Second Trimester with Twins (14-18)

Second Trimester! This is such an exciting time, we have hit such a huge milestone getting to this point. Emotionally this has been such a hard pregnancy so I am going to start with all that has been going through my mind.

Mentally:

Twin pregnancy is no joke, if you are a twin mom or look up a lot about twin pregnancy you know this and have heard this before but it feels like the only way to describe it sometimes. With twins the glorious second trimester milestone is not quite as big of an accomplishment as it is with a singleton. The mortality rate is still very high after this point and doesn't reach that <1% loss rate until well into the second half of pregnancy. So even being as far as I am it is such a scary experience to be worried about the babies constantly.

(I am not trying to down play the worry with a singleton pregnancy, I have been there and gone through that before, I do remember the slight relief I felt to be out of the first trimester with Aria, but I haven't felt that yet.)

These twins have a lot of growing to do and not until the "sustainable" phase will I feel the same style of relief. That is at 24 weeks, so not to much farther. After we reach that we will just pray that the babies stay in as long as possible.

I have had more breakdowns this pregnancy already than the entire pregnancy with Aria. It is a combination of not being in control while they are in me, to not knowing how they will be when they come out. LATELY though a lot of my struggles have been trying to wrap my mind around the idea that I will have three kids under 3. It seems impossible, I am just getting the hang of one and a second sounded like something I could do but now knowing there will be three seems to make it an entirely different situation. And this mental struggle isn't going to pass so I hope I will be able to have a better grasp on what I am in for soon because it is a hard time.

Appointments/ Update:

For those who have been following my updates this is a big one! We had our last normal OB appointment at 14 weeks. Sadly there isn't a lot to fill in about this appointment specifically, we found out the babies are most likely in separate sacs, but nothing for sure and the babies again are growing very well on track. This is not a bad update just not eventful.

Now our next appointment was at 17 weeks. This is our first check with the MFM (maternal fetal medicine) doctor. This is a high risk doctor. At this appointment we are about to find out how often we will need to see this high risk doctor, the number of sacs, the number of placentas, and the GENDERS.

Little information on twins before I continue:

Most people know that twins are either fraternal or identical but thats about it.

Fraternal twins- 2 eggs and 2 sperm

This is what makes twins fraternal. These twins are the ones that are genetic.

Di/Di --> Dichorionic /Diamniotic --> 2 placentas/2 amniotic sacs

Identical Twins- 1 egg and 1 sperm, split once fertilized

These twins are spontaneous, they haven't found a genetic link.

Main three types of identical twins:

Di/Di --> Dichorionic /Diamniotic --> 2 placentas/2 amniotic sacs

Mo/Di --> Monochorionic /Diamniotic --> 1 placentas/2 amniotic sacs

Mo/Mo --> Monochorionic /Monoamniotic --> 1 placentas/1 amniotic sacs

^^What type of identical twins you have is dependent on when the embryo split into two before implantation. Each one going down the list has a much higher risk rate than the one above it.

So going into this appointment there was so much we were going to learn and we were going to learn what type of risk we will have to worry about. With some of the things my OB had been saying over the past couple months and my own research/ultrasound pictures I had a felling they were Mo/Di but still knew it could be anything.

We found out my hunch/research was right and we are pregnant with Mo/Di Girls!!!

What this means is we are at a higher risk than the Di/Di pregnancy but not as high of a risk as the Mo/Mo twins. But we are at a risk of TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome) and others. Because of this we have to see the MFM doctor every 2 weeks at least until week 26, this is so they can do ultrasounds and check the growth and other factors. Bring on the appointments!

At 18 weeks we went to our normal OB, they just check for heartbeats and were updating themselves with what went on at our MFM appointments. So as of 18 weeks our girls are doing great!

I am now just over 19 weeks and we will go back into the MFM this week and we will make sure these girls are growing just as they should! Watch for more posts.

#TwinPregnancy #TwinMom #Pregnancy #LloydLoveStory #Adventure #Family