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Twin Birth Announcements for Birth Twins Announcement

If one baby is a blessing, how can you describe twins, triplets, or even septuplets? While most of these families are going to face multiplied difficulties in raising their new additions, one of the first challenges is just to find the right Birth Announcements, http://www.birth-cards.com/ Few online shoppes appreciate how hard that can be when most of the stationery vendors cater to single births only. But there are a few that have multiple solutions for twin birth announcements, http://www.cards-411.com/birth-announcements/twin-birth-announcements Here are a few options to help you find the best solution for your twin baby announcement needs.

One Consideration

When parents have multiple babies at one time, they might be a bit confused on the most appropriate way to deal with the birth announcement, http://www.cardsshoppe.com/birth-announcements/ If you’re going to be mailing twin baby announcements, here’s a possible idea. If you have fraternal twins from different genders, why not choose two types of stationery: one for girl and one for boy. While you’ll be doubling up on the birth cards stationery, you’ll be able to make sure each child’s information fits on the card and you’ll be able to give some of your relatives a real surprise.

One Possibility

When the genders are the same, you might think you need to use a different approach. That’s not the case when you search through enormous catalog. A few baby stationery shoppes have such a huge selection that you’ll easily be able to find gender-specific announcements, such as “A Girl!” or “A Boy!” that you want. In fact, you’ll probably be able to find multiple announcements birth cards. You can choose two different styles – one for each of the babies so you can show off how unique each one is going to be. Of course, mailing a twin birth announcement for each of the new arrivals means extra work but it could pay off. But, you can find really cute custom baby girl birth announcements and baby boy birth announcements that are sure to please!

Here’s Another Idea

With identical twins, you definitely won’t have a difference in gender. That opens up another possibility. You could choose a single invitation style and send only one card for each to announce both new additions. Normally, you might not want to do that because the cards always say “It’s a Girl” or “It’s a Boy.” At some shoppes, however, they can change that. If you want your twin birth announcements to have plural wording, they can do that for you. The cards can read “They’re Girls!” or “They’re Boys!” without even delaying the order. You won’t have that option at some online stationery vendors.

Adding Photos

Regardless of the types of twin birth announcements you choose to use for your babies, consider making them even more special by adding a photograph. Personalized photo birth announcements are one-of-a-kind memories that you and the recipients can treasure forever. They are also much easier to create than you might think. Just choose a style of announcement from the site of your choice, send the picture, and they will take care of the rest.

Shopping Online has its Benefits

Here are some of the MANY advantages to shopping with online retail baby stationery shoppes for the largest and best place to purchase FREE announcements birth cards and more. Here are more:

* One-of-a-Kind and Exclusive Designs * View Your Personalized Twin Birth Announcements, http://www.cards-411.com/birth-announcements/ PRIOR to buying with patented Instant Preview features * Receive a Proof by Email within One hour AND make unlimited changes at NO extra cost * Free 10 Cards and Free Shipping * Print and Ship Your Order the SAME DAY i * You Can Add a Photo, Picture or Logo to Any Cards on Their Site * Will modify any card design or color available though Their site – just ask * If you don’t find Exactly What You Want, Ask Them to Create a Design Just For You



By: Sarah Porter

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BABY SITTING SERVICES REVIEW

1 Introduction

Multiple pregnancy poses particular problems for women, their infants, and for their caregivers. Women are likely to experience the common, unpleasant symptoms of pregnancy, such as heartburn, backache, hemorrhoids, difficulty walking, and tiredness to a greater degree than women with a singleton pregnancy. They are more likely to suffer from anemia, hypertension, pre-eclampsia, preterm labor, and operative delivery. The increased risks to the babies include congenital malformations, monochorionicity (both babies sharing one placenta), poor fetal growth, preterm birth, and perinatal death. For the survivors, in the long term there is a greater risk of cerebral palsy.

2 Prenatal care

A wide range of options for regular antenatal attendance are practised, ranging from modified shared care between obstetrician and general practitioner to weekly visits from the 20th week of gestation onwards. There is no evidence to suggest that one pattern of prenatal care is better than another, because this important research question has never been properly addressed. Regular prenatal visits permit screening for hypertension and pre-eclampsia by careful determination of blood pressure, and, if elevated, checking for proteinuria. Care for women with a multiple pregnancy who develop hypertension may be particularly important, and should follow current treatment recommendations.

