The Sonia and Nina FAQ Page
When did you first know that it was twins?
At the point when the doctor delivered the first one and said, "wait a minute,
I think there's another one in there." At first I thought that this was
some cruel doctor's joke -- until I saw Nina pop out.
Are they identical?
They are. Right now one is a little bigger than the other, but once that
goes away, we'll probably never know which is which.
Is there a history of twins in either family?
It turns out that my Dad's mother died giving birth to twins at the
turn of the century (the twins didn't make it either).
I'm sure that whereever Dad is, he is sitting with
a glass of scotch and laughing mightily at his genetic influence on
his grandchildren.
What are the odds of having twins?
About one in ninety in the US. The odds of identical twins is
four in one thousand.
Where did the names come from?
From nowhere in particular. We had settled on Sonia for a girl's name
for quite some time (bouncing
back and forth between Sonia, Sonja, Sonya, etc). The hospital had to give
us a little extra time to come up with a name for the second one, though,
and Nina was a name we had considered early on. Since we completely
exhausted our name supply, neither girl has a middle name.
How much weight did Meg gain during pregnancy?
About 40 pounds, which is about five pounds above normal for someone
her height. That extra five pounds appears to have been Nina.
Was it a tough delivery?
It was, as they say, like giving birth to twins. Meg did it all naturally
without any pain medication. In fact, the doctor said that had she known
that it was twins she would have ordered bedrest from the sixth month of
pregnancy on (at which time Meg was still doing aerobics) and the hospital
would not have allowed us to go the natural route. In fact, Meg was the
first person to ever deliver twins in the Alternative Birthing Center
(where they do the minimal-intervention "natural" childbirthing) at
our hospital.
So are you still in shock?
Oh yes. This was easily the biggest shock of our lives. But we are starting
to adjust to the idea and are getting pretty excited about the future.
What is the proper celebratory drink for this event?
I would recommend a good single malt scotch or, if you can find it,
a glass of Williams.