GynoFiles

The science of twinning is fascinating in all it's aspects. And there is strong interest in twins now, as the rates of twining has never been greater. 33/1000 births in the US were twins in 2014 according to the CDC and the Prevention National Center For Health Statistics . A lot of the twin pregnancy increase has been fertility treatment. Although the rates of triplet pregnancy rate has not risen, and actually decreases. Those attempting pregnancy want to know if they will have twins, especially if taking fertility medications and there is more than one ovulating. Ultrasounds are very good at diagnosing twin pregnancies, but actually a blood test for cfDNA is considered better to diagnosis a very early vanishing twin . cfDNA test s are simple blood tests taken on moms after the 10th week of pregnancy primarily as a screen for common genetic alterations in pregnancy: such as Down's syndrome. A vanishing twin, is a pregnancy that was conceived with twins, but one faile...

The science of twinning is fascinating in all it's aspects. Those attempting pregnancy want to know if they will have twins, especially if taking fertility medications and there is more than one ovulating. Ultrasounds are very good at diagnosing twin pregnancies, but actually a blood test for cfDNA is considered better to diagnosis a very early vanishing twin . cfDNA test s are simple blood tests taken on moms after the 10th week of pregnancy primarily as a screen for common genetic alterations in pregnancy: such as Down's syndrome. A vanishing twin, is a pregnancy that was conceived with twins, but one failed to progress on, and the other survived thus there is only a singleton at birth. And once you have twins, the first question I get asked is how alike are they? Well if you are an identical twin, you likely share all your chromosomes: but only 50% of your genes!

Conjoined Twins, First Trimester Ultrasound This is an ultrasound of a conjoined twin pregnancy. During pregnancy early detection of abnormalities will mean blood tests of the mother, ultrasounds or even other more invasive testing. Now blood tests on the mother can even test the baby (or in the case of twins, babies) itself. One test is to detect whether your baby is Rh negative the way you are. There is also a new test for chromosome abnormalities of the baby. Whether your baby has Down's Syndrome or not does not have to be done on an amniocentesis any longer, but can be done by testing your blood with a test called cfDNA. For more information call Women's Health Practice at 217-356-3736.

 Uterine fibroids may be affected by pregnancy, and women who are pregnant can have their pregnancy affected by uterine fibroids. If you have had children, you are less likely to ever get a uterine fibroid. Uterine fibroids can also cause infertility, and miscarriages, and preterm deliveries, and be of a size that will block the birth canal, and make your risk of having a c-section greater.  Only 10-15% of pregnant women will have a uterine fibroid. It is very ethnic dependent: African American Women are more likely to have uterine fibroids in pregnancy that Caucasian women. 18% of African American women will have uterine fibroids in pregnancy, and only about 5-8% of Caucasian women. You may or may not know that you have a fibroid, if it is large, such as over 2.5 inches (5 centimeters) then it's very likely your gyno will feel it on examination. If you have a smaller fibroid, it's most likely to only be detected on ultrasound, but no on examination. So you may not even kno...

Women get that positive pregnancy test and they want to know so much more! What is my due date, am I having a boy or a girl, am I having twins! And when they have those questions we quote the following odds of twins We have between 100-120 chance of having twins, and naturally triplets occur about 1.7900. Quadruplets once in 370,000...approximately. The studies vary by your age and ethnic background. And what if you live in a little known place the town of Igbo-Ora in Nigeria Africa, called The Land of Twins in a BBC report . There they have about five times the rate of twins, or about 5 out of 100. The Yoruba people there may have a reason for their twinning. The Yoruba's diet is heavy with a type of yam known as the cassava. Although there has been a bit of research into establishing what substance of the yam causes twinning, it's not really confirmed, and other than the obvious health benefits of yams in our diet (lower glycemic index than potatoes) it's probably not go...

Papaya Plants No one knows exactly when twins begin talking to each other. and perh aps some of those countries that have the biggest twin populations do know . But communication can be verbal, non-verbal or anatomic! Closeness can be a good thing for twins. but during fetal development if there is an unbalance in the amount of blood circulating to one twin vs the other twin then there can be dire consequences for one twin, or the entire pregnancy. When twins share placental circulation it is called the twin-twin transfusion syndrome. It is not so uncommon and for twins that share one amniotic sac it can occur in 1/10 pregnancies. The only real way to make a diagnosis is to look for the bigger blood vessels they may share, or to check for growth problems or to check for problems with the amount of amniotic fluid in one sac or the other. Sophisticated testing can go further. If one twin is getting all the blood flow an actual test of the blood counts of the baby, done with needles ...

 HadaHandworks Flower Pin  Lots of patients want to conceive a girl or a boy, or want girl twins, and I get asked regularly how to get this done! Can praying make it so? Can certain medications, sex during certain phases of the moon, or other techniques that only gynos know be able to set the stage?  Like other modern women, beliefs aside, we want to know facts. And facts are that only 1/100 pregnancies naturally are twins, and that about as many boys as girls are born. Yet there are slight statistical variations i nthe birthing rates of males and females in some ethnic groups and some countries. And I do tell patients that, yes, some sperm separating techniques do work... a bit. Fertility medications can tip the scale towards getting your twins that you hope for. And maybe you wish for twins, but they may be a difficult pregnancy as even Rebekah lamented in Genesis 25:22 when she said her children "struggled in the womb", (excellent gynos in those Biblical days, t...

Many women want to treat their menopause completely naturally: no treatment at all. Others want therapies from nature: such as plant hormones. Plant hormones are tried for a variety of gyno treatments. No end to the talk (or YAMmer)  of Yams and hormones, be the talk estrogen or progesterone. A reader sent me this web quote. "The Yoruba, a large Nigerian ethnic group, have the highest rate of twinning in the world, at 45 twins per 1,000 live births. Some researchers have claimed this may be because of high consumption of a specific type of yam, Dioscorea rotundata or white yam containing a natural hormone phytoestrogen which may stimulate the ovaries to release an egg from each side." This yam is more commonly called the Kokoro, and it's commonly in the diet of  in Benin and Togo as well as Nigeria. Usually the talk is of the yams producing progesterone, and it is true the Yams do contain progesterone precursors, and serve as a cheap source of progesterone and cortisol...