Compared to when you were carrying one???

Those of you who have had singles before your twins: How big did you get compared to your singleton pregs? And overall how did/does your twin preg compare with you single?

I have a son who will be three on 1/28 and daughter who will be one on 2/28. I have had wonderful pregnancies. I am 11 weeks with identicals and so far feel great; but wonder what's in store?

 

Those of you who have had singles before your twins: How big did you get compared to your singleton pregs? And overall how did/does your twin preg compare with you single?

I have a son who will be three on 1/28 and daughter who will be one on 2/28. I have had wonderful pregnancies. I am 11 weeks with identicals and so far feel great; but wonder what's in store?

 

I started wearing maternity clothes at 13 weeks with my twins, compared to 22 weeks with my singleton. I measured about 4 weeks ahead starting at 13 weeks, and by 24 weeks measured about 10 weeks ahead compared to a singleton pregnancy. I was significantly more tired with the twins, but less sick than with my daughter.

 

I got HUGE with the girls and I only carried to 32 weeks. My two singletons were both born at 27 weeks and even for them being so early I was still pretty big. By the time I was 27 weeks with the twins I looked past due. Be prepared to get really big, usually the more pregnancies youve had the larger you will get. The twins were alot on my body. I was alot more tired, I couldnt even get up and down teh stairs without being out of breath by the second trimester. Im not gonna lie, it was tough

 

I had 2 wonderfully easy singleton pregnancies, but this one has been much harder on me. I'm about 28 weeks and feel way more pregnant than I ever did before. I am often overwhelmed with uncomfortability and just how hard normal things have become. (Ex., backing out of a parking space is SO hard now because I can't turn around very far to look behind me). I am very anxious about the next 2 months... esp. with my other little ones to chase after. And I feel like my husband really doesn't get it. I usually take things in stride and can handle quite a bit; but this time I need A LOT more help... Anyway, I probably shouldn't scare you with all this, and each pregnancy is so different for everyone (I hope yours is wonderful!), but you asked...so I vented... Best of luck and congrats!

Caleb 6/30/04
Aidan 2/22/06

 

Oh dear - where do I start? I guess I have to say that - if you are feeling good at 11 weeks - that is great becasue I was really sick at first. And I wasn't with my singleton (he is 3 1/2 now). Right now I am 34 weeks along and am measuring about 42 weeks - so already two weeks beyond where I was when I gave birth to my little guy at 40 weeks. I think they say you can count on measuring 8-10 weeks ahead for a twin pregnancy. I started wearing maternity pants pretty early (maybe around 10 weeks?). I don't think I started wearing them with the single pregnancy until around 3-4 months! I certainly don't want to scare you, but one thing that I know a lot of us have expereinced is early ligament pain - like around 15-16 weeks. My doc keeps saying - you're making twice the baby in the same amount of time, therefore you are stretching at twice the rate. So definitely earlier and more pronounced pain. I won't lie - it does a number on the ol' body. I'm much more tired (and was from the beginning) and I have basically had to rely on my husband to do so much for me. Sleeping is not something I look forward to these days because I can never get comfortable and even when I do fall asleep, I have to get up and go to the bathroom. Basically I have felt some of the icky stuff that you get those last few weeks before you deliver a single (water retention, discomfort...) for several weeks already. But hey - here's some great things - people LOVE hearing that you are having twins and it's so neat to see how even strangers find the true miracle in it!

 

i am in my 11th week - i look as big as i did with my son at 4-5 months...i feel huge!

 

Here is a picture of me at 37 weeks with the twins (left) and 36 weeks with my singleton (right). I think my fundal height with the twins on delivery day was 55 cm

The twins were 6 lb 1 oz and 6 lb 4 oz (born at 37w2d) and my singleton was 8 lb 5 oz (40w1d)

I gained 38# with my twins and 40# with Ethan and I'm 5'10"

I was very curious about the same thing when I first found out pregnancy #2 was twins. I was really sick the first 16 weeks of my twin pregnancy but had absolutely no complications or PTL. I was induced because they were getting big and they were going to have to to turn baby B after baby A was born (B was breech).

HTH!

 

The pregnancy with my singleton vs the twins were SO different.

