Here is a clip from the forum archives- it is all of the info I recorded with Gertie's first pregnancy with twins. Ultrasound can see signs, almost from the first month. X-rays will show you baby(ies) about 2 months before birth. U/S means ultrasound. Rads mean x-ray picture. Picture is Gertie gravid with twins , about 2 months before she gave birth.
**SNIP**
Hi! I can relate to you my experience with my female PTS Gertie that I tracked through a pregnacy with twins--
Purchased in 12/00 530gm
Noticably fatter 5/01
Ultrasound 5/30/01: 1 round homogenous structure 2-3cm in diameter in sitting in caudal abdomen. Rads: Soft tissue dense round structure in caudal
adbomen/coelom. At the time I did not know whether I was looking at a tumor, cyst, or yolk. I was hoping for yolk! If yolk, she could have been
ovulating or in an early gravid state.
7/6/01 U/S: Two round structures, about the same size. Now I think I am looking at yolks. Gertie is ravenous and active.
8/3/01 U/S: Two round structures, same size, surrounded by fluid, within a walled structure. On the bottom on one I can see a focal area of increased
density (probably embroyo) Gertie is ravenous and active.
9/12/01 U/S: Two similar round soft tissue structures within fluid- one sitting more cranial than the other. One has an associated struture about 1-2cm
long which looks like a spine. We decide that she is definetly gravid. Gertie looks like a whale. ~700gm.
10/5/01 U/S: Can see babies moving on U/S. Can see a beating heart that is not Gerties! Can see blood flow in the heart. Rads: 2 faint calcified heads.
Can't see spines or legs. One is head toward Gertie's cloaca, one is 'breach'. ~750gm. Gertie is heat seeking, not eating well, and her respiration rate is
elevated. I am worried about her.
11/21/01 Rads: Two calcified skeletons, both facing head toward Gertie's cloaca. Gertie is not eating well, poops are tiny, spends most of her time in
warm spot. 820gm. Her abdomen is lumpy and her skin is stretched. She must be uncomfortable. She is increasingly aggressive with the male and
lunges at me when I removed food/water bowls.
12/29/01 Two healthy twins born during the night. 88 and 86gm apiece. Gertie is very aggressive and remains in the birth area for several days.
From my limited experience with this one PTS- I can say that for Gertie- from when I first detected ovulation or early gravid state, it took 7 full months
for her to give birth.
The things I saw in her from the outside as the pregnancy progressed were obvious girth increase, weight gain, increased then decreased appetite (no
room for food in stomach and GI tract?), heat seeking, and increased aggression. I did not see her soaking in her water bowl, as I have read/heard that
they can do shortly before giving birth.
On the inside 2 months before birth, I could see partially calcified skeletons on x-ray and beating hearts and wiggling bodies on ultrasound, 1 month
before I could see fully calcified skeletons (x-ray), 3 months before I could see a small spine, 7 months before I could see a yolk or follicle (ultrasound).
I got the sense that there is a large period of time when the embroyo is very small, and during the last 3 months it grows very quickly.
Gertie may have 'shown' her pregnancy on the outside more than some, as she had two largish babies.