2.1 Advice and support

Women with a multiple pregnancy need advice and support from caregivers to help them deal with the particular problems of multiple pregnancy and with the common, unpleasant symptoms of pregnancy, such as hemorrhoids, heartburn, and backache (see Chapter 13). They may be especially anxious about the pregnancy, the birth, and their ability to cope with the practical and financial demands of more than one new baby. Assisting women to find support, such as a special antenatal class for women with a multiple pregnancy or referring them to a multiple-birth support group, may help.

2.2 Nutrition

Fetal demands for iron and folate are increased in multiple pregnancy and anemia is reported more frequently than in singleton pregnancies. Routine iron and folate supplementation is often advised from the beginning of the second trimester, although this has not been shown to improve the clinical outcome of the pregnancy.

 

2.3 Ultrasound

If routine ultrasonography is not carried out, an ultrasound examination is indicated when multiple pregnancy is suspected. Routine early ultrasonography results in earlier detection of multiple pregnancies, the detection of mono-amniotic pregnancies (with greater risk), and the detection of some unsuspected congenital abnormalities. Earlier detection of multiple pregnancy has not been shown to improve fetal outcome.

The risk of neural tube defects, cardiac anomalies, and bowel atresias, have all been reported to be increased in twin pregnancies. Conjoined twins and twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence are rare anomalies that are found exclusively in multiple pregnancies. Early diagnosis of fetal anomaly enables appropriate counseling as to the care options available.

The prediction of amnionicity (number of amniotic sacs) and chorionicity (separate or joined placentas) by first-trimester ultrasound is possible, though its accuracy and the relevance to pregnancy outcome remains to be determined. In theory at least, knowledge of amnionicity and chorionicity may be helpful in a number of ways, such as in the differentiation of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome from a twin pregnancy complicated by intra-uterine growth restriction, in management after a single fetal death, or where one of the twins has a major congenital malformation and selective termination is considered.

If twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome develops, several therapeutic options have been advocated. These include: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, repeated therapeutic amniocenteses, and techniques that interrupt the pathological placental circulation. The results of controlled trials of these therapies are awaited, although there has been minimal evidence to date that any of these improve infant outcome.

Poor fetal growth of one or more babies is a risk in a multiple pregnancy. No adequately controlled data are available on the value of regular ultrasound or umbilical artery Doppler for assessing fetal growth and well-being in multiple pregnancy.

3 Preterm birth

Preterm birth presents the greatest threat to infant survival. Counseling as to the signs and symptoms of preterm labor with advice to present to the hospital if they occur, together with a written information sheet, may be of value, although this approach has not been subjected to a controlled evaluation.

Prediction of preterm birth is difficult. Cervical assessment by digital examination or by ultrasonography has been reported to provide useful prediction of the risk of preterm birth.

 How frequent these assessments should be made is uncertain, and whether they are more beneficial than harmful is unknown.

Cervical fibronectin may prove to be useful in predicting which women will give birth preterm, although the main strength lies in its negative predictive value. Whether the measurement of fibronectin will be useful clinically to improve pregnancy outcome remains to be established by controlled trials.

Several prenatal treatments have been used in attempts to reduce the risk of preterm birth and its sequelae in women with multiple pregnancy. These include cervical cerclage, beta-mimetic agents, home uterine-activity monitoring, and hospitalization for bed rest. All have been evaluated by controlled trials but, to date, none have proven to be of value in reducing the risk of preterm birth.

3.1 Cervical cerclage

In normal pregnancy, the uterine cervix is thought to assume a sphincter-like function to retain the contents of the uterus. A congenital or traumatically-acquired weakness of the cervix, or the unusual physiological circumstance of multiple pregnancy, are factors that may render the cervix incapable of performing this function as efficiently as usual.

The data available from controlled trials of cervical cerclage in twin pregnancy are too few to be clinically useful. They are compatible with both a large beneficial effect and with a large adverse effect of the operation. Cervical cerclage does affect other aspects of clinical care and carries some specific risks. It should not be adopted specifically for twin pregnancy outside the context of further controlled trials of sufficient size and quality.

