anyone else expecting twins?!?!?

[tabbycat76]

Hi everyone!

My husband and I recently found out on an early dating scan (like, very early, 5+ weeks) that we are expecting twins. We're being re scanned in 2 weeks time to confirm, but I'm wondering if anyone else is expecting twins. It's our first pregnancy so we're abit in awe of the thought, but wouldn't it be good to start a thread on twins so we could exchange advice, support etc. Looking forward to hearing from you! x

It is currently 0555hrs and I've been awake and up now since 0525hrs due to my nausea. Still no sickness thankfully tho sometimes I think maybe the nausea would go away if I was sick. Anyway, this would be the normal time for my getting up for work and I feel crap. I'm really starting to worry about going back on Monday (nxt wk) and am in two minds what to do. Considering going to the GP tomorrow to ask for a sick note as the prospect of going to work in this state horrifies me. I can play brave and go in, but what god would I be if there was an emergency, or during my pill round, or tending to a patient that might have soiled themselves (I'm finding the smell of things a little rank now too, like our oven that desperately needs a clean and honks when in use!). What are your thoughts guys, you're all way further on than me so will know how long it'll go on for. I'm hating this. My husband seems to disregard my knowledge of midwifery sometimes (despite a 7 yr career in it) and doesn't believe twin pregnancies can be a lot more harsh than singletons. As I'm writing, he's in the land of sweet nod upstairs, a fact in which I'm most envious

A thread on what support women expecting twins would like from their partner?!? Ha flatpackassemblyDiva, you sound the perfect partner for support! My husband thinks I'm relishing all this attention nausea brings me (so SO wrong!) and admits to being 'all baby'ed out' and asks me stuff like 'can you think of nothing else at the moment?'. Don't get me wrong, he'll go shopping for me and get me things if I need but all I'd ask for is a little bit more compassion. I'm a simple girl so that'd be it. Just believe me what I say and accept that this is just an awful position to be in just now.

Ohhhhhhh, the nausea is waving up again, gonna have to go - wondering if the bathroom beckons.

Hope you all have a fab day today, hope the suns still shining where you are!

Take care, tabby x

Oh tabbycat you poor thing. Hopefully you are feeling a bit better now? I was really floored to by this nausea, and just admire people who just get on with it. Do you live far away from your work and how do you get there? Could you get home quickly if you felt dramatically worse? I found in my last pregancy that I dreaded going to work and it made me very tired, but once I was there and getting involved I was OK. But then again I had a desk job, with no emergencies as such.

You sound like the perfect partner flatpackassemblyDiva, perhap you would like to come and give my partner some tips?

Glad your scan went well Lavitabella. Do they just check for size at that stage or if everything is OK too? I really look forward to these scans but then I also worry. In case you cannot tell, I am a bit of a worrier!

Flatpackassemblydiva you sound like a star. I think we should all print this off and show our partners what real support is. I'm not sure men are entirely capable, bless them. It's so exciting that you are so close to the end and will have 2 beautiful children soon you will have to keep us updated and give us all the tips!

Sending lot's of best wishes for the perfect hypnobirthing labour for your partner and hello to all the other ladies, how is everyone feeling? I am off for a week's holiday in Italy on friday, can't wait!

Fab flatpackassmeblyDiva - love your pointers on the perfect partner. My husband took to reading some posts on here the day before yesterday so maybe I'll let him read yours! It seems you have learnt very well during this pregnancy so there's hope yet for other men. My problem is tho is that my husband has nothing to compare with, this being our first pregnancy, so he probably doubts my degrees of nausea and tiredness! Bed at 9.15pm?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?

As for me today, still feeling absolutely grotty. I've booked a GP appt for the morning to try and get a sick note for next week. I'm just not going to be up to it. Fingers crossed for a compassionate GP.

Yesterday we went to see my husbands dad and step mum to tell them our news. He's only got grandchildren from her side so was absolutely thrilled to learn he'd be a grandad to twins! They gave us, well my husband, some advice on what I'd need, ie support, support and more support so hopefully he'll take note.

Wishing everyone a good day today, a fab holiday to lavitabella and a relaxing end to your pregnancy flatpackassemblyDiva's wife!

LOL flatpack. Fantastic pointers. Am going to print them off for DH. He's a bit blase about this pg I think, having been through 2 singleton ones before. He has no idea how different it is. I am so much grumpier!!!!!

Hope you get your sick note tabbycat. How are you feeling today?

Have a great hols lavitabella.

I'm interviewing a doula this morning as I know I am going to need some help post natally. I'm not quite sure what they will do so am looking forward to talking to her. The other option is a maternity nurse for a week after DH has gone back to work to help get the babies into a routine ASAP.

