Anyone expecting twins this year?

[FirstTimeTwinsOct]

Hi, we are expecting twins in October will be 12 weeks on Thursday. Just trying to find other expectant mums or mums who have had twins recently? It’s all a bit overwhelming at the min! Can't believe there are 2! This is my 1st pregnancy.

I'm 32 weeks with identical twin boys - they'll be born by c section at the beginning of May.

Total shock at an emergency 9 week scan when we thought we'd miscarried. We were relieved and freaking out all at once!

It's my first pregnancy too.

There is a multiples forum in the parenting section which is useful for practical questions about buggies etc. But it's not the busiest as twins aren't that common.

Do you know if yours are fraternal or identical yet?

Hello, Yes I was exactly the same found out an emergency scan 6 weeks. Yes they are identical, to early to find out sex yet but we will.
We have been told they only have one placenta? Do you know if yours are sharing or have one each? How has your pregnancy been? x

Yes mine have one placenta as well. Make sure they double check at your 12 week scan though, as they got it wrong at my early scan, sonographer didn't check at 12 weeks and so we got all the way to the 20 week scan thinking they were fraternal. It changes their care plan eg identicals get more scans, but fraternal are allowed to stay in longer and go full term.

My pregnancy has been OK. I had it relatively easy the first 9 weeks and morning sickness was just nausea. But I had a subchorionic bleed at 9 and 11 weeks that was quite stressful. It cleared up at 16 weeks.

I've had a long list of pregnancy side effects eg PGP, carpal tunnel, swollen legs and feet. But no one individually has been that bad.

Having regular scans has been lovely (they're every two weeks after 20 weeks), but you can't help scrutinising every measurement worrying about big heads/little legs etc. At our 30 week scan they told us the risks of twin to twin transfer syndrome had gone from 15-20% down to 2-3% so that's very reassuring.

Being pregnant with twins is a lot of admin - lots of clinic appointments, lots of scans and the hospital often relies on us to remind them why they've made certain appointments.

TAMBA has been very useful for finding out about breastfeeding twins, sleeping positions etc. So I'd recommend you looks round their website and maybe do some of their classes/webinars. You get some discounts if you join too - I think it's £2 a month.

24 weeks with dichorionic twins, first pregnancy. With separate sacs and placentas scans are every 4 weeks after 20 week scan - no additional ones before then.

Still experiencing nausea, now doubting it is going to go away before they're born.

Eat well! Biggest danger to twins is prematurity, and there's evidence that more weight gain in multiple pregnancies results in larger and later babies.

See if there are any local twin groups: good source of double prams and other secondhand items x2.

Hi @Wuffleflump!

I find it's hard not to eat well 😄, there are some days the boys just demand an extra breakfast or three! Risk of low birth weight is why I've been really strict on caffeine tho. People are always saying 'oh it's fine, I drank loads of coffee', but I just think that was before current advice and not a twin pregnancy where our babies are so likely to be early.

Sorry about your nausea.

I was in the process of cutting down on caffeine, but by week 6 had gone off tea and coffee entirely because they don't taste the same anymore. Cold turkey on caffeine wasn't fun, but it's one less thing to monitor.

23 weeks with DiDi twins here. One has some significant growth problems so I’m having scans every two weeks (and eating like a horse in the hope that it might help!). This is my second pregnancy and I can’t beleive how much bigger/more tired I am compared to last time. Running around after a nearly three year old isn’t helping much! I’ve gone right off caffeinated drinks too - that’s probably a good thing!

Thanks for you replying.
I had another scan and 9.5 weeks and they confimred the one placenta thing which scared me. I have another scan next week will be jsut over 12 weeks then. They told me I will be having lots of appointment.

Im really worried about premature birth and twin to twin transfer syndrome it's so nice to hear from someone in similar position. Are they both growing at similar rates?

Did you opt for cesarean or is that safest for the boys? How far along will you be then?

Please keep in touch and let me know how you get on.

Yes TTTS and premature birth have been a worry. We celebrate every new week we make it to and tell the boys 'your job is just to stay in there and keep growing, mummy doesn't care how huge she gets just keep growing'. Getting to viability was a big milestone, as was 28 weeks when survival rates take a big jump.

Twin 1 has always been smaller than twin 2, but their growth rates are similar. Sometimes one particular measurement will nosedive for a couple of weeks and stress us out but they've always bounced back. And at 30 weeks they were measuring 3lb3 and 3lb9 which is a nice weight.

Our hospital recommends c section between 36 and 37 weeks for identical twins and I was happy with that, so I'm just going along with it and waiting for a date.

Hi @birdy1978! Apparently we are the same size at 28/29 weeks as we would be full term with one baby! So at 32 weeks I do feel ready to get these babies out but they need the extra time to grow those little lungs.

@ClareB8e your doing amazing hope everything goes to plan from where on for you.

I'm sat here thinking i'm only coming up 12 weeks on thursday. It seems like such a long time to get to your week 30 stage. PLease tell me it goes quickly. What week numbers are most important milestones?

Have you put on much weight them? Is true you get so much bigger with twins?

I've no idea how much weight I've put on, I stopped weighing myself at 12 weeks and my midwife only did it at my booking in appointment. But I certainly feel a full term size at 32 weeks. Although I think having wide hips helps as I don't look as extreme as some other twin mums I know.

Bump pic attached from last week. It's well worth taking one a week, as it seems like nothing is happening and then suddenly it blooms!

Some bits are quicker than others. The weeks I had the subchorionic bleed were slow and stressful. But after that it sped up for a while, so weeks 16-28 went pretty quickly. It probably helped that we had Christmas, my hen do, got married and went on honeymoon during that same period! Also in the second trimester I had no nausea and wasn't big enough to be uncomfortable yet. The main annoyance was carpal tunnel.

It does feel like it's slowed down a little bit now but that's mainly because I'm so big and slow.

Milestones for us were 16 weeks when we found out the gender, 20 weeks for the anomaly scan, 24 weeks when the babies are medically viable, 28 weeks when survival rates hit 80ish % and my next target is getting both boys over 5lb. Hoping for 5.5lb by the time if their C section.

I have an appointment of some sort most weeks since 20 weeks and that helps things go quicker too as you never have too long to worry.

I’ve put on 10kg so far, mostly bump but my boobs are much bigger this time (perhaps they know what’s in store!). I had another scan today and twin 1 is still very small so more weight gain would be a good thing!

Hellooo

I'm currently 25 weeks with MCDA girls. My bump is huge but I've had hyperemesis so I haven't actually put on that much weight.

I'm going with a c-section on hospital recommendations. I'm dreading it but will do whatever's best for the girls.

Oh gosh @nailsathome I don't think you need to dread a c section. At our NHS ante natal class the video of the elective c section made it all seem quite calm.

I’m also expecting twins this October. Absolutely crapping myself!!! Was so unexpected. Already have a DD but my last pregnancy was 12 years ago so I’m out of practice.
Sort of getting excited about it now, I’ve convinced myself I have a boy and a girl in there.