Baby number 4 & 5

[IsThereEverARightTime]

As the title says, I've recently found out I'm pregnant and yesterday at 7 weeks I found out it's twins! This is baby number 4 and 5 for us and I'm in complete and utter shock.

(I have a thread from a few weeks ago in pregnancy choices, I'm not posting here to discuss anything of that matter and I've name changed for both posts!)

Has anyone else had a surprise baby number 4 turn out to be twins?

This kind of happened to my aunt 25 years ago, but the pregnancy itself was planned. I'm expecting twins in Jan (babies 2 and 3) so I've been chatting to her quite a bit. She says she didn't find out til past 20 weeks as they didn't do routine earlier scans then in Canada. She didn't find it too big of a deal going from 3 to 5 (other kids would've been about 5, 3 and 2). But one twin was diagnosed with a serious genetic condition when a few months old so that kind of overshadowed everything else. She says now they are all adults it's absolutely wonderful and I've got to say in a way I am quite jealous of the siblings (4 girls and a boy) and their close relationships, photos from Christmases all together, etc.

How old are your other kids? A massive shock for an unplanned pregnancy. Finding out we were having twins at 7wks was a huge shock, and that was with IVF and two embryos put back so I can't imagine how you are feeling. Hope you are ok, have you got anyone else to talk to about it apart from your DP/DH?

Thank you responding, it hasn't quite sunk in yet!

I've been doing some online reading and it seems there are quite a few women who have fallen pregnant with twins with their 4th pregnancy, I wish I'd known the odds! (1/44 apparently )

My other children would be 5, 4 and 2 when the twins arrive (assuming they arrive early but not too early) so a close gap, I'll be due at the end of March. I've told a few friends and obviously DH so I do have some support thankfully.

I hope your pregnancy is going well? I don't know whether to be excited or terrified!

OMG! wow, 1/44... I guess with increased age etc and the fact a woman needs to be reasonably fertile and healthy to have a 4th pregnancy, must increase the odds, but still!

I guess a bigger gap would be harder to get back into the swing of the baby stage ... though it must feel so overwhelming with them so packed together. Really similar ages to my cousins when the twins came along. There is an adorable home video of the eldest bringing the new babies a few weeks old, to his kindergarten show and tell session.

Have you had any time without a child in nappies since the oldest was born? My DD is 2y9m and we've just potty trained her so I am grateful for 6m respite before January!

We were terrified when we found out. Bit silly really as we had two put back, but we'd had 3 transfer failures in the previous 8m, so we were just praying we'd get one, the possibility of both taking wasn't really on our radar. Now though, excitement is starting to win out over the fear, especially once we got past the 12 week scan and started telling people, as they have generally been so happy and excited for us (sometimes I feel I need a little acknowledgement of how scary it is too!). My main fear is financial as the 2 and a bit years before the twins get their 30 hours free childcare funding are going to be very tight for us, but I can't give up my (part time) job as I think it will be the only thing keeping me sane!

No I haven't had any nappy free time thinking about it, it's only the youngest in nappies at the moment and I was hoping to potty train her next spring (she's too young at the moment) so I'll have 3 in nappies for a time! Although I did when my youngest was born for a couple of months as my eldest was a very reluctant potty trainee and it's not as horrific as it sounds

I think twins are always one of those things you'll see other people have but assume you'll never have them yourself aren't they?

The childcare thing worries me too! It's just so expensive isn't it?!
How old will your DD be when your twins are due?

DD will be 3 years and 2 months. I think she loves the idea of being a big sister, she absolutely adores babies and is very gentle and good with them. But obviously the reality - especially with two, and when they're tiny - will be quite a bombshell for her having had so long being the only child, both for us and also she spends a lot of time on her own with my parents and my PILs. Sharing attention will be hard for her and it's almost impossible to prepare her properly for that beforehand without being downright cruel!

Are you noticing loads of twins now? I see them everywhere! Kind of reassures me that it isn't quite so unusual and lots of people seem to manage fine...

Hello! Congratulations! A similar story here - at our 12 week scan last summer we found out we were expecting twins! Well I say we, although my husband couldn't get away from work for it so I had to tell him after!! Also babies number 4 and 5 for us. They arrived at 34 weeks and our older kids were 6, 5 and 21 months when the wee boys were born! It wasn't unplanned as such, we were just seeing what happened and I was hoping to have number 4 but had pretty much decided that we would only give it until our youngest was 2. And by the time he turned 2 we had two wee babies!

I found out baby 4 was actually baby 4&5 - my twins were born in may this year

Hi.

Our 4th pregnancy was twins. We had planned a fourth baby, but was told twins were unlikely for me (I had one ovary removered after 3rd pregnancy), so discovering it was twins at the 12 week scan was a huge huge huge shock.

I wasted most of my pregnancy worrying how on earth i would cope, and wish I hadn’t as it was absolutely fine. Great even. I did line up more help than I did with my single babies and I think that got me off to a really good start.

My age gaps are slightly different to yours (mine were 4, 6 and 8 when the babies were born), and so twins has actually resulted in a better family set up than we’d planned (the babies have each other to play with).

Mine arrived early (waters broke at 30 weeks and I held on to 32 weeks) so we had a lengthy hospital stay which was really tricky with the older ones to balance with. Also, one of my twins has really bad food allergies which has meant I haven’t returned to work as I’d planned. But overall, up till now (they’re now 18 months), it’s been miles easier, and miles miles miles more enjoyable than I had feared.

Good luck and enjoy!!