Twin pregnancy

[applecrumbler]

Hello!

I have noticed on quite a few of the threads I've been reading that the odd person will comment they are pregnant with twins, but I can't see a current twins thread.

I'm almost 28 weeks with dcda twins. Have a nearly 2 year old as well. Have so far found the pregnancy pretty straightforward but the aches and pains and tiredness are starting to hit me now. And I feel like I am getting quite large! Although I think relatively given there are 2 in there I'm probably not that big really.

Anyone at a similar stage and want to compare notes over the coming weeks?

How's everyone doing?

How's your baby girls @Donimo ?

We brought the twins home on Wednesday. They are still struggling to fully feed so still have feeding tubes in. And therefore we have support at home from the neonatal outreach service. But it's good to have them home... although exhausting!

@Betseyrov how are you doing?

That's great news @Donimo glad you are all home now. I hope the feeding is getting easier now, and that you have all the support that you need. How does it feel to be a twin mum??

I'm doing ok, although I'm getting super tired and struggling with getting my work done. I've finally purchased my pram, and I now need to get my hospital bags ready

Sorry for the silence, it’s been full on!

Huge congratulations @Donimo I’m pleased that you’re home and getting extra support. I definitely feel the exhaustion with you. I have only been getting between 2-5 hours sleep since we’ve been home 😴

@Betseyrov I hope you get to finish work soon! I definitely overpacked for hospital but my top tip is to take a power bank to charge your phone as I didn’t have any plugs near my bed. A water bottle with a straw was amazing too as I could drink laying down after my section.

I am 14 weeks pregnant with MCDA twins, we found out at 7 weeks at a private scan after a bleed (hospital told me to stay home for 2 weeks and come back if test was positive but I was losing my mind). I have been off work pretty much since then. The sickness was really awful from about 8-13 weeks and I have lost over a stone. Still being sick but not as much as I was, and still not able to do too much without feeling exhausted. we have ordered the bugaboo donkey as I can’t help but feel sorry for the baby at the bottom
Struggling with sleeping arrangements for when they are in with us?

That should say 23 not January 22. Is to too early to blame baby brain?

Congratulations @January22twins . I hope the sickness subsides soon for you, it's so awful. Are you going to find out the sex? I thought the bugaboo was a side by side pram. I got the mountain duet. For sleep, I'm planning on putting both in a next2me in my bedroom, then move them to a cot when they're bigger. I've got a spare next2me as well in case they dont fit in one.

@LuckyTigress thank you for the tips. How long did you stay in hospital? How are you getting on? How many weeks are your babies now?

@Donimo how are your baby girls doing?

@applecrumbler how are you? You must be getting close to giving birth now, how many weeks are you?

@Betseyrov thank you! Yes we will find out, I can’t wait to know but will be happy with either as long as they arrive safely and they are healthy. Bugaboo is side by side, we looked at one on top of the other but they seemed very heavy and I feel sorry for the one on the bottom so we went for side by side.
that’s a good idea, we looked at a twin next to me style cot but it was huge so I will give that a try. Thanks!
when are you due?

@Betseyrov we were discharged the next day so not long at all! We are getting on well and they have gained lots of weight and developing well but I’d be lying if I said it isn’t difficult! Trying to meet both of their needs is a huge challenge, especially when they are wailing. My husband thankfully has a great paternity package so we are trying to establish a routine and get them in sync before he goes back to work. We have gone from hourly feeds to just 2 a night now, woohoo! They are now 8 weeks old and in their own cots as they decided they didn’t want to share!

@Betseyrov thank you for asking. We are doing ok. Feeding tubes have been removed now and if they put on at least 150grams each this week we will be diacharged from the hospital teams.

@LuckyTigress that sounds hard with the feeding. We may have it easier as they had an established feeding regime of 3 hourly upon hospital discharge. Which we have been able to slowly increase feed volumes and increase time between feeds over the past 2 weeks. So now feeding 10.30pm 3am and 7am.

