Someone asked me why I am considered a high risk pregnancy. I am considered high risk due to the nature of the type of twins I am carrying. They are called monochorionic diamniotic twins. They share 1 placenta and each have their own amniotic sac. I was told from the ob they can feel one another and bump into each other since all that separates them is a very thin cellophane membrane. The biggest risk is what is called twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTS). TTS causes one twin to receive more blood than the other and if that occurs one or both of them could die. There is nothing I can do to prevent this from happening. I need frequent ultrasounds to monitor if TTS occurs. At my 15 week ultrasound, the twins were looking great. My next ultrasound will be at 18 weeks.
By the way, the chance of having mono/di twins is 1 in 300. No genetic or age related component. There is a theory (that I like) from the Economist (a friend showed this article to me). They did an observational study of Mormon women in the late 1800's and found that mothers of twins are healthier both before and after pregnancy.
"Most strikingly, the pre-1870 group of mothers of twins actually lived longer than those who were not thus blessed. They were, in other words, simply healthier. This suggests that, in evolutionary terms at least, twins are far from a curse. On the contrary, they are indeed the mark of a supermum" (I hope this is true :) )
Running has been going fantastic. Since I last posted, some highlights were that I ran 2hr and 20 min up then down a hilly trail with short bursts of marathon effort reps. I ran a 5k race in 21:37 at marathon effort. The same effort 5 weeks earlier produced a 41:57 10k so I am slowing down. Running at that effort still feels comfortable. Although just in the last few days I have been feeling a bit more pelvic pressure when I run. I might have to run with my belt in a few weeks.
My next race is the Wulfman CDT 14k trail race. It starts near ~6000 feet and peaks around 8000 feet.
In 2009, I ran a 1:04. I am thinking that I might run a 1:21 which would be about 2 min per mile slower than my time 2 years ago.
I definitely have more energy but I still have my tired moments where all I want to do is lie down and sleep. My food aversions are still hanging around too.
I bought 10 bags of organic grapes yesterday (they were on sale and I crave them) The lady at the check out counter asked me if I planned to eat them all. I lied and said I will freeze them. In reality, I can eat a bag of grapes a day so they will only last me 10 days. I don't think she noticed that I was pregnant! :)
Running Happy
Nicole
2 comments:
Love the article on twins. I am 33 years old and an identical (monozygotic) twin. My mom is about 5'1", 60 years old, 103 lbs, and healthier, more vivacious than most anyone I know. She has always been that way. I am thrilled that you are having twins. I am still very close to my sister and have a bond with her that runs far deeper than bonds I have with anyone else. Great that you are running and feeling good. My mom always said that her pregnancy with us was very tiring and her nausea lasted longer then it did with our brother but she remained active and healthy throughout (our brother was 2 at the time she was pregnant with us). I love reading your updates, so exciting. Thanks-Kristina
I commented last time as well, but wanted to say that my 11-week-old twins are mono-di as well. The TTTS stuff is very scary. I don't know if you are seeing a maternal fetal medicine specialist, but mine, though great, had a way of scaring the heck out of me by describing the possible (negative) outcomes. He didn't think that anyone carrying mono-di twins should deliver later than 36 weeks, but I never saw a ton of research to back that up. I'll be curious to see what your doctor thinks/does. My twins turned out just fine, and there are strong odds that yours will too.
I am so impressed that you are running as well as you are at this stage. I got put on bed rest due to pre-term labor issues around 24 weeks, and that was the end of my exercise. I hope it continues to go much better for you than it did for me!
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