Twinning is Winning

My dad, Jim, and his identical twin, Jay.  

Identical twinning is not hereditary, although you might think it is since my own father is an identical twin.

You should hear the horror stories they tell of these two adorable little boys.  They were trouble.

Identical twins happen spontaneously in 3 out of 1000 births and it is not age related.  

Grandma Betty and Jim and Jay.  You could tell them apart because my dad has a mole over his left eye.  You can't see it in these pictures.  I already have a plan to identify my babies and it involves sharpie.

There are three kinds of identical twins.  Mine are the kind called monochorionic diamniotic, which means they share a placenta but there are two different sacks. Got that?

Who are the grandmas with the ultrasound thing? Are they looking for fibroids or something?  This picture shouldn't be me and Paige.  It should be Aubrey and Camille.  

I found out my type of twins at an 11 week perinatal ultrasound appointment to which I invited Paige.  You are allowed to bring one extra person so we plotted to let Carl "have a break so he could work."  Paige is a good ally to have at a doctor's appointment because she isn't afraid to ask a lot of questions.  Since I will be having high level ultrasounds every two weeks, there will be plenty of opportunities for all of the sisters to come!  My doctor was thrilled to know there were more of us.  The highlight of that appointment for me was when he asked me how old my donor eggs were.  As if.  Then he asked me if I was talking to my teens about birth control.  Yeah, I don't need to do any talking. Just barfing should be sufficient.

Jim, Cousin Mimi, and Jay now. They used to look more alike when I was a child, but I could always tell the difference.

My dad and his harem at Camille's wedding.  He likes the ladies, he does.

Fiona and Charlotte, Paige's twins.

Fraternal twins (or with girls, sororal) are more common than identical twins.  They occur frequently with infertility treatments, and they can also be hereditary due to something called superfecundity.  That means releasing more than one egg.

Me, after I potty trained Alice: "I never have to do that again."  Notice a theme?

Fraternal twins happen more frequently in older moms because their ovaries play a trick on them by releasing more than one egg at a time in a last ditch attempt to get some action.  I was pretty sure that was what happened to me.  I was wrong.  I'm getting used to being wrong all of the time but it isn't easy.

If my twins are girls, I'm going to need a raise in the clothing allowance because there will be matching outfit purchases galore.  Poor Alice will be stuck in Gymboree until she's 12.  Someone named Carl is hoping for boys.

Fiona looks like she belongs in my family.  She's the only brunette of her siblings.

We'll name this one "Are they triplets?" since Sol was a baby when the girls were born.  It was a lot.  See how happy Paige is to not be pregnant?

Um, they are just too cute.

Solomon, Fiona, Charlotte and pigtails.  

Check out the giant scab on FiFi's nose.  

Not pictured: Paige's nanny Brandi.  

Charlotte and Fiona all grown up and in fifth grade.

Of course, they are the best of friends and they never fight.  

You should see these girls on stage.  I can't take my eyes off of them.  They perform on cue, obviously.  

The girls are just about as different as they look, and Paige encourages it.  She only makes them match on Sundays.

Solomon and Henry, my kid.  They are ten months apart in age.

Lest you think we only make girls match... We've got it bad.  Why is HF enabling our matching problems?

Yum.  Love those boys.



Next up: People's funny reactions to my news.