We started off with the girls sharing a next to me crib. But have found they actually sleep better in their own moses baskets. So have switched the moses baskets to upstairs and the next to me to downstairs now. I would say they will only fit in the next to me for approx another month though (currently 4 weeks, but born at 33 weeks). Not sure if they prefer separate sleeping because they had over 2 weeks in separate incubators/cots whilst on special care though. We also have the bugaboo donkey pram as wanted them to be side by side.

Hey everyone! Sorry for radio silence over last few weeks, got too pregnant to want to do anything much incl posting to MN!

We had our twins last week, they came 2 days earlier than my planned section, waters broke at night and then delivered the next morning at 36 +6, still by section but amongst increasingly painful contractions! 2 little girls popped out which I wasn't expecting at all - our families are v male dominated in general... but I'm thrilled about. I'm sure I would have been thrilled any way around. They were decent weights at 6.4 and 5.6 lbs, so pretty similar to what the scans were saying. The little one does feel pretty fragile still however. I can't believe I was lugging 12lbs of baby around with me!

So far all is well, no special care and we are getting food into them by bottle (combi feeding but all via pump atm which is a little gruelling but given they're quite small I do like the certainty it provides). They're being amazing overnight with just a late dream feed and then one early hours wake up, same schedule as @Donimo in fact, but let's see how the next few weeks pan out... as the sleepiness subsides perhaps it'll get a bit more chaotic?!@LuckyTigress experience would seem to suggest this may happen! I feel v glad that these are not my first children, I am a LOT less idealistic on sleeping and feeding this time around and think taking the pressure off myself is very helpful tbh.

How is everyone else getting on? @Donimo glad to hear you are home and feeding is progressing. @Betseyrov you must be v close now!

Oh and quick note on purchases - we went mountain buggy duet and currently have the twin cocoon set up which is less robust than the bassinets but I picked one up on eBay quite cheaply so thought worth a go. It just kind of slots in on top of the fully reclined normal seats. It's not the perfect solution, eg the sunshade is in a fixed position, but for the length of time we will need it think it works. I have parent facing twin seats for the next stage, also eBay find, that will be the stage between bassinet and normal seats. Haven't tried them yet but think they lie flat.

Sleeping, mine are currently sharing a Moses basket, swaddled separately. They seem to like being together but next step will be Moses basket each. After that I have a second cot which I'm thinking they share until my toddler is ready to go to a single... but let's see if they want to go back together after being apart. For daytime naps we just have 2 x sleepyheads on our sofa, one of which I borrowed.

Congratulations @applecrumbler

Im 20 weeks on Monday with my MOMO twin GIRLS! They share a placenta and a sac and I’m being monitored so much. They are currently doing great and are quite equal sizes.

I however feel huge and am dreading more of this heatwave. I just want to sleep at the moment

Amazing news @applecrumbler massive congratulations 💐 so happy to hear things are going well. I'm so impressed with everyone's babies only waking up twice a night. You're all doing a fantastic job 👏 @Donimo @LuckyTigress
you'll have to give me loads of tips when my time comes. What size clothes are they wearing? I've packed my hospital bag with only tiny baby clothes. Might do a newborn size bag and leave it in the car, but all my other babies wore tiny baby so packing newborn feels a be useless. Hows the feeding going? Is it hard to breastfeed 2 babies?
@January22twins I've got about 10 weeks to go. How are you coping in the heat?
@SurpriseSurprise great to hear your girls are growing well. I'm feeling very tired too at the moment, I try to watch a bit of tv in the evening but just pass out lol

Congratulations @applecrumbler . I can sympathise with the pumping... it's long winded, isn't it. I am going to try a nipple shield as I have been told these can help small pre term babies latch on and feed better on the breast. As currently my girls don't take enough solely on the breast so having to top up with expressed bottles.

@Betseyrov they may only be feeding once during the middle of the night but with the reflux (common in pre term babies) they are up for hours after the 3am feed 😪. In terms of clothes my twins are 5 weeks tomorrow (but only 38 weeks really). Twin 1 is now moving into newborn size and twin 2 is still in tiny baby (although outgrown some tiny baby, i.e. with Nexts tiny baby sleepsuits the legs are too short as they both have long legs). Also as my girls are pre term they struggle to maintain their temps and even in the warm weather we have at the moment they need a vest, sleepsuit and blanket. 2 weeks ago when they first came home we had the fire on and they had hats and Cardigans on! Woolly hats and Cardigans were something I hadn't packed and they needed, although the hospital gave us loads (as there's always a knitting club donating these to them)

Massive congratulations @applecrumbler Amazing weights too! I’m glad they are doing well!

