feb 08 mamas! july is here! - Page 3

[Dea]

Awww Rynna, I wish that I could run really fast at you then bash into you transferring some of my love to cook into you. Heh.


Sarah Lynn, I second the "why do you think it's twins?" are you extra sick? Extra grow-ey? Sigh, extra lucky? Are twins something I should be routing for for you? And also hooey on not getting an ultrasound.

We planted grass today as Chez Berkan. We ripped our hideous plants out (well not all of them, more to come) and added some sod and bricks. Looks so much nicer and much more appropriate for our family. Our "lawn" is 5 feet by 4 feet. Heh. A friend suggested I could do a cartwheel on it, I said nope. It's cute though. Now I want to rip out the plants under the window and lay brick there and put in a sand table for Trixie. Then in the mornings we can sit out there and I can read and she can play!

[flapjack]

Am i the only person who finds the idea of twins absolutely terrifying?

[Mommy2Austin]

Twins (identical-natural) run on both sides of our families. My mom was an identical twin (her twin died as a baby from contracting meningitis from someone who came in the house...mom had the stronger immune system.) Since the moment I got pregnant I've had this overwhleming sense of two. Dreams of two. Dreams of God and my mom laughing about sending two. Overwhelming urge to search for twin birthing stories. The feeling that the diapers I have (which are more than enough for one) are not going to be enough. More nausea than I've ever had. A completely rundown feeling I can't get rid of no matter what I eat, drink, supplement (although I'm about to try upping my protein which is the big suggestion on the multiples forum.) Plus my uterus feels a bit big to me for only 10 weeks along.

I didn't mention it at first because I was in denial of being pregnant. I wasn't happy to be pregnant much less to have a feeling of twins. On top of that I didn't want to hurt Dea. I know everything you've gone through and I didn't feel fair to mention my totally meaningless inklings especially if it caused you any kind of pain. After yesterday though I was at my wits end. I was so close to having peace of mind and then they snatched it away.

The biggest problem is if it is twins what we'll do. Midwives can't do twin homebirths here. The c-section rate here is so high I don't see the likelihood of getting a vaginal twin birth with any OBs in a 100 mile radius. DH says we could still do it at home, but I don't have my hopes up that he'll feel comfortable sans midwife. I feel like I'm wearing myself thin worrying over this.

[flapjack]

But honey, are you SURE that identical twins are hereditary???? I've always been told not... it was pure blind coincidence that I conceived twins, because my mother was a monozygotic twin. FIL was dizygotic, but that has no impact on my ability to release two eggs- it may have implications for Skye, however.
The hunch, however, I can't explain away- apart from knowing how terrified I was at the prospect of 4 under 4's. (very.)

[Mommy2Austin]

Originally Posted by flapjack

But honey, are you SURE that identical twins are hereditary???? I've always been told not... it was pure blind coincidence that I conceived twins, because my mother was a monozygotic twin. FIL was dizygotic, but that has no impact on my ability to release two eggs- it may have implications for Skye, however.
The hunch, however, I can't explain away- apart from knowing how terrified I was at the prospect of 4 under 4's. (very.)

I've always heard its the fraternal twins that isn't hereditary.

Regardless the sixth sense won't go away. Once I know for sure I'll feel better. Thats all I absolutely know right now!

Surprisingly enough I feel completely at peace at the prospect of having 4 under 4. Especially because I have friends and family willing and able to step in and help (friends more so than family, but most of them are more family to me than the blood ones!) I also have the part of being able to go back to work after the baby(ies) are born. I have childcare lined up with people I trust so I don't feel bad about WOHM for my sanity because they'll be just as loved and taken care of.

[PlayaMama]

my friend that had twins had fraternal twins. she also has about a zillion sets of twins in her family, grandma had three sets i believe, plus aunts having twins and her mom is a twin.

i would think fraternal would be hereditary because you are releasing two eggs which is a trait that could be selected and i've always understood that the egg splitting was by chance, but perhaps women who have identical twins have some characteristic about their eggs that make them more likely to split.

either way, maybe it was a good thing that you didn't find out so you can have midwife care a little longer if you are having twins, or can you keep seeing her for care but go to a doctor to attend the birth? i'd be pretty bummed about not being allowed to even _try_ a vaginal birth. my frined with twins was sectioned at 38 weeks because she was on bedrest and HUGE! she pretty much went into it with the idea that she would be though.

