Identical twin birth stories

[kicksandgiggles]

Hi all, I would be very grateful if those of you with identical twins wouldn't mind taking a few minutes to share your birth stories! I am nearly 26 weeks with MCDA twins and thinking a lot about the birth. I am hoping to try for a vaginal delivery, which the consultant says I should be able to do if twin 1 is head down at the time of the birth. Apparently my chances of vaginal delivery are higher as I've done it before (I had a home water birth with DS nearly three years ago).

But there is of course the chance that I will need a c-section, so I am interested in birth stories of all kinds! Especially things like, did you go into labour spontaneously, were you induced, or did you have a planned c-section? If you had a vaginal birth, did you have an epidural or other pain relief? Did you need any interventions?

Oh, and how far along were you when you gave birth? Did your babies spend any time in NICU/SCBU?

Not had mine yet and Definitely having a c section as have had 2 already. But a friend of mine had twin 1 vaginally and then needed a section for twin 2 as he was breech.
I think that can be a possibility. If you have already had an epidural they can begin the section more quickly which helped with my first ds as his heart rate was dropping rapidly.
Sorry not to really answer your question though!

Thanks stinky. That's the worst-case scenario, isn't it, to have to go through labour and then a c-section! But I've seen the stats for twin births at my hospital and that was only the case in I think four out of 166 births, so not hugely likely, although certainly possible.

Yes I think lots of twins are born naturally without any need for intervention. Hope that it works out that way for you!
There was a lovely story in the news recently about twins born holding hands. How amazing!

Hi, I've recently had I'd twins and had a million and 1 questions about the birth before hand. My 2 were head down from early on so a natural delivery was always on the cards. I went in for a 35 wk check and to discuss what happens next. I was given an induction date of 36+6, while I was there the consultant performed a sweep. For the next 2 days I gradually lost my plug and then my waters went. Went in to hospital to get checked out and they kept me in. It only took 4 hrs for things to get going and to be in established labour.

Because of the position of the girls they struggled to monitor them individually so t1 had the head clip monitor thing put on. There was lots of monitoring and scans to determine how they were lying.

I decided to have an epidural just incase I needed a section for t2, I wanted to be awake if I did. Although it took 2 attempts for it to work I am so pleased I had one.Both the twins were trying to come out with an arm by their heads and because of this I had to have a lot of internals so they could try and push the arms back.
T1 arrived 3 1/2 hrs after I was measuring 3 to 4 cm and t2 was 5 minutes later. Because of the speed it was all happening towards the end a midwife had to hold t2 in position (from outside) so that she stayed head down for delivery. T1 was delivered onto my belly for skin to skin and cord cutting but was soon handed over to dh as the contractions kicked in straight away for t2.
All in all it was nowhere near as bad as I expected and the amount of bodies assisting in the room kind of went unoticed until it was all over.

It was very different from my previous births, where I was left to get on with it, but I was expecting more involvement from drs and mws.

The one thing I would advise is talking to your mws about anything you have strong preferences over right at the beginning. We didn't discuss anything, not that I had any preferences, but when the time came for vit k jabs etc I was off in my own world and doubt I would have been able to communicate my point very well if I was going to refuse anything.

My girls arrived on the 22 / 05 weighing 4lb 11 and 5lb 10. If you've got any questions I'm happy to answer them. Good luck x

Thanks so much for posting - your stories are really helpful. I've been watching this with interest as I am being induced tonight (eek!) with identical twins. I will try and update you kicksandgiggles once we are all home from hospital. Feel free to PM me if I don't get round to it.

And I also meant to say congratulations slightlyinsane. I haven't had a sweep but am 36 and 5 and I am hoping the induction goes well. It was v useful to hear about your birth - in fact, I've sent your post to my DH, and my DM who is more worried than me about it all! I hope you and your babies are well!

Thanks for sharing your story slightlyinsane! So your girls were born at 35+2? Did they spend any time in NICU/SCBU?

I hope everything went well Waffles! I would be very interested in your birth story when you get some time.

Hi Kicks,

Congratulations on your twin pregnancy, it is truly amazing to be growing not one, but two babies at the same time!

My MCDA twins are nearly 4 now, but their delivery was great. I had an emergency C section with ds1, so I knew that I would be very likely to have a CS with the twins.

Early pregnancy was fine, but there was some concern over IUGR with both twins and my amniotic fluid volume had started to go down as the pregnancy progressed, so my consultant took the decision to deliver them early (at 34 + 4).

It was a planned CS and so much better than the EmCS that I'd had before, although slightly odd walking down to theatre and having the spinal block / epidural / whatever it was! There were LOADS of people in theatre as there had to be a complete team for each twin. One of the staff said that there always a buzz in the room when multiples were being delivered! DT1 was out without issue and at 5lb 1oz was larger than everyone had been expecting and caused a few intakes of breath from the assembled medics. DT2 had managed to get himself wedged transverse and quite high up and the surgeon had to make a vertical cut in my uterus to get him out. DT2 weighed 3lb 14oz. Both cried immediately, were brought to me for a quick look and kiss and then whisked off to SCBU. The only downside was that because of the additional incision, it took a long time for the stitching up to be done and sensation started to come back towards the end of it. I felt the stitches going in for the last 5 minutes or so, but my only option was to grin and bear it, or have a general, which I didn't want.

The twins were in SCBU for two weeks as they were delivered before they had a good sucking reflex, so had to be tube fed. They were given formula via NG tube until my milk came in, then ebm. Once they had started to gained enough weight from their birth weights they were allowed home, thankfully both on the same day.

It didn't take long for DT2 to catch up with his brother and at their pre school check with the HV recently they differed in weight by only 100g and the smaller of the two is now half a cm taller than his brother! In terms of development, there is nothing to set them apart from their peers.

