18 Month Appt & Pathology Report!

Samantha is:

Height -31 inches - 35%

Weight - 22 lbs 5 oz(with clothes on) - 15%

Head - 18.5 - 25%

Sarah is:

Height 31 2/16th - 35%

Weight - 21 lbs 12 oz - 15%

Head - 18.5 - 25%

So, all in all, they are just going to be small babies. Which i had figured out long ago...well i figured that out at my 8 week apt. when the dr. said they were short. I'm not concerned or worried, as girls are always smaller than boys...and they are on the charts. Dr. E was very impressed that the girls talk soo much. They say so many words it's crazy.

They both say about the same amount of words:

up, down, mommy, daddy, anna(hannah), gayce(for Gracye), Seugar(for sugar), wawa(water), nack for snack, ball, dog, cat, bird, bath, poo poo(mostly when they haven't pooped), car, more, NO, bye bye, and i'm sure i can think of many more but my mind is fried right now.

The dr. appt today was a nightmare from HELL(pardon my profanity on this one)! The girls have really hit that "don't put me down" stage. OMG, it took a GOOD 10 minutes to put them on the scale and weight them(clothes, sippy cups, shoes & snack cups all in hand). Plus they were SCREAMING the ENTIRE time. I felt bad for the poor girl that was trying to weight them(and the girl on the phone in the office trying to talk to a patient). She's 21, and probably doesn't want to have anything to do with kids after today! LOL! They were really really bad. NOT at all friendly, not cute, just cried and wanted to be held. THANK GOODNESS Paul came with me. I don't see how moms do it without their hubbies at dr's appts. You ladies that do, do it yourself, are my heroes! I couldn't have imagined the ruckus that would have been going on w/o Paul. They both had temps today, which was crazy, but i'm sure b/c they had been outside for a whole hour before we went in...and it was HOT outside. SO, i told her no biggie...she checked them out and all was fine(no ear infections, no redness anywhere), but the dr. pointed out that Sam had a snotty nose...HELLO, she had been crying like i was trying to pull a limb off her body, should she have a dry nose??? LOL!

Anyway, all is well now. The girls are doing great...no more fussing. I will probably give them some Tylenol before we go to bed just to be on the safe side. Otherwise, they are back to normal, or should i say back to their anti social little selves! :) I don't get them...but i'm sure Hannah went through the same phase. They don't like ANYONE! Not my sister, not anyone we see, not poor Melody or the girls, NO ONE! Hmmm...makes me wonder if they are mine?? LOL! My personality is so opposite of that. I can sit and talk to a wall or any stranger on the street. I'm actually really starting to miss adult conversation(but that'll be another blog on another day)! Someone's blog i read mentioned scaring off a sales man that called...i'm feeling that way. I NEED some adult conversation. I really really miss that, not working and not having anyone to talk to...about adult stuff. Nothing bad...just to talk. Gosh, looking back i have so many funny stories about me and my friend Amanda(from the travel agency i worked at in town)...we sat in our little cubbies in the back and would talk ALL DAY LONG! We couldn't see each other...but we'd just talk and talk and talk. AND then, when we saw someone come in....we'd IM each other! LOL! It was hilarious! But, most importantly, somehow i always got my work done...and was ready when the day was over.

Ok now on to other stuff, I called my OB today and NO i'm not prego...BUT, the girls are indeed Identical. Yes, i know i know, everyone can tell. BUT, if you are a mom out there with identical twins...you know what i mean when i say that i just needed something on paper. Luckily, unlike most that i have heard of with inconclusive test results from the placenta, mine was very conclusive.

I can't copy and paste the darn thing because it is in adobe reader and i've tried everything to copy and paste.

So instead i'm going to type it all up to keep for later(feel free to move on and not read this if you aren't interested), like most, this is my baby book..so i want this all printed up one day for the girls.

