anybody having twins?

[NicJayne1]

Hi,

I had a scan at 6 weeks and saw one baby, so when I went for my scan at 13 weeks yesterday and was told it's identical twins I was in total shock. Im due on the 6th February and wondered if there is anyone else in the same boat or anyone had twins who can give advise.

I'm in shock and don't know where to begin with things x

My twins are 4 and a half. Look up your local twins club. I know they wont be meeting right now but they're a fabulous resource and I've made some lifelong friends through mine. Massive congratulations twins are awesome

@BurnIt thank you :). How do I find the groups? I'm still trying to get my head around it ha

Hi!
Congratulations, that must have been quite a shock! I’m in a bit of a similar boat in that I had a very early scan last Saturday at just over 5 weeks and they saw one yolk sac and no baby. They said that was completely normal and to come back in a week. Well, I had my follow up scan on Sunday and they found the heartbeat which was great, but a second yolk sac has appeared in the same gestational sac. She didn’t find the second fetal pole or heartbeat and seemed a bit negative but I keep telling myself that the first yolk sac has only become visible this week so maybe there’s hope for me yet. Your story also gives me hope as your twins were completely missed on your 6 week scan! X

Hi! I’m 25 weeks pregnant with identical twins. I’ve found my local twins club (Facebook and WhatsApp groups) to be super useful, although sadly have not met many of the other members yet given there haven’t been any meet-ups during lockdown. They set me up with a great twin parent buddy who have been through it all 3 years ago, and we have had zoom calls and exchanged messages with them for advice.

The Twins Trust also have excellent resources - they’re only £2.50 a month or so to join and have good discounts with baby brands, antenatal courses etc.

Also, there’s a multiple births area on Mumsnet which I’ve found helpful to scroll through. Look under the “Being a Parent” section of the talk forums.

Congratulations and good luck!

Congratulations!
My identical twins are now 6months old. I was originally due 24th Feb but had an elective section at 36+4 so they were born 30th Jan. Identical twins are normally born between 36-37 weeks either via induction for a vaginal birth or elective section.

I don't think i slept for at least 2 weeks when i first found out due to all the questions going through my head so i can understand how overwhelmed you must feel, but honestly you will be fine.

Be prepared for lots of scans as you will be scanned every 2 weeks from 16weeks - although it's nice getting to see the babies so often. By the end of pregnancy I knew all the body parts and were explaining what we were looking at to the various family members that came with me lol.

Definitely see if you can find a local twin group. My local hospital & NCT did a twin antenatal class so they were great for meeting other mums expecting twins in your area.

Will you be finding out what you are having? Do you have any other children?
How you had any sickness?

Happy to answer any questions you may have.

I'm nearly 11 weeks with twins via IVF - took us 5 miscarriages 2 ruptured ectopics loss of both tubes and 5 rounds of IVF 🤣. I have a sizeable bump already so mine definitely wouldn't have been able to hide until 13 weeks 🤣 x

Hey @NicJayne1 and congratulations!! I'm currently 18+1 with identical twins and I'm not gonna lie, it hasn't been straight forward for me so far so I've found it quite stressful. Everyone is different though and people have stressful singleton pregnancies. Everything is still looking okay and I have another scan tomorrow so will hopefully find out more then. Feel free to ask any questions! Did they say whether they were MCDA or MCMA twins?

@ivfdreaming I just have to say a HUGE congratulations to you!! What a journey you've been on. Good luck with your pregnancy and you deserve every happiness! Are you having identical or fraternal twins? X

@SaraP90 I could see the babies heart beating at the 6 week scan and still they didn't know, so anything is possible . Im having identical twins xx

@SEtwins thank you so much, thats really useful. I'll look at groups etc. Im also having identical twins and they are sharing a sack too. Are yours? X

@wishing56 its nice to hear you being do positive as I feel you only hear how hardwork it will be.

Im having identical and they share a sac, i started reading up about it but got myself all upset with the high risk and complications . I've had nausea but not being sick. These will be my first babies xx

@ivfdreaming ah thats fantastic news. I've got a bit of a belly but didnt know if that was normal or not . How are you finding it? X

Hi @milscookie, im not sure of the terminology but mine share a sac too. I've read up about it and scared myself half to death!! How about you? Are you under a specialist team? X

Thanks everyone!

Mine are I think what you call fraternal - separate placentas and separate sacs - I transferred 2 embryos so the doctors said highly unlikely that they are identifical

Was worried for a while as one sac is much bigger than the other but couldn't find much info on that but at the 10 week scan both doing fine so hoping the risk of losing the smaller one had gone down a lot now

Had a NIPT panorama test on Monday done and they said they'd be able to tell me whether each twin is a boy/girl which is exciting so should find out next week!

I'm finding it ok! Nervous about how big I'm going to get 🤣
I've been doing spreadsheet after spreadsheet to prepare financially 🤣 and already have interviews with Childminder's lined up as my maternity leave is awful - the cost is a bit daunting after spending so much money on IVF x

@NicJayne1 I am expecting ID twins. I am 19 weeks tomorrow.
I found out at 10+6 that it was twins and it was the biggest shock!
I still have moments of 'oh crap how on earth two babies' I already have a 17month old so worried about how he will deal with it all not having all my attention etc. Im due 31st December but will deliver between 3rd and 10th December between 36 and 37 weeks.
I have had scans every two weeks since my first at 10+6 (I'm not sire they normally do fortnightly until 16weeks but as my first scan they couldn't do the initial measurements for downs etc so had to go back at 13 anyway so have been every two weeks since. Don't worry if it takes a bit to get used to the idea! I have moments of feeling really guilty thinking gosh I wish it was just 1 for management purposes but I have to remember it is what it is and if I was to lose one now I would be obviously devastated so try not to dwell on it.
Hope your doing ok with the shock! x

@NicJayne1 yes mine are MCDA twins - they share a placenta and a single outer membrane but two inner membranes. MCMA twins share a placenta but are additionally in the same inner membrane. MCMA twins are really quite rare and people are sometimes misdiagnosed as having MCMA twins which are later on found to be MCDA twins.

