They May Be Identical, But They Are Not The Same!

As a parent of multiple children one always strives to treat each child as an individual. As a mother of identical twins it is especially important to remember that the girls may have the same DNA, but that they are different. I have always thought that Tom and I have done a good job of treating the girls as individuals. I mean, to us they look nothing alike and they never have and boy do they have different personalities. But when it comes to the girls health it has been hard to look at them differently. Of course they go to all their appointments together, they do everything together, but it has really been hard lately to remember that even physically and health wise the girls are different. You may be wondering where this is coming from so I will tell you. A few weeks ago I noticed that Maddie's eyes seemed to be going crossed eyed when she was eating. Then it appeared like she had a lazy eye, especially when concentrating, so I asked Tom if he had noticed it. He did so I called our Dr. and got a referral to an eye Dr. Today we took little Mad's and found out she is far sighted. All her crazy cross eyedness and lazy eye finally made sense and luckily she won't have to have surgery, just some super cute pink glasses. She will probably always wear glasses or contacts, but that is okay and we are glad we caught it early. While we were at the Dr. I asked him if we should be concerned about Natalie and he said to just watch her like we had with Maddie and since we already know the symptoms if we see them in Natalie to make her an appointment as well. He said she is at higher risk, but not to expect it to happen. After the appointment I started researching identical twins and health issues and I found it most interesting that even though the girls share the same DNA, during gestation and even after birth that same DNA can have slight differences that make the girls different physically, emotionally and mentally. I found this fascinating and somewhat relieved as well. Lately I have been thinking a lot about how, heaven forbid, one of the girls got seriously sick, would the other one as well. The articles I read put my mind to ease a little since the girls are really starting to show physical differences. Mad's eyes, Natalie has the "Knauer" gap in her teeth and of course their personalities. This is definitely something I am going to do more research on and I am excited to learn more. Also, as it has been said before and I am sure you have heard it, not only should you treat all of your children as individuals, but you should also trust your gut and don't wait when it comes to your own health or your child's. We very well could have waited 6 months until they went back to the Dr. but I am soooooo glad we know what we are dealing with and that in a week she will be able to see better and we don't have to worry any more. So never doubt your feelings no matter what people say, I mean really what is a co-pay even if it wasn't needed if it can save someone unnecessary pain.