In the womb, my twins had two sacks, but only one placenta, so the doctors said they could either be identical or fraternal. And when they were born, they looked pretty much identical except Macy had bigger feet! But as they grow, we know they are nowhere near identical! But if you are unsure of whether your twins are fraternal or identical, Genetree offers a Twin Zygosity DNA test.  You simply order a test kit, take a cheek cell swab of each twin, send in sample and they notify you quickly with the results. Visit Genetree.com for more info.

Good article in the Denver Post today (thanks Patrick for sharing)…

Michael Sierra - 4 weeks old, 2 1/2 pounds and swollen like an overstuffed sausage - needed attention. And he was getting it.

A defect was making his heart work overtime. Infection flowed through his blood, and a hole in his gut was spilling poison into his body.

He had survived a flight from the Rapid City, S.D., hospital where he was born to Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center. Now, he desperately needed surgery, but his doctors feared he was too sick to make one more trip, even from the neonatal intensive-care unit to an operating room a floor below.

So the operating room came to him.

Read the rest of the article here. The article instantly reminded me of the operating room having to come to Macy when she had NEC. Terrible memories.

Pink floral dress for Lee Middleton preemie girl US $16.00 (3 Bids) Auction Ends: Friday May-09-2008 12:50:13 PDT Bid on this Item   | Watch this Item

Cabbage Patch Preemie baldie green eye #3 w/certificate US $6.49 (2 Bids) Auction Ends: Friday May-09-2008 13:00:31 PDT Bid on this Item   | Watch this Item

I wish 13 years ago there was such a thing as this Memory Baby Handprint and Baby Footprint Mold Keepsake Kit so I could have made a mold of Macy and Mallory to remember just how tiny their little fingers and toes were when they were born at 2 lbs. each.  It is hard for others to comprehend that you really could fit a wedding band around their ankle.  This would have proved it.  Available to mold in plaster, silver, bronze, gold and/or clear crystal from BabyImpressions.com. Make a 3-D mold of your infant or toddler’s baby handprint and baby footprint. Each baby handprint and footprint kit comes with everything you need to make 2 molds.  So realistic! Captures every detail! Make a baby handprint and baby footprint mold with the included extra supplies!

My first cousin, Shauna (and one of my best friends) is expecting twins!! Her daughter Little Miss Merin (my godchild) just turned a year old, and although they wanted kids close together, twins was quite a shock! Looking at our maternal family tree, there are three other sets of twins in the family (mine included), and they are all girls!

My first words of advice on having twins - do not have their names begin with the same letter. And the reason being is insurance companies usually just look at the birthdate and first initial of the first name, and if both twins are being seen, they’ll deny one of the claims as a duplicate. I have been fighting with insurance companies for years (yesterday again in fact), as both Macy and Mallory have braces (and the same birthdate), but insurance companies look at “M.” as one and deny the other. Frustrating, I tell ya.

Another word of advice while pregnant with twins - if the doctor tells you to go on bedrest, DO IT! You will regret it later if you don’t. I’ve already offered to watch Merin is Shauna goes on bedrest, because I know how hard it was to care for my son while being on bedrest with my twins.

My preemie twins are now teenagers! Macy and Mallory turned 13 on Saturday, complete with a slumber party of a dozen screaming, whiny girls sleeping over.  Hard to believe it’s been that long since they were teeny tiny babies in the NICU.  They are still tiny for their age, but for girls that’s not a bad thing. They are still developmentally delayed, and it tears me up to go to their IEP meetings and being told that they will probably never measure up academically to their peers.  It doesn’t help that their little sister (age eight) teases them that she is smarter than they are.  I have to remind myself that they are miracles for actually living through all the trauma and turmoil they did and that they don’t have more disabilities.

I remember as a young girl, my mother would sew matching dresses for her and I to wear to church.  I thought it was cool.  Nowadays, my girls would probably laugh at the thought of a such a thing as us dressing alike.  They’d probably laugh more at my attempt to sew.

When my twin daughters were little, I always dressed them in matching outfits.  I actually thought it was fun, and of course, they were oh so cute.  But as soon as they were old enough to dress themselves, their individualities came through, and they haven’t dressed the same since.  And since they aren’t identical, not even the same height, no one that doesn’t know them would ever guess they are twins.

One of my pet peeves is when mothers dress their daughters that are not twins in identical outfits.  I’ve always felt this way, even before I had twins - don’t ask my why.  You see this most when the sisters are close in age.  Does the mother secretly wish they were twins?  I think too far into things….