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baby A blocking the barrage of feet with his two hands!

A couple of weeks ago I went in for an appointment to see if the twins were getting equal blood and nutrition. I was discouraged to find out that there was a 14% difference after just 2 weeks. They do surgery on your placenta if it hits 20%. So we geared up to go to Cincinnati. My niece Susie had already offered to come help me for awhile so we felt blessed she would be here during our trip. The only way to reverse transfusion when it starts is to drastically reduce stress and activity. That doesnt always work though. When Susie got here that is just what happened. She did school drop-offs for me and I have been able to take ample naps. In general, she has totally lighted my load. When I went in for my next appt., expecting to firm up the details of the surgery, we found out that now there is a 2% difference! The doctor was amazed! Thank you for your prayers and of course- thank you Susie! Families and friends are amazing. One of the babies is breech and one is not. The one that is not was kicking the other in the face during the entire exam. If you look closely you can see the battered baby protecting his face with his hands as the kicking got more violent! I told the doctor that indeed these were my boys!

Thank you for the congratulations! We are honestly thrilled! I told my husband I felt like we had won the lottery. (Chances of twins when they don't run in the family is .04%) He wasn't too sure about my comparison! About three weeks ago we had an appointment. I have them every two weeks and soon every week. This is because these two share a placenta. Sometimes you don't know whether twins will be identical until they are born. In this case we do because they share a placenta. Because of this they have to be monitored carefully. At any point in your pregnancy the blood vessels which connect the umbilical cord and the circulation of the twins can be distributed unevenly. Also one can be receiving nutrition while the other is not. That is the gist Twin Transfusion anyway. But what it means is that I will have tons of awesome 4d sonograms to share and so I decided to share them with friends and family. I think they are amazing!

Anyway, these two are close, really close. So three weeks ago I had an appt. to find out the gender. We weren't going to find out but because girls have faster lung development by three weeks, in this case it was important to know so we could discuss options. So, the two were wrestling but the technician announced that she was pretty sure they are girls! Happy day, an even clan! LG would have sisters and I would have more to call me in my old age.

Then, on Monday I went in again to the perinatologist and they pulled up the screen, this is what they saw.

I couldn't believe it! This brings the ration 5:1 instead of 3:3. The wierd thing is, when I found out they were girls, surprisingly there was a part of me that was sad they weren't boys. I think I am just in general, scared of the day we I know I wont have anymore kids. I think I just got one step closer and it depresses me. Anyway, the clan grows and as my kids say, we will have our own sports teams now. more to come...

4-6, Merry Christmas to me!

I have always loved a two for one! I will share more details but this is what our winter has in store for us! Because our house wasn't crazy enough! I just wrote a long blog with all the details, including gender, but lost it. Now I remember why I don't blog! It takes so much time. I will add more later!
p.s. they do have a membrane in between them, but they do seem to be already butting heads!

I wish I could capture my kids like my friend kel can. Sometimes I don't think I slow down enough to try to get them on film. They are growing so fast! Little Girl, or LG, as she is known in these parts, shuns the camera. While Cowboy Stoney, a nickname he bestowed on himself, loves it!