Am I feeling twins?

[gurl8203]

I was wondering if maybe you experienced ladies could help me out. I am 31 weeks pregnant with my 3rd, planning a homebirth. I haven't had any ultrasounds and don't plan to unless its deemed medically necessary by my midwives. Lately I've begun to suspect that I might be carrying twins. I'm sure many women have this thought at some point in their pregnancies, me especially since I have a brother and sister who are fraternal twins. Anyway, I'll tell you what my "symptoms" are and you tell me what you think, okay?

1. Worst morning sickness out of all 3 pregnancies
2. I started feeling movement at 12 weeks.
3. I am normally very good at palpating my babies' position, but just can't seem to get a handle on this one. At my last prenatal the midwives had a very difficult time as well. They kept changing their minds as to whether baby was breech or vertex or tranverse or posterior. They couldn't even decide on what was a head or a butt. We somewhat gave up in the end and decided we were feeling an anterior placenta in the way too.
4. Since around 20 weeks I have thought I could feel baby and "something else" which I thought was maybe the placenta.
5. This week I have begun having braxton hicks contractions and everything tightens up so I can feel baby parts much more easily. But I keep feeling what seems like 2 butts and a head. Right where we thought we felt an anterior placenta before gets hard and feels more like another body. I keep having my dh feel too, to see if he feels the same thing and he is a dumbfounded as I am.
5. The kicker is last night I started having a bh so I layed on my back to try to palpate the baby. As my stomach contracted there were obviously 2 masses on either side of my belly button that seemed to kind of slide apart. I thought, "for sure that can't be just a baby and a placenta". You should have seen how big dh's eyes got when he saw it.

So far the midwives have not heard more than 1 heartbeat, although last time they had a difficult time getting a good listen and kept hearing different things in different places, placenta, cord and echos they said. Also, I am
not measuring ahead. I thought this was my main indicator of no twins, but then I saw several preggy pics of moms with twins who are as far along as I am and have about the same belly size, and read that some moms don't measure ahead.

So what do y'all think? Is it possible that what I am feeling is twins or could it really be just one baby and its placenta?

[Intertwined]

We get these threads here pretty frequently and the answer is always the same-to be sure you'll have to get an u/s! It sounds to me like you've got good cause to be concerned about two, for sure. Especially with a family history of frat twins. I always wonder if one of my daughters will also have twins. Good luck and update us when you find out! I always love to hear how these threads turn out.

ETA: My babies were "stacked" one behind the other so palpation was almost impossible. We also had a very difficult time finding heart tones on Baby B at first. The only reason we could locate them at all was because his hb was so much lower than his sisters it was obvious when we 'got' him.

[Nanasi]

Our boys are fraternal twins. Even knowing it was twins, the midwives (3, plus 2 students) never could decide how everyone was positioned and they always had a hard time with the heartbeats because they were very similar. However, I did consistently measure 8 weeks ahead, so we got an ultrasound just to be sure.

If you're deciding whether or not to get an ultrasound, I would urge you to consider how this may change your plans for a homebirth. It is illegal in my state for midwives to knowingly attend twin births. In spite of that, my midwife stuck with us and we got two more on board to help. When I started showing protein in my urine, what would have been acceptable risk in a single birth, became very frightening to my birth team. When another ultrasound confirmed that baby A was breech, everyone backed out and left me with no option except to go it alone or have a c-section.

I ended up with the c-section, and while I think it was probably best for my babies, part of me wonders how things would have worked out if I hadn't let them do that last ultrasound. I'm certain that the enormous stress I was under during the last three weeks of my pregnancy contributed to my babies' positions and the pre-eclampsia. Baby A turned from breech to transverse at 39.5 weeks and I figure it was either because he was afraid to come or because he was protecting his brother from a difficult delivery. Baby B had an undetected velamentious insertion of the cord, which could have caused him to hemorrhage during labor. Still, I think that everything would have gone well, if I hadn't had an ultrasound and had been able to labor at home with a team who was confident in me and the situation.

[3 little birds]

I never measured ahead and was barely showing at 5 months with twins-when we found out via ultrasound. Your description of the 2 "masses" sounds very familiar.

[gurl8203]

Thanks for your input ladies! My next prenatal is on April 27th. I will be asking my midwives to take a closer look..or feel/listen that is. I am 99% sure that my midwives would be able to attend a twin birth, but that is definitely something to take into consideration before I get a u/s especially since this would also be my second HBAC. I'm so sorry for how your situation turned out Nanasi! If my midwives would be able to attend a twin HBAC and they feel that there is reason to suspect twins I will probably have a short u/s to confirm. I'll update in a couple weeks and let you know how it goes! I would definitely feel blessed, to have twins, albeit overwhelmed since I am currently chasing around a 3.5 yr DS and almost 2 yr old DS!

[Nanasi]

Good luck gurl8203! Twins are hard, but definitely a blessing. I'm interested to hear what you find out.

[TwinMomPlus]

When I was 31 weeks pregnant with my twins- I looked 41 weeks pregnant! I was HUGE and started showing right away and just got bigger from there. Also, I would think if this is your 3rd pregnancy and it was twins, that you would be bigger than you are. But I guess it could depend on their positions.

I didn't feel movement at 12 weeks- that just seems way too early. I do know you can feel movement earlier with subsequent pregnancies but a 12 week fetus is pretty tiny- even if there are 2 in there. But anything is possible I guess.

Also, it was like baby olympics in my belly almost all the time. I think you would know for sure if there were 2 in there! They did some funky things, like gang up on one side of my belly so it looked completely uneven and crazy sometimes!

Lastly, I just want to say that if you suspect twins, then I HIGHLY recommend an ultrasound. You need to be certain of the position of the twins as well as the position of baby A's placenta before you proceed with a homebirth, otherwise you face possible grave complications.

I had a complete placenta previa with my twin pregnancy and if I had tried to deliver them vaginally- we all probably would have died. That is a very dangerous situation! And also, previas can be common in twin pregnancies because there is no room for the placenta to move up.

Not trying to scare you, just want you to be careful. I really hope that if it is twins, that they cooperate and let you have your home birth!