Smokey let me know the costs of a doula, where are you based? my mum is going to come and help me for a week or two, but I'm worried how I'll cope on my own. My MIL would come if I asked but she's Italian and will probably drive me nuts although she's wonderful. I hate being given advice

Hello everyone!
Well, you'll be pleased to hear I had a compassionate GP who issued me with 2 weeks signed off, this week which is an annual leave week which I hadn't realised I can get back, and next so I'm much relieved! If I need to go back next week for another, so be it. I need to look after myself and my babes I've decided.

Still feeling rotten. I've realised that my ms can wake me up any time from 0530 onwards and can stay with me throughout the day with pretty much little relief from eating which initially worked a treat Needless to say, I have soon piled on some pounds tho whether that's baby x2 I'm not sure. At 6 weeks, would you expect to see any weight gain really?!?!?!? It's all a mystery to me. i told the GP I'd probably feel a lot better if I was actually sick and he said, nah, it's not the same as food related nausea, it's all in the head!!!! I presumed he was talking about the hormones and not just assuming I was just a fruitcake!

Good news today too, we bought a new house so we have that to look forward to. The current owners have got a little baby too so the nurserys all ready to go, in neutral colours so no decorating needed! Fab eh?!

tabby makes a swift exit to the bathroom (sorry, tmi!)

Ok, so, no more can I say it's just nausea I'm feeling. The sickness has made it's appearance.... oh dear I am feeling sorry for myself. And I'm home alone, hate it when that happens! And I'm only 6+1, I have ages to go yet! Please people, tell me when the nausea and sickness ceased in your pregnancies!

Hi Tabby,

Sickness gets better (or you just get used to it) I actually lost weight initially and am now 16+3 and and pretty much the same weight I started with. However I think this is down to the minimum half bottle of wine a night habit I had pre pregnancy. Wine contains a lot of calories which I'm not consuming anymore

People say ginger biscuits and sea sickness bands worked wonders but for me it was.

1. Mars Chocolate Milkshake (not the thick one)
2. Mini choc chip brioche as soon as I woke up.
3. Carbs - normally I try and steer clear but all I wanted was toast, sandwiches, chips, noodles etc.

I have to say I always thought women who put on weight in pregnancy were just greedy but now I realise how you body just wants you to stuff it full of chips!

I also have a very active job and am on my feet a lot of am really burning a lot off. Trying to eat more but doctor said my weight was fine.

I am still sick (back into my cuppa this morning - puke face!) but they say that it's a good sign that it's all going well!

Thanks lavitabella I really appreciate your words and support. It's always reassuring to know it eases, I don't fancy staying off work for too long else I'll turn into a slob! Since waking this morning, I'm not feeling as bad as last night (last night I said to my husband I can't do this anymore and I want out!!!). Still, it's taken me an hour to eat my pitta bread with jam, and my husband is pouring water down my throat so I don't dehydrate. Hopefully today will get better - I'm having a sofa day today to get rest.

As far as help after the birth goes, my cousin enquired at her local college for nanny help and had a great deal with full time support with her twins. Personally I thought Doulas were only for the labour and birth, not postnatally, tho I could be wrong. I hadn't even thought about help afterwards and since we'll have moved to the next town further away from family, I guess I should look into it or at least give it some thought. I'll be interested to read what you guys post about what you've researched. Maternity nurses however I've heard are a great support, it's something I was looking into doing myself once I quite midwifery but they're live in so thought nah, not for me. Still it's another option to look into.

Enjoy your holiday lavitabella - very envious!

Hope everyone else has a good day and I'll look forward to hearing from you later.

So the Doula interview went well. Like you tabbycat I had thought a doula was mainly for the birth but it turns out that some (not all) so post natal support too.

She said that she is there to support the mother, ie to try and take some of the pressure and work away from the mother so the mother has the energy and time to concentrate on what she wants to concentrate on.So the doula will do cleaning, cooking, laundry, looking after other children, but also helping with the new arrivals, breastfeeding support and so on.

The package the one I saw is £1000 for 70 hours which she said usually takes 6 weeks to do. She is flexible over when she comes and its up to you so she could be in lots initially and then maybe 2 days a week later. Whatever you want.

I thought about a maternity nurse so, but for about the same price you'll get about 8 or 9 days (24/7 though) but once your time is up, thats it. So for me,I think the 6 weeks help seems more preferable.

tabby exciting about your new house. When will you be in do you think? Hope you feel better soon too.

flatpack you sound like a fabulous partner. Send some of those "my DP needs help after I go back to work" vibes to my DH. I have yet to broach the Doula with DH and I think its going to take some persuasion. We are in the East Midlands, btw so if you are local, I'd be glad to send you a link to her website.

