My pregnancy was classified as high-risk immediately after it was determined I was carrying twins. The words “high-risk” initially had me in a panic, but soon I found one “perk” to the high risk classification to my pregnancy.

Twin pregnancies are classified as high risk due to the increased chance of preterm labor and premature birth. A woman’s body gets so crowded during a twin pregnancy, that often it feels like there is not enough room for the babies to keep growing inside their mommy, therefore making the body mistakenly think it’s time for delivery when it’s really too premature. A woman’s body often feels this way at around the sixth month of pregnancy, so it’s essential for the mommy to take it easy and stay off her feet as much as possible.

Another reason for a twin pregnancy to be classified as high risk, is because extra monitoring is needed to make sure one twin doesn’t get more nutrition or oxygen than its sibling. So during twin gestations, a lot of ultrasounds are done to make sure the twins are growing properly. In my case, I see a twin specialist every four weeks, in addition to my  regular OB/GYN pregnancy check-ups. This is the “perk” I was talking about! Don’t get me wrong, every ultrasound is stressful because the specialist takes a very close look at every part of Baby A and Baby B, and explains what she is looking at while I watch the ultrasound on the screen. But the perk is getting to see my babies so often during my pregnancy, and so in-depth.

Some of the body parts closely monitored for proper growth every four weeks during the ultrasounds are the babies’ femur bones, four-heart chambers, arms, legs, heads, abdomens, lips and faces, just to name a few. The doctors also take a close look at the umbilical cords to make sure they are properly attached. As of Feb. 20, 2014 both of my twins, Baby A & Baby B , are each about 2.5 pounds and growing right on track. That’s not to say the twin specialist hasn’t noticed anything of slight concern with my twins’ gestation. A few months back she did notice a tiny calcium deposit in the heart of Baby A, which she is monitoring and said shouldn’t be anything that could cause harm to him. Often these types of deposits are linked to Down Syndrome, but after some bloodwork and consulting with a genetic counselor ,we decided to steer away from the amniocentesis and trust that God will take care of our babies and continue to keep them healthy.

The twin specialist also noticed that one of the placentas (there are two since my twins are fraternal) is broken into two pieces, instead of being in one. The only problem this poses, according to my doctor, is that when I deliver the babies the surgeon has to be absolutely sure to remove all pieces of the placenta from my body. Leaving a piece of placenta behind in my body can lead to problems down the road for me.

Overall, the Jaime Baby Boys are doing fantastic! It makes me so happy to know that I am doing a good job at keeping them healthy and safe. I love them so much and I can’t wait to cradle them in my arms.

Please keep praying that Baby A and Baby B continue to share nutrients and keep growing properly!

XO~ A & B’s Mommy

The feeling I had when I found out I was pregnant hasn’t ceased since the moment it happened. However it did increase, two-fold.

At the beginning of my pregnancy, somewhere around the 9th week, we went to my doctor’s office for a check-up. As I climbed up onto the exam table, Hector took a seat in a chair and I remember saying, “I can’t wait to see how our baby has grown.” The nurse and doctor walked in and greeted us as usual, then proceeded with the ultrasound. Our eyes were fixated on the large TV screen that projects the ultrasound, as the doctor was trying to focus in on our tiny little baby. I remember looking away from the screen for just a second, and that’s when I heard Hector say, “Is that two?!” Not really comprehending what he meant, I turned and looked at the screen and saw two little pods floating around. “Wow, it’s your lucky day!” the doctor said. “You’re having twins!”

All I could do was smile, and say “Oh my goodness, twins?! Are you sure?!” The doctor assured us that we indeed had two little miracles. Hector was ecstatic, he kept saying “This is awesome, this is so awesome! I wanted twins so bad.” (Twins run like wildlfire in my mom’s family, so he knew twins were a possibility..) When we walked out of the doctor’s office, my heart was racing and I had a flood of mixed emotions. I was so happy to see my baby, which was suddenly “babies,” but I was also scared to death. I started to cry as we walked towards the elevator, and buried my head into Hector’s chest. He hugged me, and asked why I was so sad.

“I am not sad at all, I am just so scared,” I told him. “I don’t know how to take care of one baby, how in the world am I going to take care of two?”

After some reassuring from Hector, I started to feel a little better and I immediately called my parents, sister and brother to tell them the wonderful news.

Sensing my excitement and anxiety, my mom told me, “Don’t worry my love, God gave you two babies because he knew you could do it. We are all right here to help you.”

“Sometimes the dreams that come true are the ones we never even knew we had..”

XO~ A & B’s Mommy