Our Kids

Okay so here is some technical mumbo jumbo for those of you out there who are curious about what kind of twins I am carrying.

There are two types of twins monozygotic, which means from one egg or identical and dizygotic which means two seperate eggs or fraternal. We won’t know what type of twins I am carrying until after the birth and some genetic testing. Just because twins are labeled identical does not mean that they will look alike (strange I know) and it is common for fraternal twins to look more alike than identical twins (again, freaky).

Here is the good news. There are two more common ways to carry twins diamnionic/dichorionic and monoamnionic/monochorionic (mo/mo). Right now I am carry diamnionic/dichorionic (di/di) which means that the they are each in seperate placentas. Some of the books I have read say that means that they are fraternal and some of the books say that means you can’t assume that. The reasoning behind that is because mo/mo twins can split their placenta and look like di/di twins and di/di twins can fuse their placentas and look like mo/mo twins. The good news about us is that the diamnionic/dichorionic is the safest way to have multiples. No fighting over food and each has his/her own space (for now). Later on it gets pretty cramped in there and that is what leads to lower birth weights. NOTE: Fraternal twins can even have different fathers! Now that is freaky. I don’t mention it because it is a possibility in my case but just because it is interesting:)

A normal gestation for twins is 37 weeks, just 3 weeks shorter than the usual 10 lunar months for a singleton pregnancy (don’t I sound smart). So in reality we would be expecting a couple bundles of joy in January but that is okay cuz some of my favorite people were born in January. The official due date is still the first week of February. With the pregnancy I can expect to gain between 45 and 60 pounds! Good news is that not that I can eat without feeling sick my body is all about the fruit and is slowly coming around to the vegetables. So far so good on the eating front. I do eat a lot of popsicles but they are little and only 60 calories of the 3100 I have to eat a day and 131 g of protein (cripes!).

So now you all know when people ask if they are identical or fraternal you can say you don’t know but you do know that they are diamnionic/dichorionic;)

Since we are all learning about twins together, I thought you might be interested in the most common twin myths. Now go forth and educate:)

MYTH #1: Twinning skips a generation. FACT: Dizygotic or two-egg twinning passes down the female line from generation to generation.

MYTH #2: Since multiple births are most often the result of costly infertility treatments, twinning is not a problem for middle- and low-income populations. FACT: Although twinning rates are influenced by infertility treatments the majority of multiple births occur naturally. The highest rates are in the African-American population, which is at additional high risk for poverty.

MYTH #3: Every pregnant woman thinks she’s having twins. FACT: Pregnant women have been found able to accurately identify the presence of multiples as much as three months ahead of the medical diagnosis

MYTH #4: You can’t breastfeed multiples, or if you breastfeed you must never use bottles. FACT: Mothers who breastfeed multiples report that the judicious use of formula as supplementation, in times of illness or extreme fatigue, can prolong the duration of the breastfeeding period.

MYTH #5: It’s so much easier with twins. Everyone helps you; and you get lots of discounts. FACT: Child care and household management costs more, not less, with multiples. Subsidized child care and respite programs are inadequate to meet the pressing needs of families suffering the severe sleep deprivation which accompanies the 24-hour care of infant multiples. Unless the help of relatives and friends is organized and systematic, it may actually contribute to parental stress. Mothers of multiples benefit most from the help of their husbands/partners. Cultural biases may discourage fathers from participating. Lack of information and training in child development and care may reduce the effectiveness of any help fathers do provide. Although some purchasing discounts are available, the majority of the costs of medical care, equipment, clothing, diapers and food are double for twins and increase in proportion to the numbers of infants.

MYTH #6: There’s a good twin and a bad twin in every pair. FACT: The relationship between co-twins is a dynamic interplay of personality variables which suffers from such potentially deterministic labels. Twins are children who get along more or less well with each other depending upon a host of variables such as temperamental compatibility and their relationships with the rest of the members of the family. Young twins experiment with the balance of their relationship — trading off being “leader and follower,” or “bully and victim,” as often as every hour. With good coaching and refereeing from their parents, multiples are capable of developing a mature, reciprocal relationship with lifelong benefits.

