Monday March 26

We had our last ultrasound today. It'll be our last because three weeks from Wednesday will be week 34 and they are only doing ultrasound on three week intervals at this time for us. The testing went really well. After the ultrasound technician was done, he said the doctor would be right in, well after 15-20 minutes and no doctor Melissa and I started to get worried because delays in the past have meant they're evaluating something bad. Good news was the doctor was stuck with another patient and had only good news to discuss.

Bea's weight was measured at 3 lb 11 oz with an accuracy of +/- 10 oz. That puts her over the 1.5 kilogram limit for the NICU (they only have stats for babies under 1.5 kilogram in weight). So we're really hoping we can skip the NICU and go straight to the special care nursery.

The doctor reiterated that Twin to Twin Syndrome babies that survive a partner's demise have a 30% chance of having a stroke (some brain matter damage). There is no definitive test to evaluate brain damage but a baby's reactivity is a good sign that nothing wrong happened. Thus when Melissa thought Bea had a really bad monitor last week because of how variable the results were, the doctor reiterated how happy she was because the variability in response to a stimuli like her pinching her cord is an informal sign of no brain damage. Thankfully Melissa and I weren't previously aware of the doctor's concerns.

At 32 weeks (next week) they'll do a test on Melissa's amniotic fluid and if the fluid is determined to be mature (we forgot to ask what that is) they might just go ahead and deliver Bea then. If the fluid is not mature, they'll let Bea sit until a "hiccup" occurs in her or Melissa's monitoring and they'll pulling her out right away. The explanation is there's no point in waiting for Bea or Melissa to develop an infection, they're pulling her out at the first minor sign of anything. Another doctor told Melissa that survivability and birth defect rates at 32 weeks for patients at Abbott/Minneapolis Childrens Hospital are normal, thus the magnitude of that date.

Oh yes, Bea has a big head and a really big abdomen, the arms and legs are not so big. Those mesurements started speculation on whose genes she has. They also saw hair on the ultrasound, and a lot more fluid than last week. Apparently Bea is a world class fluid producer. I'm putting in for an extra order of diapers right now.