How do they know twin A from twin B?

This is probably a really really stupid question.. but I am so confused as to how they know which baby is twin A and which baby is twin B with all the u/s's.. On my u/s it says twin A presenting.. will twin A always be presenting or do they rename a and B every time they do an u/s? :blush:

 

Twin A is the baby that is closest to the opening of the cervix. They can switch places though, especially early on. HTH

 

As PP said, they can and do switch places early on! My twins did that to me. My girl twin was originally twin A at 16 weeks. Her brother was B. Now they have switched places. He is closer to the opening and further behind. She is further away and closer to the surface. If I were to have them c-section, she would probably be born first... and if I have them vaginally, he will probably be first. Confusing HUH? Not even here yet and already giving us grief!! LOL!

 

we never named them A or B until the moment they were born. For me they were always the Left and Right baby while in the belly.. after birth, the left baby was A..

 

I also agree with PP's explanation about the babies' positions determining their "A" or "B" status. All along our DS was Baby A and we anticipated him to be the big brother. However, our DD had her own plans and wanted to be the big sister so when my doctor went in during my scheduled C-section to get my DS, our DD cut in front of him and blocked his way. My doctor then had to quickly remove her and then him. The situation was actually pretty stressful at the time, but luckily everything turned out fine. It just gets a little confusing reading their medical records because Baby A became Baby B at delivery and vice versa.

 

For us they didn't! Being mono twins they could move everywhere and they measured the same so they had to guess. By the end however one had settled head down and was known as twin 1. When they were delivered the other one was first out and therefore was then twin 1.

 

Mine have switched positions 3 times. It's been confusing trying to keep the u/s pictures straight so I can actually tell them when they're older who's who. Now I'm trying to figure out how I'll know after they're born. I think I'll take the advice of a PP and stick to left and right and go from there. :blink:

 

Thankyou so much.. now I can actually try to explain this to dh also. So having identical.. do you pick out 2 names and then just wait to see them and decide which name fits which baby?

I know these probably sound like petty stupid questions.. but I figured if I get the petty ones out of the way maybe the big ones that I don't have any way of answering yet won't seem so daunting

 

oh no Suzanne..that just gave me another question.. how will I tell them part? Maybe bracelets for little girls?

I am really hoping my book gets here soon.

 

QUOTE(mommyto8 @ Jan 29 2008, 03:27 PM) [snapback]595819[/snapback]
\So having identical.. do you pick out 2 names and then just wait to see them and decide which name fits which baby?

We assigned Baby A a name (Kylee) and then Baby B a name (Kaylyn). Everyone does it differently and its really up to you how you want to do it.

As far as telling them apart, Kylee has an umbilical hernia (her belly button sticks out) so if all else fails that is how we tell them apart. I have heard of people painting toe nails or using some other identifying marker to differentiate the 2. You will be amazed, that even though they are identical they will look different to you!

 

Mine are not identical, but FWIW, we assigned them names before birth. We just had two names we liked, and the one we agreed on first (Sarah) became Baby A's name. It took us a few more weeks to come up with a name for Baby B.

I assume they did not switch places during my pregnancy (Sarah was always A), but I don't really know for sure.

 

First we decided to call the first one out Madeleine and the second Juliette - then we changed our minds and assigned names - by this stage there was a little weight difference so we were pretty sure we could tell them apart. In the end it didn't matter as they would have been called the same either way!

We tell our girls apart because Juliette has some slight red patches on her eye lids and she has a rounder face than Madeleine. I did have a day of panic when they were in neonates worrying I would mix them up and then never be totally certain they were the right way around - lol. You will find differences quite quickly so don't worry and if not nail polish on one always works!

 

QUOTE(mommyto8 @ Jan 29 2008, 02:37 PM) [snapback]595328[/snapback]
This is probably a really really stupid question.. but I am so confused as to how they know which baby is twin A and which baby is twin B with all the u/s's.. On my u/s it says twin A presenting.. will twin A always be presenting or do they rename a and B every time they do an u/s? :blush:



this is a really good qu. Twin a should be the presenting twin, i have been told two diffent things by different us tech, one that they change the a and b thing each us depending on whose presenting, the other tech said it should not change from the first u/s otherwise, how can they tell which twin is which if they keep swapping who is a and b, making it impossible to accurately chart growth. This i can understand, but they fight for who is coming out first, and the us have changed a with b alot, but i have always stiuck with a is on my right and b is on my left.

As for naming, we have named ours according to left and right....(not sure how this works when delivering by c sect, which one does dr pull out first??)

As for telling them apart, bit concerned about that, since they are weighing very close together, i have bought two sterling silver braclets from pintsizediva.com (gorgeous) and have had them engraved...other than name bracelets, the toe nail painted thing is probable going to be our back up option...(incase someone switches braclets as a joke!)

 

I have a set of id twin boys at my daycare and I was friends with id twin girls in highschool. Once you get to know them, you can find the differences in them. I imagine, you will know. I asked the boy's mom if she ever had trouble, she said no, but her DH did. He mixed them up once, but she corrected him. LOL! It could be something as simple as a mole, or a size difference in body parts... (One of the boy's has a larger head than his brother, and the other has a mole on his neck... this helps when you only see them a few hours a day!) I imagine, it's much easier than that when they are your own and you know them up close and personal!

 

My doctor assigns the labels by weight so twin A is the heavier baby and twin B is the lighter baby.