We went to the doctor today and found out that our twins are diamniotic monochorionic. That means each twin has an individual amniotic sack but they share a placenta. It also means the twins are almost certainly identical twins.
We also got our first twin video!
12 Week Ultrasound
(You can select one of the buttons on the bottom of the video to watch it full screen.)
Graduation Day
Guest Post from Puck:
The 5 Week Sprint Is Over!
Today our babies officially reach the 12 week mark! The babies graduate from embryo to fetus status and a lot of our dangerous times are behind us now.
WifeWatch 2010
Food
As much as we try to get Mary food she enjoys, the sheer volume of food she has to consume is starting to weigh on her a bit. It is just tedious eating all the time.
Mary is starting to pass the “Is she gaining weight?” phase and moving on to the “She’s clearly pregnant!” phase where people immediately identify her as a Mom-to-be. Her tummy is growing pretty fast and if you know her, you also know what her personality is like.
Yes, she has an Excel spreadsheet with her tummy measurements and I will try to convince her to make a tummy chart available. All I can say is that we are geeks and we like our data.
Mood
We have been dealing with some headaches and I think Mary was ready to bull through it with noble sufferance until I fussed at her to call the baby clinic and ask which pain reliever was recommended for pregnant ladies. (Noble suffering is great and all, but let’s save that for later when it actually makes sense.)
- Tylenol was what they recommended for headaches.
- Claritin (not Claritin-D) for allergies.
- You should always ask your doctor before you take any medicine when you’re pregnant. (We ask twice. First we ask the doctor and then we ask the pharmacist.)
Here is the lesson to take from this, “When in doubt, check it out. Call your doctor and ask.”
Now the pregnant lady is happier which makes my life better.
Sleep
Twin-Mommy and the Great Dane have been a bit at odds lately. As lovely and well-trained as our dog is, she still passes gas. Our dog tends to lie on her bed tooting away in her sleep like she’s playing an enthusiastic tuba solo. With Mary’s heightened sense of smell even walking into the bedroom during Shakti’s evening symphony is tough for her. Last night she had to leave the bedroom door open hoping to air it out. Even after she crawled into bed, Shakti suprised her with a few extra notes.
So Mary is not a music lover in this regard. Me… I usually go to bed before Mary does and she abandons me to my fate. I steadfastly choose not to think about the air quality during my slumber. Spring is coming soon and we’ll open the bedroom windows.
Babies Countdown – The Double Header
196 Days until September 9
- Today Thursday, February 25, is Twin Week number 12
- Tomorrow, Friday, February 26 Mary will have an appointment with Dr. Hershey the Baby-Ninja.
- Thursday, March 18, is the next OB-GYN appointment. (There is a good chance we can learn the gender of the twins here if they give us an ultrasound.)
- Thursday, April 22, is week 20 and we should be feeling regular baby kicks by then. (By this time we should also know the gender via ultrasound provided the little ones have not been shy.)
- Thursday, May 7 and the twins become viable as early as 22 weeks.
- Thursday, May 20 and 90% of twins born at 24 weeks survive and that number only gets better from here on out.
- Thursday, August 12 and we hit our goal of 36 weeks minimum. From here on the twins could come at any time.
- Thursday, September 9 and we hit 40 weeks. This is our due date even if we expect the twins to possibly come sooner.
Twin Day!
Today is Thursday which means that another Twin Day has arrived, and it’s a big one. Today we finish the 12th week and the first trimester. Hoody Hoo! It’s pretty exciting to be moving out of the dangerous waters of the first three months and into the next phase of the pregnancy. Unfortunately, I can’t write for long today, so this is just a short note.
Most of my nausea/queasiness has gone away as well as a lot of my indigestion. My twins still demand their daily siesta, and I’ve felt a bit more tired the last week or so. This week headaches started, but after coming to campus and finding many others with the same symptom (because of allergies), I realized, “Hey, I have allergies! My headaches could be from my allergies.” I called to check what medicine was okay to take and got started. I feel much better today.
