Sad, bad to work.

I'm so sad about going back to work. Monday starts teacher work week and the first day with kids is the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Summer, as always, went by wayyyy to fast and I'm so sad about going back to work.

I have loved being home with the twins. It has been so much fun and they are just so awesome. I'm so proud to be their mama. I'm going to miss them so much, especially our afternoon couch cuddling. 

I'm really worried about getting back into the swing of things with working and teaching and fear that being pregnant is really going to complicate things. My to-do list for work due to being pregnant is super long and I'm not looking forward to trying to solve those problems. 

I'm extremely fearful of how bed rest and the birth of these twins is going to play out with my fmla. I'm fearful I'm going to spend all my leave on br and have to return to work when the babies are very little. I don't know if I will be able to actually do that. Last go around this wasn't an issue because the school year ended and ran into summer. This time is a different story since I'm most likely looking at jan/feb birth with bed rest prior.

I'm the family's insurance provider since we have great benefits and mike is self employed. So returning after my 13 weeks is very important.

Obamacare? Message from God I should stay home with my babies?!? Doubtful :/

We shall see! 

Ill leave you with my favorites times this summer! Snuggle time!

Types of twins

After sharing my news I have come to realize the general public has no basic knowledge of different twins types.

So I am going to explain the three types as best possible.

  

There are two main types of twins fraternal and identical. From these two types there are three different types in utero.

Fraternal twins are created by two different eggs and two different sperm. Genetically fraternal twins are related in the same way siblings are, they are just in utero and the same time and share a birthday! 

Fraternal twins are the most common type of twins. They most often run in families because hyper ovulation (the release of more than one egg during a menstrual cycle) is said to be a genetic trait. 

There has also been a rise in the fraternal twin rate due the increase of fertility medicines. 

In utero fraternal twins are called di/di twins because they do not share a sac or placenta. 

The second type of twins is identical twins. In utero they can be called mo/mo twins, mo/di twins, or di/di twins. It is important to know what time of twins you are pregnant with because there is different risks with each type. 

Identical twins are said to be completely random and it is generally believe that these type of twins do not run in families. (I have seen a few debates over this.) The identical twinning rate has not changed over time since it is a random act. Identical twins are formed from 1 egg and 1 sperm, meaning they share the same DNA. During cell division the cell splits an extra time creating an extra identical embryo.  This is actually an error in cell division! A beautiful error! 

Depending on when in cell division the embryo split determines the type of twins you have in utero. 

mo/mo twins - most risky, they completely share a sac and there is no membrane to separate them, they also share a placenta. Rare - 1% -5% of identical twin pregnancies  

mo/di twins - still high risk, they share a sac but there is a membrane to separate them, they share a placenta. about 70% of identical twin pregnancies

di/di twins -  least risky, do not share a sac or placenta (but can fuse as seen in picture). about 30% of identical pregnancies, in utero, there is no way to tell if di/di are fraternal or identical (unless a boy and girl) this has to be confirmed through DNA testing after birth. 

When I had my first ultrasound it was easy to see that my twins share a sac. It was not clear if there was a membrane to separate them. My doctor believes she saw one, but because it was so early (7 weeks), I will go back for another ultrasound at 12 weeks to check again on the type of twins I am carrying.

The doctor seemed pretty certain these twins are MO/DI. 

Now that you may understand the different type of twins a little better... perhaps you understand our shock when we found out we were having twins again... except this time identical!! 

Happy anniversary!

Happy anniversary to my hunky groom! It's hard to believe we have only been married for two years.

Mike and Heather Timeline

We are a little crazy ;)

5/2007 - meet each other 

8/2007 - we start dating

3/19/2011 - we get engaged 

4/20/2011- close on our home

8/17/2011 - we get married

10/31/2011 - bfp

11/28/2011- 1st ultrasound find out we are having twins 

5/25/2012 - p and n are born

7/1/2013 - bfp

8/1/2013 - 1st ultrasound find out we are having a second set of twins

The rest is still unwritten! 

How are you feeling?

I have a million blog post topics... That maybe ill get around to writing one day... But this may explain the hold up.

How are you feeling?

My last pregnancy was hard and I almost always felt awful. So of course I'm afraid of this one and people are asking, how am I doing.

The main issue is I'm  exhausted. I am so tired all the time. Last go around I got to sleep or take naps almost (besides when working) whenever I wanted.

This time is a little different because I have to take care of P&N first. 

