Outnumbered

Two more boys. Three little boys. And Adam. The odds are really stacking up against me here. We are having twin boys! Can you believe it? I can't really believe it. It's pretty crazy, right? Somehow, my body took one baby and decided to make two babies. Well, we are pretty sure anyway. My MFM (Maternal Fetal Specialist Doc) says he's about 98% sure they are identical. And the craziest part is that no one even knows how this happens! So, apparently, it was meant to be.

I'm about 19 weeks along now, so my due date is technically March 8th. Due dates are kind of a silly thing with twins though, since my doctors say they probably won't let me go past 37 weeks. So we're really looking at mid-February. Valentine's babies! Wahoo!

As you can see, twin A (top) and twin B (bottom) are both definitely boys. I'll probably completely lose it at some point, but Will is going to love having two little brothers! He still doesn't really understand, but he'll get it eventually. And then when they are old enough to play together he'll really enjoy it.

So, I know that some people are actually interested in the medical stuff, but if you're not then you can skip this paragraph if you want. We are having monochorionic diamniotic twins. That means they split in their first 3-8 days, so they share a placenta, but each have their own amniotic sac. Technically. But really it's kind of one sac with a very thin membrane in between. This isn't the safest kind of twin pregnancy, but not the riskiest either. Because they share a placenta, there is a chance of twin-to-twin transfusion sydnrome (TTTS), which basically is where one twin takes all the nutrients and grows rapidly, and the other one doesn't grow or grows very slowly. So far there are no signs of this and both twins are a good size. Because of where their umbilical cords attach, the twins are at a lower risk of this than they could be, but it could still happen. And, apparently, it can happen at any point during pregnancy, so we get to drive an hour to Webster every three weeks to visit the MFM and get a fancy ultrasound. The good news is that for unknown reasons, the best way to help prevent this is a high protein diet, and our favorite Texas BBQ place is also in Webster! So now I get to eat as much BBQ as I want--doctor's orders. The other good news is that the MFM checked my cervical length and said that if anyone was meant to have twins, it was me! Apparently my long, beautiful cervix is perfect for keeping babies in the oven, which is great because the risk of pre-term labor is pretty high with twins. Really the risks of everything are higher (lucky me!), but everything is looking good for now. Just cross your fingers and pray I don't have to go on bed rest!

Well, that is about all the news on the twins so far. I've been pretty bad at blogging lately (I blame the morning sickness that lasted 16 weeks...), but I'll get another one up soon with some cute pictures of that Will man!