Advice needed 41 & pregnant with twins ..........

[minmooch]

I have 2 ds (ageed 12 & 11) and had 3 mc last year at 8 weeks, 12 weeks & 5 weeks.

Had an early scan at 6weeks+ and discovered that this time I am expecting identical twins - 1 sac & 1 placenta. Have been reading nothing but frightening things so trying not to and trying to remain calm.

Am now 11+ weeks and due for my nuchal scan on Monday evening. Worried that I wont make it, worried that they wont find the twins and worried that if they do there will be something wrong with them.

Have had no nausea (although didn't with any of my other pregnancies) and generally feel very well, except tired in the evening and can cry at anything.

My one niggling worry is that I seem to have loose stools (sorry if too much info). I keep reading that every pregnant woman has constipation but not me with this pregnancy. Its not diareah (sp?) as such as I just go once a day as normal but it is loose . Is it just the amount of hormones rushing around my body or something to worry about? Anyone else had this?

i had loose stools in both pregs. and all ok.

hi minmooch. congratulations! I'm due with dt's (non-id) in September, have two ds's already. There are lots of people on here who have had id twins and can reassure you that it's not all frightening! But I know that I worried like mad at the 20 week scan (found out at 17 weeks!) that they wouldn't find them and something was wrong, I'm being scanned fortnightly now and still worry every time!! I'm 29 weeks now. I'm sure you will relax a bit once you've got through the scan and everything is ok And then you can come back and join our ladies expecting twins thread which has only a few at the moment - the d'ya ever threads are packed full of twin mums!

I really don't think loose stools anything to worry about, we all have different symptoms and you may be lucky enough to avoid constipation.

I hope all goes well with the scan, and no doubt you'll be back on Tuesday to say so!

Hi Minmooch. Congratulations on your news . My twins shared a sac and a placenta and were born by elective CS at 37+4 weeks with no complications at all. I had a very easy pregnancy - I was quite nauseous in the first trimester, but never sick and was constantly tired and emotional...but at that stage I thought it was just normal pregnancy stuff, I didn't know for sure that it was twins at this point, although I had a strong feeling for some reason.

They will monitor you very closely - the frequency of scans varies - I was scanned every 3 weeks from 20 weeks, but had nothing between my 12 week scan and the 20 week one. I would have thought, given your sad history, that you should be given more frequent checks in between these two scans.

Obviously there are risks with identical twins and particularly those sharing a sac as well as a placenta - the rarest kind, but I took the view that ignorance was bliss and didn't look anything up on the internet! If I didn't know about it, then I couldn't worry about it IYSWIM .

Good luck with your scan on Monday - let us know how you get on. And come and join us on our regular thread - lots of laughs, advice and support here.

Thanks everyone - I will let you know how Monday goes and hopefully will start believing and will come and join your other thread.

minmooch, how did things go Monday evening?

Just wanting to say hi and hope that it went well on Monday.

My heart is breaking and it has taken me a few days to try and get myself together to try and function in some normal way.

Although both babies are there it appears that one is smaller than the other with the smaller one having a much faster heart beat. The consultant suspects twin to twin transfusion

the consultant said that my dates were out by a week so instead of being 11+5 days I was 10+5 days.

I have to wait until 5th August for another scan to see how the twins are developing.

AS i understand it my chances of keeping the babies are very slim if it is indeed ttts. I believe that intervention is only possible if I can get them to 18 weeks but has risks involved. I understand that it is not a case of possibly losing one and keeping the other but keep both or lose both.

the good news is that they are in their own sacs.

After three miscarriages I felt blessed and honoured to be carrying twins. It is now turning into another nightmare and i don't know how i can bear it.

i feel so angry at the unfairness of it all and I want to scream and shout and kick. I don't know how to function or behave .............

I need help to get through this - does anyone have any advice or has anyone been through this themselves?

Oh I am so sorry - not sure what to say.

I was 41 when I got pregnant with my twins and 42 when I had them.

The last 2 months of the pregnancy were hell - both because I was practically housebound as I was so limited physically but also because the Drs were convinced there was an issue with the second twin.

When he was born he was whisked away for tests and thank goodness everything was ok.

I still feel the magic of the pregnancy was stolen from us. But with two healthy babies I cant complain too much.

One of the Drs (a very famous one in fetal medicine who is known for not having a bedside manner) when asked what the chances were said "... probability - I dont know probability one dead baby, two dead babies who knows ..."!

Hope you will be telling someone the same story next year with the same happy ending.

minmooch... I'll keep you in my prayers and thoughts.

I hope that like sullwah you have a good story to tell at the end.

I'm so sorry, minmooch, more heartbreak for you to bear. I hope you have family and friends nearby to support you through this, esp the wait until the next scan. Lots of hugs, I do hope it ends well for you.

I had a big one and a little one, and the little one had a much faster heartbeat. At one scan, the doc said that one appeared to be beating up the other one. I was worried about the little one but then she said "No, it's the other way round - the little one is bullying the big one!"

They were born at 29 weeks. It turned out that the big one was a placid boy and the little one a girl. She still winds him up and they are now strapping teenagers.

Try to think positive thoughts, and relax. Not easy, I know, but it's you & them that are all that's important now - concentrate on chilling out & forget everything else. Get your dch to wait on you!

Fingers crossed for you Minmooch.

tearing... that reminds me of my wee weapons. DT2 is the placid big boy and DT1 (shoved her placenta in the way to ensure being out first) is a wee girl who is completely in charge!

Hi Minmooch,

I am really sorry to hear your news.
My identical twins were born with TTTS but we were lucky as it developed late on so didn't have too much impact.

Have you looked on the Tamba website?
There is a lot of support on there for TTTS.

Good luck