Wednesday, July 11, 2012

TWO Heads are better than one!

Here's my corny joke: 
What does Minnesota have in common with me?

Twins! Can you believe it? We're having twins! Here are the pics from my ultrasound Monday.
Here you can see the tops of their heads: Baby B is on the left side of the picture, Baby A is on the right.

Why is this Baby A and not B? Because of where this baby is located, this baby, should he/she be delivered traditionally and not surgically, will be born first. However, Baby A is on my left side.

Meet Baby B. Looks a lot like Baby A, especially since they are exactly the same size so far. However, because they are fraternal, they could be brother and sister, and may not look that much alike. I guess we'll see!

Before Baby B cooperated and gave  Angela, the tech (same one as when I had ultrasounds with Erin!) a nice profile shot (see above), Angela got this "head shot" of the baby. You can see the little nose pointing to the bottom! Cute!
The good news is that fraternal twins means:

  • they each have their own amniotic sac and placenta, no competing for nutrients.
  • they won't be joined (aka Siamese twins)
  • there is a great chance that I will be able to tell them apart, even from birth :) (oddly, when I pondered long ago what it would be like to have twins, specifically identical twins, I was worried that I would surely mix them up--no more worry about that! ;)
  • the chances of them both being girls or boys just dropped! Brooks doesn't want 2 girls (since we have 2 girls already) and I don't want 2 boys (can you image 2 of Elliott when they are 18 months old? Or even 2 of Elliott, struggling to nurse, and me in tears because of all the pain and agony I went through with that? and 2 pacifiers to keep track of!!!) So if we get one of each, we will both be happy! For the record, I am fine with whatever we get, 2 boys or 2 girls, too. Just preference. :)
  • also, Brooks does not like the idea of identical outfits, so if you are getting ideas in your head about knitting matching jumpsuits, please reconsider, if you want to see the children in your fabulous creation (or purchase for that matter). Just a heads up. Again, I don't have strong opinions.
Additional info: because it's twins, my due date stays the same for milestone points/actual development, but I am told that I will not go past 38 weeks, likely only till 37 weeks, if I make it. If you check your calendar you will notice that 37 weeks is December 23, and 38 weeks is December 30. I wonder which one the doctors will choose to induce me, if needed? :) However, the average gestation for twins is 35.5 weeks, about where my water broke with Elliott. I expect by then I will be HUGE and ready for delivery.
Yes, I will still be under midwifery care, but one of the doctors in the practice will be present, and probably deliver the babies, natural or c-section.
That's all for now. Stay tuned for the next twins update! Advice welcome--please post if you have any experience! :)


4 comments:

  1. Wow!! Congrats!! Fraternal twins are awesome (not that I'm biased or anything)! Craziness!!

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    1. Yeah, I guess I'll have to see if I can pick your mom's brain--now we will have another thing in common!

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  2. I think Marie Benware went from 3 kids to 5 with twins just like you're doing. And she survived;)

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  3. Do you know what else Minnesota has in common with you??? ME!!!!!

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