Twin birth stories over here please!

[GuybrushThreepwoodMP]

The good, the bad and the ugly. I'm 14 weeks with dcda twins. One dd already, normal delivery.

Trying to get my head around giving birth to two! I understand a lot will be out of my control and it will likely need to be more medicalised. Would be interesting to hear how it went for some other people.

Thanks very much.

littlesupersparks.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/twins-birth-story.html?m=1

My twins are now 3 weeks old :-)

what can I tell you?
delivery induced at 38 weeks after doppler scan showed that twin 2 was not doing well.
injection in the spine? whatsitcalled? you know.
One twin born 'flat' and had to be resuscitated, the other one had the cord round his neck.
Twin 2 pulled out with a ventouse.
horrible really but at least was in a really good hosp with a view of the river and H of P.
good luck.

35+3 DT1 LOA and DT2 breach.

Went into labour gradually from 2am, contractions every 3 mins from 4am. No waters breaking as expected (happened with DC1 and was told it was almost a dead cert with twins). Told by the 'senior midwife' on the phone to the hospital to wait until 9am, refused and told them the doctor I had seen the day before said to come in on the first contraction and I was coming in. Had to interrupt pre-labour poo to argue with her. Got in 5.30am.

Given internal by junior doctor on instructions of registrar (in bed) waters broken, needle put in arm ('in case they needed to speed things up') and monitor put on DT1's head. Junior doctor was sat on the bed in the way when he broke waters .

Went to the loo about 7am to give the urine sample I had failed to do earlier and sort of though it might be a good idea to finish poo of . Had a contraction that was totally painless went and did small wee. Whilst I was trying to work out the logistics of removing the cardboard toilet wee sample thing from the toilet without having to bend down anywhere, I got the most almighty contraction and it truly felt like the whole of my insides were falling out my bottom. I couldn't get out because it kept happening, then DH arrived with midwife and they got me back to the bed where they could see DD's head so the midwife flew off for rubber gloves and reinforcements and left me with DH. I didn't know what was hurting by that stage, but DH said he could see the head and it was nearly out, so it would soon be over. So I was able to breathe through it with the gas and air. Midwife came back and told me to push but I just kept breathing through it and DD came out by herself.

Then there was a mad dash to the delivery room on the other side of the ward where they nearly forgot to detach me from the monitors and tried to pull them along with the bed.

Then I had to get on the delivery table, legs up, registrar appeared from nowhere and felt DT2 (rather roughly) stuck needle in leg and whizzed off to the instruments at the other end of the room and told me to push from there when I said it was all starting up again. I pushed a few times. DH was told to move to the other side of the bed and passed the business end. He told the midwives (who were busy and not looking) that he could see the head. Midwife yelled 'its crowning'. I thought 'OH Fuck, the baby is hanging over the abyss by its head', and stopped pushing. Registrar said there was nothing for her to do and promptly left and the two midwives did the rest with the Junior doctor nursing DD1 like it was his first baby (I expect it was his first twin delivery). DD2 had turned and came out head first. Such a clever baby - perfect from the word go

The rest of it went pretty much the same as if it was one. It was a bit like a car crash tbh, but fortunately DDs were fine and had perfect scores. In hindsight, there were hilarious moments. I never made it to their special delivery room next to the theatres and did not get anywhere near the epidural they insisted was necessary and not optional when I tried to discuss what would happen. No stitches and no PPH this time. The perfect birth - but it did not seem like it at the time.

DD1 had trouble with sticky lungs, so they had to go up to SCBU and they stayed there for 15 days, but that is another story.

Sorry - should say my DTDs are now 21 and gorgeous . I think the technology has changed a bit, but the methods not so much.

Day wow! Dramatic, but not too bad (in hindsight...)!

oh yes I should have added, mine are now 16 and doing fine although ventouse baby that was slightly starved of oxygen did have mild learning difficulties

Dcda girls 8 here.
Born at 32+4. Waters broke, laboured till 8cms, t1 breach had emcs under GA. T1 had to be resuscitated and on a ventilator for 48 hours. Weighed 3.4lb. T2 breathing ok weighed 2.6lb
Both on drips with various problems
Both tube fed until sucking reflex kicked in
In nicu for 6 weeks
Both fine now, achieving well at school
Good luck with your pregnancy and congratulations

No - not too bad in hindsight. I was just very scared about what could go wrong because I had a first baby in 3 hours. Most of the chaos could have been avoided with a bit of communication - they could have explained their protocol and I could have explained where it wouldn't work. A doctor I saw at 20 weeks said I could have a normal delivery and probably would not need too much intervention, but I never saw him again.

