The fear

[Lime123]

Hello, I am hoping some people can give me some reassurance! I’m 32 weeks with di di girls.

32 week scan showed twin 1 to be head down (twin 2 was too)... so consultant is saying let’s try for a natural birth. She’s very very pro natural. I have one child already and have a “proven pelvis” apparently. That birth was as good as a natural birth can be... not too long, a 2nd degree tear and no intervention. I had gas and air and pethidine. At the time of course it was horrid and scary and hurt ALOT.

I am petrified about this birth in particular:

• it’s gonna happen anytime soon, it’s the unknown... when? where will I be? What if they come in car on way over to hospital (1 hour away)?
  
• twins get starved of oxygen or another complication
  
• I’m scared of the bleeding after they come (the dr spoke about the interventions they do to try prevent bleeding when delivering the placenta and it’s scared me lots)
  

I’m not even a teeny bit scared of look g after twins. I just don’t want anyone to die or get hurt!

[willisurvive3under2]

I'm in the exact same situation. If you're really anxious about it, you could request a CS. I think they will monitor T2 really well and if there's any sign of distress they will do an EMCS - not ideal but it would ensure baby 2 doesn't suffer. It's so hard to choose. I'm 28 weeks now and both girls head down so I'm keen to try for a vaginal birth if T1 stays put. I'm trying not to think of the birth into too much detail. Will you ask for an epidural?

[BiologyMatters]

I was also pushed towards a natural birth. Twin 2 was breech and i ended up with an EMCS. If i had my time again id push as hard as possible for ELCS. There's too much that can go wrong in my opinion especially because they talked about inductions and epidurals. A birth that you all come through unscathed is more important than a "natural" birth.

[willisurvive3under2]

That's interesting @BiologyMatters. Did they try and turn twin 2?

[Lime123]

I want an epidural, any medical things that can make it safer to be honest! I want full continuous monitoring. I guess it won’t be natural as such but my consultant is really dead against c sections unless needed and since twin 1 is head down they strongly suggest vaginal birth. I almost wish twin 1 would turn breech or transverse again.

[BiologyMatters]

Willi, they would have tried if i had gone to term but my twins were premature. While I was in labour they said that they would wait for the first twin to be born and then try and turn the second (could involve external or internal manipulation) but I had a complication which led to the EMCS before twin one was born.

Op i suggest asking your consultant exactly what they have planned for you and what a natural birth looks like in your case because what they had planned for me was anything but natural (induction/epidural/labouring on back only) I said to them I was happier to take the elcs over the risk of forceps/ attempting to turn/breech birth and other interventions but they were not listening to me at all. I suspect if you do want an ELCS you're going to have to be firm. I'm sure plenty of people do have twins vaginally but if that's not what you want then you can't be made to.

[BiologyMatters]

If you're at the point of wishing that your baby will turn to get you out of a vaginal birth then i really think you need to push for what you do want. If your consultant refuses to do the elcs, ask to be referred to one who will.

[Gunpowder]

Just so you have the other side of the coin, I had an amazing vaginal twin birth a few weeks ago. I have two older children (straightforward vaginal births) so I think that really helped.

T1 was head down and T2 kept flipping head down/transverse/breech. She was either breech or transverse when I went into labour but turned head down as soon as T1 was born and was born 5mins after him. I didn’t have an epidural or any pain relief (I don’t like g&a and I couldn’t find all the bits for my TENS.) I did find it more stressful than my second birth because of all the monitoring but I could move about a bit and gave birth to T1 kneeling up. To deliver T2 I turned half on all fours but was a bit restricted as T1’s cord was short but she came out very easily. It was uncomplicated so I just had MWs in the room, but there were doctors keeping an eye on the monitoring remotely.

For me it was a great outcome - exhilarating and my recovery was so quick, (no tears) but I know lots of twin mums who had wonderful experiences of ELCS too.

I think if you feel you are being railroaded into something whether that’s a cs, a vaginal birth or interventions it’s worth requesting a meeting with the consultant MW. Mine was really helpful in working out a birth plan that was safe and that I was comfortable with, and explaining why certain things would be in place.

[BrassicaBabe]

My DTs are now 6yo. One was head down the other breech. Consultant wanted me to have a VB. No siree! I had a little fight on my hands. For me the risk to DT2 was too great. (Check your stats and don't take my work as I don't remember the source, but I think there is a 50% greater risk of lasting problems with DT2 than DT1). There was no way on earth I was opening myself to the scenario of VB with DT1 and EMCS with DT2. So persuade consultant for a ELCS. It was bloody brilliant!

Best of luck with whatever you decide. Twins rock! X

[Lime123]

Wanted to come back and update. Might be useful for someone!

So I had the twins. Made it to 37 and 4 days. Was induced via the gel. Started tightenings straight away. I was a right baby when it came to examinations. Needed gas and air and unfortunately not much was happening (1cm).

Twin two had quite a high heart rate which was concerning. I was monitored continuously. After one failed attempt to break waters (agony) it was decided to have epidural first! At this point I begged for a c section but was told to wait it out for a bit. I was concerned about twin two who kept moving so hard to get a heart trace.

Waters finally broken, epidural working and I was happy. Next day, I was 8cm! Hooray!

Then it all went a bit tits up. My epidural stopped working but it was time to push! Another was put in quickly. Twin twos heart was causing issues for half hour. Consultants came in and said “get them out” and twin one was born by forceps and twin two was born by ventouse!

Sounds horrendous and it was for probably an hour! But all is good, 2nd degree tear and everyone is healthy. The babies are wonderful.

[ClareB83]

Congratulations OP!

[BubblesAndSquarks]

Congrats that's wonderful news!