[eilonwy]

Helen, you're not alone. The only thing scarier than getting pregnant right now would be getting pregnant with more than one. :

Okay: Fraternal twins (dizygotic) are absolutely hereditary. In fact, a woman who is a dizygotic twin has something like a 40% higher chance of conceiving dizygotic twins herself. They run from mother to daughter, occasionally skipping a generation. I saw a woman on television who was pregnant with triplets after having two sets of twins. She herself was one of her own mother's four sets of twins.

Identical (monozygotic) twins are a bit different. There's a theory that men are more likely to be the carriers of an enzyme which causes eggs to split after fertilization. There have been cases of women having identical twins with different fathers, but more often you hear about that with men. The thing is, there are many factors that go into fertilized eggs dividing, so it's kind of hard to tell. There are certainly families which appear to run to monozygotic twins, but it's generally thought to be a fluke. I don't see how it can be-- perhaps some people just have eggs that are more likely to divide, and there certainly seems to be some merit to the enzyme theory.

All told, though, monozygotic twins appear at a fairly constant rate throughout the human population. Dizygotic twins appear at very different rates in different populations; I believe South African women have the most while Chinese women have the fewest. It's really fascinating, because while the rate of monozygotic twins remains relatively constant, the percentage of them (among twins) is different in different populations. It's very, very rare for an Asian woman to conceive dizygotic twins, so the vast majority of Asian twins are monozygotic. Meanwhile, a similarly large percentage of African (or African American) twins will be dizygotic (you'll just find a heck of a lot more twins in African communities than in Asian ones).

Fun stuff. Well, it's fun in *theory*. I like the idea of twins, the cuteness of two, the balance... but I'm SO SO DONE having babies. As in, I nearly cried when I learned that you can't do Essure if you're allergic to nickel.

[eilonwy]

I should add this: Until fairly recently, it was very difficult to tell if twins were actually monozygotic or not when they were the same sex. Siblings can look alike without having come from the same egg, so it's entirely possible that many sets of "identical twins" in a family history were dizygotic. After all, you can't always tell by looking. In some cases you can, but mostly you can't know for sure without DNA analysis.

[Mommy2Austin]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

Helen, you're not alone. The only thing scarier than getting pregnant right now would be getting pregnant with more than one. :

Okay: Fraternal twins (dizygotic) are absolutely hereditary. In fact, a woman who is a dizygotic twin has something like a 40% higher chance of conceiving dizygotic twins herself. They run from mother to daughter, occasionally skipping a generation. I saw a woman on television who was pregnant with triplets after having two sets of twins. She herself was one of her own mother's four sets of twins.

Identical (monozygotic) twins are a bit different. There's a theory that men are more likely to be the carriers of an enzyme which causes eggs to split after fertilization. There have been cases of women having identical twins with different fathers, but more often you hear about that with men. The thing is, there are many factors that go into fertilized eggs dividing, so it's kind of hard to tell. There are certainly families which appear to run to monozygotic twins, but it's generally thought to be a fluke. I don't see how it can be-- perhaps some people just have eggs that are more likely to divide, and there certainly seems to be some merit to the enzyme theory.

All told, though, monozygotic twins appear at a fairly constant rate throughout the human population. Dizygotic twins appear at very different rates in different populations; I believe South African women have the most while Chinese women have the fewest. It's really fascinating, because while the rate of monozygotic twins remains relatively constant, the percentage of them (among twins) is different in different populations. It's very, very rare for an Asian woman to conceive dizygotic twins, so the vast majority of Asian twins are monozygotic. Meanwhile, a similarly large percentage of African (or African American) twins will be dizygotic (you'll just find a heck of a lot more twins in African communities than in Asian ones).

