Twin Pregnancy Diary – 22 weeks 5 days

.

For those of you that were wondering, the days are definitely getting shorter already.  It’s still pretty dark at 4.15am whereas a couple of weeks ago it was quite light.  How do I know?  Because my wake-up times have got earlier through no choice of my own but by the vocal talents of my almost ten month old baby. He really needs to get out of this habit fast.

Tuesday was my appointment with the consultant.  I will be having one of these appointments a few days after each scan throughout this pregnancy.  Even though it is considered a consultant’s appointment, you normally meet with one of her team of registrars and don’t often see the consultant herself.

The concern at last week’s scan was not only for the well being and development of the babies but also the need to determine how and where the placentas were lying.  It was necessary to rule out the possibility of either placenta being close to my existing caesarean scar, or attaching itself to it.  The scenario then would not have been good, with the higher risk of an increased bleed during delivery and, possibly, an emergency hysterectomy.  This had been playing on my mind as though I like to know the ifs and buts of likely outcomes we all know what my worrysome nature is like.

Thankfully, both placentas are well out of the way and presenting no risks or problems. Yay for that!  So the two main issues (the health of the babies and the position of the placentas) pose no issues at all and I can relax as much as my overactive imagination will let me.

During the sonogram last Thursday we saw that the babies were bunk-bedding with Twin 1 at the bottom lying with  its head on my right side and feet across at my left.  Twin 2 was in the same position but further up and under my ribs.  They had both moved around from the head down position they were in the Saturday before as we saw at the 4d baby scan.

On Tuesday Twin 1 had moved yet again, back to the head down position with Twin 2 remaining transverse (lying across my belly), making a T-shape between them.  It’s funny to think of all that movement and activity going on in there and I’m none the wiser as to all that’s going on in secret as I go about my day.  I wasn’t feeling as much movement yesterday as I had been.  I tried reassuring myself that it was probably a mixture of the way they were lying plus the fact that I had been busy and probably too preoccupied to be focussing on any movements that were happening.  By 4pm I nipped upstairs for a quick listen in on the doppler, finding two very separate and very different hearts beating away.  I am so thankful to have that little machine!

This week has truly been one of relief and I feel it is another milestone in this pregnancy which we have passed.  The next milestone is the 24 week mark which is the viability milestone – the stage at which a baby if born, could survive with a lot of medical help.  Of course I hope they don’t arrive as soon and both stay in there for a good few weeks yet.  The further along they can make it the better it is for them.

If you are a new reader and would like to catch up on this pregnancy diary from the start you can go back to where it begins with the Twin Pregnancy Diary – The First Nine Weeks (Part One). 

Twin Pregnancy Diary is available to buy in paperback now.

You can read the rest of our Twin Pregnancy Diary available on Kindle at Amazon.

.