Anyone's twins arrive before 37 weeks?

[pollyblue]

I'm 12 weeks pregnant with twins - my midwife told me that 37 weeks is considered term for twins and there's no reason to expect i'll go into labour early, but what little i've read so far about twin pregnancies suggest that twins very often will be premature. Has anyone had their twins earlier than 37 weeks, and if so was there a particular reason?

I had my fraternal twins 2 days short of 37 weeks by ELCS because the consultant was not sure if they were sharing a placenta. They were 5.12 & 5.10 & spent zero time in NICU :) However, they did full blood work at my pre-op appointment & the resuts came back showing my body wanted the twins out so I am pleased I had the ELCS when I did. My twins are 8 week snow & doing great! Good luck hun.

I had my g/b twins at 35 + 5. Waters broke naturally. I'm not sure if it's because i didn't take it easy or because they weighed 6lbs 10oz and 7lbs 6ozs!!!! God knows what they would have weighed at 37-40 weeks. DD1 was 9lb 12oz though. I did have GD with twin pregnancy (wasn't tested for DD1, but probably had it) but I compete in sports and eat very well, so never needed to be medicated for it.

First set 28 weeks, second set 23 weeks. All doing well luckily. Oldest ones are now 2.5 and younger ones 10 months and so far so good.

Had mine at 33 weeks as twin 1s waters went. 3 weeks in SCBU, they were 3lb 15 and 4lb 4

Mine were 35 weeks. Spontaneous labour, vaginal birth. A bit over 4 lbs each.

I think they came out that early partly because there wasn't much space left! I'm a shortarse. And partially due to effects of Obstetric Cholestasis- basically my liver was whining about the increased work, and hormonal changes.

My identical twins were born at 31 weeks. I had a very normal pregnancy , with no problems at all - until they came early by emecls..... they spent 4 weeks in SCBU and returned home at 4lbs. They are now almost 13 years old and no-one would ever know they were premature although when they were younger they didnt walk until they were a 18months and always hit the milestones late. I know that for me this was difficult at the time because I was worried that they may have problems but a lot of time has proved this wrong... my consultant told me that for every week a twin is prem they take a year to catch up, and on reflection he was right , until they were about 9 they were always smaller but certainly not behind in the mind game. I has another child 6 years later and puked all the way , nightmare pregnancy and labour and afterwards - complete opposite of the twins so take heart.

My dts arrived nearly 9 years ago at 36 weeks. I was so disappointed as not only did they need to be born due to pre-eclampsia that hit me just at the end but because they decided not to come out it ended up an emergency c-section! There went the whole plan!

But at 5lb and 5lb 4oz they both were good weights and no health issues.

One thing that annoyed me when I was pregnant was the amount of multiple birth scary stories told by the nursing staff I met. Really didn't help matters at all.

hi im 33weeks and 2 days with twin boys was admitted at 27 weeks with bleeds had steriods for babies lungs. then admitted admitted again at 30 weeks they did a test very much like a smear its called actim partus which indicates wether labour is likely within the next 48 hrs the test came back positive!!! i started to have contractions and was taken to the labour ward but then everything stopped im home and still hanging on in there roll on 37 weeks!! good luck to all u mums keep strong and listen to what your body is telling you!! x

Mine were born at 33+4 11 weels ago 3 days after we moved house which might have had something to do with it. My waters went spontaneously while having a cup of tea with my mother. Dt1 was 5lb2 and dt2 3lb13. Dt2 spent just under 48 hours in scbu and dt1 none at all at that point. We did however get re-admitted to another scbu at 10 days for a further 11 days due to feeding/temperature regulation problems, which I still think would have been avoided with a bit more information from the paeds in the hospital they were born in.

I'm 14 +4 days and have only had 1 scan is this normal? Got a midwife appointment booked at 16 and booked a gender scan at 16+3 days (private) how many scans should you have? My twins are in there own sacks ;)

I'm 30 weeks with twins and was induced yesterday due to lack of space for bubbas to grow! Having contractions and should be going back to birth centre today or tomorrow to have my babies naturally

I'd be amazed if they let you labour in a birth cenntre at 30 weeks. Is this your second set going by your other post?

I had my identical twin girls at 35/36 weeks on 21st April 15, they had their own sac and twin 1 was heads down, but twin 2 was breech, i was induced and I thought i might of ended up having a C-section, but when twin 1 was born naturally, twin 2 followed, their names are Amelia Rose weighed 3lb.14oz and Ellie Mai weighed 4lb 6oz.

I had mine at 36 weeks. My twins slowed down with growth at around 30 weeks and made little progress on the growth front over the following 5 weeks so a decision was made at 35 weeks that I should have them at 36 weeks. I was given steroids as a precaution at 31 weeks in case they were going to be born at 32 weeks but we kept going as blood flow was all good. We were on SCBU for just 2 days and home from hospital after 8 days and they have thrived ever since and are now healthy (although very little for their age) 9 month olds.

I had mine at 34 weeks after being in hospital for a month with pre-eclampsia. They were perfectly happy but I could have died so they waited as long as possible before doing an emergency C-section (twin a breech). NICU cot availability was also a factor - as there was some flexibility about timing they waited for two cots to be free in our hospital. They did very well and only had a ten day scbu stay.
There is some us research in the importance of eating protein for preventing premature birth (e.g. Dr Luke). Apparently between 100 and 176 g recommended by different studies - a lot anyway. naturallyparentingtwins.net/pregnancy/your-multiple-pregnancy/

I had mine at 36+5, after two days in hospital due to pre eclampsia. I had steroid injections first, babies weighed 6 and 7 pounds each, delivered by a surprise on the day c section.

I had mine at 34+5 also due to pre eclampsia. They were 3lb15 and 4lb12.

They're currently in SCBU at one week old but should be out within a few days.

@ClareB83, congratulations! How are you doing?

Me and babies are better everyday. I'm much more mobile after a week and boys are off all tubes and wires, just need fattening up!