Singleton: I had horrible m/s until about 13-14 weeks. I started shwoing around 18 weeks. I had NO signs of labor, no dilation or effacing, until I went into labor. I carried her til 39w5d and she was 8 lbs 12 oz and 20" long

Twins: I didn't have any m/s at all. I started showing around 12 weeks, and I got HUGE fast. I measured about 8-10 weeks ahead since about 14 weeks. About the 28th week, I started to have PTL and was put on bedrest. I was in and out of the hospital. I delivered the boys 6 weeks early. They were 4 lbs 11oz and 5 lbs 12 oz.

 

Oh my goodness... I just had this conversation with my community health nurse today and i was mentioning to her that i have never went thru this with any of my other four children. The doc says im amnemic, i had kidney stones, i look like im 11 months pregnant and im losing alot of calcium, i keep looking at the positve side of this all when i get to hold my lil angels in my arms. Just gotta keep on being brave and strong!!!

 

My son I was sick for about 12 weeks, with the twins it was about 20 weeks. Both times puking every morning and evening and just nauseous in between.

Feeling-wise, I felt at about 24 weeks how I felt at delivery with my son.

Weight-wise has been a bit different, with my son I gained 75 pounds all over. So far at 31 weeks I have gained 43 pounds, but it almost all in my belly....although there isn't much else for it to go but my face and everywhere else, so we shall see what the next several weeks have in store for me.

At 29 weeks, I looked like I did when I delivered my son....I can't go out in public right now without people stopping me and asking when I am due.....I look weeks overdue. When I tell them March 17, they freak a bit.

 

Thanks everyone for sharing! Jenny, the picture is great. I hope I look that great carrying two and I hope I make it to 36-37 weeks as well! I'm very excited, but a little nervous about the unknown. I know I'm only 11 weeks, but at this point I feel better that I did with the other two (not overly tired, not sick), I'm not showing, and no weight gain (even though I'm starving and eating like a horse!). So I'm kind of waiting for "something" to happen! I had an ultrasound Monday and everything looked great; I was feeling so good that I was getting concerned about the babies.


Would it be fair to say that around 28-30 weeks I'll feel "full-term" as compared to my singles; and after that it's a whole new world?

 

Morning sickness was about the same, I had nausea but never vomitted. I was more tired during my first trimester compared to my first, but I was tired with her too.

I had pretty easy pregnancies, my first was a breeze for the entire 41 1/2 weeks. She was over 9 pounds. I was dialated 1 cm for 4 weeks (37 weeks +).

With the twins I started to dialate at 32 weeks (to my surprise). I was 2 cm for 2 weeks, 3 cm for 2 weeks and 4+ cm for 3 weeks. From 32 weeks I started to take it easy to avoid preterm labor (new for me). At 35 weeks I got really uncomfortable. Major swelling in my right leg, major trouble sleeping (I am having better quality sleep since the twins are here, so go figure; they're only waking up twice a night though since day 1) and feeling extremely heavy. I gained 32 pounds with my first, 43 with the twins. Measured 38 weeks with my singleton, 42 weeks with the twins (my belly was extremely tight).

Though I made it until my scheduled induction at 38w2d and they turned out to be big (so it kind of explained a few things). Overall, I have to say that it was a good and smooth twin pregnancy without complications besides the leg issues. Blood pressure was fine, twins were measuring ahead, was growing fine, feeling confident, etc.

But I've been feeling pretty good since delivery, I recovered quickly. I got my body back (besides the soft belly), am 3 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight, am not extremely tired, so we're handling pretty well.

 

I was WAY more uncomfortable!!! At the end, I couldn't eat, breath, or have a BM. Plus, I was in maternity stuff at 12 weeks! I had an easy twin pregnancy, but I was very uncomfortable!

 

I wasn't any bigger than normal for a singleton up until about 17 weeks... when I went to the doc at 18 weeks I was measuring 29! That's when they decided to do another u/s and check for twins! lol And sure enough, there are two!

I've stayed right about 10-11 weeks ahead by fundal measurement. I'm bigger right now than I was when I delivered DS at 37w1d... I've been bigger than I was then for a few weeks now, and I almost weight the same thing I did that day!

My babies are starting to go to my sides now - I don't have any room to go any further up, so some days my fundal measurement is actually lower again. One baby is transverse, so he throws it off - it'd be scary to see what I measure all the way around my belly rather than up and down!

