New and Nervous

Hi I'm a mama to one little girl age 2.5 and I am 11 weeks pregnant with #2 & 3. I am very nervous and excited about this twin pregnancy. I had a large SCH at 6 weeks which caused a terrible and scary bleeding, cramping, and tissue passing incident at 8 weeks with bleeding up to and afterwards. The clot appears to be healing and I am so very thankful. I have heard about the Luke book, but have not gotten it, I'm wondering what other resources there are out there and am looking for recommendations. I really hope to deliver as close as possible to term, vaginally and without meds. I have a lot to learn about twin pregnancy and am not sure where to begin. Any tips?

Thanks!

 

Welcome to TS and congrats on your twins! I didnt read any books, so I have no advice there. All I can say is try and relax and enjoy your pregnancy as much as you can.

 

:welcome: to Twinstuff! There is a lot of info. here at TS, we have some very knowledgeable members here. :good: Feel free to ask any specific questions and enjoy checking out all the threads. As for advice, just take care of yourself, rest and eat well.

 

:welcome: to TS!

I read a few books but found TS & the Luke book to be the best resource. I had "Everything about Twins" (I think) and found it to be too basic.

 

welcome! I have a 2 yo and am 15.5 weeks pregnant with twins. I have the same hopes as you (vaginal delivery, going to term, as my first pregnancy, labour and birth were very easy). I also had an SCH in the first trimester with a scary bleeding event as well with these babies. It was terrifying. It has finally resolved, but I did spot off and on until about 12 weeks. In fact, there was an SCH thread here that was very reassuring while I was going through it all.

Thus far, I have found that a very high-protein diet is working best for me for staving off hunger/nausea (I've had very bad pregnancy sickness since the beginning but it seems to be easing up finally).

TS has been a great resource and I've gotten some great responses to some of my questions. I haven't actually picked up any books yet though either.

 

Thanks so much for the replies. :ibiggrin: I have heard about the 20lb by 20 weeks suggestion and wonder how important that is. Am I putting my babies at risk if I don't gain 20 by 20?

J Squared- so glad to hear you are doing well--those are so scary.

 

:welcome: and congrats on your twins!

If you are hoping for a med-free, vaginal delivery, I strongly recommend researching the heck out of your caregiver. Find out their stats & what their routine policies/procedures are for twin births & how those can affect outcomes (Do they routinely do elective inductions at a certain gestation? Do they routinely have their clients birth in the OR/insist on an epidural "just in case"/insist on continuous fetal monitoring? Will they only "allow" you to birth vaginally if both babies are head down or are they comfortable with vaginal breech birth?) Finding a caregiver who's birth philosophy most closely matches your own is very important. And if at any point you are uncomfortable with your caregiver don't be afraid to seek out a second opinion or to even switch caregivers. If there are midwives & OBs in your area who offer shared care for twin pregnancies that can be a great option as well.

 

Thanks Miss Bossy. I plan to stay with the OB I used when I gave birth to DD. We don't have mirror philosophies, but he believes in patient autonomy and my experience birthing DD with him was fantastic. I'm seeing an RE now so I won't meet with him for the first time until I'm 15 weeks. I plan to ask him a number of questions about birthing twins at that visit--specifically what he will allow when it comes to position and more. I need to read up on that myself before the appointment. . . Is birthing in the OR usually a hospital policy or an OB policy?

 

It depends. My OB told me it was a hospital policy, but the OB on call when I actually went into labour had no problem with me birthing in the L&D room. :unknw: The main reason I was concerned about it is that I was also told that I was only allowed 1 support person in the OR regardless of whether I was in there for a vag birth or a c-birth. As I needed both DH & my doula with me I didn't want to be in the OR. Turns out that the 1 support person rule is also caregiver dependent & was not a hospital policy as I was told as I've since attended a twin client's birth where she did birth in the OR & both her husband & I were allowed in the room. To be honest, at the end of the day, regardless of policy, they are not allowed to force you to do something you do not want to do - it's just very hard to argue against anything when you're in the middle of labour.

That's great that you have a caregiver you work well with & trust! I had a very difficult relationship with my caregiver in my first pregnancy which is why I've come to feel it's so important to find someone with a similar philosophy who you can trust. I've done that this time around & it has made such a huge difference in my feelings about my pregnancy, labour & birth. I just joked with DH after my appointment on Monday that it's such a nice thing to actually look forward to my caregiver appointments.

 

I only gained 35 lbs the entire pregnancy..my boys were 5 and 6 lbs.

 

Miss Bossy- Thanks again. I will check it out with both. I have a family member in the top administration of my hospital so I can get the real answers on policy from her. I did that with DD when I wanted to be sure I could have hep-lock without fluids, etc. Then I ask my OB what their policy is. I feel like I am back at square one again since its twins and I have no idea what to expect. I am quite fearful of having to have a section and epidural and all that jazz. I felt so great after birthing DD that I can't imagine taking care of a newborn (let alone 2!) after major surgery. . . So glad you found someone you look forward to seeing and thanks so much for your input. Best wishes for you in L&D.


T and C- thanks! I've gained less at this stage than I did with DD. I'm 11w and only about 4lbs up. I don't have morning sickness, but I do tend to have an unsettled stomach later in the day (when I usually am prone to eat the most). I'm wondering if I should pump up my breakfasts, lol.

