Expecting twins with a 10 month old and extremely overwhelmed

[RLI1105]

Hello!
Just as the title says.... I'm currently 7 weeks pregnant and yesterday went for an early scan due to spotting where it was discovered that I am in fact carrying twins. Hands down the biggest shock of my life!There was no obvious sign of the bleeding and both babies were measuring perfectly with good heartbeats so that is good.

I'm just now trying to absorb it all in as is my husband. As much as I already love these babies and know I am so lucky I just don't know where to start processing. My son is currently nearly 11 months, 1 around Christmas. 36 weeks for me will be early June so he won't even be able 18 months.
Has anyone had 3 under 2?
Just financially as well. Our car is small, you couldn't fit three car seats in it - we will have to get a new one. Also we live in a flat. It's a very roomy 2 bed with lots of storage but no lift. I've been physically running the scenarios of how I'm going to leave the house with 3 in my head and I'm just thrown!
I also know that pregnancy wise I am more high risk. I am young and had a normal, healthy pregnancy with my son but I still worry about them coming really early.

I barely slept last night as my mind is just going out of control. I feel like someone has thrown a grenade into my life, an extremely happy one at that, but all the same 😫

I'm sure someone on here has been through this. Has anyone got any tips with just dealing with all the emotion? Maybe recommend some resources as well?
If you have read all this thank you so much, it actually felt really good writing it all down 😊

[PowerslidePanda]

Congratulations! I found out about my twin pregnancy at 7 weeks exactly the same way! Went into the scan not even knowing if I was still pregnant - never in a million years thought I'd be told I was having twins!

Our set up is similar to yours, but with a slightly larger gap (26 months). In terms of logistics - if you're after a car with 3 Isofix points then your options are fairly limited (but that does at least stop you being overwhelmed with choice!) We've got a Ford S-Max and are very happy with it. I think the others we were considering were the Citroen Picasso, Seat Alhambra and VW Touran. I think there's a couple of others too.

I'm not sure how you physically get out of a flat with 3 little ones - hopefully someone else can advise! But once you're out the door, we found the best option for getting around was a sling and very configurable double pram (we've got a Baby Jogger City Select, but there are others). To begin with, I'd have one baby in the sling, the other in the pushchair bassinet and my toddler in the pushchair seat. When DH was out with us, we'd have the babies in their car seats on the pushchair instead (we had the lie-flat kind, so they could stay in them for up to 2 hours). Now they're all a bit bigger, we have the twins in pushchair seats and the eldest walks. I know you can get double slings, which might be a better option for you? If you have a local twin club, they'll probably have a Facebook selling page where stuff like that will come up from time to time.

I was also worried about all the pregnancy risks - I found the thread below really reassuring though (and was pleased to be able to add my own positive experience in the end!)
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/multiple_births/3558274-stories-of-twins-born-37-and-all-ok

[TheMagicDeckchair]

It’s a massive shock- I found out nearly three weeks ago and I’m just starting to get my head around the idea!

The mental trauma is tough- I felt overwhelmed and like the whole idea was too big for us/me to manage. I also had some sleepless nights worrying about coping, and cried a lot. It doesn’t help having twin pregnancy hormones either!

Best advice I can give right now is just to take some time to get used to the idea. You’re only 7 weeks, you have plenty of time to get ready. Have a look at the twins trust website. You might want to contact your midwife to let them know in case this changes your care- my midwife advised I start taking Aspirin with my twin pregnancy. Also the hospital needed a longer appointment to do the 12 week scan so you may need to inform them too.

I had a chat with a hospital midwife this week about the risks and she was very reassuring, she said although there’s always greater risks with multiples, there’s no reason I shouldn’t have a healthy pregnancy and birth. They are there to support you if you need it.

[isurvived3under2]

I had a one year old too. As my username says, we made it in one piece!

Is moving an option?

[RLI1105]

Hi @PowerslidePanda @TheMagicDeckchair @isurvived3under2

Thank you so much for messaging back! I appreciate it so much! All suggestions and advice was great - scan wise they booked me in there and then for a longer 12 week one so that's good.

My emotions over the last couple of days have been all over the place and unfortunately I feel like the shock has been taken over by the standard 1st trimester worry. I did some reading and stumbled across information about Vanishing Twin Syndrome which really freaked me out! I'm desperate to get to my 12 week scan now. I feel like until then I don't know what's going to happen!

Thanks for the link to the twins trust website, I'll definitely have a look! I'm a big second hand fan as well so will definitely be looking into all that.

As someone said (I'm not sure who!) we still have time to get our head around things and we know we'll cope. I think moving would be too ambitious. As much as having a flight of stairs is difficult, the flat itself really is huge. To put it in perspective, it is bigger per metre squared than my mum's 4 bed semi!

It feels really good speaking to people. I feel like it's going to be a long 5 weeks and hearing experiences from other people who have been through it is amazing.
Thank you so much!

[PowerslidePanda]

Oh yes, the anxieties of the first trimester Yes - vanishing twin syndrome happens sometimes, but remember that statistically, it's more likely not to happen - especially since all was fine at your scan. I know the term "vanishing twin" suggests something spontaneously going wrong, but actually it does include the cases where twins are seen on the first scan and it's already clear that one of them probably isn't going to make it.