Twins

I have a guest post today on the Multiples and More Blog Network. Hop on over there and check it out!

The Question of the Week over at Multiples and More is what 5 items would you recommend for expecting MoMs and I thought I’d share my 5 weeks of twins wisdom.

1. Easy Expression Pumping Bra

Having multiples means likely having preemies. Preemies (even fully healthy 36 weekers like mine) have difficulty latching. So you have to choose to either use formula in a bottle or express your milk using a pump. However, using the pump mean you’re stuck holding the breast shields to yourself for 15 minutes and having to stay up longer after feeding the babies. Using the Easy Expression Bra to pump while bottle feeding equals more time for you and most importantly more sleep!

2. Double Snap and Go

I would never manage to get out of the house by myself without this lovely. Look for it at your local Mom’s of Multiples club used cause these suckers get passed around within the club until they fall apart. Or you can always try Craigslist where I got mine!

3. Swaddling Blankets

Derek and I joke that they twins will start screaming because “the wiggly things attached to me are moving!” Swaddling them tightly when this is the problem results in instant silence. Sweet, now I can get more sleep! My husband and I have a preference for either the ones they use at the hospital (stock up before leaving… you certainly paid for them!) or stretchy thermal blankets like the ones I have pictured above.

4. Noise-making Machine

Derek had an alarm clock from before we were married that can make Jungle and Ocean sounds rather than buzz. We latched onto that sucker the first week we were alone. The tightly swaddled girls think they are back in the womb listening to my blood whoosh around when we play the ocean sounds. Plus it’s a pleasant noise to listen to in our monitor as we get more sleep too.

5. Double Blessings Nursing Pillow

This sucker is a BEAST; it’s gigantic, but it gets the job done. Nursing both babies at the same time means more time or more sleep for yourself.

I rather think more sleep is high on the list for new Moms of Multiples, can you tell?

The little people are one month old today! The girls arrived so abruptly and changed our lives so radically, but there is still a sense of denial that we’re parents. Derek and I said it’s more like being made slaves; we suddenly have tons of chores but no ability to procrastinate. If our slave-masters weren’t so cute we might have run away already!

Even though the girls look a lot alike, we can already see distinct personality differences so for the one month post I thought I’d share this for you!

Aeralind Grace (her name means Hymn of Grace*)

In the womb, Aeralind was a space hog; she elbowed and kneed her larger (according to ultrasounds) sister into the upper corner while enjoying her breech lazy boy position in my left hip. But even though she was a demanding diva about her space, she was also generally the more delicate of the two. Her kicks were softer and her movements less abrupt. She was modest too and covered herself at the 20 week appointment when we were trying to ascertain her gender!

Most of those traits are still evident in this tiny girl. If you carry her upright, she most likely has her arms around your neck. She loves to talk to daddy non-stop during nighttime feedings; she coos the whole time she’s sucking down her bottle. The way she places her hands is so utterly feminine and delicate, but the diva traits are still there. Aeralind threw a fit for daddy on the second day of life because she was upset that he was taking so long to put a new diaper on her. She was so livid that she actually rolled over (back to tummy)! She has what I like to refer to as “diaper diva” status; she’ll wait till you change a diaper that was just wet and then fill the brand new one (or fill your face…). Aeralind likes things her way stat! (please). But you can’t hold a grudge against her demanding nature, not with that crazy cute hair sticking up all over the place.

Bronwyn Hope (her name means Enduring Hope*)

In the womb, Bronwyn certainly made her presence known. She was the first baby Derek felt around 18 weeks at the church picnic. She was totally jamming to the worship music and kicking like a madwoman. She earned the nickname of “Daddy’s little soccer player.” In fact as womb space became more of a commodity, Bronwyn could be seen kicking her sister’s head and bouncing it off my belly!

Bronwyn’s physicality has not changed. It’s almost impossible to keep her swaddled. Her little feet escape from even footed outfits. When we started Tummy Time at two weeks, Bronwyn soaked up ever minute of it like it was the best thing ever, while delicate little Aeralind screamed bloody murder! In fact within the first 10 minutes of her first Tummy Time she had learned to turn her head from side to side. Within the first half hour she had managed to scoot a full foot up the mat. On her due date (October 7) she rolled over from tummy to back FIVE times; I don’t think she’s supposed to be able to do that yet…

I can’t express to you how much we love these little girls. I look forward to seeing their personalities continue to develop over the next few months

*A note about their names: We used Tolkien’s elf language Sindarin when picking out the girls names. We wanted them to be pronounceable on sight, but also have strong meanings. Aeralind was modified from the word Aerlind and Bronwyn was modified from Bronwe.

The question I’m asked most often right now with the girls is: Are they identical? My answer is an honest “I don’t know.”

If twins are the same gender there a few ways to tell if they are identical outside of DNA testing. Most of these signs are linked with the day the zygote split in two after fertilization.

If the egg split between days…

1. 1-3 The identical twins will have two separate chorionic and amniotic sacs and two separate placentas. Short of DNA testing, the parents would have no indication that the twins were identical.
2. 4-8 The identical twins will have two separate amniotic sacs and two separate placentas, but share a chorionic sac (the outer membrane around the two). This is a rather hard situation to detect via ultrasound, so these parents may have no indication either.
3. 8-13 The identical twins will share chorionic and amniotic sacs and a placenta. These twins are referred to as Mono/Mono and are usually detected by ultrasound and monitored very carefully for twin to twin transfusion syndrome. Their parents know that the twins are identical in the womb.
4. 13-15 The identical twins will be born conjoined. In this case, you know they are identical.

What complicates matters further is that in cases 1 and 2 the placentas can fuse together and look like one placenta at delivery. Unfortunately, the fused placenta can occur in dizygotic/fraternal twins as well.

My girls were delivered with one gigantic placenta and look a lot alike. So your guess is as good as mine. If you’re dying to know the answer to the girl’s zygosity, I’ll gladly let you fund a DNA test that’ll put you out about $100 (or more). If the girls want to know… well, they had better start saving their allowances…

So in short, your guess is as good as mine and I’d love to hear it in the comment section 😉