 

Welcome to TS and congrats on your upcoming twins!!

You've gotten some good advice already! My only advice is stock up on the protein I read it several times when i was pregnant, I ate lots of good protein, and went to 36 wks 2 days and my twins were 6.4 lbs and 7.2 lbs No telling if it worked for sure or not, but it didn't hurt!

 

danibell- thanks! Is there a goal that I should try to reach for protein each day?

 

:welcome: to TS! Congratulations on your twin pregnancy and I wish you all the best. I only gained 35-40 lbs when I was pregnant with my twins and they were born 5 lbs 9oz and 5lbs 14 oz.

I don't have a specific twin book to recommend but I did find these two Ann Douglas books to be very helpful (probably the most helpful books I read during pregnancy and the FY with twins)
The Mother of all Pregnancy Books
Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler and Preschooler

 

I was going to make the same suggestion about investigating the hospital policies. I posted a thread here about the very same thing after I was told by my first OB that "I only do vaginal if both babies are head down, we automatically induce/c-section at 38 weeks, you come in weekly for ultrasounds starting at 30 weeks, etc, etc". Thus far, I have switched to a new OB in the same practice (insurance is making it very difficult for me to switch practices altogether) who does attend breech births and will allow breech birth of Baby B if baby A is head down and she was much more in tune with my fears and anxieties than the first one. The only downside in this practice is that half the doctors will do breech of Baby B and the other half won't, so if I make it to 38 weeks and decide to be induced, I can choose my doctor if I end up having a baby B breech (really hoping both will be head down to make things easier, but I know it's a strong possibility they won't be), but if I go into labour before that I'm subject to the whims of the doctor on call. Sure, they can't MAKE me do anything, but it's still a frustrating situation. Most of the practices I have checked out are similar--rotating on-call doctors and not all in the practice will do a baby B breech. I have yet to find a practice where the person who is my doctor will be the person who shows up at my birth no matter what.

I've heard the same weight gain recommendation and my first OB told me to expect to gain 40-60 pounds and the second one I saw said 50-60 and that would be "normal" and recommended for twins. I gained 40 with my son and am on track right now for a similar gain or more. I am up 14-15 pounds at almost 16 weeks. I think I just gain a lot during pregnancy because I eat a healthy, balanced diet but in my first pregnancy I also gained most of my weight prior to 30 weeks then it slowed down and I only gained 5 pounds from 30-40 weeks. This time, I'm hungry ALL THE TIME and I'm not interested in being hungry because it makes me nauseated so maybe that's where the weight gain is coming from--the constant eating, even of healthy foods.

 

Just on the weight gain thing. I only gained 10lbs with my twins, and they were born at 39 weeks weighing 6Lbs each. I had very bad morning sickness the whole pregnancy..and lost weight instead of gaining. My girls were never in danger.

Good luck with your pregnancy..and I hope you get the delivery you want. I got mine.


Brandy

 

:welcome: and congrats on your twin pregnancy!!

 

Thanks everyone! And thank you for all of the warm welcomes!

 

Welcome to twinstuff!!! I am one that couldn't eat either. I was so sick all the time, even typing about it now makes me feel sick. I didn't gain any weight until 12 weeks, I gave birht at 37 weeks 5 days, I gained 37 pounds and my babies were 6# 5oz each. My advise would be don't force yourself to eat, you may throw up if you eat more than you can, but try to eat healthy foods as much as you can, and also, as long as your doctor allows it, try to stay active.

 

Thanks so much!

 

I'm 22.5 weeks and have only gained about 12# so far. I was talking to the ultrasound tech at my peri's office and she said 'Well, some gain and some don't.' Obviously, she's not the doctor, but I'm sure she's seen many, many twin pregnancies so it was still reassuring to hear.

I also strongly recommend making sure your OB is inline with what you have in mind for birth. You don't want to be arguing with him at every appointment about induction/hep locks/meds or no meds/OR or LDR...the list of things you could disagree on could be endless.

The first OB I saw told me he would do a C-section unless they were both head down so I left him. The second one I found was willing to do vaginal if Baby A was head down, but then I had to switch again for insurance reasons. Luckily, I found another doctor who is even more comfortable with breech births and in fact did a twin vaginal birth where Baby A was breech!! If anyone in S.Florida wants his name, I'll be happy to share!

 

That's awesome! I have a friend here in Calgary who was also able to find an OB who was willing to support her in a vag birth even though both babies were breech when she went into labour. Her baby B ended up flipping vertex after baby A was born breech. I wish more doctors were comfortable with vag breech birth, at least for those who would prefer that option.

 

I am also one of the mothers who gained way less than many guidelines say - 24 lbs, and my twins were roughly 5 and 6 lbs too. I did take care to eat nutritous healthy food and more protein than usual but did not aim for a specific weight gain. My OB was happy with this; the only time he was concerned was while I lost so much weight due to morning sickness in the first months.

I liked the book "Mothering Multiples" (published by LLL) which deals with pregnancy, the newborn stage with a focus on nursing, and has lots of tips beyond that age.

Have a happy and healthy pregnancy!

 

Thanks, all! I have seen that LLL book and it is definitely on my to order list. I guess I will just go with what my body does and not stress too much about the weight. Lord knows I have other things to stress about right now, lol.