3.2 Prophylactic betamimetic agents

Trials have been conducted with a number of oral betamimetic agents, including isoxuprine, ritodrine, salbutamol, and terbutaline, in various doses, for the prevention of preterm labor in women with multiple pregnancy. In spite of the diversity of agents and the varying doses used, the results are consistent. No beneficial effect of prophylactic betamimetic administration has been detected on preterm birth, low birthweight, or perinatal mortality. Although prophylactic betamimetic agents have not succeeded in postponing delivery or in improving fetal growth, the four trials that provide information on the incidence of respiratory distress syndrome suggest that the frequency of this adverse outcome may be significantly reduced. No such effect has been found with prophylactic betamimetics in singleton pregnancies, and it might be a chance finding.

In the light of the theoretical dangers of chronic fetal exposure to betamimetic agents, prophylactic administration of these drugs should only be considered in the context of well-controlled clinical trials.

3.3 Home uterine-activity monitoring

Trials of home uterine-activity monitoring in multiple pregnancy have been small, and not enough detail is available to evaluate the potential sources of bias. There are suggestions that babies born to mothers using home uterine-activity monitoring for twin pregnancy may be less likely to weigh less than 1500 g, or to be admitted to a special care nursery. Because of the high potential for bias, these data must be viewed with caution. Home uterine-activity monitoring, if adopted at all, should not be adopted outside the context of adequately controlled trials.

3.4 Hospitalization in multiple pregnancy

Prolonged bed rest in multiple pregnancy, with the aim of increasing the duration of gestation, improving fetal growth, and decreasing perinatal mortality, has been advocated for many years. The general considerations about the use of bed rest (see Chapter 14), apply equally strongly to its use in multiple pregnancy, as the practice is not innocuous.

Hospitalization and bed-rest in multiple pregnancy was introduced into clinical practice without adequate evaluation and the policy has still not been fully evaluated. Only recently have a few trials been conducted and further controlled evaluations are necessary to clarify the effects of this intervention. More information is available from twin than from higher multiple pregnancies.

There is some suggestion from these trials that routine hospitalization of women with twin pregnancies may result in a decreased risk of maternal hypertension, but a positive impact on more relevant outcomes has been negligible. Indeed the data suggest that routine hospitalization may have adverse effects. The risk of very preterm birth (less than 34 weeks gestation) and very low-birthweight babies was increased by routine hospitalization in these trials. No differences have been detected in the incidence of depressed Apgar score, admission to special care nurseries, or perinatal mortality.

Some obstetricians have suggested that hospitalization for bed rest in twin pregnancies should be applied only for women deemed to be at higher than average risk of preterm birth. Although this more conservative advice is possibly justified, there is remarkably little good evidence to support it. Only one such selective policy has been evaluated in a randomized trial. Comparison between the hospitalized and control groups of women with early cervical dilatation failed to show any benefits on the risk of preterm birth, perinatal mortality, fetal growth, or other neonatal outcomes. There is no basis for widespread adoption of the policy.

Only one trial of bed-rest in triplet pregnancies has been published. The results of this trial suggest that a number of adverse outcomes, including preterm birth, perinatal death, and low birthweight, can be reduced by routine hospitalization of women with a triplet pregnancy. The trial was small; the findings were compatible with chance; and further research is required.

4 Delivery

Virtually no data from controlled trials are available to help determine the choice between vaginal birth and cesarean section for women with multiple pregnancy. A single trial has assessed the effect of cesarean section for delivery when the second twin was in a non-vertex presentation. As would be expected, maternal febrile morbidity and need for general anesthesia was increased with cesarean section. No offsetting advantages in terms of decreased fetal or neonatal morbidity or mortality were found.

5 Conclusions

Additional support may be needed to help women with the emotional, practical, and financial demands of pregnancy and planning for more than one baby.

Routine early ultrasonography results in early diagnosis, detection of fetal abnormalities, and can determine amnionicity and chorionicity. Whether this improves the outcome for the mother or infant is unknown. Regular antenatal attendance permits screening for hypertension. Iron or folate supplementation may help to prevent anemia.

Prediction of preterm birth is difficult and the role of cervical assessment and clinical use of fibronectin remains to be evaluated by controlled trials. Therapies that aim to reduce the risk of preterm birth have not been shown to be effective.