@Betseyrov Mine were full term (37+3) and wore tiny baby for the first 3 weeks and then moved to newborn. They started wearing 0-3 at 8 weeks. I found breastfeeding both easy when they were tiny as you can tandem feed but as they got bigger, it became more difficult to tandem and then I would have one screaming in hunger! Cluster feeding was difficult too as I would be on the sofa all evening with one latched on and I felt that I did nothing but feed them. I actually started to feel like I was missing out on cuddles and the cute stuff! They actually lost too much weight on discharge and so we had to introduce formula to avoid being admitted to hospital so I combi fed. It meant my husband could help out with bottles and freed me up a bit too. I now breastfeed twice a day and use formula for the other feeds but I absolutely hate sterilising bottles haha!

@Donimo I feel your pain with the reflux and waking at 3am! We have had projectile vomit on the sofa and bed today!!

Hi everyone, hope it's OK to reactivate this old thread. I've been trying to find info on twin pregnancies and testing - did you notice any difference in the lines when you first tested and found out you were pregnant? Like, were the lines darker earlier on than for single pregnancies?

I found out I'm pregnant at 12DPO and the line was much darker than what I usually see from pics people post on MN. I know hcg levels vary from woman to woman but I'm curious if this could be a sign of twins.

Honestly no difference from my single pregnancy to the twin pregnancy. Tested positive 10dpo in single and 12dpo in twin (but didn't test before in either). Initially (upto 7 weeks) my symptoms were worse in the single pregnancy than twin too. The tests/hormone levels cant predict a twin pregnancy. Also sensitivity of tests all vary too

@LaVitesse2022 i found out I was pregnant with a very faint line at 10dpo and it wasn’t that dark all week then got a 1-2 weeks 3 days later, 2-3 weeks 2 days after (the day before period was due) that then a week later got 3+ (I tested with these as the hgc detection level on a clear blue would indicate to me if my hgc was rising correctly - it tells you the levels in the instructions but I did this because of my previous ectopic and MMC as hgc wasn’t doubling every 48 hours) my single girl pregnancy was the worst for sickness, my single boy I had none so the twins were inbetween and so thought they were boys and got 2 girls 😂. The only way to know your hgc levels is to have a blood test 48 hours apart to see if they double (which they would only do if your at risk of miscarriage, suspected ectopic and pregnancy of unknown location) as your hgc levels don’t tend to double in those incidents (but there are exceptions).

age, how many pregnancies and different fathers (no offence to anyone) can also make a difference to how your body reacts.

Thanks @Donimo and @Comz , that's really interesting to know experiencies can be so different even for the same woman. I guess only the scan can really tell!

@LaVitesse2022 i had no indication it was twins at all until I had a scan at 6 weeks plus 5 to make sure ‘baby’ was in the right place. My partner saw the screen first the colour drained from his face and just had to leave after checking there wasn’t 3 in there😂 as they were mouthing to me there’s two then moved the screen round. Found him at the bus stop (this was the first scan he’d been allowed to as it was covid during my ectopic and mmc). I had a private scan as a reassurance at 11 weeks as my scan wasn’t till 13 weeks gone and we had spent the weekend in london for the fury fight but they said they did them from 7-8 weeks so it might be worth checking that out if you want some reassurance and can afford it.

@Comz haha I can only imagine the shock! I had a friend who had twins during covid and so she went to the scan alone, after she found out it was twins she started socking her unsuspecting husband in the waiting room 🤣

To be honest I have no reason to suspect anything will go wrong or they'll be multiples as this is my very first pregnancy. Was just curious whether you could tell or suspect through the tests or symptoms :)

@LaVitesse2022 aww your first is so exciting congratulations! I think I’d have preferred to have twins first as everything is new and unknown rather than them being my last (made sure they closed the factory down after these pair 😂).

As long as baby/babies are happy and healthy that’s all that matters.