From the Twin-Daddy
Hunter-Gatherer has built a crib from sticks and bark.
Yesterday morning I put a big ‘X‘ on my calendar on the day labeled ‘Halfway Home Day‘ which represented halfway to our goal of 36 weeks. Mary and I celebrated with an Italian lunch in which we stuffed her with Spinach, cheese pasta, garlic bread, and sweet potato fries from my plate. The kids are growing like mad, my wife is no longer able to easily see her feet, she waddles like a pro now, and I finally built a crib this week. With each new goal we reach another calendar day rises to take its place.
Concordance
Mary has already mentioned Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) in her blog post earlier. With this in mind getting the boys through the second trimester with good growth is really key for us. Dr. Hershey, the baby-ninja, tells us that the boys are ‘concordant’ in growth which is a good thing.
Stage I TTTS is defined as 20% or greater discordance in growth. Because I am an engineer I tend to fall back on math and data. I want to know exactly how concordant these guys are to each other.
- Alexander – 19.2 weeks
- Dominic – 19.0 weeks
Break that out into days of growth:
- Alexander – 134.4 days
- Dominic – 133 days
133 / 134.4 = 98.96% Concordance
That is very close to 99% when it comes to matching their growth levels. It is so close to perfect that Twin-Mommy deserves some credit for eating well and coaching those guys on their first lessons in sharing. For the moment anyone reading this can breathe a big sigh of relief with that 99% number being a serious comfort.
I’ll do what I can to keep this concordance number current as we move forward. For reference’s sake that’s about 6 inches from head to bottom for each boy. We’ll try to find an appropriate fruit for another side by side comparison.
Due Date?
Let’s assume the baby-ninja is correct and our due date is actually August 30, 2010. You cannot doubt the baby-ninja because his powers are mysterious, and he also seems very nice (for a ninja). If he is correct Monday, April 12 is week 20 for us.
We just want to keep that growth going strong for both boys over the next 8 weeks and 4 days when we hit our next big goal which I hereby dub Homefree Day on June 7, 2010.
On Homefree Day, our kids hit about a 90% chance of survival if born that day. They have cleared all the major hurdles and they are beginning their last few weeks of prep work with their mom before they are introduced to a dad, a great dane, and a bunch of eager family members on both sides. On that day the Twin-Daddy may have to have a party because he can, hopefully, relax a little bit. (As much as any father ever gets to relax.)
Even better, every day after week 28 the boys get better odds because they become more and more ready to exit the Queen Belly.
I’m about 7 miles from the hospital, and I can get my wife there in a jiffy if the need arises. I will not speed… I will not speed… I will not speed…
WifeWatch 2010
Food
Mary is in love with turkey-bacon lately. So much so that we teased about adding ‘Bacon’ to Alex’s name for something like ‘Alexander Daniel Bacon Curtis’. Her latest protein hit is 3 scrambled eggs and 4 pieces of turkey-bacon as a quick snack. I think she is craving salt and is regularly going for fries, bacon, and anything else with a bit of Na-Cl in there.
Mood
Seeing the twins at the last ultrasound made a happy Mary and she gets a bit sniffly when she watches the DVD because they are pretty cute when they wiggle around. It may be just me, but the latest profile images from the ultrasound really look like boys to me. They’ve definitely gone from possible tadpoles to actual babies. She felt Alexander roll over today and literally stopped in the parking lot and said, ‘Wow! That was really weird!”
The boys should be listening now, and Mary has started singing to them when she has a moment here and there. In one case she was singing alone in the elevator and got a very funny look from a guy when the doors opened and she was singing away. Right now the boys are getting a good dose of Beatles, but the actual lyrics may be creatively changed depending on how much she remembers and what she wants to say at the moment.
Mother Nature’s Sun might become:
Born two little twinny-boys
Mother Mary’s sons
All day long they’re growing in my tummy… Baby buns!
Mother Mary’s sons!
Hey Jude could just as easily become:
Hey dudes
You share that food
Take a little bit but share with your brother
Remember to let him eat some too
Then you can poo
And just start over.
I look at my tummy and I see what it’s keeping
While my two boys gently sleep
For every new thing they must surely be learning
While my two boys gently sleep
Trust me, if she starts singing “Won’t you come out to play?” I’ll stop her until we hit week 36. (Note: I have linked to the original Beatles versions on YouTube.com. If you’re feeling like having a Beatles moment of your own, give them a click.)
Mary’s nesting instinct has kicked in and last Saturday I found her sitting on a chair in the garage breaking down cardboard boxes because she “wanted to.” I don’t argue with a pregnant lady when she does weird things, and after assuring me that she didn’t want any help and that she wasn’t straining herself unduly, I left her to the boxes which she broke down and then stuffed into our recycling bin. After that it was a session in the office-become-nursery where she sat down and sorted boxes for awhile until she pooped out.
Sleep
Her nesting instinct is directly in competition with her Twin-Mommy energy cycle and so she nests in short bursts broken up by power naps.
Babies Countdown – The Double Header
153 days until September 9
143 days until August 30
For the moment, I’m going to assume the baby-ninja is correct about our due date of August 30, 2010.
- Today is 19 weeks and 4 days.
- Saturday, April 10 is the Sacramento Mothers of Multiples Baby-Stuff Sale
- Sunday, April 11 is our next child birthing class.
- Wednesday, April 14 is our first appointment with the perinatologist.
