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.
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