So when they are napping I'm napping too!

The hard part is while I'm so tired -- you think I would be excited about bed time, but I'm already having a hard time falling asleep. It is hard to get comfortable and I feel like every time I do I have to get up and pee.

The morning/all day sickness is here and it full force. But I'm already taking zofran so it isn't really an issue.

Well it can kind of be an issue during diaper changes. The power of a pregnant nose and nausea is not a good mix when changing diapers.

I dread diaper changes because of this.!

I don't think the shock as wore off yet. 

This is how I'm doing! 

Meeting with my Doctor

After the appointment with the ultrasound tech, I went back to wait and meet with my doctor. There was a million things running through my head.

I could not wait for what my doctor had to say. 

When my doctor came in the room, she had a little bit of shock her face. 

She said…

Wow, guys, congrats! Twins again. But these are identical and are in no way related to your first set of twins. They are considered a random fluke in cell division. This pretty rare and I have never had this before.

Since they share a sac this pregnancy is considered risker than your last twin pregnancy. You will see the MFM sooner than last time and more often as we have to monitor you even more closely.

She told me I would most definitely be on bed rest, most likely, by 28 weeks.

I will go back to she her and get another ultrasound again in 4 weeks. She explained I will be monitored closely but that wont start until a little later since if anything were to happen between now and then there really is nothing that can be done about it. 

The meeting with my doctor will spin in to a couple more separate posts.

Two sets of Twins

 I had my first ultrasound appointment for my SURPRISE pregnancy on 8/1/13. I told more people than I wanted to about being pregnant again and this totally added to the stress of the day. Everyone wanted to know how many I was pregnant with. What if it’s 1, 2, 3, 79? I was worried what if it was zero? No heartbeat etc.

The real nerves started to set in on me pretty bad the night before the ultrasound. I could not sleep and to make the nerves worse my appointment was not until 2pm.

All of a sudden I was just really ready to know. People liked to ask: what do you want? I wanted what ever God wanted to give me. But I had a lot of pros of wanting just want 1. But I know NONE of that matters now!

We took the twins to my in-laws first and then headed to the doctor’s office. Our appointment was at 2pm, they were running late, we sat in the waiting room for 25 minutes, every minute felt like hours and my nerves were really building up. I was getting text messages about the appointment before I was even taken back.

Finally at 2:25 the ultrasound tech took me back. She could tell I was nervous and immediately asked what’s wrong.

I told her, “I am just really ready to find out what’s inside, we already have 14 month old twins, so we are extra anxious about this.”

She said, “Hahaha, it won’t be twins again.”

                                                                                         

So she starts the ultrasound, there is a big screen in front of me, so I can see everything as she is  doing it. However, I had no idea what I was looking at. This appointment was scheduled about a week earlier than the one I had with P and N. The ultrasound looked nothing like the one I had with them.

We had made the tech extremely nervous. She wasn’t saying anything, she just kept looking at my face and quickly looking back at the machine.

Finally, I said, “What?! Say something!”

She said, “I don’t want to say, I don’t know how to tell you…”

I said, “Is it 3?!?”

She said, “no, I see two heartbeats.”

She then showed me both heartbeats.

I said, “it looks so different than last time.”

She said, “you have a boy and girl?”

I said, “Yes.”

She said, “well these are in the same sac, they are identical.”

She then apologized over and over for laughing and me and telling me it wouldn’t be twins again. Honestly if she hadn’t have kept apologizing I would not have remembered that.

MIND BLOWN!

I will post later on meeting with my doctor afterwards. 

Oops

Check out this!!!

1 in 10,000

I had my first set of twins at 26 years old in 2012. They are fraternal: a boy and a girl. My cousin, 25 year olds, got pregnant with fraternal twins just 4 months after me.

I knew my chances of having another set were pretty high, considering the hyper ovulation gene that appears present in me and my family.

My first ultrasound was today and I was a nervous wreck. I thought I had prepared myself for everything 1, 2 or 3, or zero, what if there was no heartbeat, etc.

But this NEVER crossed my mind… 2 heartbeats, twins again, 1 sac.

Pregnant with IDENTICAL TWINS this time.

Has absolutely nothing to do with my 1^st set. Totally random. Scientifically speaking at least.

I read the odds are 1 in 10,000.

WOW

URL CHANGE

Hello all... NEW BLOG ADDY  I will being doing some blog updates over the next couple of days and will be changing my URL name, so make sure you are following along if you want to keep reading!