They're What??!!

Our big ultra sound was almost two weeks ago and I'm finally updating. The appointment was great, everything looks perfect (for now, but I'll get to that in a minute) and the babies were swimming around and having a great time. Baby B was kicking Baby A in the head the whole time and Baby A was afraid of the u/s wand! He swam away every time it got near him ;)

When the tech started the u/s she said,

"Do you know the genders yet?"

I said no.

"Do you want to know?"

I said yes please :)

"Well if this one is a boy the other one has to be."

Whaaa??

So the first big news is that yes they are both boys! Healthy, and happy in there together :) The other big news is that they are identical! For those of you who were as ignorant as I regarding how twins come to be, fraternal twins are hereditary and identical twins can happen to anyone. They are just a random occurrence in nature and genetics have nothing to do with it. Fraternal twins actually run in my family so I have been totally assuming that my twins were fraternal as well. I was absolutely shocked to hear they are identical. They will need a DNA test after they are born but it's a pretty sure thing.

There are some potential risks associated with being an identical twin. My little guys are sharing a placenta (which is one of the indicators of them being identical). There is this lovely condition called Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome which basically means that one twin could "take over" the placenta so that the other baby does not receive enough nutrients. Right now they are at a normal rate and I have follow-up u/s's scheduled for May 19th and June 9th to see how these little guys develop. They were 8 oz.'s and 10 oz.'s at my last u/s.

I have been praying hard that they are close to the same size at both u/s's. They need to stay within 20% of each other. IF they don't, I start having u/s's every week, then twice a week, then every day until it's clear that the smaller baby would be safer outside the womb at which point they would be born very pre-maturely (probably sometime in July or early August at best). Here's hoping that everything goes well and they share the placenta nicely!

I have been feeling really good. I get a bit tired each afternoon but that's to be expected. I did have a period of about 4 days where I didn't feel either baby kicking or moving too much so the doctor let me come in and hear their heart beats on the doppler. We found both heart beats right away and I felt much better. They have been squirming away ever since then!

I have two new pictures to post which I will do over the next week or so. I have grown quite a bit since my first trimester pictures were posted ;)

20w1d!