Conference moira::parenting_v3

    The only thing I experienced was profound morning/afternoon/evening
    sickness.  Yes I put on weight, but I did for subsequent pregnancies
    too.  The only way you'll know is with an ultrasound, they can see two
    sacks, embryos etc.
    
    As far as heredity goes, I think they don't really know how it
    influences the production of twins.  In my case, there are twins on
    both sides of the family.  My first cousin, via my mother's side, has
    twins.  My father's mother came from a family with twins.  My husbands
    mother came from a family with twins.  It is remarkable, but usually if
    you ask your parents about their families you will find twins, often
    though in those days either one or both of a set of twins died.  So
    actual records of families are more accurate than memories of family
    members.
    
    Twins run 1 per 85 pregnancies I think.  The risks are highest in your
    early child bearing years (teens), and late child bearing years
    (mid/late 30s).
    
    My twins are 5 years old now, but I still remember the pregnancy like
    it was yesterday.
    
    

	Acutally, they *do* know (at least to some extent) how heredity affects 
twins.

	The father's side of the family has nothing to do with it.  

	If your (the mother's) side has fraternal twins, you have a much higher 
chance of having twins.  

	If your (the mother's) side has identical twins, (barring the use of 
fertility drugs) you have exactly the same chance of having twins as someone
who doesn't have twins in their family.  (As mentioned, about 1/80.) (Of course, 
that varies with age.  The older you are, the higher chance you have of having 
twins.)  

Tracey

Who was thrilled to hear that the "paternal heritage" doesn't come into play
after she heard that her paternal great-grandmother had 21(!) children among
them 3 (!!) sets of twins and a set of triplets!!!!!!!!

    re .2 -
    
    It is my understanding, from my OB, doctors do not KNOW if the paternal
    side has any influence on the incidence of twins.  It would seem
    logical that the father would not be influential in fraternal twins,
    because it's the mother's two eggs being fertilized that results in
    that.  But as for identical twins, I think that is still an unknown
    quantity.  They don't know what makes the fertilized egg plit into two
    identical embryos.
    
    On the other hand, it is possible to inherit "female" traits from one's
    father - like incidence of breast cancer, etc.  So why couldn't
    twinning be carried down from my father's side of the family, as well
    as my mother's?  I think it is still not known.
    

    I think Tracey read the same article in Parenting that I did. (the
    August 1990 issue, I think) It was all about twins and as Tracey said, 
    the article clearly stated that the only proven heriditary (sp??) 
    infuence is from the mother and only with fraternal twins.
    
    For what it's worth, my stomach "popped" early with my two pregnancies
    (I was big early). Both were/are single babies.
    
       Good luck and congrats either way!
       Sandy

	Yup.  It was the Parenting Article.  (I think it was Sept however.)
It was in the "As they grow - Prenancy to Birth" column.

	Tracey

    I am about 25 weeks pregnant myself and wondered the same thoughts. 
    My belly popped out real soon and I felt and looked bigger then the
    other women in my group who are due around the same time I am.  Twins
    run in my family so I mentioned it to my ob when I went for my first
    few prenatal visits.  After having two ultrasounds for other reasons
    only one baby could be seen.  But I must say to this day I still
    wonder...my belly button popped out about a month ago and I am larger
    then the other women.  I seem to be all out front.  You may just be
    going to carry all out front like myself.  Every woman is different
    and carry differently.  We have four women in my group that are all
    pregnant at the same time.  So we have the opportunity to compare
    stories and bellys.
    
    Having an ultrasound will help answer your questions.  You could be
    farther along then your ob has determined, you just might carry
    all out front or you could be having TWINS!  Make sure you bring
    your husband to the ultrasound...it is a wonderful experience!
    
    Good luck and keep us posted!
    
    Suzanne
           

    I have an Ultrasound scheduled for this Wednesday morning....It may be
    too soon to tell if Twins (according to the doctor, I'm only in my 9th
    week) but then again I could be further along than I think (which is
    what I think).  We'll see soon enough.  BTW, my husband is coming with
    me.
    
    :^)  Mel

    Hi, My twins are seven years old now and they are identical.  We have
    identical twins on both sides of the family, for what it's worth.
    
    Anyway, I remember the first couple of months that I was pregos I
    couldn't get enough sleep.  I was tired all of the time.  I didn't
    get much bigger then anyone else would (infact it was hard to tell
    I was even prego till I was about 7 months along and then wham-o I
    was all stomach.)  I remeber when I was about two months along when
    I started to get the feeling that it wasn't an 'it' but a 'them' and
    everyone just brushed it off like ya right, sure...
    
    Well, when I was 4 months along I went in for an ultrasound and was
    told by the doctor that, 'it' was doing just fine, but.... there were
    two of them!
    
    I think every pregnency is different and you really can't be sure
    until you have an ultrasound or until your ob picks up two heart-beats. 
    I would image even if you are only 9 weeks along, that they would still
    be able to tell if it were two seperate bodies in there... 
    Good luck and please let us know if it's an 'it' or a 'them'!!!
    

    My twins were diagnosed when I was ten weeks pregnant, via ultrasound. 
    So it is quite possible to determine twins at this early stage.
    
    As for the two heartbeats.  My OB pointed something out to me - to
    detect twins via the heartbeat route, your OB would have to have two of
    those microphones they use, get a fix one one heartbeat with one of
    them, hold onto it, then hone in on the other heartbeat with the other
    one, and hold onto that one.  Not an easy task.  That's why more often
    these days twins are picked up by ultrasounds.  Far more accurate.
    