MYTH #7: There are all kinds of research to help parents understand the unique aspects of twin development. FACT: The majority of research known as “twin studies” employs twin subjects to examine the heritability of biomedical and personality variables. Most of the information available on twin development is a by-product of this work. Few longitudinal studies of twin development per se exist.

MYTH #8: Twins and triplets share everything. FACT: Even though they have shared a womb, multiples learn to share their toys gradually, like all children do. First, each must develop a sense of ownership of their clothes and some toys. Once a child understands the concept of “mine,” she or he can begin to lend and trade.

MYTH #9: Twins should always be separated in school, so that they will learn to get along without each other. FACT: No one formula for school placement fits all twins at all times. The classroom placements for a set of multiples must be evaluated each year, just as classroom placement is evaluated annually for single born children. Young multiples who are still working out the balance of their relationship with each other benefit from starting school in the same class. There, in the comforting presence of their co-twin, they can learn to separate by participating in different activities with different groups of children. When multiples are separated before they have learned independence they will be overwhelmed with grief and anxiety and unable to concentrate on school work.

This past weekend was the Sweet Pea festival in Bozeman… it’s a fun weekend, similar to “Frontier Days” or “Small Fair in a Park Days” you’ll find in other towns. Part of the festival is a 10k and 5k run… since Mystique couldn’t run it this year, and since I’m being the sympathetic husband (and hate running), we decided to help out by directing traffic. So at 7am we were out on Olive street in our orange vests waving our orange flags, telling all sorts of cars and trucks that they had to wait while the 5k’ers ran, walked, limped, and rolled by. My busy intersection had a total of four cars. I think Mystique’s had two. Very difficult work.

Afterwards we fed our faces at a friend’s, then walked over to main street to get ready for the parade. But before the parade is the really cool part — the kids’ 1k run. This is open to any kid, and any parent with a kid, and it’s basically a 1k sprint right down main street before the official start of the parade. It’s really great — there are just tons of kids of all ages running/walking/riding down main street. All the spectators are applauding, waving at the kids, and cheering them on. You’ll see a lot of parents running with their kids, as well… some of them are struggling to keep up with their speedy young ones, but they’re doing it. Near the end of the run you’ll get a lot of the younger kids, with their parents walking with them, stroller in tow just in case they don’t make it the whole way. It was especially nice seeing this with the kids on the way… we’ll definitely be taking part in the run when we can.

A slow weekend after that — cleaned up a bit and played with the current kids (the dogs). Need to start planning some home improvement projects before the kids get here, but we’re lucky that we were almost done with the house already, so there isn’t much to do. Just a bit of painting, outlet covers, and maybe a new floor in the kitchen. One of these weekends I’m going to get off my butt and actually have a garage sale, as well… we’ve got too much furniture and we need the room.

More fun near the end of the week — ultrasound part three will be coming on Thursday. I’ll post the pictures when it happens…

jason

Well I got a few more FAQ requests so here they are with their answers:

Are they identical or fraternal?
We won’t know unless we do DNA testing or unless there is one boy and one girl. An example the doctor gave is that Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen (two famous twins) are fraternal but you would never know.

Do you know the sex? Will you find out? When?
We don’t know the sex but we will find out. We may be able to find out at 16 weeks but it depends on when we have our next ultrasound after the one on the 12th. You all might have to wait it out on this one.

Are you considering the name Lyle Jr? (from friend Lyle)
At this point we are not ruling out any names but even if Lyle makes it into the mix I think we have to drop the Jr.