LOL lavita at your wine/calorie calculations. I've just replaced the wine with chocolate. Whoops. HAve a wonderful holiday in Italy too. .

Bumping.

How is everyone?

I have 20 week scan on Thursday. Am getting nervous about it. Will there still be 2 in there, that sort of thing.

Have been really snappy and grumpy with DH too. Feel awful about that but can't help myself. Must try harder!!!

Have decided to go for the doula, and have managed to get DH on board too (despite my grumpiness).

flatpack how is your DP? Am wondering if there is any news.....? Thinking of you both.

flatpack so exciting!!! I really hope your DP gets the natural delivery she wants. Its looking good if they are both head down. I have 2 pals who both have twins and both sets delivered naturally with no complications. The MWs advice sounds good though. Very calming.

Do keep us updated.

I shall be glad when the scan is over with, but on the positive side my consultant is wonderful ( I may be a little bit in love with him - I suspect that happens a lot!!!) and I trust him completely to look after these two. He is someone who just has a manner that instills utter confidence in you and I was very glad it was he who did our CVS.

Hello peeps! Haven't been on here for a while, been feeling grotty as ever and so so tired! I've been signed off again for another two weeks so I'm hoping I'll feel a little better by then. But big news for us today.... we had a repeat scan this morning to check on our potential twins and we're excited to say that the smaller gestational sac of 2 weeks ago which they couldn't see anything in, has now made up mammouth time and development and is now on par with it's twin, so we're still expecting twins and have been put at 7+4weeks. Due date is 21st Feb! So exciting and relieved because all that nausea I've been experiencing, I thought it'd have been criminal to be feeling so awful for a singleton!!! So I'm a fully fledged member of this group now - yay!

Hope evryone is well. From reading your posts re mode of delivery, it's made me start thinking what I would do. It's funny because before I fell pregnant I was of the opinion, a labour and delivery is a rite of passage of any woman and I couldn't wait to experience it! Well, funny how situations change! Carrying twins, albeit fraternal twins, has made me somewhat change my opinion. Therefore given the choice I think I'd opt for the sun roof option! In my midwifery experience, I saw women being taloked into having vaginal birth twins and then ending up with a section with the second No thank you, though I also saw many successful twin vaginal births, so i guess it's just personal opinion and choice in the end. Just don't get talked into anything you'd rather not ladies, these obstetricians and anaesthetists have a way with words sometimes!!!!

Anyway, hope lavitabella you had a great holiday, flatpackdiva that your immenant arrivals arrive safely and that all goes well, and smokeybacon I hope your 20 week scan went well too.

By the way, before I sign off, we were told today that our next scan will be the nuchal scan at 11-13 weeks - what are peoples experiences of this scan... when did you get results by, and how nervous were you of recieiving the results??! That'll be the next testing time for us. In the meantime, I'm going to try and enjoy this pregnancy, just as soon as this nausea settles (the dr told me today she'd known of a girl expecting twins who took 12 weeks off work with ms, how mad is that, poor poor girl!)

Anyway before this turns into a novel, I'll let someone else speak! hehe

Hi Ladies, I had a lovely holiday thanks

Tabby congratulations again, it's so lovely seeing the two little babies on the screen isn't it! I didn't realise you had midwifery experience, what do you do? I'v been told I'll def have a c section and I'm relieved in a way because I know the consultant will be there. Again I've heard lots of stories of the first baby coming out ok and then having an emergency c section for the second.
Hope you start feeling better soon Tabby, is it the tiredness or the nausea that's the worst?

Smokey How was your 20 week scan? I have an 18 week scan tomorrow!

Flatpack Any news yet?

Glad you had a good holiday lavitabella - you missed some fab sunshine here tho!!! ;)

Yeah I used to be a midwife, 3 and a half years ago. Worked for 7 years but then had a mid life crisis and went into nursing! Haha, something like out of the frying pan and into the fire eh I think?!? It's completely different tho being on the other side of it! Thankfully I have lots of midwifery friends that I can call upon if need be but on the down side, too much info is not a good thing!

I've woken up this morning feeling not quite so bad. I'm finding I have good days and bad days now instead of all bad and nauseous days so that must be an improvement! And with the next 2 weeks off work, I'm keeping fingers crossed I'll feel better to go back!!

smokey hope all went well during your scan. Keep us posted.

lavitabella good luck with your scan tomorrow - so exciting!

Our next scan is the nuchal scan at 11-13 weeks. What are peoples experience of this as I'm not too familiar with it.

Have a good day folks x

Nuchal scan I had to do twice as one baby was lying with hands behind his/her neck! lots of wriggling and moving about to get them into position. They do the scan and let you know within days if you have a higher risk of Downs. As soon as the scan started the twins were opposite each other and it looked like they were touching hands, it was so cute I wasn't nervous, I think it's always good to have a positive outlook for these things.