- Thursday, April 15 is a doctor’s appointment at the Women’s Clinic, and Tax Day .
- Sunday, April 18 is child birthing class number 3.
- Thursday, April 22 is child birthing class number 4.
- Tuesday, April 27 is the Sacramento Mothers of Multiples Meetup.
- Monday, April 26 and the twins become viable as early as 22 weeks.
- Tuesday, May 4 is child birthing class number 5.
- Monday, June 7 is Homefree Day. 90% of twins born at 28 weeks survive and that number only gets better from here on out.
- Monday, August 2 and we hit our goal of 36 weeks minimum on our wedding anniversary. From here on the twins could come at any time.
- Monday, August 30 and we hit 40 weeks. This is our due date even if we expect the twins to possibly come sooner.
- 4 Weeks Post Delivery – Look for baby smiles.
- Sometime After the Delivery – 4.5 months of the Twinsanity Interval.
April 9th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Thanks for the calendar. We should all be that organized. Those were cute songs, but since I wasn’t a Beatles’ fan, I’ll need to go to the site and listen. I do know “Hey Jude” and do like it. Congratulations on getting the bed together, sometimes it does take an engineer to put together children’s furniture and toys (just wait until some Christmas in the future. You’ll see!) Like you, I will feel much better when June 7th rolls around. Did you think about June 8th? I don’t want them to come that early as it is way too soon, I’d rather have them come Aug. 2 or later. But, wouldn’t it be fun to celebrate the birthday of all males in your family on the same day? At least this year, you and Mary can celebrate your birthday in a big way as you can also celebrate Homefree Day! Love your writings and pictures! Mom
April 9th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Puck, you are lyrically funny and it must be fab being married to you (don’t get jealous, Mary; I can say things like that). May Dominic and Alexander both take after daddy.
April 9th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Hey Dude made me laugh out loud.
Indeed, I regularly update my friends here with fruit/twin commentary.
So, do twin Mom’s still take a long time to deliver? (First time mom’s typically have FOREVER amounts of time to get to the hospital.)
Yea! for halfway home.
That is really amazing that they are on such parity. I’m not sure I’ve ever met twins that didn’t have a pretty obvious size disparity at birth. Go you guys! Go baby ninja!
April 13th, 2010 at 9:32 am
Hi, I’m Theresa, Dawn’s friend who has 7 yo identical twin girls. I love how you’re blogging everything. I didn’t find out I was having twins until my 21 week ultrasound. I kept telling my OB, “I’m bigger, I’m exhausted, are you sure there’s only one?” She told me basically, “You’re old, you’re fat, it’s your 2nd baby and you are chasing after your toddler, that’s why you’re tired!” LOL My instincts were right, sure enough, even though I’ve had several in office ultrasounds at this point, the “big” ultrasound was a nice surprise. I think my husband was in shock and at risk for passing out. We walked out of the hospital in a daze! So, nice that you know early and nice that technology has improved so much even over the last 7 years, so you get to see them better and learn more.
I delivered early at 35 weeks which at first was terrifying because as you know all along you are shooting for 36 weeks. They came early though because they were at the beginning of TTTS. It was mild. one daughter, the one being transfused to, did have a heart murmur, but that could have been because of being early as well. By her 2 month check up it was gone. The girls were great. A friend of mine had mz twin girls a year and a day earlier than me also at 35 weeks and her girls were in the hospital for two weeks but nothing serious. I just wanted to share this so you know there are some positive stories out there and don’t get stuck on the horrible ones.
Wait until you get a little further along – the boys’ movements will likely be a LOT. I couldn’t even hold a book or a dish on my big belly (that stuck out like a table) because the girls kicked it off!
Enjoy though, it’s really an incredible feeling and much, much different than a singleton baby.
I see you might be connecting with the Moms of Multiples group. That’s good. I got info but never connected mostly because when my girls were born I had my son as well. 3 under 2, nursing around the clock, I was too exhausted to go check out things.
One of my girls is Alexandra (the other Josephine – called Josie) and my son is Daniel. Dominic is a great name too.
I live in R.C. If my husband and I can be of any help to you, let me know!
April 13th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Hello everyone! I must admit that while I have my occasional moody/emotional moment I don’t remember a time in my life when I laughed as much as I seem to while pregnant. In part, my husband keeps me laughing, and I really enjoy his posts – even when they poke some good-natured fun at his baby-mama. I thought the songs were hilarious, and I even got him to sing them to us. I think “Hey Dudes” is my favorite.
Cindy, I’m not sure about whether twin moms take as long as other first-time moms to deliver. Twin moms have C-sections a lot more often. It would be intereting to know how long an average twin birth (not C-section) takes for a first-time mom. Maybe our perinatologist will know. I’ll try to remember to ask.
Theresa, thank you so much for writing and sharing your own story! I really enjoyed reading it, and it is very helpful to hear positive stories of others’ experiences. I can’t imagine not knowing until my 21st week. Another mother told me her doctor was constantly telling her she needed to lose weight because she was getting big so quickly, and they had also missed her 2nd baby in the early ultrasounds. I’ll be thrilled if we can make it to at least 35 weeks like you and your friend, and I love your children’s names. I’ve always liked the name Josephine ever since I read “Little Women” the first time, and I, of course, like Alexandra and Daniel.
If you think of any advice that you wished you would have gotten before your girls arrived, please share it! We’ve already been told several times by twin parents not to dress them alike (except perhaps on the rare occasion) after the first year.