Quad Mom

Tressa Montalvo and her husband Manuel were completely shocked when, while at the doctor checking up on their twins at week twelve, the MD found a third heartbeat. Then a maternal fetal medicine specialist found a fourth.
They had just been trying for a little brother or sister for their two-and-a-half year-old son, Memphis!

After an uneventful pregnancy with no bedrest, the brood was born at 31 weeks via C-section. Tressa had quadruplets Ace, Blaine, Cash and Dylan, on St. Valentine’s Day. Ace and Blaine shared one placenta, while Cash and Dylan shared another. Ace weighed in at 3lb 10oz, Blaine at 3lb 15oz, Dillon at 3lb 7oz, and Cash, the tiniest, coming in at 2lb 7oz. “I just thought I’d go with the A-B-C-D names to make it easier on the family,” Tressa said in our interview. “We didn’t have any ideas for names when we went in.” How can they be told apart? Ace and Blaine have different ears: one more pointed, the other rounder; Cash and Dylan have a darker skintone than their brothers.

 

Cash is still in the NICU, but he should be coming home today. “The babies had no major complications,” she said. “A lot of the others are more critical than I am.” Other than their weight being smaller than normal, nothing life-threatening was wrong with these miracle quads.

“I’ll tell you a story. I met a woman at Walmart one day and she looked at me and said, ‘Oh my god, are you having twins?’ And I said, no I’m having four, and she went, ‘Oh wow, I had four last year and only one of them survived.’ But I’ll tell you, throughout my pregnancy, I never thought, what if this. What happens if they have this. I kept a positive attitude the whole time, no negative thoughts.”

Positive thoughts are good, especially because when we asked her about how much help she was getting. None! None other than her husband, and occasionally her family on the weekends. This mama is flying solo. What makes it a little easier? “I don’t wait for them to wake up,” she says of their every-three-hour feeding schedule. “I wake them up one by one, feed them, and put them back. I sleep in the time in between at night, and during the day I play with Memphis.”

In true Twiniversity style, we rallied and got this amazing mom of five some great products to help her out. We’d like to thank these amazing companies for their incredible support!

Fisher-Price:
My Little Snugabunny Cradle ‘n Swing
My Little Snugabunny Bouncer
My Little Snugabunny Deluxe Rock ‘n Play Sleeper
SpaceSaver High Chair (Scatterbug Fashion)
Aquarium Bath Center
Discover ‘n Grow Kick & Play Piano Gym
Discover ‘n Grow Stroller Chimes
Laugh & Learn Love to Play Puppy
Poppity Pop Musical Dino
Laugh & Learn Apptivity Storybook Reader
FastFinder Deluxe Messenger Bag
SwaddleCinch Blanket

Britax:
Carriers
B-SAFE Car Seats
B-READY Strollers

Kushies:
Two-piece layette sets

MAM:
Pacifiers
Infant oral care products

Not-So-Identical Twins

A few weeks ago, I was at my son’s basketball game. Someone came up to me and started a conversation, which eventually led to them asking why his brother hadn’t joined him on the basketball court this season. In frustration, I replied, “He doesn’t like sports,” — perhaps a bit too curtly. I wasn’t frustrated at this person for asking what they thought was a legitimate question. I was frustrated that so many people like them have this same mindset. You see, they are twins, my sons. Not just twins, but identical, mirror image twins.  They are not, however, identical people, despite their identical DNA. I think all too often the general public thinks identical equals same.

Ryan and Zach will be 12 in just a few short weeks. And while we are barreling at full speed down the highway of preteen-dom, it becomes more apparent every day that they are, in a lot of ways, complete opposites. They share the same clothes, room, friends, interests, hobbies, and looks (to name a few things). But they also have their own individual personalities and identities, something my husband and I have worked very hard to create in them.

We noticed their talents at early ages. Zach is a great artist and has an uncanny ability to add details that I would never have noticed. Ryan is a decent artist, but has nowhere near the talent Zach does. Ryan is a phenomenal writer, something Zach struggles with. When they were younger, they had an elaborate scheme to write and illustrate children’s books together. Ryan is also more athletic than Zach, and he’s built more athletically, too. Zach has zero ounces of athletic ability in his body. He’s skinny and lanky, like a bean pole. He is more into dance and the arts. Ryan is gifted academically, while Zach struggles and has to work hard.

I would never discourage Zach from wanting to try sports or Ryan from wanting to take an art or dance class. I think it’s very important to encourage them to try whatever it is that they want. We have certainly encouraged their individualities, though. We aren’t afraid to sign them up for different activities, so they can be the individuals they are, without having to worry about being compared to each other. We’ve also gone so far as to request that they be placed in different classes in school and in extracurricular activities. They might both want to take an art class, so we sign them up, but make them take their own class. The same would work for sports, or any activity they wanted to do. The most important thing we can do as parents of twins trying to encourage individuality is to make sure we aren’t forcing them to do things together. It’s easy when they are little because it’s easier on us to do it all at the same time. But we must remember that they aren’t one person, they are two people – two different people. It will be difficult at times to balance competing activities, but in the long run, it will be so worth it!

By Trisha N.

Twinnies of the month- June 2012

We would like to introduce some very special twins, Aaden and Noah. Read on to find out what special cause these little guys are helping to support in this picture.

Aaden

Noah

Aaden and Noah were Mono-amniotic/Mono-chorionic, so they were fighting very scary odds from conception. Mono-amniotic/Mono-chorionic twins happen in only one in 10,000 twin pregnancies.  There was a 50-60% chance that one or both boys would be still born. There was a high chance that one of the babies would be born with some sort of defect ranging from heart, lung, spinal, renal, or brain defect. Later the Doctors believed that the boys might be conjoined based on the ultrasound photos. The Doctor offered a selective termination in which they could terminate one of the babies in order to give the other a better chance of survival.  Their mother responded by simply saying, “no…that’s actually isn’t an option.” But the boys fight to live was far from over.

The Biology of Twins

If you have twins you have probably been asked, “Are they identical?”  The answer to this question may or may not be obvious.  You may also find that complete strangers think they know the answer better than you do!

Here is a short primer on the science behind twinning.

Identical twins are monozygotic – they originate from the same fertilized egg.  If the egg splits very early (before the 4th day), the fetus’ can have separate placentas and separate amniotic sacs  (Dichorionic/Diamniotic, also called DiDi) making them almost indistinguishable from fraternal twins in the womb.  If the egg splits between 4-8 days, the twins will  share a placenta and have separate amniotic sacs (MoDi).  If the egg splits between days 8-13 the twins will share the placenta and the amniotic sac (MoMo).  If the egg splits between days 13-15 the twins will be conjoined.

Fraternal twins are dizygotic – they originate from two different fertilized eggs.  There will be separate placentas and separate amniotic sacs.

Fraternal boy/girl twins are the most common type of twins.  Fraternal twins that are girl/girl or boy/boy may look quite a lot alike but that does not mean they are identical.  They share the same amount of DNA as siblings from different pregnancies.  It is possible but highly unlikely to have boy/girl twins that are monozygotic (“identical”); due to a female with Turner syndrome.

Unless you have MoMo or conjoined twins it is nearly impossible to determine if you twins are identical without performing genetic testing.  The test is simple, and can be performed by requesting a test kit from a lab.  The kit will most likely contain a swab that is rubbed on the inside of the cheek and a card to apply the collected cells to.  Tests can be obtained for about $150.