Tuesday, June 12, 2007

It was just a joke! Now it's not funny anymore!

OK I need a swift slap of reality.

I started teasing Steve that we were having twins, saying my morning sickness should have let up by now, and when his mom had twins, she said she was so sick, for so long. I also got a flier in the mail from a local car dealership that said, "we will buy your vehicle, if you buy one of ours." I told Steve to go trade in our sedan for a minivan, since we were going to have twins. Ha ha ha, right?

Then I had a dream that I carried to 38 weeks, and I was excited--that's a nice time to deliver! In my dream I was able to see that the baby was a girl, and weighed 5 pounds, 5 ounces. I thought it was odd that I carried the baby later than my other 2 pregnancies, yet the baby was smaller, and the dream kind of hit "rewind" to my big ultrasound (which hasn't taken place yet). There we were--me on the table, Steve, my kids & my mom, and the screen shows *two* babies. Cue shouts of disbelief and happiness! What a nice surprise! What a big shock!

Then the dream hits "fast-forward" back to my delivery, where it showed me the baby girl and her small-for-a-singleton-but-nice-for-a-twin birthweight. I woke up before being allowed to see the gender of the second baby.

I woke up and told Steve that if my dream was right, I would carry until 38 weeks. I held back the other information for a while but it eventually came out. He is less amused by the joke now, and is afraid of my dream.

So we have a doppler lent to us by a friend. I listen every day to the baby's heartbeat. The baby's heartbeat was between 150 and 160 when we first started listening, but lately it is 155 or so, and then the baby will swim away and when we find the heartbeat again, it is 140. What?

The other night we were listening and I would have sworn I felt the baby kicking on the opposite side of my belly where we were hearing the heartbeat. The baby is not long enough to do that yet. I started laughing and teased Steve more.

So tonight I was listening and Steve was snoozing. I heard the heartbeat on the bottom right as usual. Then I put the wand on the right side of my belly and what? was? that? It *must* have been an echo, right? Not a second heartbeat, right? I repeat this scenario a few times and I am starting to get the willies. So I just go back to the bottom right, and listen to that sweet sound. I felt movement on the left, moving toward the right. Then I thought I heard another heartbeat, and I felt a flurry of movement. The heartbeat would come in and fade out, over and over, and it was all over the place, anywhere between 138 and 158.

That is when I woke Steve up, and said, "OK, you are the voice of reason. You tell me the *second* heartbeat is just the baby moving around fast. And if I hear it in two spots again, you tell me I am just hearing an echo."

So I listen in the one spot for awhile, and the *second* heartbeat returns. I poke Steve to make sure he is hearing this. My heartbeat (when I pass over a blood vessel of mine) is a slow whooosh, whooosh, whooosh, about 80 BPM. The baby's heartbeat is woo-woo-woo, and when the *second* one came around it made it go from the normal woo-woo-woo to a new sound: too-too, too-too, too-too, too-too.

Steve was wide awake and with eyes narrowed, told me to turn off the doppler. It must need a new battery or something. I kinda laughed. Now he is asleep. I had a shower to wash off the goo and now I am kind of freaking out.

This was a joke! My HCG was never significantly high, but what can we tell from numbers? My progesterone was so low but I still got pregnant. My Beta didn't double properly but I still stayed pregnant. I've got a fighter in there but is it really possible that I have 2 fighters???

My SIL previously claimed that she had an ultrasound where the doctor said it was one baby, a boy. Turns out it was 2 babies, both girls, and the second baby had been hiding behind the first, except for a limb had been sticking up just a little to resemble a penis, and for the OB to proclaim it one boy. Now I take everything she says with a grain of salt, and lord knows I don't want to be like her, but is this really common?

I know all I can do is wait until my ultrasound in two weeks. I would feel doubly blessed with twins, but for right now, I am just saying to myself that I am a nutter, and it is an echo that I am hearing, and the baby is just moving around too much and is confusing the doppler, and it needs a new battery, and my numbers would have been higher, and I have had three ultrasounds already and surely the tech would have seen something, and that babies don't really hide behind one another. Run-on sentence, I know. Any opinions?

Side note--If you leave a reply, it will not show up right away--I have the blog set to where the comments come to my email and I have to click "Publish." This keeps the spambots and advertisements for Viagra and home loans at bay. Just so you know.

Jenn, who loves feeling the stronger movements coming from her belly!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jenn.. it's entirely possible that you're right, but I wouldn't pin your hopes on it too much, because it will simply cause disappointment if the ultrasound doesn't show what you expect.

A dear friend of mine had two daughters, 18 months and 3.5 years old, when she found out that she was expecting #3. Her eldest daughter, S told everyone who asked "Mummy's got TWO babies in her tummy!" There was absolutely no evidence or family history that would indicate this. But everywhere they went, S would be saying "Mummy's got TWO babies in her tummy!" Finally came the day of the ultrasound, and lo and behold, there were two little boys onscreen. They're going to be 3 on Christmas Eve. So it goes to show, sometimes instinct can be correct! Good luck, hon!

Sorcha

Netanya Carmi said...

I know another girl named Netanya (gift from G-d) who is my age. She's a triplet but all along they thought it wazs twins. They delivered the two and there was Netanya, hiding behind the other two! They thought she was stillborn but manaegd to revive her. Now THAT'S a reason to name a kid "Netanya!"

I know ultrasounds were less advanced 26 years ago, but how do you miss a whole baby?? :)

Can't wait to read about today's u/s! Good luck!

<3