There is currently no sound evidence to support the practice of routine bed-rest in hospital for women with a twin pregnancy; indeed the evidence suggests that this may be harmful. Whether or not such a policy would be justified in women at higher risk of preterm labor, such as those with triplet pregnancy or with early cervical dilatation, remains to be established.

The use of cervical cerclage, oral betamimetics, or home uterine-monitoring, for women with multiple pregnancy cannot be justified outside the context of adequately controlled trials. The indications for cesarean delivery with multiple pregnancy have not been established.

By: tlsos

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BABY SITTING SERVICES REVIEW

Reborn baby dolls are fast becoming a collectible item. People, normally women, of all ages and categories, collect such adorable dolls as a hobby. The manufacturers have come up with an interesting idea and started making triplets and twins for those foster mummies of parents who want more than one child in their lives. They want to experience how does it feel to have twins or triplets reborn baby dolls.

I can tell you if you are fond of children go for twins or even triplets reborn baby dolls. They may differ slightly in looks. One may have, for example, blue eyes, while the other green. One twin can have straight, wispy hair and the other soft, curly. For more variation both the twins need not be of the same gender—a boy and a girl would add variety to the foster mummy’s life.

The soft vinyl skin of the reborn baby dolls is a treat to touch. The realistic weight, length and jointed bodies can give mummies an almost life like experience taking care of them. The baby doll’s clothes are beautiful and one can have a number of them. If the twins are of different genders, the foster mummies can show off her reborn baby dolls to her visitors or take them out in a baby basket for a stroll, etc

Whether its twins or triplets or even one reborn baby doll, like everything else, the hair has to be washed, conditioned and combed with a wide toothed comb.

It is well advised to check prices before striking a bargain. Websites like Amazon and eBay can be very helpful in this respect.

People with pacemakers need to make sure that the dolls do not any such material that may harm the pacemakers. Most such dolls are, however, are hypoallergenic.

By: jhon gill

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BABY SITTERS FOR HIRE REVIEW

ashleyflores17TBS asked:

Parts of the soup

BABY SITTING SERVICES REVIEWS

Are you interested in playing synthesizers? If you seriously want to play it properly, then you need to know how to read musical notes of synthesizers. Learning to play the instrument is not enough. You should know its each and every note. And to do that, you need a notation.

Synthesizers have a piano like keyboard. That is why its notation is of two different types. One is the bass cliff notation and the other one is a treble cliff notation. You have to clear up this cliff concept first, if you want to learn how to read musical notes of synthesizers.

The bass cliff notation is for the left hand and the treble cliff notation is for the right hand.

In a notation book you will get to see five straight lines. And in between two lines there is a space. Both are very important parts of notation. There are four spaces in a notation.

In bass cliff, the lines are named as g, b, d, f, a and the spaces are named as a, c, e, g. where as in the treble cliff, the lines are e, g, b, d, f and the spaces are f, a, c, e.

A very important part of how to read musical notes of synthesizers is to understand the notation properly. You need to identify the notes properly. In a notation, you will find some notes like, crochet, quaver, semi quaver, and demy semi quaver.

The note, which have a stem and a dot attached on the bottom or the top of the stem is called a crotchet. A crotchet is actually a complete beat. One crotchet means one whole beat. Now, if you break that one full beat into two half beats, then each of that half beat will be called a quaver. A quaver looks almost like the crotchet. But it just has a tail. You can even break those half beats into quarter beats. Then it will be called a semi quaver. Semi quavers have two tails. If you break this beat more, then you will find demy semi quaver, which has three tails.

Apart from these there are some other notes also. You have to know them all if you want to know how to read musical notes of synthesizers. If you see three adjoined crotchets, then you will know that it is called a triplet. A triplet is a compilation of three different notes, which has to be played in the time of one beat.

You will find a down facing bracket over two notes. This is called a tie. If there is a tie above two notes, then it means that you will not have to play the second note.

Some of the notations consist an s, which is divided by two lines. This is called sign back. It means you have to play till this sign and then you have to go back to the top again. At the end of a notation you can find a word called fine. It means end. And this sign says that the notation ends there.

At the left hand side of the top of the notation, you will see two digits written. These are called time signatures. It depicts the beat. Sometimes just beside the time signature, you will find a sharp or flat sign. This is called key signature. It is used to mention the scale.

This is the basic procedure of how to read musical notes of synthesizers. If you go through it, then you will not find any problem to read or understand the notation.