Other than all that... I have way worse heartburn, constipation, leg cramps, can't sleep at night, wake up to be on average about 4 times a night - it's way different IMO! But well worth it I'm sure! Oh, and I started having B/H contractions at like 16 weeks this time, and I've had at least a dozen brethine shots to stop them already. That gets old!

 

quote:
Originally posted by stbmo4:
Would it be fair to say that around 28-30 weeks I'll feel "full-term" as compared to my singles; and after that it's a whole new world?


I'm 31 weeks, and at my last appointment (30 weeks) I only measured about a week ahead. You'll hear it alot, but everyone's pregnancies are different. I gained a lot more weight and was much bigger with my singleton pregnancies (two girls, ages 11 and 13). I had started showing quickly this pregnancy, I was unable to button my jeans at about 8 weeks and fully in maternity clothes by about 12 weeks, so I thought for sure I would get huge, but it hasn't happened yet. It is going to sound weird, but I'm kind of jealous of all of the moms that are measuring several weeks ahead. I am out of breath constantly, in the bathroom non-stop, and get very little sleep at night, but I don't have the huge belly to show for it! (yes...I'm whining a bit... sorry!)

So to answer your question... you might feel full term at 28-30 weeks, but you might only feel 28-30 weeks! Either way, congratulations and good luck with your pregnancy!

Helen

 

I was very lucky because I had no m/s with my singleton and none with the twin pg! I figure god is giving me a break after all that we had to do to get pg (IVF).

I am much bigger this time. At 19 weeks I am measuring 27 weeks. Just like with my son, I have no appetite this time around.

The big difference is that I have lots of tightening this time whenever I stand up. I didn't have that with my son until the very end of the pg. I also had pre-term labor at 16 weeks this time.

 

I'm having a singleton after my twins so it is a little different but I do find a singleton pregnancy very easy compared to a twin one. A few differences:

- I went into maternity clothes a few weeks later with the singleton
- I'm measuring right on track at 32 weeks (I was measuring 47 weeks at 35 weeks with the twins)
- I took a nap almost everyday throughout the pregnancy with the twins but just started naps with this pregnancy
- I gained about 40 lbs more with the twins
- In this singleton pregnancy, I can still walk pretty far and don't get winded
- I didn't enjoy the twin pregnancy very much but this one I do
- With the twins, I was about 4-5 inches larger around at this gestation than I am with this singleton

Having twins is hard on your body and you will probably feel it. The rewards are so, so wonderful though and worth every second.

 

With my daughter, I was sick up until about 20 weeks (or so I thought I was sick). With this pregnancy, I was horrifically sick up until about a month ago. (I am now 28 weeks).

With this pregnancy, I have gotten much larger, much faster. I delivered my daughter at 38 weeks, but never felt huge or uncomfortable. I am now 28 weeks pregnant, but measured 38 weeks at 26 weeks, so I can only imagine what I am measuring now. I am definitely feeling very big and very uncomfortable.

I get tired very easily. This pregnancy has been extremely different from my daughter's. Hers wasn't easy, I had PIH and some other issues, but nothing compared to this one.

 

I was just comparing my bellies this morning!!! When i was pregnant with my two singleton boys I could still wear jeans and button it up at 6 months.
With my girls (10years later) I was in maternity clothes at 9 weeks. I measure about 10 weeks ahead and everyone asks me if I should be still walking because it looks like I am about to give birth!!
It is not just the size of my belly but virtually everything else that is different with the twins.

 

I was a lot bigger, faster. The symptoms I had with the twins were much more than with DD; r.l. pain, reflux, skin problems etc. Nothing like that with my singleton. It was a lot more difficult in general. I gained 60lbs as opposed to 25! Of course, I was a lot younger then . . .LOL

 

It's so interesting to read this thread! I had a fairly easy pregnancy with my singleton, with very little nausea. I started showing fairly early, but nothing crazy. And, at 40 weeks (she came on her due date!), I was sort of round all over, instead of just being big in front.

Now, I'm almost 14 weeks PG with twins, and I feel HUGE. I look at least 20 weeks PG, if not more. Also, I was just exhausted in the first trimester, and was very sick. Only now am I starting to get a little energy back, and the nausea seems to be abating, thank goodness.

I'm not terribly uncomfortable just yet, but if I continue at this pace, I expect I'll be a mess toward the end...oy.

I have to say, it's definitely harder when you have an almost-3-year-old to chase all day, who doesn't understand that mommy needs to rest!