For two hours we sat, watching babies moving on the screen. It takes much longer to get all the necessary measurements to assess three babies than for a singleton. The time flew by. Typically when we go for an ultrasound our sonographer zooms in on each baby, checks his or her heart-rate and then moves back to the first baby to measure, look at, and catalogue the appropriate prescribed data for that day. From time to time she will switch between babies if one isn't in the correct position to get the needed measurement. She's usually only collecting about six measurements or specifics per baby and we can generally tell which baby is on the screen. Not because we can already recognize who's who but because our sonographer is very methodical, good at what she does and describes things along the way. Today began the usual way but today she was collecting 20 or more measurements/specs per baby. Before too long, it was a flurry of baby body parts and we were asking, "Which baby is that?" But what an incredible journey of body parts!
"There's Baby A's upper lip," I heard our sonographer say. Upper lip? I watched in awe. That's our baby's upper lip. We saw all the parts of each of our babies, as much as can be seen at 21 weeks, arms, legs, torsos, upper lips, kidneys, bladders, stomachs, fingers, hands open and closed, feet, vertebrae and spines, brains, individual sections of their brains, the chambers of their hearts, the corneas on their eyes. Our doctor said, 70% of all anomalies can be detected during this scan.
"...normal. ...normal. ...normal."
He ticked through each baby and each item on the checklist. Pausing just after stating the item. Whether his pause was practised for effect or a mere bi-product of his speaking while looking at the data I don't know.
"Baby A, vertebrae fused, spine (pause) normal.
Baby B, vertebrae fused, spine (pause) normal.
Baby C, vertebrae fused, spine (pause) normal.
Baby A, right foot, (pause) ...normal.
Baby B, right foot, (pause) ...normal.
Baby C, right foot, (pause) ...normal.
Baby A, left foot, (pause) ...normal.
Baby B, left foot, (pause) ...normal.
Baby C, left foot, (pause) ...normal."
This went on for what seemed like 20 minutes, in reality it may have been five. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for that word, "normal." All babies normal in all categories, except the isolated echogenic cardiac focus in Baby C's heart which as the doctor said we "already knew about." The word normal, bland everday word, rarely noticed, has notched itself a place on my list of special words. I will not ever hear it the same way as before.
Estimates on babies' weights:
Baby A - 1 lb 0 oz
Baby B - 15 oz
Baby C - 15 oz
21 weeks 3 days
They are looking more and more like this during the ultrasounds, parts of babies. They have grown to a size it's hard to see each whole baby anymore.
21 weeks 3 days Baby C foot
21 weeks 3 days Baby B Right Hand
This was the last ultrasound pic taken during the anomaly scan. Baby B was the only one who showed his whole hand so clearly, five fingers and thumb. We saw all the other hands opening and closing as the sonographer captured the shots.
