Birth of your twins

Just to add something to my post - One was head up and one was down and he turned by himself once his sister was out.

 

First of all - this is a very personal decision that only you - with the help of your OB- gets to make. I wouldn't listen to your sister or anyone else.

That said, I had Rachel & Hannah vaginally, and had a C for Natalie. I knew going in that Natalie was breech & I may end up having to have a C, but I'm still glad I tried it and would do it again. Vaginal delivery was much, much easier to recover from and I will always treasure the experience. My OB thought N might turn after H was delivered - he was right but to a worse breech postition! At that point a C was the only option and of course, having my beautiful healthy daughter delivered safely was the most important thing to me.

 

I just wanted to add that just because 70% of twins are born by C, it doesn't mean you have a 70% chance of a C if you try for vaginal. Your chances of needing both are only 5-10%--the 70% rate (higher than I'd heard) is the % of twin births by C--which are mostly pre-scheduled, not emergency sections. I think i's important to point this out for those making their decision!

 

I think the stats here on TS are about 50/50 in terms of delivery. I am the story that I read everyone dreading, I had one each way with an episiotomy and I was put under general for the c-section. If put in the same situation again I would absolutely not change a thing and would attempt vaginal again. It is better for babies to travel through the birth canal and be delivered vaginally but obviously other potential issues need to be weighed in. If there are no medical conditions put into hte equation then I would definitely attempt a vaginal delivery if I were to have another child.

 

I had a vaginal delivery. It really depends on the way the babies are lying before labour. Jack was head down and Sophie was breech but they managed to turn her around after Jack was out. I am glad that i had a vaginal delivery because i recovered much faster which helped as i drove 40 mins to the hospital and back each day when they were in the NICU and i wouldnt have been able to do that if i had had a c-section. But dont get me wrong if thats the labour i would have had to had i would have taken it. Whatever is best for your babies. But i would try a vaginal delivery first if the babies are lying the right way.x

 

Could you tell me how many of you had vaginal deliveries & how it turned out with your twins?
- Natural for both
Would you recommend it, doing it the natural way?
- Yes

Was the choice mainly yours to make, or did your twins decide for you?
- It all depends on the position of your twins which your ultrasounds will indicate. At least that is how we did it with my ob/gyn. Other doctors can be different for example they could very well say we do c-section off the bat.

I do think natural is probably better as it is the "natural" way. Either way has it's ups and downs. But once again, it all depends on the position of your twins and ob/gyn. I would talk with him/her about it.

Good luck!

 

I had vaginal deliveries with all 3 of my children and I will do it again (if the baby cooperates) if we have another child. I have to say that as soon as I found out I was having twins, I said there was no way I was going to push 2 babies out, I was going to have a c section. As the pregnancy went on, I changed my mind completely. I decided I would just let the babies make the decision. If they were head down, I would try to deliver vaginally. The fear of pushing out 2 babies can get the best of you, but it usually isn't as bad as you imagine it to be. Of course, there is the chance that you try vaginal and end up with a c-section with one or both. I asked both of the doctors in my practice what their statistics were on vaginal multiples' deliveries and I asked what they would do if one twin was head down and one breech. I asked lots of questions and did lots of research about my delivery options. Both of my Dr's have very good vaginal twin delivery rates. The risks were explained to me very truthfully and the procedures used to prevent complications were also explained. I also asked my perinatologist what his opinion was just to have another medical opinion. In the end, I was willing to give it a try knowing my Dr's were super qualified to handle any situation that came up. Just one example of something they do to help the second baby deliver without complications is the Dr will hold the head of the second baby until it is engaged in the birth canal and being pushed out. This prevents the baby from flipping/turning while you wait for your contractions to resume and the baby is ready to go. I did not even notice or feel him doing that, even though I could fully see it. My second baby's heart rate slowed once my contractions resumed so I pushed him out fast (in one contraction) and he was fine. I understand that is fairly common with ID twins sharing a placenta. In any event, my labor was induced due to pre-eclampsia and 5 hours later, I had 2 babies, ten minutes apart. I was only in the pushing phase for less than 40 minutes and that's with a 6-7 minute break waiting for my contractions to restart. It was a wonderful experience.Oh and I was up waking around as soon as I got back to my room. I won't say there was no pain after, but it was very manageable and gone quickly. No matter what you do, childbirth hurts. I am willing to give serious details or answer any questions about my experience if you'd like to PM me.

With both of my deliveries ( all 3 kids), my epidural did not work, so I delivered without the help of pain relief. Even with that, it was not so bad. My delivery with the twins went so fast that yes, it hurt but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. Actually, feeling everything helped me to push those babies out really fast. I will not get an epi next time I deliver and I am no hero or super woman, I dislike pain a lot! But, it was so amazing to experience feeling nature work. I will never feel anything like it again and it was practically magical to me. Yes, I know that sounds really weird. I have a friend that has has a drug-free delivery and she thinks I've lost my mind when I describe it the way I do. But, I really felt my body doing something I never imagined possible and it amazed me. The pushing part is not really the painful part anyway, at least not to me. The contractions prior to becoming fully dilated were pretty intense and I had the Dr's try to re-place the epi twice to no avail. But, that too was only a couple of hours that went by like a blur. With my first baby (my 3yr old), my labor was much longer and I pushed for 3 hours making it a 22 hour experience all together. It was hard, I was hungry and tired but it really did go by like a blur. I've had many days at home that felt longer. I remember looking at the clock between contractions at one point and asking my DH, "have I really been pushing for 2 hours? How is that possible?" With twins, (typically) if you get baby A out vaginally, baby B is typically easier to push out if s/he is in the right position.

