March 3, 2015

What The IV…F?

Recently one of my lovely Twitter friends made and posted a video about her IVF journey. Over my 6 years on Twitter I’ve made hundreds of wonderful Mommies – some bloggers, some not. But after having the twins I found myself seeking more twin pregnant/parents and that led me to chatting to many ladies who had had IVF resulting in twin pregnancy. I have to admit I was totally baffled by the whole process. It’s one of those things you completely and utterly take for granted and are in complete ignorance as no one I knew had ever gone through the IVF process.

Hand on heart if you had asked me I probably would have said that a sperm and an egg was fertilised and popped into the lady and she was pregnant – simple. How bloody wrong was I! The lovely ladies of twitter have accepted me into their community, despite my ignorance and total lack of knowledge about any aspect of the IVF process but I have learned a lot from this wonderful bunch of people.

They have made me grateful and appreciate how bloody lucky I have been. How life doesn’t always turn out how you think it will when you are a little girl pushing your dollies in your pram dreaming of Prince Charming and your 2.4 kids. I have the utmost admiration for what these people put themselves through; physically, emotionally and mentally. I would love for them all to get their happy ending but sadly in reality a lot don’t. And that is hard as a twitter ‘friend’ to comprehend so I cannot begin to imagine the torment, heartache and heartbreak they have to deal with.

If you like me have no real grasp on any of the IVF process then I urge you to watch my wonderful friend Kelly’s video that she has made. She has done it for the sole purpose to share with people what the IVF journey is really like. Kelly and her husband have their beautiful IVF miracle daughter Penny but had you any idea what she physically had to do just to get to the point of implantation? To anyone who has had, has got to have or is having fertility treatment – you are amazing. And I wish you all the best.

If you have a spare 10 minutes please please watch Kelly’s video. As I say it’s not for any profit, not promoting a company or anything. Just a regular family trying to raise awareness of the true story of IVF and share with us all the journey to get their beautiful daughter.

Thank you so much Kelly for letting me share your story, video and journey. I wish you all a lifetime of happiness. You have truly made me feel humble and grateful.

B xx

October 24, 2014

Two Year Ago

Ah today marks two years since I found out I was pregnant. I thought I’d share the story with you; 

I was incredibly lucky to conceive the girls so quickly. I stopped taking the pill a week before my wedding as I knew what dates everything would fall. I checked before we went away what dates I would ovulate and it was the first day of our honeymoon!! It was such a fantastic honeymoon I can’t say that it was all geared around to conception and two weeks after we came back I was due for my period. I tested on the Monday I was due on – negative. 

I don’t know why but there was something in the back of my mind that didn’t think it was right. So I decided on the Wednesday to test again this time with a clear blue – and I sat in the bathroom I looked down and saw the magical word appear – pregnant. I always remember this massive grin spreading across my face. I was utterly ecstatic. 

My husband wasn’t due home for hours and I desperately needed to tell someone so jumped in the car with Charlie and zoomed round to my Moms. I told her to close her eyes and handed her the test. She too was absolute thrilled!!! She kept saying I needed to tell DH. So I rang my husband to ask when he would be back but said he needed to go to his Moms so I said I’d meet him there. 

When we got there I acted so cool and calm and when he said he was going for a shower I saw my chance. I slipped the test into his clean jeans pocket. About 10 minutes later I heard him calling me to see him in tears! We then shared the news with all those closest to us and then it was a long wait until our scan. And we all know what our 12 week scan brought…..!!!

Two years have utterly flown by. Happy positive test day girlies – our honeymoon twins. 

B xx
July 17, 2014

How Identical is Identical?

My two P’s are supposed to be identical. We found at our 12 week scan that we were expecting twins and the sonographer couldn’t be certain, but as pretty confident that they were identical. Why you ask – here comes the science! 

 

 
Identical Twins are known as monozygotic twins. This is where a single egg is fertilised by a single sperm – then splits exactly in half, creating two identical DNA sharing babies. They share the same blood type – and are the same sex. Now you may laugh at this, but the amount of my twitter friends with boy/girl twins who get asked if their twins are identical is crazy. For easy reference – NO. One has a willy & the other doesn’t, OK? Lets move on.

 

 

Identical twins usually are in their own sac yet share a placenta. Our original sonographer also presumed they were ID as there was one free floating membrane that separated our two babies – this, along with the single placenta, is usually the way that they tell if they’re identical. The hospital usually sex the babies too to be sure, but we had this done privately as I was too impatient! 
None scientists – you can look back now. 

 

 
Anyhow, identical twins! How on earth was I ever going to tell them apart? Googling ID twins was no use as all I got was images of Jedward and bloody hell they really are identical. Many people suggested painting a toenail, but I thought I’d wait and see. Surely a Mom can tell, right?? Luckily, P1 was 6lb and P2 was 7lb1 and the weight difference really helped. And despite switching from biggest to littlest – there has always been a good weight difference between them. 

 

 

 
Now THAT’S what I call identical. And a bit scary.
 
But I have to admit that even in the cross over period I’ve never really thought that they were impossible to tell apart. Granted there have been moments where I wasn’t sure but they never lasted more than a few minutes.

 

 

Sleeping Beauties

 
 

 

 

When the girls were born, the Doctor who delivered them said I had a mahoosive placenta weighing around 2kg which apparently is 4 times the average size? It was only later it made me wonder – could it possibly have fused? The only way to be completed sure is to have a private DNA test (apparently Jeremy Kyle isn’t interested if they’re identical… The git) but I don’t know if I would ever do it. 

 

 

In my head they are identical twins and it may feel a tad weird if it comes back that they aren’t. Not because I’d be disappointed in any way but because that’s what we’ve always thought. Maybe one day if they really want to find out – but for now. I just love seeing how different yet the same they really are! 

Regardless of anything, I feel so so lucky to have had such a stress free birth and had such healthy twins with no health problems.

 

 
Can you tell which is which?
 

 

 
B x
 

Credits – source of photo @planetjedward