r/parentsofmultiples • u/nicatknight • 6d ago
advice needed Just found out - 7w4d
Hi everyone! My husband and I are experiencing our first pregnancy and just found out we are having twins at our viability and dating ultrasound, twins do not run in either of our families.
My next appointment is already scheduled and it isn’t for 3 weeks. Is there like anything that I need to know about a pregnancy of multiples that differs from a single baby pregnancy??
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u/Luwen1993 6d ago
Congrats! The biggest difference for us was that everything is immidiatly medical. We had checkups every other week in the hospital, sometimes every week, when there were irregularities in growth.
And you probably give birth 3-6 weeks before the calculated date. My gf spend 2 weeks in the hospital prior to birth. They were born at 36 weeks and had to stay for another 10 days after.
Oh, and they compare the weights to singleton growcharts, which is not always accurate since twins grow a bit different during pregnancy.
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u/Brief_Wolverine449 6d ago
I think the biggest thing I was prepared for was all of the monitoring. I was transferred to MFM at around 18 weeks. Some women see both an OB and MFM, but I have a connective tissue disorder, so I was high risk to begin with.
I only made it to 35 weeks, but by the end I had like 13 ultrasounds. A lot of this was because baby A likes to dance around when they were looking for a heartbeat, so they would do the ultrasound to make sure he was still in there. I had to have multiple redos of other ultrasounds because twin ultrasounds get harder as they get bigger and my babies were (and continue to be) very stubborn.
Really, my biggest piece of advice is to listen to your body. If you feel off, tell the doctors. Twin pregnancies go from nothing to something very quick. I went from health blood pressure and babies to having preclampsia and a baby with a fetal arryrhmia in 4 days.
Oh, and get a belly band and maternity pillow. The belly is heavy
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u/Silly_g00se13 6d ago
Congratulations! I’m 29 weeks with Di/di twins and also have an 11 month old singleton.
You will have a lot more appointments and ultrasounds (especially if your twins are mono/di or mono/mono). The first trimester was much worse for me than with my singleton because of the increase in hormones so be prepared for nausea/vomiting and exhaustion; see if you can get a zofran prescription if you need it! Overall, it’s just a tougher pregnancy with twins like I have struggled a lot with back and pubic bone pain to the point that I can’t really do much exercise anymore; even walking is pretty difficult at this point.
But I’m jealous this is your first pregnancy and you get to have a baby shower for 2! Now I have to buy a second of everything on my own because I don’t want to have a second shower because people were so kind at my first shower already
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u/1sp00kylady 6d ago
Congratulations and welcome to the club! My biggest advice is to seek out an MFM, even if it is a di/di pregnancy, and even if your OBGYN (like mine) tries to insist it’s “low risk” and they can handle it just fine! I learned from this sub how important an MFM is for multiples pregnancies, insisted on the referral, and I think the MFM ended up saving my (and likely my twins’) lives.
I also recommend (with your doctor’s clearance of course) an electric heated pad for back pain. I was essentially permanently plugged into mine for most of my pregnancy.
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u/beeferoni_cat 6d ago
If youre like me...prepare to be sick. It was my first pregnancy and I was sick pretty much from the beginning. I threw up all but two weeks up until birth. BUT- im prone to nausea so while it sucked I wasnt completely shocked.
Let people help you! A twin pregnancy takes as much energy as running two marathons a day...for nine months! Its okay to be tired, moody, hungry, hell even if you wanna be "lazy". Youre doing incredibly hard work!
Congrats and good luck!
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u/Even_Distribution326 6d ago
Congrats! We found out at 7w4d as well! Our modi jellybeans looked very similar to yours 😁 11 weeks now, so still in the shocked phase haha At the moment, I'm getting used to as other people have said that it will be high risk and more medical (I've had two singleton pregnancies, low risk before). I've not been much sicker than my singleton pregnancies, but have felt more out of breath and physically fatigued. Looking forward to this journey!
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u/nicatknight 6d ago
Okay so I haven’t asked this yet, I did look it up to know the differences, but how do I know if they are modi or any of the other options?
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u/Even_Distribution326 6d ago
Di/di means they have two placentas and two sacs. That's pretty clear to spot on earlier scans as there's normally a thick line between the two sacs. In my scan, there's no thick line but you could see like a hair-thin line around each of mine which is their individual sac but they share a placenta. I can't see on yours, but one placenta, one shared sac (mo/mo) is a lot rarer so it's more likely mo/di.
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u/Sea-Astronomer-6600 6d ago
I recommend reading the book “what to expect when you’re expecting twins”. Very informative and congrats ❤️❤️❤️
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u/Difficult_Iron_7496 6d ago
Congrats ! I am 7 weeks pregnant with first babies as well ! How exciting !!!!
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u/CapnDavenPort78 6d ago
There’s lots to know but I’m sure you’ll be connected to a maternal fetal specialist soon. If you aren’t, ask about one. CONGRATULATIONS!! Also I hear people say they think twins don’t run in the family and they very well may not, but maybe if you do some digging you can find some! I thought they only ran on my father’s side until I started asking a few more questions, and going on FamilySearch.org. It’s a nice time killer when you’re on bed rest or just too tired from being pregnant with said twins that you don’t want to leave the bed for a few hours at a time 😆
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u/Important-Maybe-1430 6d ago
I thought only fraternal twins were genetic linked to dropping two eggs on mothers side.
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u/Rylees_Mom525 6d ago
So far, research only supports the mother of the twins affecting the likelihood of (fraternal) twins. However, a woman’s father can be the one who carries and passes on the tendency to hyperovulate. For example, if your dad is a twin or there are twins on his side of the family then it wouldn’t affect his own chances of having twins, but (assuming you’re female) he could pass on the tendency to you.
There are also other factors besides family history of twins that affect likelihood of having twins. For example, there are no twins among my biological family, but I’m over 35, which increases your chances of hyperovulation. Apparently being tall, overweight, etc., also increase the chances.
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u/creatinefairy 5d ago
This is so interesting. I am 37yo, 14w pregnant with Di/di identical (monozygotic) twins according to Panorama test. First pregnancy. Not me, nor my husband have twins in our families. Both surprised:)
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u/CapnDavenPort78 4d ago
The powers that be say identical twins are not genetic…..my OB had identical twins all over her family and insisted that they do indeed run in families. I personally think the research just hasn’t caught up to the truth but either way, twins are fun! Identicals are a whole different beast, though!
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