All in all, just like everyone has said before, NO ONE can decide this for you. Talk to your OB and do your research. A vaginal delivery is much easier to recover from but you need to do what is best for you and your babies and no one else. If you prefer a c-section just tell your sister and everyone else you had no choice but to have one. It is your business and your body. Try not to let fear of surgery or a vaginal delivery make the decision for you either. Go with your babies and the doctor. I will say if you are not fully satisfied with your OB and his opinions get another opinion or 3!! Good luck and try not to stress!

Kelly

 

Hi Denise. I was the one who crashed your other thread on the Expecting Board about choosing to have a c-section for the health of my babies. (Sorry for making it into a rant). In my case, there were a number of considerations. One of my babies was suddenly measuring smaller than the other and the doctor recommended delivering them at 33 weeks. I also had pre-eclampsia and I am not a big girl as it is, and so for all those reasons a vaginal birth was just too risky.

I wanted to make it clear that I am not saying that a c-section is the only way to go. I'm just saying that if there is any chance that a vaginal birth will put the babies at risk, then why chance it? If you are healthy and the babies are in the right position a vaginal birth would be my choice. Throw some complications into the mix, and I would go with a c-section.

As my last post indicated, I didn't have an easy recovery. I got a severe blood infection and had to be put on a strong antibiotic that forced me to "pump and dump" my breastmilk because I couldn't nurse the girls on it. However, I did nurse successfully after that for over 6 months!!

I hope this thread doesn't raise your anxiety over the whole birth experience. It's hard making this decision. No matter how you choose to have them, the actual birth will be a distant memory once you have your beautiful babies to hold.

 

I had to have a c-section at 38 weeks because they were both brech, it was not what I had expected but my doctor wanted to deliver at 38 weeks because he did not want anything to happen as the pregnancy progressed. It worked out well they were both healthy and weighed 5lb, 12 oz, and 5 lbs, 13oz. we went home in three days.

But it is yoru choice not your sisters, good luck

 

All four of my children ended up as c-sections.

My son - we tried vaginal delivery. I was 14 days past my due date when they induced me. Form the begining of labor the nurses were worried because they couldn't get a basline heartrate (the normal rate before contractions begin). 10 hours into labor his heart was fluctuating from 70 bpm to 210 bpm. My water broke and it was Mec positive. Then they started losing his heartbeat. He was born via emergency c-section. His apgars were 1 and 7. There was a true knot in the cord and the cord was wrapped around his neck. The knot had been there a "very long time" = probably since 15 weeks = they said that "he had been with low oxygen supplies for a very long time. The cord was very malnurished and the intergrity of the cord from the knot to the baby was comprimised." The pH of the cord blood was within brain damage levels. The told us they didn't know how he didn't die in utero but that he would have died if I had vaginally delivered him. They said their would be brain damage - the just didn't know to what extent. Now, Gabe is almost 7. He is in first grade and is one of the smartest kids in his glass. At three we was dianosed with high functioning autism - but most people don't know it when they talk to him.

Our daughter and the twins were repeat c-sections. I didn't want to try that ever again. For me - I had terrible back labor with Gabe. The c-section was way less painful. With all the c-sections I was out of bed within 3 hours. I didn't think they were all that painful. The worst part of all of it was when the nurses check your uterus to see if it is shrinking - but they check that no matter how you deliver. With our first I went home 3 days after deliver. With my second child - I went home the next day (yes, I was out the door in 24 hours after having a c-section). With the twins - I was there the four days. I could have gone home the next day but since Allison was in NICU and our insurance would pay for four days I wanted to stay as long as I could. With all of them I drove right away. I came home with the twins on Friday - Saturday I drove the 30 miles to the hospital to see Allison in NICU. I carried Ellie into the hospital in her car seat. I personally don't think c-sections are painful at all. I thought they were way less painful than the total of 14 hours labor I had with my first before they did the c-section.

That is my 2 cents!

 

I was fortunate enough to have both babies vaginally. I originally wanted to have a natural childbirth with no drugs but my ob told me she wouldn't recommend it and I trusted her opinion. She told me I needed the epi in case of an emergency. After almost 30 hours of labor I finally got the epi around 7 centimeters dilated. I was glad I did because it relaxed me and got me through the rest of labor. My ob was WONDERFUL she massaged me between pushes (sorry if TMI) which help prevent me from getting stitches. I pushed for thirty minutes and Hannah was born and ten minutes later Jack was born. My sister had a c-section and her recovery was horrible. I really wanted to have them vaginally because I knew I needed a quick recovery. I am very blessed that I was able to have them vaginally because I know a lot of twin moms who didn't have a choice. Either decision you make should be what's best for you and your babies.