I had a friend expecting twins at the same time, so we used to swap information gleaned. She did not get any more out of them than me! She went on to have hers in the room next to the theatre, with forceps, ventouse and a bit of a James Herriot intervention. She did not have any pain relief other than gas and air, and was amazingly stoical about it, saying it was not all that bad really! The doctor she had was good. Her first baby got badly stuck and she reckons it is the shape of her pelvis.

Another lady I met at my original 4 person antenatal class went on to have twins (3rd pregnancy). She had a emcs the day before her scheduled cs at 39weeks . Her twins turned breach late on, then turned sideways at 36 weeks, then they could not find her an earlier theatre slot.

There was a complete array of deliveries at twins group, but the ones who had epidural etc tended to be first time mums.

I asked that they would be very encouraging of everyone having epidurals because of the possibility of having an emcs.
The fact that so many come early is the most frightening part for me at the moment.

*assumed

It is true that some are born premature but some posters on here have had theirs at 38. Fingers crossed you're one of them

The advice I was given was to look after myself, eat well, sleep well and not to carry heavy things (including toddler). That way you give your babies the best chance to grow, and if they are early you have given them the best start you can.

Most of the people I knew had babies a little bit early, like mine. They needed SCBU for things like jaundice and feeding (sucking reflex is the last one to come apparently) One pair I knew came at 32 weeks and I do not think they had any serious problems - they just needed time to grow. Our hospital would let you visit SCBU before the delivery if you are at risk of early birth. It is well worth doing to familiarise yourself to the surroundings, then it is one less shock to worry about. I did not get the opportunity.

With the epidurals, our hospital used to share the anaesthetist with A&E, so although they said you would have one, it was not always available in reality! But then they automatically gave you a GA for an EMCS, so maybe it is worth having the epidural now, if you are likely to need an emsc.

At what point should I stop carrying my toddler?

I was told that straight away! It might be a bit old fashioned. The theory was that carrying heavy things put pressure on your cervix. Same goes for getting the shopping in and out the boot. Still, well worth stopping if you can.

I had a non-talking two year old who seemed to understand and stopped asking! I bought him a lightweight buggy that he could get in and out of himself. Later on we used to fall asleep on the settee together in front of endless Thomas the Tank Engine tapes.

Mine were 31 weekers, EMCS after placental abruption but we had a whole host of issues leading up to that point so def not the 'norm'.

They're nearly 4 now and absolutely perfect.

Induction booked for 38+0. Waters went at 34 weeks, was given steroids and had emcs the next day as twin 1 was transverse. They spent 2 weeks in scbu. Twin 1 weighed 5lb4 and twin 2 was 5lb8.

I have twin boys, they are my middle 2. I delivered them at 37 weeks exactly, as wide as I was tall by that time. My boys were 5lb 10 and 5lb 1, born vaginal delivery, 10 mins apart with gas and air only. My second sons heart rate dropped slightly as his brother was delivered but a c section wasn't needed, he swam for the exit no bother!

They were in transitional care for just 3 days to establish feeding and get them fattened up a bit, every other feed a bottle in the hospital and then ebf until they were about 6mths old.

I was very blessed, especially as I had undiagnosed Group B strep - the test I had a few days before they arrived results came in as I was leaving hospital

That's really good weights never for 34 weeks

33 weeks + 5. Had an epidural just in case a cs became necessary, but I also had my mum as my birth partner rather than dp (who was petrified and would have been as much use as a chocolate fireguard). She was brilliant at fighting off very junior doctors who seemed to think surgery was an automatic choice for twins. If there'd been a hospital less than forty miles away that didn't have an appalling rate of c-sections I would definitely have booked in elsewhere!

dtd1 came out head first very neatly. dtd2 decided to go tranverse, at which point there was another flurry of over-excited junior doctors squawking about cs. Mother really came into her own here, and very calmly asked for a second opinion. Monitors showed dtd2 heartrate etc was fine.

Big cheese senior obstetrician came in, rummaged around the outside of my now much looser bump, and got her pointing the right way. Or at least, got her pointing up/down. Unfortunately feet first.

More squawking about cs.

Sensible midwife again pointed out monitors were looking good, and with a couple of good pushes out she came.

I'd given permission for students to watch, mother said afterwards she thought there were about 25 people present in the end. Apparently I'd just given birth naturally to twins for the first time in that hospital for well over six months.

