Natural twin delivery - how long did your hospital 'allow' for birth of 2nd twin

[e3chick]

What I mean is, what is the interval between birth of twin 1 and twin 2 that was acceptable in the protocols of your hospital (if you found out). I have visited one and it was 40 minutes, another said 20 minutes.

I am just interested in how much it varies to see how arbitrary the time limit is.

Hi - I think my hospital say 30 mins. But I'm stubborn and had a birth plan which said "I've given birth at home 3 times no problems, will come to hospital for twins but on my own terms... just leave me to get on with it and I'll be ok."

So I think it was 1 hour 50 between the babies. I wasn't happy with an IV drip, but they did intervene to break twin 2's waters after 1 hr 40.

I wouldn't say it was the most pleasant 2 hours of my life. My research suggested the cervix would stay open, but my vague memory of that time is:

• 15 mins "rest" cuddling my daughter
• slight build of contractions
• feeding daughter brought on some wicked contractions - sure I was thrashing about but all 4 1/2 lbs of her was hanging on for dear life.
• in wild transition for nearly an hour
• scared MW spent most of the time 'explaining the risks' to me instead of supporting me, until I let her...
• ...break the waters for twin 2
• 5? 10? mins pushing

Helluva way to cure a needle phobia.

Hi, anyone has given birth to twins in St thomas in london? I am 20 weeks pregnant with twins (fraternal) and starting to research delivery. I am getting contradictory messages and information from midwives and obstetrcians at the hospital and it's making me anxious. The midwive that has seen me so far insists the delivery will be midwive led and an obstetrician will only be called if needed. The obstetrician, who i only saw by chance, says there will be an obstetrician during delivery. I'm concerned that none of the people I have seen seem to have specialist knowledge of twin delivery and that on the day, my health or my babies will be jeopardize becuase they will not be in a position to make the right decisions. I'd appreciate if anyone out there could tell me about their experience.

I really don't want the epidural route (im 26 weeks with fraternal girls). MY husband see
ed to think a cs and epidural are all great ideas.... until I explained how hard it is to look after babies after a cs! I really want a natural birth as possible, and want to stay mobile to facilitate an easier birth....I really don't want to be on a bed with an epidural;! (and I'm terrified of the idea of a cs!)

My twins were born 1hr 30mins apart, I insisted on breastfeeding twin 1 before twin 2 born in order for my body to produce syntocin naturally so I didn't need drip - this started off the contractions fine. I also had very little monitoring. Both were born naturally and were strong and healthy, twin 2 was the wrong way up but turned without the consultant even realising.

I was able to get the hospital to co-operate with my wishes, but I had to be fairly pushy, midwives were much more understanding and on my side than the consultants were.

Good luck everyone

I was told 20 minutes but had them by natural delivery 27 minutes apart (although by that stage they were telling me it was "do it now or emergency C section".)

These posts are very interesting to read, as I am 36+4 and have finally managed (after much discussion & struggle) to convince the NHS consultant to allow me to have a planned CS in 1 week time. I have DCDA twins with T1 head down and T2 breech. My choice is based on the previous experience of slow progression, lack of transition & resulting forceps delivery after 36 hours w/ DS1. Despite having syntocinin, I had no 'urge to push' with DS1.

Unfortunately, it has been a huge struggle to get the NHS to authorise this CS, with the head consultant telling me that maternal choice was no longer the basis for decision-making. At each antenatal meeting I felt like they were very pushy about me going for vaginal birth despite my concerns.

My principal concern is the strong likelihood I will end up with emergency CS given their policies relating to epidural, laying down on bed, monitoring and timing between twin deliveries, which are difficult to resist in the heat of the moment & when events are changing rapidly. Given these realities, I would rather have a planned CS than an emergency in labour.