE compared to Baby B. Later on we found out that it was probably just because Baby B was deeper in my uterus so it just looked like Baby A was a lot bigger...although Baby A is measuring a week ahead of Baby B...but that's typical with twins. I was 11 weeks 3 days yesterday and Baby A is measuring at 13 weeks while Baby B is measuring at 12 weeks...so they are both ahead of schedule. And no, my dates are not wrong because she said in all other areas I'm measuring at 11 weeks...they are just big! So baby A was moving around a lot too, mainly moving its arms around...and it almost looked like it was sucking its thumb. :) Their heart rates came down a lot...3 weeks ago they were both 182bpm. Yesterday they were both 162bpm.

So the ultrasound tech called in another tech to see if the twins are identical or fraternal. She said because of the septum she saw, and the two placentas (one of them was still developing so harder to see)...they are fraternal!! She said that's the best kind to have! That's what I was thinking this whole time so it wasn't a surprise to me...we are so happy! So we are supposed to go back in a month or so and find out the genders...and get a 4D ultrasound...they do them earlier for twins. I can't wait!!!

Here's 2 videos that Adam captured during the ultrasound. The video where you see just one of the babies moving around...that's Baby B. You'll see in the video of them both how much bigger Baby A looks...and you can see them both moving around at the same time if you notice Baby B in the upper right part of the screen. Also, if you look really closely...and quickly, you can see the flutter of their hearts throughout the videos. Soooo neat!! I just love them so much and can't wait to meet them!!