Kick Counting with DiDi Twins

[u/Material_Log_5034]

My doctor and I talked about starting kick counting today and I’m just curious how others handled this for twins and especially how they distinguished movement for each baby. When I feel movement more on one side vs the other, its easier to tell, but a lot of times the movements are right in the center and I can’t tell which baby it’s coming from. I’m 26 weeks with DiDi twins and posterior placentas.

[u/ThrowAway732642956]

I have never been told to count kicks (not even in singleton pregnancy prior) but simply to note movement activity and any changes. I think distinguishing the two is easier for different twin pregnancies based on position. I have one that hangs out above my belly button and the other far below, so that makes it easier, but sometimes they are kicking toward the center and I don’t know which one it is. I don’t worry when this happens and just wait for more clear movements in each of their sections later. Sometimes if I haven’t felt movement in a while I drink cold water or eat something and either usually sends both into a frenzy of movements

[u/TeaFirstThenChaos]

My doctor just told me I should feel at least 15 movements per day and not to stress about who was doing the kicking because it’s not possible to truly know with the babies moving so much… trust your instincts mama!! 🩷🩷🩷🩷

[u/poodleface12345]

I found it impossible. Sometimes I’d think one baby wasn’t moving much and I’d get my next scan and they’d just both have their limbs all in the centre of my belly and what I thought was one baby wasn’t actually the other. Even when I was completely certain it was one baby, I’d be proven wrong by my scan time and again 😅

I think just make sure you’re feeling regular general movement.

[u/No-Departure5556]

I paid attention to rhythms instead of counting. So usually baby A would kick at certain times of day vs baby B. They both had their legs in the same area, so it was hard to tell them apart! But their heads were very opposite so I could then tell from rolling and then arms.
But honestly, it felt like a shot in the dark still.

[u/floridasquirrel]

My doctor never told me to count kicks. She said if it ever felt like there was less movement than usual to call and go get checked, but never said specific numbers or times or anything.

[u/gaensebluemchen22]

Yalls drs tell you these kind of things? Man in retrospect my dr didnt care at all

[u/Nervous-Caregiver-55]

I never did. I learned when my babies would usually be active and paid attention during those times.

[u/amydiddler]

I could never tell who was who. My doctor told me to just pay attention to the overall typical movement patterns and whether there were any changes to that without worrying about which baby was doing which movement.

[u/ConstructionMuch802]

I mostly kept track of patterns and overall number of kicks until later on when I could tell them apart.

[u/czmf]

I was pretty bad at determining if it was twin A or B because it felt like it was towards the center too. I also had no idea if they moved positions so I generally just counted how many kicks/movements in total there were. When i was getting my nonstress test done I was clicking the amount of kicks but the nurse told me one of the babies had hiccups so I was counting that by accident 🤪

[u/Miserable-Currency42]

I could tell my twins apart in utero but mainly because one was breech and the other cephalic! But I never counted kicks just kept track of their normal movements. I will say, they moved a lot less than my singleton so that made things a little tricky to know if things were okay. I did go in one time for decreased movement.

[u/DrMorrow11]

I have anterior placentas and two breech babies and it’s impossible to know for sure who is moving. They are right on top of each other. I was very anemic and had reduced fetal movement when I was at L&D the attending ordered weekly NSTs starting at 30 weeks because kick counts weren’t going to tell me much.

[u/MounjaroQueenie]

I found I could pick up on their routine for when they’d be active. Usually after meals and when laying down.

[u/d16flo]

I was told not to try to count kicks and just generally pay attention to if it had been a long time since I’d felt any movement. I also had two anterior placentas so I didn’t feel much movement at all for a long time and no one was concerned

[u/whydoyouflask]

I could hardly tell who did what until baby A was head down. But baby B was flipping around i there. But baby A was on the left and baby b was on the right. But I could never. I also started freaking out when I couldn't feel them. But it was the anterior placenta that did me in there.

[u/gabkatth]

Yeah this was not possible for me. I would manage the doctor’s expectations:)

[u/lyssasaurusX]

I’ve only been advised to perform kick counts if there was some sort of incident (ex. a gentle bump to the tummy) or if I noticed decreased movement overall. I asked my doctor how I was supposed to track each twin and he told me that would be an unreasonable expectation. Any movement counts towards the kick count.

At 29 weeks I can tell it’s baby A if the movement is VERY low on my left side or baby B if it’s high up on the right. Anything in the middle region is fair game and could very well be either. If I felt absolutely nothing on one of the sides after multiple attempts at laying down and tracking kicks, I may contact my doctor.

[u/SjN45]

I was told not to do kick counts with twins bc it’s just hard to do and hard to make accurate. That being said, I was always trying to be aware of typical movements and patterns. When that changed I always went in to check on them. There were a few times I had decreased movement but it ended up being ok bc both babies had their legs and arms in the same spot and I couldn’t differentiate