Topic Archive: ultrasound

January 12, 2012

The Gender Dilemma

When you become pregnant, you learn about several unwritten rules you’re not privy to when childless. Apparently, these rules are supposed to be as innate as your “motherly instinct”, which ironically I have yet to discover.

And so today, I’m spilling the beans. Consider this your spoiler alert, if you’ve never been pregnant.

Rule #1    Don’t tell anyone you’re pregnant until you’re in the “safe zone”.
REASON: Fear of miscarriage or other complications

Rule #2   Don’t tell anyone your baby names
REASON: People are rude and they will steal them

Rule #3   Don’t tell anyone if you prefer a specific gender
REASON: As Mick Jagger once said, “You can’t always get what you want”.

I’ve literally broken every single one of these rules. Go figure. I’ve never been one to blend in with the crowd. But lately, my individuality has put me in an awkward situation. And it’s all because of Rule #3.

Let me explain….  (more…)

December 21, 2011

Pregnancy Care and Birthing Options – US versus UK

We are an international family – I’m German, my husband is American and we currently live in England! I gave birth to my first two children in a suburban Chicago hospital and now we are expecting again! As my pregnancy progresses, I am amazed by the difference in care and options between the US and the UK!

Since PregTASTIC is gaining more and more international followers, I thought it would be interesting to share some of my observations!

Babies are born all over the world and while it is obvious that pregnancy and birth in Somalia will differ very much from the US or India, we expect the Western world to have comparable standards of care. While the US and the UK share a language (well, sort of…) and Western health care standards, the one big difference between the two is that the UK has a National Health System (NHS)!

This means that expecting mothers will not pay anything out of pocket for their pregnancy care – including blood tests, ultrasounds, amniocentesis etc – or their birth (including all anesthesia, the hospital stay etc). In addition they get free prescriptions for the duration of their pregnancy as well as free dental work until the baby is 1 year old. In the US most people are insured through a plan at work or privately. Regular co-pays are the norm and while most doctors do not charge every time you come for a pregnancy check-up, you certainly get a bill for an amino or the hospital stay. Depending on you insurance plan, the birth of your baby can cost you as much as a month of groceries to a semester of college! (more…)

October 4, 2011

The Ultrasound

During my first two pregnancies, I viewed the ultrasound primarily as a way of finding out the baby’s gender. Sure, we also got to see the fuzzy little person growing inside. Plus we got to make sure he/she was growing and developing on schedule. But, that was all routine stuff, right? Just tell me if it’s a boy or girl! Then I had a cousin who during her second pregnancy last year got news she wasn’t anticipating during her “routine” ultrasound. She learned that her baby had multiple birth defects. Suddenly the simple scan was anything but routine.

That ultrasound led to a variety of tests and further scans. The baby was diagnosed with different birth defects, including a congenital heart defect. She was born a few months later at Riley Children’s Hospital, a few hours away from home. She came out fighting and made it through some surgeries, but a few short weeks into her life, she took her last breath. Before she ever got to go home. Before her mom got to spend hours holding her, rocking her, nursing her to sleep, smelling her little baby skin. (more…)

October 5, 2010

Big Reveal: Twin Sexes

Twins are intriguing. They can be identical or fraternal and either both girls, boys or a combination thereof.  The most common twin pair is fraternal boy/girl.  You may not think so because you don’t notice them as frequently as you would identical twins or same sex twins.  Did you know that Kiefer Sutherland has a twin sister and Scarlett Johansson has a twin brother?

Twin incidence has increased dramatically with the rise of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and women waiting until they are older to give birth.  Identical twins are still exceedingly rare despite that increase.  As my extremely dry OB told me, “Identical twins are a birth defect.  The egg is not supposed to divide.”  Hmm, I hope I’m not having identical twins then, Doc!

Fraternal twins are the variety that run in my family and I did not receive fertility treatments or take any fertility enhancing medications.  At previous ultrasounds, my doctor noted that my twins reside in separate amniotic sacs and have separate placentas – both evidence of fraternal twinning or an extremely early egg split.