One final and irrelevant thing - I was told I was having identical twins, so expected them to look exactly the same. They didn't when they were delivered and I don't think they look more alike than siblings even now. We went to the trouble of getting them tested to know for certain and the results that came back showed that they are genetically identical, so single egg, MCDA etc. But I was surprised at how different they looked and I suppose it goes to show that experiences in utero like how fairly the placenta works etc can have quite a big impact on how they look. (Other people either think they look identical, or say that they don't look very similar for identical twins, so I suppose it's all in the eye of the beholder?!)

Twins are amazing, if exhausting, I'm fleetingly jealous!!

Hi kicks, after re reading it was a bit confusing. They arrived at 36+2, my 35wk check was at 35+6.

The girls didn't have any time in scbu/nicu but only just avoided it. I wasn't planning on staying in longer than necessary but after a couple of hrs there was some concern about t1s blood sugar levels so the baby dr (they all call themselves that) wanted to keep us in for aday.

Then it was ddecided that it would be best to stay till day 3 to check weights etc. Over the next couple of days t2 became redder and redder and even after my many comments about it the mws didn't think it was anything that needed checking. Day 3 arrived and they did weights and new baby checks. This was the point they realised t2 was very jaundice, the redness has masked the yellow colouring. she had to have light therapy for 8 hrs before they took some more bloods. The results were delivered at 1am by 2 very nice drs who were overly apologetic about waking me up. Her bilirubin levels were exceptionally high so light therapy had to continue. The drs took one look at her colour and told me they had had twin to twin, more bloods were taken. 2hrs later the results confirmed twin to twin and her bilirubin was going up not down.

We had 2 days of light therapy and constant blood tests to keep a close eye on what was happening. After day 1 we were told that if her levels didn't start dropping she would have to go to neonatal ward for more intense light therapy and possibly blood transfusion. She only just avoided that.

Because of the twin to twin they had to have head ct scans and these are being repeated next wk. We struck extremely lucky and the scans were done by a leading expert who visits the hospital 1 morning a wk.

In total we were in 7 days.

I hope I haven't added to anyone's worries, everything that happened has just been one of those things that can't be prevented but can be easily treated. I'm really grateful to all the fantastic drs, mws and nursery nurses who helped me through it all especially the night time feeds.

Hi kicks !

I wanted the exact same info just before I had my girls in Feb. Throughout my pregnancy I was told that I could only have a c section as twins were sharing a placenta, risk of placenta coming out after twin 1 etc.

Went for a check up at 36+4 at a new hospital ( I had moved houses) and was strongly recommended for a vaginal birth, even though one twin was breech. Was really scared because I had prepared for a section and didn't know what to expect.. Hey ho!

Had a semi sweep same day and came back the next morning for an induction! They were moving fast because I was so close to 37 weeks. Had an epidural (really wasn't prepared for vaginal and was terrified). Worked fantastically, just dulled the pain but I could still feel. Had a wonderful birth.

Twin 1 born normally and twin 2 breech. They used a ventouse for twin 1. Both girls weighing 6 pounds. Don't worry if 2nd twin is breech- you can still have a great vag birth! And DONT beat yourself up if twin 2 comes out via section. You just want happy healthy babies.

I went into labour at 34 weeks my MCDA girls were born vaginally both head down. I had an epidural , total length of labour was 10.5 hours. The twins were delivered six minutes apart I had no interventions.

They had twin to twin transfusion syndrome and spend three weeks in special care. One in intensive the other in HDU, and eventually the nursery.
Hope you get the birth you want.

Forgot to say my labour was spontaneous.

When did you give birth soontobesix ?

Thanks everyone, I am loving these stories. Please keep them coming!

It's really not about the birth I want this time, as obviously there's a lot more that can go wrong. I do have a preference for a vaginal birth if it is safe to attempt, and feel lucky that my consultant is supportive of that as I know some immediately recommend c-section for identical twins (as some of you have mentioned). But ultimately I will follow medical advice, whatever that may be.

February, mummybear.

I have 2 sets but since your asking for identical that'll be my 1st set who were MCMA boys.

I had no choice but opt for a ELCS due to very high risk and was booked in for around 34 weeks again because the longer I carried the higher the risk.

However, I was very lucky to have a healthy pregnancy and managed to push my ELCS date back to 38 weeks (I was monitored weekly). I went into labour before my ELCS (I was 37+3) so had to go to hospital for an emergency CS, as we were waiting for doctor to arrive to give me an epidural, I had to push and T1's head could be seen, so I had no choice but to have a vaginal birth, T2 was breech but luckily the cords and placenta stayed attached and didn't rip. I had no pain relief whatsoever - my choice. Then thr Doctor finally arrived with the intended epidural 15 minutes later!

From the start I always wanted natural birth (no meds) but it was all taken out of my hands when we found out they were MCMA but I guess in the end I got what I wanted due to unexpected circumstances! :)

My non ID however due to complications and preterm labour they were planned ELCS at 31+4w but then went into preterm labour a 2nd time at 31w exactly - I was able to have them naturally with no pain relief like I wanted. T1 spent 8 weeks in SCBU and T2 spent 20weeks in NICU.

Thanks Multiple. I'm glad you got the births that you wanted! It so often is out of our hands with twins

I'm nearly 29 weeks now and they're both still head down. Fingers crossed they stay this way!

Bumping this as I'd love some more birth stories if anyone is happy to share!

I had my mcda girl twins via scheduled csection 6 weeks ago . I did however start early labour 5 days prior and was in and out of hospital with awful contractions but still managed to make it to my c sec as nothing was happening to my cervix. I had them at 36w 2 days . No nicu time .. My c section was a lovely experience . Recovery was sore for the first few weeks but nothing unbearable you just have to rest loads ! Hope all goes well for you