By: Victor Epand

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BABYSITTERS4HIRE REVIEW

Susan Guerrero, is a parent and educator and has written several plays concerning women’s issues and been a contributor and editor for Poets for Peace and Words of Women.

As a single working mother, I am responsible for 501 children. Four of them I gave birth to: triplet daughters and a son. By all rights I should live in a shoe except that unlike the old woman who did, I know exactly what to do. As an elementary school principal, and a parent, I love every child I work with like they are my own. I never give up on learning how to serve them and the community better. In fact I make it a rule never to give up on anything, especially myself.

Years ago as a young married woman wanting to start a family, I was told I would never have a child. Initially my doctor was right. Instead I had three. Three months after the girls were born I was getting a divorce and facing the reality of having no husband, no job and no prospects. I had to go on welfare and was constantly told, “You will never amount to anything.”

My choice was to either get lost in the social welfare system or to fight to redefine it. I decided not to give up. I figured that as someone who could breast feed two babies at a time while also alternating a third, I had multi-tasking skills that could be utilized to my advantage. I also had an extended family that loved and supported me, and a community that embraced my children and I as their own special project. This was important to me then and remains vital to me now. Who I am as a both a parent and a professional educator resulted from the things I experienced. My experiences taught me that there are always choices and possible solutions, but you won’t find them if you give up.

It was humiliating to be on welfare. At every turn there were many people who made sure to verbally insult and judge me. Former friends, acquaintances, even professors at the college I attended questioned the choices I made as a parent. “Why are you leaving your children to go to class?” “Shouldn’t you be working?” “Why did you bring these children to class?” “Shouldn’t you be at home?” “You should quit.”

On the other hand I also met people who encouraged and assisted me, guiding me toward programs to help me stay in college and pay for it. One of these people, Pam, was an amazing woman I met through the “Mothers of Twins.” Pam, an African American mother of triplets, was also on welfare. She had triplet babies almost the same age as my daughters, as well as an older child. Pam didn’t have the kind of support I did from family and neighbors, yet she would not give up. Her tenacity inspired mine. Her mantra was “I will succeed.”

The day I succeeded in graduating from college my toddler daughters stood on the hill of the stadium with a sign that read: “We’re proud of our graduate mommy.” It’s a memory they often refer to when sharing their doubts about their own education or life choices. Education was important to me then, and so it remains the center of my life even after 20 years as an educator. Everyday, I know in the deepest part of myself that women, especially mothers, must never give up on themselves in order to be there for their children. Whether our work is in our homes, our communities or a place of business we need to continually develop ourselves without fail.

This June, I will be standing with my son holding signs for my daughters who are graduating from college. Their signs will read “Never Give Up!”

As excerpted from “42 Rules ™ for Working Moms” Super Star Press, 2008



By: L. Lowell

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BABY SITTER REVIEWS

Christmas Birth Announcements and Holiday Baby Announcements Cards – Combining Two Great Events!

Celebrating the joy of a new baby with others around the holidays makes holiday birth announcements very popular. However, parents will want to be mindful of the delivery times for the holiday birth announcements though. Checking with the website to see when they recommend customers order both holiday birth announcements, especially the Christmas birth announcements. More About Holiday Christmas Birth Announcements Cards.

For the most part, choose a holiday that is a couple of weeks away from the time the holiday birth announcement cards are ordered. For instance, if the baby is born in late October, parents should not choose Halloween birth announcements! Instead, Christmas birth announcements may be appropriate to ensure adequate time. Some people use free Christmas birth announcements as their general Christmas holiday cards so parents might want to consider the Christmas birth announcement option if their baby is born in November or December.

If the baby is born in August or September, Halloween birth announcements are a fun idea. Pumpkins can be used in a photo Halloween birth announcement or as the holiday baby announcements image. Baby costumes or hats can be a cute way to dress up the baby for the Halloween birth announcements. The options for Halloween images vary from pumpkins to candy baskets “delivering” a baby to black cats.

Since Halloween has elements of surprise, the Halloween birth announcements wordings, verses and sayings often announce the “surprise!” of a baby in a unique way, but many websites that make Halloween birth cards will let you change the saying or poem. Halloween birth announcements come in a variety of colors also and can have a magical and whimsical feel. If there are older siblings, they can be part of the picture in a coordinating costume for the holiday baby announcements of their new sibling. It can really show off the growing fun loving family.