Last night I thought I might have felt a bit of movement, nothing so definite as the first time though. Then, I dreamed that I felt the babies move during the night. A very good dream to have.
Today, I had the first person walk up and touch my belly with a smile and slightly tentative congratulations on my baby-to-be. She was not a stranger but a fellow Spanish grad student, and I got to tell her we were having twins. So, I’m officially showing enough for someone to come up and say, “You’re pregnant!” And I now know that I don’t really mind my friends and acquaintances approaching and giving me a belly rub.
We’re looking forward to a visit from my sister Linda and her children Kate and Eric. They arrive tonight. WooHoo!
Tomorrow we visit the baby-ninja! I’m hopeful we’ll find out the gender, but I know it is unlikely this early. All is going well. Puck continues to feed me yummy food, though I am a bit tired of eating so much and being hungry and thirsty every 2-3 hours (I never thought I would say that). Only 6 months left to go! Now, back to grading!
Guest Post by Puck:
Mary has completed her first screening for gestational diabetes and passed with flying colors. Yeah!
SMoMs
Last night I surprised the pregnant lady by taking her to the montly meeting of the Sacramento Mothers of Multiples (SMOMs) group. These ladies are all battle-hardened twin (plus triplet and quadruplet) veterans and full of good advice. They sponsor an activity every month and also form a support network for moms as well. They have a library of loaner pregnancy and parenting books which makes a lot of sense because you outgrow these books pretty rapidly. Twice a year they sponsor a big baby-stuff sale and we’re looking forward to getting an early shot at twin-stuff in April. They sponsor Moms’ nights out, play dates, parties, and more. They even offered to bring food and supplies to parents during the early twin shut-in period.
Mary was able to get some of her questions answered and these ladies were very reassuring. The best line of the evening?
New Twin Mom: “Honestly, I don’t really remember anything about the first four months.”
National Web Site: National Organization of Mothers of Twins Club, Inc.
Stalking the Baby-Ninja
This Friday Mary and I visit Dr. Douglas Hershey the Baby-Ninja. He is an expert in prenatal genetics and diagnosis and his team is supposed to have the super-duper ultrasound machines. I spent a bit of time stalking him to determine the mysterious nature of his kung-fu and I have found the following:
- Sacramento Magazine rates him as one of the best doctors in the city.
- The SMoMs like him.
- He is the father of twin boys.
Ahah!! Funny how that last bullet point was what jumped out at both me and my wife immediately.
Here is a link to his practice so that you too can stalk him on the Internet.
This past Valentine’s Day the Curtis Clan (well, soon to be clan) received some very special Valentine’s Day cards from our nieces Kate, Brenna and Savanna and our nephew Eric.
Creative Kate
Kate created a lovely picture for us of a rainbow with her standing beneath it. If you’ve been following the twin blog posts, you can probably guess that rainbows have a special meaning for us now. During a rather dreary day, a beautiful rainbow gave Puck and me hope for the future of our family, and it was the next day we learned that we were going to have twins. Kate’s rainbow is a symbol of joy and hope, and all four of us were so happy to receive it! (Click on the images to see them full size.)
A rainbow with the sun shining, butterflies flying and Kate smiling.
Adventurous Eric
Eric looks up to his big sister, and he liked her rainbow picture so much that he sent us his own version with him in it. He also sent Shakti several fruity-scented pictures of him in his rocket so that she could enjoy sniffing them.
Eric waves beneath the rainbow.
Eric blasts into the sky in his yellow rocket.
Eric shoots through the sky in his orange rocket.
Eric takes a moment to watch the stars.
The Talented and Spirited Brenna and Savanna
The twins also received a very special Valentine’s Day card from their cousins Brenna and Savanna. It was a Snoopy and Woodstock card, and inside, they had drawn two very special pictures sending our family lots of love:
The Twins
Our First Family Portrait
It was a truly magical Valentine’s Day full of rainbows, rockets, hearts and family.