Decided to have a third child and it’s twins

[SurpriseTwinPregnancy]

I am in complete and utter shock - I found out I was pregnant about six weeks ago. Had my 12 week scan this week and it’s twins. The shock of my LIFE.

I had no signs. It’s my third rodeo. I thought I knew what I was doing. It all felt the same as before.

Was I tired? Yes, of course! I have a 4 year old and a just turned one year old!

Was any morning sickness worse? Nope, not really! Don’t get get sickness or really even any nausea during pregnancy. I’ve had a few iffy moments but nothing bad. I know, I’m lucky.

Am I showing yet? Well, my stomach has barely recovered from carrying my two 4kg babies and I’m fat anyway so I always look pregnant. But NO I am not showing. My jeans still fit perfectly!

Twins in the family? NONE
IVF? NOPE
Old? 34 so no, not especially.

I can only laugh because otherwise I might cry. We will have three under 19 months. Plus the 4 year old (though she will be 5 by then). Is the car big enough? Nope. The house? Erm… it’ll be a squeeze. Can we afford it? Luckily yes but not without cutting back in some areas.

Anyone else been or going through the same or similar? We are delighted but also completely terrified! Would love some company and/or advice on this whirlwind.

Don’t panic!
i scanned someone with a 2yr and 1yr who was unexpectedly pregnant again.
Triplets!

“Eventful ride” seems like a very… diplomatic description @Blueberrysqish 😂

See it’s stories like @khaa2091 ’s that make me feel incredibly lucky 😅 keep them coming!

Congratulations! I don’t have much to say other than my sister had an accidental 3rd pregnancy and it was twins 😬. It was tough for a while but she has the most wonderful close family now. Good luck!

I had a colleague who’s ’third baby’ was triplets!

Congratulations! You sound like you have the right attitude towards it. Embrace the chaos!

Blimey. You are in shock now. It will be ok. We have loads of twins in both our families.

Oh I mean in a good way!! Be prepared to be stopped every 5 mins by people while out.
oh and the questions you get 😂😂.
The good thing about already having kids is you have to find a routine early as the older ones still need to go to school/playschool.
accept all and any help offered to make your life easier.
mine stayed in babygros for the first 3 months. Lol. And joon a local group for twins/multiples of you have one. Find out what people couldn’t do without and what was a useless gadget.

good luck!! You’ve got this!!

Congratulations! They can be a string quartet 😁 there's a book called extreme motherhood written by a woman who had triplets when her first was just over 1 year old - it really made me laugh. Might be worth a read!

Aww congratulations OP, what a delightful shock 💓

Aww. It'll be tough but honestly all the twin mums I've known have said they play with eachother and have the most amazing bond when young, it's almost easier than having a single baby (not sure if they were trying to convince themselves or not 😁😁) either way op. Congratulations. I'm sure although it'll be tough as fuck you'll have a wonderful happy family in a few years.

Aw, congratulations! It must be overwhelming but wonderful - so special. I'm excited for you!

I have no experience of my own but a couple of friends have twins - hard work but really amazing seeing the twin bond, and lots of support from other twin parents. They do feel very blessed.

This exact situation happened to my friend. I'll be honest she's found this 1st year really tough and I'm not sure how much she's enjoyed it, but she's coming out the other side now and they're so damn cute. She knows it'll be an awesome little team. Twins are so precious.

Congratulations!! 🥰 my DH was the surprise twin of a third pregnancy. That was back in the 80’s before scans, MIL had absolutely no idea until the doctor delivered one baby, examined her again and said there’s another one in there!
Everything is going to be ok ❤️

i can confirm she’s trying to convince herself 😂😂 my girls fight as much as any siblings do. I always say they are just sisters who happened to be born at the same time lol. None of this twin bond going on there lol

My twins are 3 and there’s not a single day it doesn’t amaze me that we got two babies at once! It’ll be tough but you’ll absolutely do it, congratulations 😃

Also when I felt like I was drowning woth 3 under 3 I met a lady who had triplets when she’d tried for her 3rd and it all felt a bit more doable😂

My fourth pregnancy was twins, I felt so incredibly lucky! They were born on my youngest birthday so all 3 share the same birthday and are exactly 4 years apart. I never imagined I would have 5 children, but I love having such a big family.