My much anticipated anatomical ultrasound occurred on a day when my husband was busy, so I went alone.  We have a daughter already and had been “trying” for a son this pregnancy (according to internet lore of positioning and sex timing according to ovulation).  So, I was very much hoping that at least one baby was a boy.

The ultrasound tech had me booked for a full hour.  There are so many things to measure and catalog in a singleton, twins only make things more difficult by being crowded and potentially pushy with each other.  I made it clear I was hoping to find out the sexes and she didn’t make any guarantees, but said she’d try.

The first baby (Twin A – closest to my cervix) was very active and didn’t want to show any private parts right away.  The tech made a bunch of measurements, found the necessary 4 chambered heart, stomach, brain, etc, etc before getting to the good stuff.  After a good 25 minutes, it was determined that Twin A is a girl.  I said, “Well I love girls, but I hope she has a brother in there.”  We have a daughter and are thrilled for her to have a sister.  It’s also nice that we already have a ton of girl clothes and won’t need to buy more!

With baby girl’s credentials established, the tech moved on to Twin B.  Twin B was super chill, ready for all photos and measurements without a fuss.  The tech immediately discovered this baby’s sex - a boy!  He’s a boy and he’s not shy about it.

This was exactly as I’d hoped – one of each is just perfect.  My sisters are my best friends and I wanted my daughter to have a sister.  I also really wanted to have a son.  Before I had my daughter I thought I only wanted boys.  Girls are so complicated and boys seem easier by comparison.  It also seals the deal on our family – we have both types and don’t need to add any more to the mix.  A party of 5 we will be, just slightly estrogen dominated.

Now I just had to figure out a way to tell my husband the good news.  We have a balloon magic helium tank for our daughter, so my mom suggested making blue and pink balloons.  Of course he came home while I was in the middle of the process and didn’t quite get it at first, but soon enough he was ecstatic.

We are continually awed by this pregnancy, it’s amazing how in tune with my body I have been.  I thought it was twins before they were confirmed and thought they were boy/girl as well.  Luckily it’s just as I’d hoped!  Now if I can convince them to deliver quickly and pain-free, I’ll be a genius.

August 28, 2010

First Trimester: Singleton vs. Twin

While pregnant the first time a little over two years ago, I became hooked on PregTASTIC podcasts.  It was a lovely pregnancy with a delivery exactly as I’d hoped. My daughter, Maya, is just about 19 months old now.  I know we both benefited from the information and stories shared on PregTASTIC.

Fast forward and I’m pregnant again.  After one run at the mommy game, I figured I was an expert.  But that didn’t last long as I learned I’m expecting twins!  PregTASTIC hasn’t had much info on multiple pregnancies before, so I decided to stop being a casual listener and share my experience.

Here’s a run-down of the first trimester in both pregnancies.

Basics

Then: 31, married 3 yrs, living in Japan, part-time Fitness Instructor and English Tutor

Now: 33, married 5 yrs, living in Rhode Island, stay-at-home mother of 1 daughter.  If I make it to the full 40-week due date, my twins will be born the day before my daughter’s second birthday.

Conception

My husband is active duty Navy and deploys regularly.  Because we’d like him to be present for the birth of our children, we’ve had to plan when to try to conceive very carefully. Luckily I’m crazy fertile and our planning has been spot-on. 

Then: I was off the pill exactly one cycle. My husband had been at sea for a few months and happened to come home a couple days early, catching me in a good ovulation zone.

Now: I was off birth control exactly one cycle.  We had discussed trying for a boy this time and I did some research into what that could possibly entail. One of the suggestions was to maximize sex timing for ovulation, so I was using Ovulation Predictor Kits.  I found the day I was ovulating (or would be within 24 hrs) and the rest is history.

Getting Positive Result

Then: I took a pregnancy test and it was negative.  I left it in the bathroom and forgot about it.  When I came back a few hours later, there were two lines.  So, I took another test the following morning and had a positive within the appropriate results timeframe.  My husband and I were together for that test and were both excited about the results.  He left for the next 6 months that afternoon!

Now: I had been taking tests for about a week before I got the positive this time.  My husband and  were together for this one as well.

