HELP - How often are the appointments with twins?

[Kew08]

I am on my second pregnancy and found out it's twins . The first consultant I saw said I would have to come in every two weeks to have a scan or see a Dr. The second consultant seemed to think I was wasting his time when I went in at 14 weeks and saw no need for me to see anyone till 26 weeks. I have no appointment till 21 weeks (anomaly scan). Seven weeks seems a long time to go between appointments - no midwife, GP or Drs. I did expect less visits with the second pregnancy but with twins is this normal? I know there are regional variances but still seems a bit odd. Sorry it's a long post but just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

Hi, congratulations
I had a scan every 4 weeks, and I would see the consultant at the same time. Can't remember how often I saw the midwife, not often though.
Hope your pregnancy goes smoothly.

Congratulations. 'Tis a wonderful thing to have twins.

AFAIR you don't really warrant much attention before the anomaly scan. Then if the twins are ID you get lots and lots of appointments. Normally though you get left, much like you do with a singleton pregnancy, but extra scans are booked. Not sure about the necessity of the extra scans unless the babies are ID and at risk of TTS

The registrars are a little more cautious than the Consultants so you may have seen one of those which is why you may have been told that you need to be in twice weekly.

Thanks everyone. Really didn't know what to expect with two sets of differing information. Have to admit to STILL swinging between excitement and shock. Twins eh! Again - thanks for the clarification.

I'm expecting ID twins in April. At 15 weeks we had our first consultant appointment and heard their heat beats for the 1st time. Since 16 weeks we have had scans every 2 weeks between Queen Charlotte's with a consultant(who are twin specialists) and West Mid (our local hospital and where i'm due to give birth). In between these scans we're having consultant/doctor/registrar appointments which means we're basically at the hospital every week for a scan or doctors appointment.

This is because we're having identical twins and they are checking for TTTS and their growth measurements. If you're expecting identical twins I would double check the advice you've been given our get another opinion.

We have found though that the consultants are much more clued up on twin pregnancies and in contrast really haven't been impressed by the lack of knowledge and advice by the registrars we've seen. Just our opinion and from our experience though - every hospital is different.

Hi Roo - I'm with West Mid too(!) but though the first consultant said scans every two weeks, the second consultant said 'not so'. But don't think my twins are ID. I called the hospital and the midwife but they didn't seem bothered about frequency of appointments so have decided to just relax about it plus my GP is great. Thanks for your post - so much to take in. Good luck with the pregnancy and birth.

hi, congratulations! my twins are 3 in January. as far as I remember I had my scans+midwife and doc every 4 weeks. and after 26th week the doctors visits were very 2 weeks and I was with West Mid too!!! good luck with the pregnancy and birth.

I was told scans for ID twins every 2 weeks and non identical twins would have been every 4 weeks? we have seen different consulatants every time and they all say different things (plus a rubbish Registrar who wasn't even going to try and hear their heartbeats or test my urine). We're getting a little fed up with it to be honest. Otherwise in terms of the midwives and ultrasound depmt we've been happy with west mid. I'm sure what you've been told is correct however. Non ID twin pregnancies are much more straight forward than ID ones.