My twins are boy/girl and toddlers now, it’s gone by so so fast!! I think I’ve just been that busy that their babyhood seemed to just flash right by, so my advice it to enjoy and savour the lovely moments when you can.

Yes it’s hard but it’s also absolutely amazing, watching them grow and develop their own little bond with each other has been so lovely.

Advice: think really very carefully about pram, I really wanted the bugaboo donkey double but ended up getting a silver cross wave tandem as I knew it would fit through every door in the village I live in. This was particularly useful in the early days with lots of doctor visits especially with twins (I’ve never been to the doctors so much in my life) getting the pram in and around the surgery and consulting rooms was never a problem. I got a cheap second hand baby jogger when they were older and we use this lots now. Have a look at wonder wagons or similar as you’ll have a young toddler still when twins are born. Just the 1 pram never seems to do all you need when you have twins 😂

Clothes: cute outfits are nice but mine spent the majority of their time in comfy sleep suits, get the ones with the zips as they save so much time, and built in scratch mitts come in super handy too. It’s just cheaper and easier to manage.

2 of Everything: lots of people say no need for 2 of everything but since mine were boy/girl I had 2 Moses baskets, 2 bedside cribs, 2 bouncy chairs (get the ones that will last them the longest - at 2 mine still like to use theirs) 2 cots, basically all the big stuff that they will use a lot was definitely worth having 2 of as it just makes things so much easier.

Huge congratulations and good luck with the twin journey ahead! 💐

This happened to my SIL though i didnt know her then. 4 year old 2 year old and then the twins so 4 under 5. She coped, they are all now grownup and all lovely young people x

This happened to a friend except that the whole pregnancy was unexpected! The twins are 6 now and she obviously wouldn't be without them, though I think it's been quite hard with four.

My cousin had three kids and decided that she wanted one more .
She ended up with triplets, so now has six children.
No history of twins on either side, no fertility drugs etc

For some reason this has happened to a couple of people I know now - third pregnancy twins! Best of luck OP

Can I just say, your post was lovely and actually brought a tear to my eyes. I know a ‘forum’ can be a tough crowd for some friendly support but this was just the ticket. Wishing you all the best with the twins - what an amazing adventure xxx

Congratulations, you might want to look at the abc adventure buggy uk. They're the best. X

This happened to me too, aged 34.

I had three already when I got pregnant and then found it was twins. Identical girls, all grown up now, but by gosh twins are special and I was sooooooo proud taking them out and about.

Re the identical thing, it's quite complicated. Unless there's a boy and a girl, you won't know if they're identical or not until they're born (visually or you can do a DNA test if not sure. Basically, if they have different hair and eye colour they're non-identical; if they have the same hair and eye colour and features they could be identical but only a DNA test can confirm one way or the other).

An early splitting egg will produce 2 placentas, 2 chorions, 2 amnions and 2 separate but genetically identical babies (as opposed to conjoined twins). A lot of hospitals will say that 2 placentas equals non-identical twins, but that's not necessarily right.

Thank you @LightSpeeds I’ve been reading up about it all and I’d read that it’s possible that they are identical. The midwife I saw after the scan (who was admittedly not a specialist multiples midwife) told me that it was most likely an egg that had split very early on and that they therefore wouldn’t be identical! I’m no biologist but even I knew she had that bit wrong and if it’s same egg and sperm then they’d be identical. I also think it’s more likely that it’s two eggs, from what I’ve read, and that they can’t tell, so I’m not sure why she felt it was most likely the same egg. However, I’m no expert so I’m happy to be corrected!

Will be interested to hear what they have to say at my first appointment at the twin clinic in a few days time.