Both girls had to spend time in SCBU, due to lack of suck reflex and a touch of jaundice. 4lb 2.5 oz and 4lb 0.5 oz.

Like DuncanQuagmire's they're now 16, and I can just hear their merry voices back home after GCSE Chemistry Paper 1.

They were good weights Betty, they measured 2 weeks ahead throughout my pregnancy.

My DCDA boys were born at 35+6 (scheduled to be born at 37+3!).

My waters broke around 2am, when I was examined in the hospital at 3.15 I was already 4cm dilated!

The doctor who initially examined me said he could feel Twin 1's hand but upon further inspection that was in fact Twin 1's foot.

I was then rushed to theatre for an EMCS. Things were quick but not frantic.

T1 was born at 4.26 and T2 at 4.27. They weighed 5 13 and 5 14 respectively.

They came up to the ward with me initially but their blood sugars and temperatures dropped so they did end up spending 3 nights in the NICU. But we all went home together after 5 nights.

Twins are thriving now. They had no trouble with feeding and they are breastfeeding like champs and regained their birthweight within 10 days.

I think the advice not to lift things is a bit out of date. That's what my GP said anyway. I certainly lifted my 13kg toddler until almost the end!

Rest as much as you can, eat well while you still feel able to eat and look at lots of lovely twin pictures on the Internet because they are so very cute when you see the two little heads together.

Good luck

induced at 36+4 due to pre eclampsia, had sweep the day before, didn't need gel so went straight to waters breaking.
contractions started an hour after waters broken, started 3 minutes apart lasting 40 seconds and built up fairly quick, had to have antibiotics 2 hours later (not actually sure why just let them do what they needed!) checked 3 hours after waters broken and still not dilated but midwife reckoned once it got going it would happen quickly. transferred to delivery, got gas and air and waited on epidural, clip on twin 1's head to monitor heart rate, twin 2's was harder to find. epidural given but didn't take properly and feeling a lot of pressure. checked again 4cm, asked me to turn onto side to try get twin 2's heart rate, turned and felt need to push, go time! room filled, twin 1 out 4 minutes later, taken off to be checked by Paed, bit stunned but fine after some time in the incubator. drip started and twin 2 held in position, delivered 9 minutes later. 7 hours from breaking of waters and a much much easier delivery than on my first!!

I was induced at 38 weeks, I was told I would have an epidural as they would maybe need to move twin 2. I was given a pessary at 12 and told I looked 'unfavourable' I was really uncomfortable as I had sore hips so sat on a birthing ball. I was getting some pain quite regularly but the midwife said she had maybe irritated my cervix. I was getting regular contractions within 2 hours the midwife ignored me I was eventually given some paracetamol and called my husband to come in even though I was still 'possibly moving along' when he arrived 3 hours after the pessary I was in a lot of pain, the midwife rolled her eyes! . I said I was going to have the baby and she examined me and said I was only 4cm. I'd had a baby before without any pain relief, this really worried me as I felt like I was at the end stage already but still had ages to go. My husband arrived and got me some gas and air and politely explained I seemed in a lot of pain.
She told us to walk round to the delivery room so I could have an epidural. I shook my head as I couldn't speak, she walked off leaving my poor husband to get me up, I started walking, went about 5 paces, said I'm going to push. A passing midwife grabbed my bed and pushed me onto it on my hands and knees and twin 1 just came out and landed on the bed screaming luckily (this was within 2 minuets of being told I was 4cm) I remember 2 passing expectant fathers just standing in front of me as I was in the corridor.
Everyone came running and pushed me with baby still between my knees into the delivery room. They wernt ready for me so there was no monitors etc baby was thrown at daddy a million people ran into the room a lot of them shouting at the midwife. I was told to just get the other baby out and push. I don't really remember having contractions just pushing and him being born, the pain stopped with baby 1. Baby 2 was born flat so another million people ran into the room and we heard a cry. Then everyone left the room leaving my poor stricken looking husband with one baby and a different midwife with the other. It was totally surreal, they were both born within 4 hours of me arriving at the hospital with no sign of labour at all. We were all safe and well though, babies were 6.1lb and 6.12lb they are now crawling round causing havoc as they have done since their arrival. In terms of pain I don't think it was any worse than my singleton delivery but the atmosphere was stressful and I was scared as I didn't understand what was happening as I thought I was about to give birth yet was told I wasn't.
I do remember being able to lean forward after delivery and feeling amazing just not being huge anymore!