At my early scans (6/7 weeks), I was told they may be MCMA twins but it was still too early to see a dividing line and it was then seen at around 9/10 weeks.

With both MCMA and MCDA twins, you will be offered fortnightly scans and they will take really good care of you. There are specific potential complications such as TTTS which DCDA twins (twins in their own sacs) are not at risk from. As a poster above says, MCDA twins are usually delivered no later than 36-37 weeks. I have an appointment with my obstetrician in a few weeks’ time to decide on a date. MCMA twins are usually delivered even earlier (32 weeks) because they are higher risk.

Ensure you find out which type of twins you are having and try to be seen at a hospital with an excellent fetal medicine unit. I’m lucky in that I live in London so am able to be seen at a central London hospital (rather than my local hospital) by a team that are very experienced in multiple pregnancies of a higher risk nature.

@MilsCookie pleased to see you are getting on well and are being looked after!

@NicJayne1 sorry for the multiple messages, but I also wanted to say that the first 20 weeks or so for me were really quite stressful, and it’s only since then that I even told friends and wider family, now that I’m enjoying the pregnancy a bit more and beginning to hope that the babies will indeed be ok

If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask.

@NicJayne1 annoyingly when you have twins you will regularly get negative comments such as 'double trouble', 'you have your hands full' etc. I even had people asking me which one is my favourite! Its a total bug bear of most twin parents but you just learn to let it go over your head.
Yes twins are hardwork but so are some singletons babies.

I have actually found that my girls are easier than some singleton babies, as they have learnt to be patient early on as i cant deal with both of them at a click of a button and because they are used to being put down they can normally sleep pretty much anywhere. Some mums i know their babies will only sleep if they were laid on them but i have never had this issue as the girls have been used to being put down.

I may have got lucky but my girls have been sleeping through the night since 7weeks old.

Google is not your friend when it comes to medical questions. You will be so closely monitored for any complications that hopefully you will soon feel reassured. I don't know if its the same everywhere but between 16-24weeks i was scanned by a fetal medicine specialist. For me this meant having to travel to London (i live in essex) as the lady at my local hospital was away on a pilgrimage for 5 weeks, but i received the very best care.
The care throughout pregnancy and birth was amazing. I really couldn't fault it. I dread to think how much money i cost the NHS with all the appointments 😅

Are you going to find out the sexes of the babies? Xx

Hi all
@NicJayne1 I'm delighted that you started this thread! DH & I attended a private scan last Friday (11weeks) we're FTP and DH wanted to be at the first scan.
We we're told that we're having identical twins (MCDA), still getting over the shock!
I'm due 24th Feb but am expecting an earlier arrival.
So far I've had no pregnancy symptoms other than a rapidly expanding waistline
I've been frantically googling everything related to twins. Would be great to compare notes over the next 6 month and to share survival tips following that xxx

@Wishing56

I have a DD who is 4 and she doesn't sleep the through the night even now! - very much a baby who would only sleep lying on top of me 🤣 I'm praying with our twins that we don't get in to some of the bad habits that we did first time round!

There is always something to stress about though - my current one is that DH May not be allowed in the hospital too much to provide support after birth with Covid still hanging around and not likely to be going anywhere any time soon! Pretty sure I'll have a c section so don't know if that means they'll let DH visit more?

@ivfdreaming huge congratulations to you!

hopefully by the time you have your babies things will have gotten better with Covid and they will start relaxing the rules.
I stayed in hospital for 4nights after my section but should have been out within 48hrs - only stayed as twin 1 hadn't passed the meconium.
After birth the post natal staff at my hospital were amazing. I dont think i changed a nappy until day 3 as they were always on hand to help me 🤣. Just have to keep buzzing if you need them. I just got everything set up around my bed so most things were in reaching distance.

May sound weird but i loved my c section experience. It was so calm and relaxed. I would 100% do it again.

@Wishing56 just curious - did you ask for your ELCS and did you have to provide reasons why you wanted one?

My consultant is pretty keen that we go forward with a vaginal birth (ie being induced at 36/37 weeks) as long as twin A is head down at my 32 week scan.

I’ve had no experience of labour/birth before but at this stage I think an ELCS would be my preference if I could choose - have heard it’s a nice calm experience, plus no need to push two babies out! Also, my mum is kindly going to stay with us for a few weeks after the babies come to help us out, so I’m not too concerned about the longer recovery times. I just feel like my reasons for wanting an ELCS may sound pretty weak to a medical professional

@Wishing56
@SEtwins

I really enjoyed my first c section experience too with DD but that was 4 years ago - unfortunately for me my c section caused adhesions/scar tissue which ultimately led to me losing both tubes to ectopics so part of me wonders if I should have fought harder for a natural birth (DD was breach though but I refused option to turn her manually) but you can never tell how these things are going to go and I know loads of people who had multiple c sections with no problems I was just really really really unlucky

As I've already had a c section I don't get a choice on having a vaginal birth I believe in case i rupture my c section scar

Congratulations on your twin pregnancies! I have 14 week old b/g twins - total surprise that were discovered at 8 week scan. I had weekly/ fortnightly monitoring due complications (not twin related) and a c section at 36+6.
If you have any specific questions let me know and I can try to help!

@ivfdreaming wow you are definitely prepared . Im worried about the financial side of things too. I suppose you just manage dont you.

Have you got a belly now? X