Symptoms

Then: Almost immediately, my breasts were huge!   I felt like I had jet lag and would collapse in the afternoon for a nice long nap. Some minor bleeding at about 6 weeks, but just brown blood which was determined to be no big deal, probably just implantation bleeding.

Now: No major breast size increase.  I was nauseous all day long, vomiting sporadically and highly sensitive to smell.  Almost everything made me gag.  I’ve never been so exhausted in my life, even in the first sleepless weeks of motherhood.  I’m not sure if it’s because I have to keep up with my toddler or just the double whammy of twins, but this time around I’m practically comatose.  Acne, vaginal discharge, body odor, gas, crabby attitude, headaches, absentmindedness, lightheadedness are all some of the lovely symptoms this time around!

First doctor’s appointments

Then: In Japan, there was only one OB to serve a very large population.  I didn’t meet her until she delivered my daughter!  So, I had my pregnancy followed by a number of different GPs in a very small clinic on base.  I was told to wait until 8 weeks along before coming in for the blood test and then my first ultrasound was at 10 weeks.

Now: There are no military OBs in my town, so I’m referred out to a local civilian OB practice.  My choice of provider is a Certified Nurse Midwife, whose practice also includes an OB.  I saw her when I was 7.5 weeks along, just after my positive blood test.  She has an ultrasound machine in the exam room and I’m thrilled to have a peek inside my uterus every visit!

OMG, I’m having WHAT??? My midwife spent a long time interviewing me about my first pregnancy and my medical history before we got to the ultrasound.  I told her how awful I’d been feeling and that I was just overwhelmed.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do to reassure me since some women deal with much worse and each pregnancy is different.  When I was having my ultrasound, she poked around for a while and found a baby.  I said, “Just one”?  She asked about my family history and I told her that there were twins on my mother’s side.  She said, “Well, there is another egg sac here, but that doesn’t automatically mean twins.”  Of course she found the other baby!  Both had healthy heartbeats and separate sacs, separate placentas, which is great for twins and likely means they are fraternal.

Breaking the twins news

My husband – like many men, kids and women who haven’t had children – had always thought twins would be super and openly wished that we’d have twins.  I thought one at a time would be just fine!  Clearly he got his way.  I was in shock, but also excited.  I knew he’d be thrilled and our families would be ecstatic.  So, I hurried home to tell him, armed with 3 ultrasound photos.  He met me in the house and we chatted about my appointment.  I showed him picture # 1 and said, “This is a picture of a baby” and did the same with picture #2.   And then I handed him the last shot of them both and said, “This is a picture of the two of them together!”  It had a fairly dramatic effect and we just kind of stared at each other laughing before we collapsed on our couch to contemplate the rest of our lives.  Oy, heady stuff!

Since I was already 7 weeks along and had seen the babies and their heartbeats, we decided to tell our families right away.  We had kept the pregnancy news from them, so this was a pretty big scoop.  We Skyped with our parents and called or emailed with the rest of our families.  Our local friends already knew I was pregnant — I like my wine, so when I stopped drinking it was fairly obvious — but we waited a few more weeks to tell other friends.

Weight gain, exercise

Then: I gained 2 lbs the first trimester and was able to keep teaching fitness classes without dropping my workload.

Now: I gained 8 lbs in the first 12 weeks and was discouraged from exercise other than walking.

Twinsights

This pregnancy has been much harder on me overall than the first.  There are times when I think our timing was a little too rushed and that it would have been nice to have a summer together and enjoy just being a 3-person family for a while.  Our lifestyle doesn’t allow for much rose-smelling, so to speak, and we are forced to plan things far in advance.  We’ll be a party of 5 before we know it and life will continue to present new challenges!

Initially I thought my second pregnancy would be sort of ho-hum and boring since I’d been through it and knew what to expect.  Ha!  No way is this ho-hum!  It’s nice to have something altogether different to learn about and research.  I have a totally different library this time and have soaked up as much “twinfo” as possible.  My care is vastly different as I’ll be followed by a team of OB professionals and have more frequent and intense monitoring.  It’s exciting to share the news – people are awed by twins and I’ve had so many pleasant reactions that I can’t help but feel better about the minor irritations of pregnancy.