Other holiday announcement cards are available, and many baby birth announcement websites will allow you to search for the theme holiday parents want to use for the holiday baby announcements. If parents do not find what they are looking for, photo birth announcement cards can easily be made into a printed holiday baby announcements cards with a little creativity. Try to find colors that match the holiday (i.e. pastel green and yellow for Easter birth announcements) on the holiday photo birth announcement. Fourth of July is another easy holiday to base a holiday photo birth announcement around, especially with the American flag.

Of course, Christmas birth announcements are the most popular birth announcements for the holidays. Parents can choose green and red for the colors but there are also many beautiful blue, silver or gold accented Christmas baby announcements cards available. For Christmas birth cards, babies can be adorned with Santa hats, mistletoe or a Christmas scarf in the colors on the card. Parents can really use their creativity to make their Christmas birth announcements unique! Holiday baby birth announcements can be both charming and show a sense of humor at the same time.



By: Sarah Porter

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BABY SITTERS FOR HIRE REVIEW

Why do some women give birth to one child only, and why do others have twins? A careful study would reveal that if there are plenty of twins in the family, generation after generation may have one pair of twins at least thereafter. Even women who have been consuming fertility drugs increase their chances of delivering twins. Sometimes, a woman reaches an advanced age before deciding to go in for a pregnancy. In such cases, two eggs or even more, may be released by the ovaries and so she is bound to give birth to twins. Whatever be the primary cause of producing twins, every woman wonders if the stages of pregnancy with twins are going to be any different from those undergone by a mother who is due to deliver a single child.

Of course, nature takes the same course as it always does, be it a single child or twins. The only difference is that the stages of pregnancy with twins are more prominent or rather, more visible. As a matter of fact, there is hardly any difference noted during the first few weeks of pregnancy. The fetus is too small to be detected by the to-be-mother herself or even the latest in technology gadgets! Thus, whether single or twins, all fetuses undergo the same process of development.

Many pregnant women believe that weight gain is a reliable source of information, but that is not the case. Multiple births is bound to result in in an enlarged uterus. The first pregnancy has caused the internal organs to be stretched. So naturally, she feels that she is putting on a lot of weight in the subsequent pregnancies. This weight gain is evident during the first three months.

Apart from weight gain, a few pregnant women experience severe morning sickness in the earlier stages of pregnancy, more so than other mothers generally do. But this is not a surefire method to detect if the woman is undergoing the stages of pregnancy with twins, especially if it is a first-time pregnancy.

If twins are on the way, the second and third stages of pregnancy with twins will reveal pronounced weight gain. In fact, if at the end of six months, there is an additional weight of more than 15 pounds, it is time to consult the doctor. Tests and ultrasounds will indicate the presence of a second fetus. If twins are seen, the mother-to-be has to be very careful during the third trimester. This is when the stages of pregnancy with twins can bring on potential health hazards for both the mother and the children.

A noticeable difference is seen when the woman with twins advances into her pregnancy. The weight gain is much more than in a mother who is about to deliver a single child, resulting in a lot of discomfort for the woman who is about to deliver twins. It is here that the stages of pregnancy with twins begin to differ. Having very little room to move around, the twin fetuses decide to come into the world much faster than the single baby; so premature births are common in such cases. The doctor’s duty is to try and keep the twin fetuses within the mother’s uterus for as long as 30 weeks and more to ensure their survival. After delivery, there is no problem. The twins will undergo the same stages of development like any other newborn.



By: Abhishek Agarwal

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BABY SITTING SERVICES REVIEWS

Double the Trouble. No one in my family had twins, so as you can image it was a big shock when I found out I had two babies growing in me at the same time. Remembering the day the doctor told us always brings a smile to my face. As he was doing the usual ultrasound during my 3rd month, he says in a calm voice. “Here is the baby’s heart”, then moving to another location, “and here is the other baby’s heart.” Just as I did then, I still stop breathing for a minute. Although extremely excited I was also very scared. I didn’t know what to expect of the pregnancy, delivery, and oh my gosh how was I going to take care of two babies?

No one can truly prepare you for twins but I am going to try to help some.

Double the Symptoms.

