Of Blood and Names

After 72 excruciating hours, five movies, nine meals, thirteen episodes of MTV reality shows, and roughly 8,000 phone calls on the couch, Rach got cleared by the doctor to slowly resume normal activities. We had an appointment today at ROC, which is a cool acronym for Regional Obstetrics Center. They did an ultrasound and found no remnants of the chorionic bleed that sent Rachel into purgatory on the couch. Although she is still spotting a bit, they said it's all old blood making it's way to the exit.

The other news of the day is that our twins were, for the first time, referred to as "those two stinkers." It seems that "Twin A" was too busy jumping to sit still for the UltraScreen - a test for Down Syndrome and two chromosomes that can cause birth defects. After the nurse finally caught the first twin in a moment of rest, she moved on to the other. "Twin B" then spent about 10 minutes mooning the sensor before cooperating. This prompted the nurse to sarcastically mutter about "those two stinkers" before getting the pics she needed. I am no Miss Cleo, but I have a premonition that this will not be the last time they will be called stinkers.

Both twins were in the normal size range, and visual tests showed no reason for alarm. We have to wait 5-7 more days for the results of the blood test, but all signs today pointed towards normal, feisty 12 week old twins.

There is one issue that is bugging me, though. I feel it is awfully impersonal to refer to them as "Twin A" and "Twin B." For this reason, Rachel and I have been trying to come up with "womb names" for our children. These names will have no bearing on what they will be named once they are born, but will be a better way to refer to them until then. Since we do not want to know the sex, we are racking our brains to think up unisex names. I think the best way to name them is to give the twin on the right a unisex name beginning with the letter R, and the twin on the left a unisex name beginning with the letter L. Our preliminary names are Ryan and Leslie, but we are open to suggestions. Let us know what you think.

Finally, many people have already inquired as to what we'll name the children once they arrive. Sorry to break the news, but we won't release the choices until the birth. However, I thought it would be fun to clue everyone in to what we will not be naming the twins. So, without further ado - here are the first two names out of our baby name book that we will not name our children: Geraldo, Alfonsina.

BK