Anatomic Pathology Diagnosis:

Plaventa, twin gestation 36.2 weeks, delivery

single disc, monochorionic-diamniotic placenta with

Twin A

-three vessel umbilical cord, no inflammation

-pigment-laden macrophages within the membranes, no inflammation

-features of accelerated villous maturation

-Vill with increased vascularity

-villous edema, fecal

-increase syncytial knot formation

-ischemic changes, acute

Twin B

-three vessel umbilical cord, no inflammation

-pigment-laden macrophages within membranes, no inflammation

-features of accelerated cillous maturation

-villi with increased vascularity

-villous edema, fecal

-increased syncytial knot formation

-ischemic changes, acute

Material:

Placenta, twin(placenta A=single clamp, placenta B=double clamp)

History:

thirty year old female with twin pregnancy 36.2 weeks gestation

Gross:

received in formalin and labeled "placenta, a single clamp, b double clamp" is an intact doscoid twin placenta with fusion of the placental plates measuring 36 x 18 x 4 cm with marginally inserting umbilical cord. Twin A umbilical cord with the single clamp measures 48 cm in length and has an average of 1.2 cm in diameter. Twin B umbilical cord with two clamps on one end measures 50 cm in length and has an average o 1.2 in diameter.

Both umbilical cords have three vessels. Cord A shows a portion with more than three vessels. The fetal membranes are transparent and tan-pink. The membranes attach marginally with site of rupture 0 cm the margin. The amniotic surface is bluish gray. The amniotic membrane is thin, smooth and transparent and is intact. Chorionic vessels in the fetal surface are unremarkable. The maternal surface is red-brown and intact. The placental parenchyma shows no infaret. Accessory lobe is identified measuring 14.5 x 7.5 x 1.3 cm. The placenta, decoid of umbilical cord and membranes weighs 881 grams.

Section Code:

A1-A2 sections of umbilical cord from placenta A and membranes;

A3-A5 sections of placental parenchyma close to planceta A umbilical cord;

A6-A7 sections of umbilical cord from placenta B and membranes;

A8-A10 sections of placental parenhyma near twin B umbilical cord

A11 sections of dividing membranes

Here is an article i read up on, after i received this info:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1160585

Now, i KNOW we were beyond blessed to be soo lucky to have two extremly healthy babies. WOW, after reading some of this...holy smokes...thank goodness i didn't do much reserach before the fact. I would have had a heart attack.

I also received the paperwork with my weight gain etc. HOLY SMOKES...i was out of control.

Before that though some facts:

ttl ultra sounds: 14

total weight gain: started at 140 - 195...hmm..less than i actually thought

I was measuring at: 45 wks when at my last appt on 12/20(can you actually measure at 45 weeks and if so, how do they KNOW it's 45 weeks??)

I'm really happy i asked for this info. I should have asked for it earlier...but i never thought it would really say much. I encourage anyone out there that has identical twins...or the dr. said they are identical but you haven't done the test...to ask for YOUR file with the pathology report. This is the way to go...but i know some of you have said that your dr. said the report came back inconclusive. This test has proved to me that my girls are indeed identical...it amazes me that my dr. KNEW all the same things at 8 weeks gestation. Technology is amazing these days!

Lastly, for your viewing pleasure...this was done in Oct or Nov of 2006...one of the choices for our xmas photos! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic! Aeric Hoek is a WONDERFUL photographer...just really pricy once you have 3 kidos. I do want to go back to him some day soon..

There are TWO babies in your belly Mommy?? Are you sure? One hot sexy mama! I mean seriously, could i have gotten any bigger??? THIS IS THE MAN...Dr. P! He is the reason i have two..NO THREE healthy babies. He is such a wonderful dr. I can't say enough about him. He is not only a wonderful dr...he is also a good person. We found out after we were prego with the twins that he didn't take my crappy insurance anymore. He said not to worry about it...we'd work something out. He gave me a "global rate" and "forgot" to charge for TONS of those 14 ultra sounds. I mean, we really owe him for this. Those ultra sounds cost about 300 each time and the big one was SIX hundred dollars since it was 2 hours long b/c 1 hr per baby. I can't even imagine the amount of money we would have had to pay if he hadn't really helped us out. Don't get me wrong...we didn't get anything for free...but he did give us the rate he would have given the insurance company...but he also "forgot" to charge for some U/S...which helped us a ton!