Fun stuff. Well, it's fun in *theory*. I like the idea of twins, the cuteness of two, the balance... but I'm SO SO DONE having babies. As in, I nearly cried when I learned that you can't do Essure if you're allergic to nickel.

Thanks that makes sense I started searching after Helen mentioned it because I was completely unsure. I did see that if your mother was a twin it ups your chances of have fraternal twins (regardless of whether your mother and twin were mono or di twins.)

Hopefully we'll get a good idea when the midwife comes on the 24th and uses the doppler. Although I do realize that the second twin may not always be heard.

[Mommy2Austin]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

I should add this: Until fairly recently, it was very difficult to tell if twins were actually monozygotic or not when they were the same sex. Siblings can look alike without having come from the same egg, so it's entirely possible that many sets of "identical twins" in a family history were dizygotic. After all, you can't always tell by looking. In some cases you can, but mostly you can't know for sure without DNA analysis.

That makes sense as well. My friend is a twin and DNA shows they are identical, but other than looking "related" they don't look like twins. Makes you wonder!

[RasJi7]

I use my crockpot to sprout! Last time I did chickpeas. jahmari loves those. Otherwise dh uses it to make fish soup (I eat vegan so he does fish himself when he wants it).

J is up from his nap, time to eat!

[flapjack]

Originally Posted by Mommy2Austin

Thanks that makes sense I started searching after Helen mentioned it because I was completely unsure. I did see that if your mother was a twin it ups your chances of have fraternal twins (regardless of whether your mother and twin were mono or di twins.)

Hopefully we'll get a good idea when the midwife comes on the 24th and uses the doppler. Although I do realize that the second twin may not always be heard.

Heh, I'm done. And yes, I know I've said this before, and Essure's out for me too because of the nickel, but I'm still done and no more twin panic for me. I'll just never have sex again. Oh, and Swindon has the highest twin birth rate in Europe: 1 in 85 pregnancies are twins.

[Mommy2Austin]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Heh, I'm done. And yes, I know I've said this before, and Essure's out for me too because of the nickel, but I'm still done and no more twin panic for me. I'll just never have sex again. Oh, and Swindon has the highest twin birth rate in Europe: 1 in 85 pregnancies are twins.

Yeah I know your done I actually meant the statement as a general "you" and not just you although you never know with those statistics LOL

[BabyBump]

Things have gotten better round here. No more crying over the van, still depressed about my return to work shortly. All I want to do is be home with my two littles and be here when Kendall gets home from school. We could do alright if I stayed home if we changed a few things, but my husband is weird about money.

HIs ex wife got herself into some large credit card debt twice (they kept seperate finances so he wasn't aware until too late) and his parents claimed bankruptcy twice while he was growing up because of misspending. Needless to say, we have no credit card debt and if we use ours it's paid off right away. I get it, but........he has a good job, paying good money. Not too mention daycare is going to be 175.00 per week. It'll be one of my paychecks a month. What's the point! I could watch a couple kids and be father ahead! Although we have friends who live in by the city (the city meaning Chicago, we are two hours from 'the city') and for their three kids they pay 400.00 a week. One of the three is only before and after school too! Ouch!!

I was terrified that Quinn was going to be twins. Twins run all over my family. Can you imagine having three within 15 months of each other? Three under two? Yikes!!!

It was beautiful here today! 80 and breezy. We spent lots of time outside! I also sunned a good part of the diaper stash. I love seeing all the diapers blowing in the wind. I also made a yummy salad of baby greens, baby spinach, toasted pecans, goat cheese, and fresh blueberries to go with supper. Balsamic vinagrette to go over it. It was so good.

Here's the link to a website with all my recent kid pics on it. Not too many of Kendall. She has suddenly become camera shy. Enjoy if you chose to look!

http://quinnerin.shutterfly.com/

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by BabyBump

I was terrified that Quinn was going to be twins. Twins run all over my family. Can you imagine having three within 15 months of each other? Three under two? Yikes!!!

