First tooth

Ryan cut her first tooth today.  Reese is starting to crawl, getting on her knees and scooting.  Ryan is close to crawling too, but seems fairly content laying on her back and playing with her feet.

First foods

Reese & Ryan are 5 1/2 months now and every day is a new adventure with these two.  They are both close to crawling right now, but Reese seems to have more interest in scooting than Ryan.  We started some solid foods and they've done really well.  They both love rice cereal, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, avocado, & banana.  That's all we've tried for now, but it's a good start.  Another milestone this week is sleeping in the nursery and not in our room.  It was an easier adjustment than I thought and both girls are going down between 8:30-9:30 for the night and sleeping until about 5am.  They will wake up to eat and then fall back asleep until 8pm.  Such wonderful babies!

Identical sleepers

I put the girls down for a nap today and they were fussing a little.  After they settled down, I went in to check on them and they had positioned themselves in exactly the same way.  How cute is that??

Fraternal or Identical?

-----Original Message-----
From: Lisa Whyte [mailto:lisaryan78@cox.net]
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 7:28 AM
To: 'Sharon Ryan'
Subject: DNA Testing

Read from the bottom up.  I emailed this guy who is an MD and wrote an article in my Twins Magazine.  He thinks the girls are identical.  I sent him the email below and he wanted to see photos.  His last response is in another email that I'll send.  I still went ahead and ordered a DNA test just to be sure.

-----Original Message-----
From: Lisa Whyte [mailto:lisaryan78@cox.net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 9:14 PM
To: 'GEOFF MACHIN'
Subject: DNA Testing


Hi Mr. Machin,
Thanks for your quick response.  I've attached some photos of the girls for you to see.  There are moments when they really look alike and then other times everyone can totally tell them apart.  The biggest difference right now is more hair on Reese and different shaped heads.  My husband thinks they are fraternal, but I disagree.

We conceived the twins naturally.  No fertility drugs or IVF.  My doctor determined the twins were monochorionic when they examined their placentaafter delivery.  The girls are 3 weeks old today.  They were born 11/15/06.  Reese was 6lbs. 1oz. and Ryan was 5lbs. 12oz at birth.  We just had our 2 week appt. with the pediatrician and they both weighed the same--6lbs. 8oz.  Let me know what your thoughts are after looking at their photos.  Thanks so much for your help!


Lisa Ryan Whyte
RE/MAX Achievers
480-570-5331 cell
lisaryan78@cox.net

________________________________________
From: GEOFF MACHIN [mailto:geoffmachin@shaw.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 6:55 PM
To: Lisa Whyte
Subject: Re: DNA testing
Lisa - thanks for your message. If your twins are monochorionic, diamniotic, that means they shared a single placenta (or chorion, hence, mono-placenta).  This is the best possible proof that the twins came from one egg (monozygotic, MZ), because there is a single placenta (which was expecting to look after just one fetus, but then the fetuses split). If there is only one placenta, there can only have been one fertilized egg.

There are very rare exceptions to this rule, but they only apply to pregnancies conceived by IVF. If you can confirm to me that your pregnancy was not the result of IVF for infertility, then you can be assured that your twins are MZ. As you know, all my articles say very strongly that MZ twins are never absolutely "identical", and there are many biological reasons for this. So I expect that you can easily see differences that allow you to tell them apart. These differences are always present in all MZ twins, because they are not made with cookie cutters. But it doesn't mean they are from 2 eggs.

So, overall, I believe you already have proof that your twins are MZ.  However, I also need to know how your MD knew the twins were monochorionic.  Was this from ultrasound exams during your pregnancy and/or by pathology exam of their placenta after delivery?

Please would you also kindly attach some pictures of your twins, and I'll let you know what I think, based on their appearance. Also, could you tell me their birthweights and how old they are now.

Hope this all sounds reasonable. I don't think you need to do any DNA testing.

Best wishes,

Geoff Machin

----- Original Message -----

From: Lisa Whyte

Date: Wednesday, December 6, 2006 12:12 pm

Subject: DNA testing


Hi Mr. Machin,

I saw your article in Twins Magazine, "Does Zygosity Matter?" We recently had twin girls and we don't know if they are identical or fraternal. The doctor said they were Monochorionic and Diamniotic, but said that could be either fraternal or identical. Can you recommend a company for DNA testing to determine their zygosity?
Thanks,

Lisa Whyte