We were very grateful Stanford could get us in the following Friday. We made the trek out there and met Chris and Keith. I often feel like we need name tags, bouncing around to so many providers. "I'm a surrogate, these are the Babies' daddies, Chris and Keith, and this is my husband, Tony."
After a short wait, we got in for our ultrasound. We were all thrilled to see Baby A and B continuing to look wonderful, growing on track with strong, healthy heartbeats. I may have been holding my breath a bit until we saw Baby B's heart beating. It was a beautiful thing. The tech confirmed that Baby C stopped growing sometime before 8 weeks. Then the doctor came in and gave us the first bit of solidly good news we'd had in a while. While our situation is certainly unique, based on the timing of the loss of Baby C, and the way Baby B was looking and growing, she could see no reason why we shouldn't expect to continue on with a normal, healthy twin pregnancy. Yay! She'd had a patient with a similar situation before who delivered healthy twins, so she knows what she's talking about, and not apparently making things up like the perinatologist. :-D It was an overwhelmingly positive visit and we jumped at the chance to return for a follow-up and our NT ultrasound 3.5 weeks from then.
While the term "vanishing twin" isn't uncommon, I believe our situation is so unique because most commonly that occurs with fraternal twins, and we lost an identical. And from what I have gathered, it is unusual to lose just one identical. Early losses are most often the result of one of two things: genetic abnormalities or trauma, and either of those issues would have equally affected both identical twins, so the loss of Baby C is a tragic mystery, and the survival of Baby B a bit of a miracle.
Anyway, I'll jump ahead at this point, because things soon get blissfully boring, the way healthy pregnancies can get. Last week we returned to Stanford at 13 weeks 1 day for our NT ultrasound. I'll admit, the dire pronouncement of my nurse still weighed heavy on my mind, and I was so anxious to see two healthy babies, officially out of the first trimester and out of the woods in my mind. And see them, we did. Two lovely, squirmy little babies, all their parts measuring great, with strong, healthy heartbeats, seemingly waving to us from up there on the screen. It was such a wonderful relief. I feel like I can more or less relax from here on in. And as the first trimester draws to a close, we are now Facebook official. :-D Pregnant with twins, due early May!
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