You are probably wondering what pregnancy symptoms you will have. The majority of twin moms had the same symptoms as a normal pregnancy, just multiplied.

Double the Nausea. As I, many women experience increased nausea and vomiting, referred to as morning sickness. If you have severe vomiting and can’t keep any liquids down for over 48 hours you should contact your doctor. They may want to hook you up to an IV to keep you hydrated. Lack of hydration can lead to pre-term labor.

Double the Size. Maybe not exactly double but definitely bigger. One sure symptom for a twin pregnancy is a bigger belly. Expect to gain is about 1 pound per week, or about 40 pounds for a full twin pregnancy. Weight gain for a single pregnancy is normally 25 pounds. You may want to eat especially healthy when carrying twins. You don’t want to get too big. Too much weight can push you into pre-term labor. Many women complain that the sleepless nights were multiplied to what at the time felt like a million times. Since your stomach will grow significantly larger than a normal pregnancy you can expect to be pretty uncomfortable.

Double the Movements. Yes, you can expect more movement. Many women pregnant with twins experience more movement than normal. You may feel a kick at the top of your stomach and at the same time as one in your back. My four year old and I used to love to lay on my back and just watch them move. “It’s an earthquake in your tummy” he would say. It is normal for the movement to slow down later in your pregnancy since there won’t be much room for them to move. I highly suggest watching a movie on twin development in the womb. It is truly amazing to watch them interact. Also consider getting a 3d ultrasound video done.

Double the Ultrasounds. One of my personal favorites. Ultrasounds are used more often in twin pregnancy to watch out for potential problems. An early ultrasound with twins is needed to establish the due date and to see if they are developing in separate amniotic sacs. If they share the same sac there are more risk and complications. Fortunately, this is a rare occurrence with twins, only about 1% of all twins. Ultrasound is an excellent way to comparing the sizes of the twins. One baby may be slightly larger but hopeful not too much. Sometimes one baby will steal from the other.

Double the Complications. Twin pregnancies are at a much higher risk of premature labor. They are also at risk for low birth weight, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, toxemia of pregnancy, and complications of delivery.

Premature Labor. Premature is anything less than 37 weeks completed. Over 60% of all twins will deliver prematurely. Most of these premature deliveries occur after 34 weeks, in which case the overall long-term risks to the babies are quite rare. Deliveries before 34 weeks, especially those before 32 weeks, can result in low birth weight, and increased risks of permanent disabilities such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, hearing or vision problems. The best timing for delivery of twins is earlier than the actual due date. Keeping them in until the due date may result in larger babies, but also further increases the risks of placental complications, labor-related complications, and delivery –related complications. The ideal timing for delivery of twins is from 37 1/2 to 38 weeks pregnancy.

Signs of premature labor include: cramps, contractions, and menstrual pains, increasing pelvic or vaginal pressure, increasing low back pain, heavy vaginal discharge, vaginal spotting or bleeding, rectal pressure. If you experience any of these signs you should contact your doctor. Better safe than sorry.

Double the Delivery. The likelihood of you having a vaginal delivery with your twins is about 50%. In order for your doctor to consider a vaginal delivery both babies need to be head down; both should weigh more than 4-5 pounds and be more than 35-36 weeks gestation. They should be similar in size with no evidence of growth problems. No other pregnancy complications should be present such as high blood pressure or low placenta. Twin deliveries usually occur in an operating room with personnel standing by prepared at any moment for an emergency cesarean section. Twins born from cesarean section are usually both about 1 minute apart. Many consider cesarean section to be a better option for twin births since if complication arrives they are better prepared. This is however something you should talk about with your doctor.

I experienced toxemia, often referred to as preeclampsia, which led me to an emergency cesarean section. I was scared out of my mind but when all was said and done they wheeled me down to the operating room at 34 weeks. 5 minutes after the epidural was given, my baby boys were born. Everyone’s experience is different. Just be sure to find a doctor you trust and who will keep you as informed as possible.

Double the Questions. Get prepared now. Everyone is going to want to know are they?

Fraternal Twins. Fraternal twins occur when a women ovulates more than one egg a month. Two babies are born of the same pregnancy that was fertilized by two separate eggs and two separate sperm. Fraternal twins may be of the same or opposite sex and will differ genetically as well as in appearance. Fraternal twins resemble each other the same as any other sibling. Two-thirds of twins are fraternal.

