Doctor's Visit #5- 24 Weeks along- part 2

We made it into The City for today's appointment and the doctor was on schedule so Paul actually got to stay for the entire appointment. He had to be in San Francisco by 3pm for a meeting, so if she'd been behind he would have had to skip the appointment to make the long drive south.

I have to say that I was a little bit nervous when the nurse was looking for the heartbeat. I wasn't worried at first because Maggie was doing acrobatics to avoid the pressure from the microphone but then the nurse got a very serious look on her face and kept moving it around, searching. After about five minutes of this I was starting to worry and listen as hard as I could. Then I heard it. Two heartbeats.

I was reassuring myself that the ultra sound tech was very confident that there was only one baby in there and that it was a girl, when the nurse told stopped looking for the heartbeat, smiled reassuringly and said that everything looked great, it had just taken her a while to get the baby's pulse rate because my heartbeat had been so loud!

Relief! Twins are such a blessing, but I must admit, I would be a little panicked to think of keeping up with a toddler and two infants at this point!

Then the doctor came in and took measurements. She gave the typical "the baby is the perfect size" statement that she says every single time, and then she added "just a little bigger than average." It was actually the first time I hadn't asked (during both pregnancies!) and it was also the first time that she gave me an answer!

I peeked over her hand when she measured and according to the book I'm measuring just about two weeks bigger than my 24 weeks (just like at the ultrasound). I have a feeling this baby's taking after Daddy too.

The other sign that gives me some clue as to this baby's size is that I began to feel movement at around 9 weeks. I thought that I was going crazy, because every book and article I read said that no one feels movement that early. By 12 weeks I was positive that the baby was kicking and doing somersaults!

But today I had one question for the doctor and so we talked about it. I asked about the palpitations I've been feeling in my chest. Starting at around 9 weeks when I lay down, I feel like my heart is pounding in my chest. After about thirty second of this Maggie goes absolutely crazy and kicks and rolls and dances around. It was one of the reasons I noticed the movement so early, because the pounding feeling always preceded it.

Since I'm not getting lightheaded or faint the doctor said she wasn't worried about it and that my heart probably was speeding up slightly and that's what I was feeling. She also said that it sounded like I was feeling the baby move very early, but that that happens with second pregnancies (although 9 weeks is really really early!).

I have to say that I am pretty curious as to how big this baby is going to be. At today's weigh in I'd gained.... 29 lbs! And that puts me right on track to gain the 42 lbs I gained with Sadie (at least I lost it all before pregnancy #2!).

At least I have a few shirts that should fit for all 40 weeks! I'm getting better at estimating how big a shirt has to be to make it through an entire pregnancy in this house!

And that is my rather rambling description of doctor's appointment #5! After the next appointment we go to every two weeks!