    Well, I went for my ultrasound this morning!  I saw clearly ONE baby
    (and it's little heart beating a mile a minute!), but there was
    something right next to the baby (in my uteris), they said it was the
    "yolk sac"?  I didn't even know there was such a thing, but it was a
    tiny bit smaller than half the size of the baby.  I couldn't see any
    heart beating in what they called the yolk sac, so I'm assuming it's
    just one baby!
    
    It's either that, or maybe there IS two and one just couldn't be seen
    today??!!  I went for the ultrasound to find out the size and date of
    my baby.  However, I won't have the results until I go for my next
    Doctor appointment.  The baby measured 1.5"!  What a little person for
    causing me to be SOOOOOOOO sick!
    
    Mel :^)

    My twins were seen on an ultrasound when I was just 4 weeks pregnant.
    Multiples were suspected with my original pregnancy test because
    it had such a high reading.

    I'm adding sort of vague information, hoping that is might explain
    your "yolk" term.  I read last year that many "Twin" pregnancies still
    only produce one baby.  The "Yolk" you see may have been a second
    fertilization, however it didn't go beyond that.  Before the birth of
    the one you're sure of, the second will be absorbed by the body, seems
    to me it's through the liver.  I recall the term "ghost" pregnacy being 
    associated with this.  Might ask your OB to define what exactly this yolk 
    is, it is in no way related to a blighted ovum though, this is
    something that comes from fraternal (two egg) , not identical (one egg 
    which spits) pregnacies.
    
    BTW, the new vaginal method of ultrasound can be done at 7 weeks, and
    can show both heartbeats.  Thankfully with this you don't need the
    uncomfortable full bladder to have this type either!
    
    Don't worry, everything will be just fine!
    Lyn
    

    In regards to .12 - I've heard it referred to as a "phantom twin".  It
    happens when there are indeed two fertilized eggs developing into
    embryos, but for unknown reasons one of them dies, early in the
    pregnancy often, and the embryo is absorbed back into the body.
    
    This happened to my sister'in-law.  She was diagnosed with twins at
    about 12 weeks, via ultrasound.  Excited!  I should say so.  About a
    week later she started experienceing some heavy bleeding, and was put
    on bedrest.  For about four weeks she wasw told to rest completely. 
    The bleeding stopped and she was fine.  She went about four months with
    no problems, assuming she was still carrying twins, but when she went
    in for another ultrasound in her eighth month, they discovered only one
    remained.  She had lost the other.
    
    It's amazing what the body can do.
    

    From _A Child is Born_ (the Lennart Nilsson classic), in the section
    on the second week of fetal development:
    
        Once shelter and nourishment have been established, the "human
        seed" begins to grow in earnest.  Over its two-layered disk
        another cavity develops, which will become the amniotic sac. 
        ... The lower layer begins to change into a primitive intestine
        with a funny protuberance, the yolk sac, similar to that of a
        fish embryo. ...
        
    And in the caption to a four-week picture:
    
        The yolk sac is seen to the left of the body.  In human beings
        it serves only as a blood-cell factory and does not contain any
        reserve nourishment.
        
    -Neil

    There has been one case, btw, where a young man, when he entered
    puberty, started having chest pains. When he had a chest xray it
    was found that the embryo of what would have been his fraternal
    twin had been absorbd into his lung and the hormones of puberty
    had started the embryo growing again.
    
    Bonnie

>    There has been one case, btw, where a young man, when he entered
>    puberty, started having chest pains. When he had a chest xray it
>    was found that the embryo of what would have been his fraternal
>    twin had been absorbd into his lung and the hormones of puberty
>    had started the embryo growing again.


Do you know what happened?  VERY weird!


Marty

    The embryo was surgically removed. Every so often this turns up as a 
    feature article in one of the tabloids. It actually happened years ago
    in Japan. I read about it in my embryology class in college.
    
    Bonnie

    I checked with a friend of mine who is a nurse in maternity, and she
    told me that the "yolk sac" is a sac that provides nourishment for the
    embryo, it eventually decinergrates (sp?) and whats left of it forms
    into the ambilical (sp?) cord later on.  (I'm not familiar with the
    spelling of most of these terms)
    
    She looked it up in one of her embryo & fetal fertilization books and read
    the definition to me.
    
    Mel :^)
    
    She also said it looks round. (which I thought it looked like the head
    of another baby!)             

    Hi Mel. It's me.  I finally got into this note.  Anyway, I knew I was
    pregnant 2 days after conception because my breasts swelled and were in
    major pain, and I was and I was having the ligament stretching also
    from as early as 2 days after conception.  I happen to only  have
    weighed 103 pounds when I conceived, so I figure that because I'm
    small, everything is more noticeable.
    
    As you know, I am now about to start my 13th week.  I also popped out
    early, but as I told you earlier, my doctor said that bowel distension
    is very common in early pregnancy (he saw me at 8 weeks) and said that
    it would be very rare to be showing at that point from the uterus
    because the uterus is behind the bowels and doesn't move forward until
    3 or 3 1/2 months.  I now have a different kind of belly than I had at
    8 weeks.  It looks like a little "o" now, whereas it used to look
    really swollen.
    
    HOpe you survived Florida without too much morning sickness.  
    
    Nancy