Tuesday, April 19, 2011

20 weeks

Had an Ultrasound yesterday, Appointment with new doctor today... and I FINALLY have someone who EXPLAINED things to me!!

What I know

My due date is officially Sept 8th. It only took me 20 weeks of pregnancy to get someone to tell me an actual date!

Babies ARE indeed monochorionic/diamniotic

Babies are both measuring a little AHEAD!! And within a day of each other. This is a HUGE relief as at my other ultrasound they were measuring 6 days different...and although they told me not to worry, of course I still did!

Babies are... BOYS. wow. Not really any words to say.

FIVE BOYS

Yep. that about sums it up. I'm going to be one busy hockey mom!

Baby B has a 2 vessel cord which can indicate problems and birth defects, but he is looking PERFECT...and I was told not to worry about that... so the only worry with the 2 vessel cord is then Growth restriction or problems with TTTS...

Which is sort of a double whammy since we were already concerned about the growth restriction and TTTS because we believe they share a placenta... But they are going to watch that VERY carefully now.

I'm waiting on a call To see a MFM (Specialist for high risk pregnancies who will do an in depth ultrasound to check for TTTS and cord problems) So I'm not sure when that will be...

Starting at 24 weeks (but actually 25 because the lab couldnt get me in any sooner) I will begin bi-weekly ultrasounds... Bi-weekly Dr. appointments... and somewhere around that time I will also have to do weekly non stress tests. So I'm going to be a very busy lady very soon! But it is ALL worth it if these boys are born healrhy.

In other news... My cervix looks great. Nice and thick... I'm sure you're glad you know! The placenta is anterior, which means we can attempt a vaginal birth... IF baby A is head down... Baby B's position doesnt matter so here's crossing my fingers that A will do his thing and flip around since they are both currently breech.

I think that is about it! Hope you enjoyed the medical mumbo jumbo... Coming soon, the newest ultrasound photos!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Twins FAQ

Are they identical? Yes. click here to read what we've been told and why we believe they are identical. Our Next ultrasound on Monday should confirm it, but I'm quite positive a second placenta has not grown since 12 weeks!

Are they boys, girls, or one of each? Well. We believe they are identical, so they are either two girls, or two boys. Identical twins cannot be boy/girl.

But I know a set of identical Boy/Girl twins!? Okay. I have heard this SO many times. Unless everything I've been told or researched online is wrong. That really is not likely. I've taken the following information from About.com... but I've read the exact same thing elsewhere many times.

Can Boy Girl Twins Be Identical?

The short answer is No!

The terms identical and fraternal don't describe what the twins look like, but actually how they form. Identical (monozygotic) twins are always of the same gender because they form from a single zygote that contains either male (XY) or female (XX) sex chromosomes. Therefore, boy/girl twins are always fraternal or (dizygotic); they can only form from two separate eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm. Fraternal twins can be either two girls, two boys, or one of each.

Let's break it down further.

Identical=monozygotic. Monozygotic means that the twins formed from a single fertilized egg that splits into two. It starts as one, splits into two. When it splits, it is either male or female. After it splits, there are either two males or two females. Fraternal twins are dizygotic. Dizygotic = two zygotes. They are two separate eggs that are fertilized by separate sperm. The resulting egg/sperm combination can be male or female. The result is either two male twins, two female twins, or one male and one female.

Therefore:
•Two girl twins can be either identical or fraternal (monozygotic or dizygotic).
•Two boy twins can be either identical or fraternal (monozygotic or dizygotic).
•A set of boy/girl twins can only be fraternal (dizygotic).

Boy/girl twins can not be identical (monozygotic).

Except....
However, there have been a few reported cases of a genetic mutation in monozygotic male twins. For some reason, after the zygote splits, one twin loses a Y chromosome and develops as a female. The female twin would be afflicted with Turner Syndrome, characterized by short stature and lack of ovarian development. It's extremely rare; less than ten cases have been confirmed. Given the odds, it's safe to assume that 99.9% of all boy/girl twins are fraternal. Okay,

One More Exception... Of course, another explanation for gender differences in identical twins is an identical twin who undergoes a sex change operation.

WOW. that was sort of long.



One last question.



Do twins run in either of your families? Not that we were aware of. However if they do/did... Only the females family has any influence on whether or not you will concieve twins... So if your husband has twins in his side of the family, you're outta luck... Your daughter might one day have twins though! As for the female side... if there is twins on your side, there is a chance you could concieve Fraternal(non identical) twins. Identical twins are not a trait passed down genetically. They are a random occurence.



Now if I'm wrong on any of this? Let me know :) But from all of my google hours/multiples book reading hours... this is what I have found to be true .

Monday, April 4, 2011

How many is too many?

When it comes to children, How many is too many?

I had always said I would have 2... or 4... I did not want an odd number. However after I had Kyler I said three was enough. I was done.

Enter Newborn Photography. With the amount of newborns that have been in my studio in the past year I was suddenly having that... Hmmm. maybe we're not done feeling again. So when we decided to add a fourth child I was a little nervous, but I was okay with it, because we had always said two or four.

UNTIL God blessed us and we discovered the magic number was 5 instead.

I would be lying if I were to say this wasnt overwhelming. It wasnt so much the idea of having twins that seemed overwhelming to me, It was when I thought of it as FIVE, five children. WOW. I am going to have FIVE CHILDREN... by the age of 29!

I had seen families with that many children,
and I always thought,

wow.

They are crazy...

or possibly that their religious values lead them to having large families...

I never thought that Normal people...
you know,

people like ME

have five children!

Point of my post?

Lady at Kingsway Mall who was telling her friend to look at me because I had three boys in Towe and was pregnant again(as if it were a bad thing)

I am pregnant again.

And its TWINS.

AND ITS WONDERFUL NEWS.

Children make you feel young, children show you the wonder in the things we no longer see... Children make you laugh, smile, giggle, act goofy... and they make you LOVE... There is never enough love. And there is no such thing as too many children as long as they are loved with all their mommy or daddy's hearts.

So I say to my former self.
No the lady at Walmart with 5 kids is not crazy
(although I'm sure SOME days she might agree that she is!)
She is LUCKY.