There's a woman who posts to a thread to which I usually subscribe who had twins and learned that she was pregnant at her six-week post partum check. She says to this day she's not really sure how it happened-- her twins were born very early and were in NICU, so she and her husband were understandably a bit spaced out. She had three children in ten months! : Mad props to her, huh?

My brother and I are 10 months apart; My mom miscarried twins right before I was conceived.

Here's another interesting twin statistic: Did you know that you're more likely to conceive twins in the first cycle following a miscarriage?

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Heh, I'm done. And yes, I know I've said this before, and Essure's out for me too because of the nickel, but I'm still done and no more twin panic for me. I'll just never have sex again. Oh, and Swindon has the highest twin birth rate in Europe: 1 in 85 pregnancies are twins.

Helen, I love you, have I mentioned that recently? I wish I could even kid about never having sex again but wow. To be perfectly frank (because, you know, we're not supposed to have innuendo on MDC ) I'm already climbing the walls in anticipation of next weekend. It makes me wonder if I don't have a seventeen year old boy hidden in my brain. :

Honestly though-- my sweet, perfect redhead said that if either of us is going to be snipped, it should be him. "Your fertility *is* a big part of you, and I understand that. You shouldn't have to give it up." *swoon* Isn't that just the sweetest thing ever? This from a man who doesn't have biological children of his own, but who does want a family with me. He even said that if he never has a biological child with me that it would be fine, because Bean, BooBah, Bella and Bear are just the sorts of kids he'd have wanted anyway. I'm so in love! He's always saying perfect, wonderful things like that. : I really feel like he's a missing part of me. Makes me want to paint or sing or sculpt or write.

Hm. I really ought to get back on the blog train.

~

So there's a bat in my bathroom, as those of you who've seen my recent Facebook status will know. I discovered it early in the afternoon when i went in to have a pee, lying in the sink. It looked dead, so I figured I'd collect my wits and go back in there with a couple of plastic bags and a pair of gloves, and get it out. I ate, calmed myself, went back in... and it was looking around!! It had lifted it's head and was looking around. I FREAKED. I closed the door to the bathroom and walked out while I tried to think of a way to catch it and get it out of the house.

I still can't think of one. The bathroom is just situated really poorly for that. If I opened the back door or the front door (which is downstairs, so probably not a faboo option) I'd have to do a lot of travelling to get it out. The curtain in the bathroom is stapled to the wall (don't ask) so moving it to let the bat out the window would prove difficult. And there are SO many bats around here lately-- there were plenty last summer but this year has been crazy. Mike's had to deal with nearly a dozen bats in the past two months.

Any ideas on getting it out, aside from just hoping it's not in there when I go downstairs, that it found it's way out on it's own? Or should I wait for daytime? Also, does anyone have ideas on keeping bats out of an old, crappy apartment? : I'd rather not have them in here, especially because despite their mosquito eating predilections, Mike kills them. THRH removed a bat from the house without killing it last week, with the same words that Mike had used last time I informed him that we had a bat and pointed out it's location-- "good catch." I tend to notice them first... maybe because they seem to settle in low places, and I'm much shorter than either of them. Seriously, though-- I'd rather those things didn't come in at all. : What can be done?

[eilonwy]

Sorry for the serial posting, this is the last I promise. Heather-- is that really Eli? He looks SO big! : Did you stand Quinn's hair up like that on purpose, or does it just do that? Because standing up hair (especially when combined with a rash, like the little bumps on her cheeks) is often a sign of allergies in babies.

[flapjack]

Sorry, Rynna, we have the RSPCA to do that for us : Every species of bat in the British Isles is protected by law and most are severely endangered.

[eilonwy]

Wow, really? Around here those common brown bats are... well, common. We've had at least a dozen in the house this summer alone.

I'm going to have to deal with it shortly. Meh.

[Mommy2Austin]

If it were me I'd find a small box and a nice thick dish towel. Grab the bat and put it in the box and wait for it to get dark out and take it out and put it on a tree thats away from the house.

My dad has worked on A/C and heating for 20+ years and has brought a number of bats home after climbing into attics over the years and thats what we always did. Kept it in the box until it was dark enough outside that he'd be able to see.