Cute Stories:
Jason used to go over to Jeff and Mary’s house to play games (how cute) with Jeff. During that time he got to know their adorable kids Alicia and Ryan. Some of you who have visited have seen the beautiful painting that we have on the fridge and the pretty necklace that was made for Jason. Well Mary broke the news and they were very excited. Ryan said that when Jason came over there would be one for each of them, which was very exciting. Then he made faces to show how he would make the baby laugh. Alicia was also excited but hoped it was not two boys, because that would be too much work:)

We start week 14 on the 9th, which is Monday. All things are good, it is getting harder and harder to hold in my stomach so pictures might be in order soon. Don’t mock my tan…..I’m from Montana:)

Last night after a little nap:), Jason and I went to the Bite of Bozeman with friends. The Bite is when most of the restaurants all come out to Main street downtown and hock their goods. The street is blocked off so it is pretty much like a street fair for food! The weather was great, the crowds were in full force and the babies were hungry. So we headed off to find the delicious looking turkey legs that everyone was gnawing on. I must say it was quite delicious although I felt rather cavewomanish chewing on a bone in public. I actually could not bring myself to chew on the bone and picked off my meat with my fingers. After the meat stick I could not eat anymore but I did down a whole bottle of water which made the babies happy because they love to jump on the waterbed, also known as my bladder;)

So last night they jumped and jumped and I got up and peed and peed. Fun for all! Today on the way to work we got a flat tire, so that was Jason’s adventure for the morning. My, my can he get cranky without a full stomach of coffee. This weekend we are assisting with the Sweet Pea Festival by directing traffic during the annual Sweet Pea run (a 10K and a 5K). So technically it will be the kids first race even though we are just directing traffic. Hey, I get a tshirt and that is all that matters!

I have no morning sickness, although I’m doing just fine in the sympathy weight-gain department. These are the times when a man realizes how important his wife is in keeping him active… with Mystique sidelined a bit, I’m definitely sitting more and walking less. I do run outside and chase the dogs down and tell them to stop barking, but that’s about the extent of my exercise.

This week’s kind of slow with the kids (at least for those of us not carrying the kids). Somehow I always turn these life-changing events into a “jason gets a new toy” event and this is no different: we’re in the market for a video camera. I’ve got my eye on a Sony model that a friend of mine here has, but if anyone has any recommendations, please let me know. Back when I was talking tough about having a kid and getting a camera, I vowed that I’d buy a high definition camera if Mystique got pregnant. Well… I thought there would be more options out there by the time that came around, but alas, there aren’t. I believe there’s just one high definition video camera (for consumers, of course), and it’s up around $1000. I think I’ll hold off on that until the kids start playing soccer or something… since we’re in Montana, maybe when the kids go on their first hunt.

More when we get it!

jason

Well not much news but had to share that my charming husband got me a gift that is quite a treat. He got me a body pillow from FOM (a swedish company) they are a lot like the mogu pillows from Japan. You can check them out at www.brookstone.com Anyway they are super cool filled with millions of teeny tiny beads and so comfy. So now I have a nice long body one to help me get comfy when I sleep. The doctor has told me to start sleeping on my left side which will be the most comfortable for the babies. The bad thing is that I sleep on my right side. So I am adjusting to the left side and the body pillow really helps.

If any of you are the inventive type I have an idea. Someone should invent toothpaste that tastes like barf. Seems like the kids don’t like the minty freshness that toothpaste provides so every morning they help me out by replacing that fresh brushed clean taste with barf. They are such giving kids:) HA! I am sure the kids and I will come up with many more inventive ideas so stay tuned!

We have a doctor’s appointment on 08/12/04 at 1:15 PM MST for another ultrasound. I have had some bleeding throughout the pregnancy and this is to see if they can tell what happened. This will be just another of the many chances that Jason and I are going to have to track the progress of the kids.

Then we are going to go in to see Dr. Peters on 08/17/2004 at 1:30 PM MST to go over all the results. Then I have another appointment the following week but I don’t think it is scheduled yet:) I think we will be seeing a lot of Dr. Peters…..