It was January 2001.The day our bid was accepted on the house we wanted, we also learned I was pregnant. What an unbelievably great day that was!
I had an ultrasound at ten weeks to verify the due date (I thought I had conceived around Jan. 7th). The radiologist paused as she scanned my womb, and with a smile asked Jamie and I, "So how do you feel about two?" With tears in my eyes I excitedly repeated over and over, "I knew it! I knew it!" My mom and Jamie thought I was crazy, but all along I kept saying I seriously believed I was pregnant with twins. I had "morning" sickness 24-7, and I knew I was (still am) a candiate for fraternal twins because of the hereditary factors; they are on my mom's side. Jamie and I left our appointment in a blissful state of shock with sonogram pictures of teeny "Twin A" and "Twin B."
Jamie and I went right from the hospital to my mom's place of work to share with her the thrilling news. On the way over to the SDB Center, I couldn't stop staring at the sonogram pictures of our little twin babies (good thing Jamie was driving). When we showed my mother, Leanne, the pictures, she didn't notice the "Baby A" and Baby B" printed on them.
Running out of patience I finally pointed to the words and said excitedly, "Mom! What does this say?!" She read outloud, "Baby A and Baby B?" She looked at Jamie and I in disbelief. In a high pitch
Conjoined twins occur when a single fertilized egg splits 12 days after conception. When a fertilized egg splits between days 8-12, there is one placenta and one sac. Our twins came from one egg that split sometime between 4-6 days after conception because there was one placenta, but each twin was in a separate sac. Whenever there is only one placenta, as in the case with all of the above, the babies are identical and at risk for TTTS. Although identical twins CAN have their own placenta, fraternal twins always have their own placenta; therefore, fraternal twins are never at risk for TTTS.
At our 21 week ultrasound we learned that we were expecting girls, and that they were most likely identical because only one placenta could be found. Identical twin girls?! Jamie and I were thrilled! However, the radiologist, who happened to be an identical twin herself...
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