Identical Twins. Identical twins medically occur when an ovum splits during early embryonic development, resulting in two offspring of the same pregnancy. Identical twins are always of the same sex, have the same genetic makeup, possess identical blood groups and will resemble each other physically. Only one-third of all twins are identical.

Do twins run in your families? When having twins, parents often find themselves subject to questions regarding genetics and the birth of their twins. The twins that run in families are fraternal twins. Since releasing more than one egg during ovulation is a trait that tends to run in families. Identical twins come from the same egg and do not run in families. There is no concrete link between a genetic inheritance and identical twins, as no one knows when or why certain eggs will split to cause twins while others do not.



By: Tabatha Jones

About the Author:

BABY SITTING REVIEW

“Occasional poetry” – poetry composed to be read or performed at special events and ceremonies – is primarily a spoken form, with the author himself usually doing the reading. Because of this, the poet may be tempted not to pay much attention to written formatting because he already knows how he wants the piece to sound.

However, someone is certain to want to record the piece in print, and so, like other poetry, it really does need to work both on and off the page. That’s where careful formatting (punctuation plus stanza and line-breaks) is needed to guide the reader and help him understand the pacing and pausing the writer intended.

Let’s take Elizabeth Alexander’s poem written for Obama’s inauguration as an example. The delivery was fairly prosy, with deliberate – although not always very natural – pauses. Once the ceremony was over, then, people started looking for the text to read the poem for themselves, and it was soon available on-line. However, at this stage, nobody could be sure where the line-breaks should be: it’s easy enough to transcribe words, but how could anyone be sure of punctuation and formatting?

Despite this, seeing it on the page, even as a simple text split into paragraphs, I found it began to make better sense as a poem. With the text in front of me, and reading it at my own pace, I could focus on the sounds and the rhythm of the words and begin to explore how they work together.

Now the poem is available in the layout Elizabeth Alexander intended, which should give us a better idea of how she envisaged it being read. A simple search for — Elizabeth Alexander inauguration poem — in Google will turn up many sites with the formatted text, showing that it was written in unrhyming, three-line stanzas, which appear as regular blocks on the page.

One problem with choosing a visual structure like this, however, is that there’s a temptation to make the poem look more regular than meaning, grammar and phrasing demand; instead of using the format to help the reader, the poet may waste the potential of one of the most important of the poet’s tools.

The first sentence (source CQ Transcriptions, via the LA Times online) – “Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each other’s eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.” – corresponds to the first stanza of the formatted poem:

Each day we go about our business,/ walking past each other, catching each other’s/ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking./

The desire to have a neat little rectangle on the page seems to have resulted in an awkward second line-break that really doesn’t help the reader.

Note how the first line is end-stopped – a complete phrase with a pause at the end – and how there’s a comma to emphasise that end pause. Sometimes, a line-break can serve instead of punctuation, so when you find punctuation at the end of a line, it’s worth looking to see if it’s really necessary.

Here, the comma may not be essential but it certainly helps to separate off that first phrase. This is a good thing to do as the line pretty much defines the theme of the whole poem.

When we get to the second line, though, it’s not a complete phrase.

In general, as a reader approaches a line-break, his expectations are being created of what will come next. Those expectations are then either contradicted or reinforced when he proceeds to the next line, allowing the poet to create interesting effects in the reader’s mind by manipulating the breaks.

In the inaugural poem, the phrase “catching each other’s” doesn’t leave many possible options for the reader: there aren’t very many things that we can catch like this, other than “eyes” or “attention”. The line-break encourages a slight mental pause for the reader but doesn’t allow him to do much within that pause.

If, instead, the phrase had continued one word further – “catching each other’s eyes” – the reader would have ended the line with a strong image of a positive connection between people going about their business. When he reached the next line, the “or not,” would have been a powerful contradiction, which would have also helped reinforce the hit-and-miss, unpredictable nature of jostling with strangers each day.

Of course, on the page, this would have created a very unbalanced – and much less visually-satisfying – triplet, with a far longer second line.

Layout and linebreaks allow poets to help readers understand their intentions of pausing and pace. It is vital, though, to balance the written and oral needs of a poem, especially one which is likely to be printed and re-printed for years to come.

By: Gwyneth Box

About the Author:

BABY SITTING REVIEW