April 3rd, 2009

A little bit of research & a little bit of rambling..

1) Monoamniotic twins are always identical
2) Monoamniotic twins are the result of a late splitting egg; one that split around 8-12 days after fertilization
3) Monoamniotic twins only occur in 1% of twins
4) Monoamniotic twins share a placenta and amniotic sac which means they have skin to skin contact
5) Monoamniotic twins are considered extremely high risk because of the risk of cord compression leading to fetal death as a result of umbilical cord entanglement
6) Monoamniotic twins are always delivered by C-Section
7) Monoamniotic twins are usually delivered between 32-34 weeks gestation because the risks of staying in utero are greater than the risks associated with a premature birth
8) 75% of monoamniotic twins are girls
9) inpatient monitoring at viability yeilds the greatest success rates

apparantly they put most mothers in inpatient care at about 24 weeks to monitor 24/7 and you stay there until you deliver. With this there is a 80% survival rate. And for most they put you on bed rest before this & you go in 3 days a week for 1 - 3 hour monitoring.

You start out at seeing the drs every 2 weeks & they do ultrasounds 1/2 of the time, for the most part.

So right now my biggest thing really isn't the babies, I feel like they are safe, I know god has his hand in this. From a small child I have always said that I wanted identical twins, watching two children grow up with such closeness, I have always thought would be the most awesome thing!

I saw a picture of how tied up the cords can be and they can still survive, I am so glad I saw that as the tied up part was huge.. I know that God has given me peace for them.

My thing is the possibility of hospitalization. It could start as early as July 7th. And my 32 week mark would be Sept 15th. What am I gonna do with the kids? I'm gonna miss the 1st day of school, could miss Cara's birthday.. And if I didn't do the 24/7 monitoring & something happened to the babies, could I forgive myself??

These are the things I am worried about the most, although I try very hard not to, Just to take things 1 day at a time. And try to enjoy this as much as possible as this will be my last pregnancy.. I'll be getting my tubes tied while I am doing the csection. So I do want to enjoy this as much as possible.