Help I Am Pregnant with Twins!!!

Congrats H.. I have b/g twins 16 months old. Don't be worried. Just be ready! :) Morning sickness tends to be a little stronger with two. Get those crackers ready. I also agree about finding a hospital that has a Level three NICU. That is very important. Just incase they come a little early.

Hi H.....

Congratulations. But I know exactly how you are feeling, although I didn't have three kids before my twins. I just had twins (boy/girl) this past June. It was a TOTAL shock to us. There are days, even now, where we think "how did we end up with twins?". While we feel doubly blessed it is a totally different ballgame. They say God only can give you what you can handle and I joke that God must have been drunk that day for Him to think I can handle twins. ;)

They say it's easier to have twins before other children but I just think it depends on your situation. Luckily your 6 year old can help out a bit and your 3 year old will be nearing completion of potty training.

Be sure to check out (do a google or I can send you some stuff too) for a lot of twin discounts/freebies. It does help.

Do you plan to nurse? If so, the twin e-z pillow (available on twinstuff.com) was KEY for me.

Twin pregnancies are considered higher-risk but that doesn't mean you can't have a healthy and full-term pregnancy and even two vaginal deliveries. My biggest advice... make sure your hospital has a good NICU JUST in case. You'll also want to ask your ob/gyn what your dietary needs should be - they may want you to eat more sooner, take iron supplements, etc. He/she will know best for you. For me personally, I started having pre-term contractions at 23 weeks. And I was put on bedrest. I ended up delivering at 34 weeks. The kids were in the NICU (3 dif. hospitals for 15 days) mainly because I don't think my deliverying hospital knew what they were doing. I had no epidural and delivered both vaginally. I kinda miss out on the whole 2nd semester "have some energy back, not as tired" feeling - pretty much went from like 1st to 3rd. :)

I found www.twinstuff.com forums INVALUABLE for me. I STILL go on it at least once a week and post my panics. :) It's an EXCELLENT resource. You may also want to find out your local Mother of Twins Club Chapter. If you live in the city, Pamela Chay out of NW runs an excellent group. But there are many others. I haven't taken advantage of those since the one out by me (we since moved to sw burbs) isn't very good.

I noticed you said DH can be lazy. ;) He'll need to snap out of that really soon with twins on the way. ;) If anyone can help you during the first few weeks that would be wonderful. We didn't have any help. While I am proud to say I got through it on our own (although months 0 - 5 are a TOTAL blur) some help (even if it was just for me to get out of the house for an hour or sleep an hour) would have been great!

Feel free to email me too - just send me a private message.

Congratulations again. Try your hardest to breathe in and out. :)

First Congrats.

I am of the belief that it was easier to have another child b/4 having the twins, as at least you know what to expect with a baby.

My oldest was 4 when I had my twins, so it was no to bad. I was 38 when I had my twins. I was having contractions as 29 weeks so I was put on meds and partial bedrest until they were born at 36 weeks.

I do not think it was harder on my body, and my labor/delivery was pretty uneventful as was my first. I had no epidural and no c-section.

Congratulations H.! I have not been blessed with twins but I can imagine your initial fear and shock. I just wanted to reach out and tell you that I'm sure everything will be fine. Don't be scared!! I know there are several people here who have experience having twins so I'm sure you'll have many resources. Good luck and I hope you'll feel less anxiety about it soon.

I had twins in my second pregnancy. I think it is harder on your body, but I've also heard that the second pregnancy is tougher anyway (you would know that better than I would). If you're used to what pregnancy does to your body and take good care of yourself, you'll be fine. Exercise and good diet are way more important in a multiple pregnancy and can have a much bigger impact on a healthy pregnancy, from what I've heard. The Kroch Twin Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital has some great resources such as books and videos that I found very helpful. Basically, you're going to get bigger faster and be more tired because your body is working that much harder. That said, you've been through pregnancy enough to know how to listen to your body and slow down when you need to. Taking cues from your body and taking good care of yourself is key to getting to healthy full term babies. You can do this. I always tell folks that twins are as much more fun as they are more work. My guys are 26 months now, still breastfeeding and really fun to watch interact with each other and their big brother.

congratulations!!! i just had my twin daughters (totally unexpected since i'm a twin too!) back in december. i also have a 3-yr old girl. i delivered around 33 weeks, whereas with my toddler i had delivered one day before her due date! however my daughter (eldest) weighed 6lbs, 7oz at birth, and the twins - together! - weighed around that much too. so my thinking was that my body can't handle anything beyond 7lbs. LOL! ;) honestly, the only things i found different were feeling kicks a LOT earlier - like before the first trimester was over!, and feeling that lower pelvic pain sooner too. bleah. maternity belts didn't help me, btw. but other than that, it's definitely a shock. take care - AND make sure u have someone who can help u out - like sleepover when the twins are born. email me anytime: ____@____.com

-Jackie

I had twins almost 2 years ago. They are definitely an adventure.

I second the twinstuff.com (my username is J. P) if you ever want to pm me on there. It is an excellent resource!

Also there are local twin clubs all over the place. I live in Aurora and belong to the tri cities mothers of twins and triplets club. www.tcmottc.org I don't go to meetings(cause I work full time and so does my dh) but I signed up for their email group and go to special events with the kids. They had a holiday party and had free pictures with Santa!

I also second the ez2nurse breastfeeding pillow. It can be used for quite a while...my 2 are still using it...

If you want/need more information feel free to pm me.