Morning all. Aplogies for not coming back after scan to update but all was fine. Big sigh of relief. Still two in there and all the measurements looked good. We could have found out (fromt he CVS results) whether boys or girls (or both!) but we're leaving it as a surprise.

Glad to see you had a good hol lavita and hope your scan goes well today.

tabbycat feeling any better? Ginger biscuit? At least you can lie down and try to sleep your way through it maybe?

Re nuchal scan, we opted not to have it and went straight for CVS. In our PCT area, they have just scrapped the NT scan alone for single pregnancies as they say it falls below the standards they exepct (too many false negatives) and now offer the combined test - that is blood test and the NT, and the results are then combined together for a much more accurate result. Thing is, the combined test cannot be done for twin pregnancies as the bloods taken cannot be allocated to a twin so that leaves the NT alone.

Long story but with DS2 we had appalling odds from the NT scan alone (1 in 28) and had an horrendous few days waiting for CVS and then the results. All was ok in the end but those few days were quite awful. This time, I did not want to go though the worry of the odds again, as I knew they would be pretty bad as I am 39. The CVS that I had was ok and I felt confident with the consultant who did it with DS2, so felt that if CVS was available for the twins them we would go for that. I waw even more confident in our consultant for the twins as he had done a number of double CVSs and talked us through every part of it. He said he would not go through with it if there was any risk at all so I knew I was in safe hands.

Anyway, he did the two without any trouble and I got the all clear within 4 days. And that wait wasn't any where near as stressful as with DS2.

This probably isn't helpful at all is it? Sorry. Sometimes, I do like to get it all out as our NT experience with DS2 was awful - we were one of those false positives that made the PCT change their policy on NT scans alone.

Hey welcome back smokeybacon! ;) Was beginning to wonder if all was ok after your scan, relieved for you that all is well, that your twinnies are growing nicely and that the cvs results are ok.

I've got my midwife booking me tomorrow morning so will drill her about it then. I'm 33 so I know my risk would be high (if I'd have had the double test) but have no idea what they do in our area for twin screening. The thing is is that we're planning on moving to the next town in the next few weeks so I'm not sure if we'll be under different care come the time of our testing. I guess wait and see what she says tomorrow and take it from there. My husband and I were talking about what we'd do given not so good results, and unfortunately we differ, in that I'd want to terminate and he wouldn't. I'm sorry but it's just how I feel so I'm keeping everything crossed that this pregnancy goes well. So worrying isn't it.

So would people recommend CVS over amnio and why? I thought they both gave definate results.... is one more riskier than the other?? Sorry so many questions but I just like to be prepared. I'm a born worrier I think but I like to know in advance about things so I can ponder them and take it all in!

tabby the only reason we preferred CVS was that you can have it done earlier than the amnio. Perhaps this is more of an issue with a singleton pg than a twin pg but we wanted to know before the pg got too far along IYKWIM. And having had it once with DS2, it seemed easy to have it again with these two.

When I reported back to my community MW what had happened, and the change of policy with the NT and combined test, she had no idea about this at all, so grill your MW well!! Maybe phone your "new" hospital and check out their policy too so you can keep your options open. It seems to be a postcode lottery as to what your PCT does with screening.

My back is killing me today. I think I may have to get some physio as if it continues it will severely restrict what I can do at home. I was struggling picking DS2 up tonight and I do love to cuddle him so would be so if back problems get in the way, although the bump is getting in the way a bit now. It seems to have had another growth spurt.

Well I've had my booking this morning - I have a lovely community midwife but since we'll be moving in the next few weeks, it's irrelevant! Hopefully my new comm mw will be just as nice.

Spoke in depth re screening tests. I can expect a nuchal scan with blood test between 11-13 weeks. If the combined risk is high then they refer me to the local regional hospital for a cvs if that's what I choose. She says I wouldn't be able to go straight for the cvs as they need a risk factor so hey ho. At least I asked.

However she didn't seem to batter an eye lid when I mentioned the fact I'd prefer an elective section... 'it's your choice so that's fine'. I've also chosen my consultant so I'm feeling really quite positive!

Just need to wait patiently now for our nuchal scan. I've just looked in my pregnancy day by day book and it shows a 12 week fetus measuring 2.4"! That's only a month off and I'm gonna look huge! Infact I've a wedding to go to when I'll be almost 11 weeks so i think there's going to be a lot of growth by then! Eek, no hiding then to close friends!! And my husband still doesn't want us to disclose! Haha, I think it may be out of our hands by that time!

Hope everyone is ok. Haven't heard a little while from flatpackdiva so I'm wondering if there's been any news!! Exciting times for them!