Pregnant with Twins? - REALLY get to know your UltraSound Tech

When we discovered I was carrying twins at my 20 week UltraSound, I was immediately informed that I would be returning to the ultrasound department of our medical buidling on a frequent basis. The gal who performed my 20 week ultrasound (the person who discovered and informed us of the twins pregancy) was a very nice woman and appeared to be very capable. However I was quickly informed that my twins and I would be seeing "Mike" every 3 to 4 weeks for our follow up appointments.

It turns out that Mike is THE GUY in the ultrasound department. He's the "go to" person for the more challenging or the higher risk ultrasound work. Not that having the ultrasound was risky. However the challenge of taking ultrasound measurements on tiny twins, and not over looking what would obviously be small changes in dimensions is a very specialized skill. Not to mention the challenge of keeping the twins mom's nervous energy in check. It turns out it takes a very technically capable, and emotionally empathetic, person to do both of those items well. I was very lucky that Mike had both of those skills. He was great!!

Here's a small piece of advice for moms pregnant with twins; make sure you ask (and push for it if need be....) the BEST technician on the ultrasound staff. Your doctor will rely heavily on the ultrasound results to track your progress. Therefore you want to make absolutely sure your doctor is getting the highest quality ultrasound results and data. This will help your doctor and you to ensure everything with your twins is progressing as expected. Plus think about all the great ultrasound photos you'll have to share with everyone who is awaiting the arrival of your twins!!

Identical Twins!!

My twins are now in Kindergarten. For those of you with Kindergarteners, you know that's the age when knock/knock jokes and goofy put-downs are hysterically funny (in their minds).

In that spirit, as we were driving home from school the other day, one of my twins told his twins brother; "When you were born, you were so ugly that they had to tint the windows in the hospital!" Ha Ha Ha....Just silly boy stuff....

However I had to remind him that they are IDENTICAL TWINS and reminded him that often times people can't tell them apart. So his "dig" on his brother would then also apply to him (since they are identical twins).

To which is quickly responded; "Never Mind"

I laughed and laughed. Never a dull moment with those two!!

Twins Preganacy - Now I'm "HIGH RISK"!?!?

I had one son already when we found out we were having twins. He was born via cesearean section since he was breach, but other than that, he came out like a little cherub with APGAR score of 10. My perfect child!!! (doesn't every mom think that when her first baby is born..... :)

Then after trying for a while and suffering a miscarriage, we found out we were having twins and suddenly my "normal" pregnancy was now considered "high risk". The other thing they found during our 20 week ultrasound (besides finding "the twins" for the first time at 20 weeks!!) was a 2 vessel cord on "Baby B". Apparently this is usually no big deal, but when they told me, i cried. It just felt like one more thing that could go wrong and it was more than I could handle at that point in time. The worry was just so overwhelming. I just couldn't keep it together enough to even talk to my doctor on the phone. I handed the phone to my husband and he and my doctor proceeded to have a long and detailed conversation about my mental health. At that point in time, the doctor was more worried about my state of mind than the 2 vessel cord.

In an effort to ease my nerves, my doctor referred me to the neo-natologists in the closest big city. These are THE EXPERTS and the drs that handle all the complicated, high-risk pregnancies. Again, I'm not sure my physical condition warranted it, but it was critical for my mental state. There I spent 2 hours laying on the table while they did a VERY thorough high definition ultrasound on my twins. That was interested - actually fascinating. But the real value in the appointment came in the consultation with the neo-natologist that followed.

Dr. Katz was wonderful. I'm a very straight forward and fact driven person. So I greatly appreciated the doctor's calm and factual demeanour. He laid it out for us like this; at 24 weeks, the chance of survival is 70% and the chance of long term medical complications is 60%. At 26 weeks, the chance of survival is 75% and the chance of long term complications is 40%. And so he went on in 1 to 2 week increments until he made his way to the majic number of 30 weeks. That was the landmark number that stuck in my brain. That was THE NUMBER that quickly became our target. The chance of survival was 95+% and the chance of complications down the line was less than 10%. Phew....we finally had some good news. We finally had that majic number. I just needed to keep these little guys in me for 8 more weeks and everything was going to be fine. In the end, we made it to 34 (and a half) weeks!! What an accomplishment....