New Here and Expecting 2...again!

[medicinemansgirl]

I've always frequented the homebirth and unassisted birth boards and last fall became a part of the miscarriage board after we lost a little boy at 14 wks. I didn't know this board existed until someone referred me to it on the homebirth board after I asked about home birth experiences with twins. We just very surprisingly and unexpectedly discovered our 2nd set of twins at a 21 wk routine u/s this past week. Our first set made babies #4&5 and these two will make #9&10. Twins do not run in my family so our 1st set was a shock. The 2nd set is that much more of a shock! Both sets are fraternal boys. I carried our 1st set all 40 wks and have a goal of carrying these 2 little guys to term, or close to it, also. I delivered our oldest, who is now 12, naturally in a hospital, delivered #2 and 3 by induction and with epidurals and then delivered our 1st set of twins completely naturally in a hospital. After them we transitioned to homebirthing and have had 3 home births with one of those being unassisted. We have a wonderful midwife with this pregnancy and fully anticipate having a successful home birth with these 2 as well.

I look forward to gleaning wisdom from all of you. I nursed our 1st set for 9 months but had supply issues starting at about 6. I'd really like to nurse these 2 for at least 9 months also. I never did get the hang of tandem nursing the 1st time so hope to give it a try again and be successful at it. When nursing one at a time it feels as though that's all you do all day long...sit and pump babies full of milk!

[MamaChicken]

Hi! Welcome this board and good luck! I guess you can now says "yes, twins definately run in our family."

[Gena 22]

You can't really know these two are fraternal. We were sure our di-di twins were fraternal until we DNA tested. Identicals are more common than you think!

Where are you? Maybe some of us could recommend a midwife if your current MW isn't experienced with twins. I had an amazing MW out of south central PA. Lots of Amish experience. I was her 43rd twin homebirth!

Tandem nursing is a real time saver. Since the twins were my first, I've never really know anything but. You'll need the special nursing pillow, it helps a lot.

Supply is tough. I'm happy my girls are still nursing twice a day at 28 months. But they are little girls. Sometimes I wonder if I could have kept up with big boys. We would have been nursing all the time!

You'll find a lot of support here, welcome!

[medicinemansgirl]

I thought about the di/di thing later. LOL! Laying on the u/s table with my husband, our other 8 and my midwife by my side I just automatically assumed they were frats yet again since ID are so rare, I've had so many previous pregnanices, now have a history of frat twins and I'll be 35 this year. The tech and my midwife both were sure to remind me that we NEED a dividing membrane...which was found. At this point, the tech thought she could see where placentas had fused but it is one big one now. We are fairly certain at one point there were 2. Even still.....I know they could still be ID depending on whern the egg might've divided. LOL! So, at this point I'm just assuming they're frats based on stats. I could get the shock of my life though if they end up ID. So, who knows.

I live in the west Texas. We just recently finally got a local midwife. up until now we had to travel an horu and a half for the one I didn't really care for so we saw one in the Dallas?Fort Worth area which was a 4 hr drive. WE were desperate. I do love our midwife here now. She is newly on her own but has apprenticed, trained and assisted for 10 yrs wit others. Now that we know there's 2 she's brining in the 2 midwives she trained under for years. One's an horu away, the other an hour and a half. We're rural so everything's spread out. LOL!

Nursing for 28 months is amazing!!! I'm impressed! Definitely already have tandem nursing as one of my main goals! Time saver in every regard. And I only know that cause I've never done it and I KNOW how long it takes to nurse 2 babies separately!! So, I can only imagine. LOL!

[MamaChicken]

Totally OT, but what part of west Texas are you in? I went Texas Tech and I have an aunt in Happy and one in Big Spring, and other relatives spread out.

[~bookcase~]

woo! another larger family

ok, well, i only have 6 (twins are 5th&6th and 20 months now) but i keep dreaming of multiples and am avoiding conceiving as a result. lol. but i also get happy thinking of another set (but please God, full term, homebirth twins pleeeeease)

welcome and congratulations

[herdingkittens]

Hi there and welcome!

So sorry for your loss of your little one last year.

Keep us posted on your little ones. I am sure you will find lots of advice and help here! I wish I would have found this board when I was pregnant with our set. It has been such a blessing.

[medicinemansgirl]

Well, I"ve kept up with the thread but totally forgot to come back and respond when I had some time. LOL! We're in the San Angelo area but dh's sister and her husband are in Lubbock and he's actually employed by Tech as one of their main computer guys. Dh grew up in Eunice, NM right there on the TX/NM border and his parents still live in Andrews. We drive through Big Spring everytime we go out to see them. They're only a couple or so hours away. And I had my u/s in Midland.

I grew up in the DFW area and we travel there a ton too. Most of my extended family is in east TX so we kind of cover the state.

And on a different note....I only ever measured right on with my gestational weeks during my 1st twin pregnancy and am already measuring 3 cm ahead with this one. It should be entirely interesting to see how big these babies grow! I keep having dreams they missed a baby in the u/s and when I go back at 36 wks they'll find Baby C. LOL! Hopefully it's just a growth spurt and I'll even out over time. I think these boys just like protein!! I went from eating minimally to trying to get down 120 grams of protein a day and a gallon of water. That's a TON of stuff for a stomach the size of a pea at the current moment! But it proved to result in healthy full term babies the 1st time around so hoping it does the same the 2nd too!

[mama_mimlee]

Congratulations!

I just wanted to throw in my measly 2 cents just because I think it's important to know, and I couldn't understand from your post if your twins have been identified as di-di or mono-di identicals. I read that the tech believes the placentas fused, but I would just want to get a check on that myself to be sure. Maybe even question a health professional or the tech about the thickness of the dividing membrane. . . the only reason I bring this up is because of TTTS. It's rare, but it's good to be proactive in case they are mono-di's. I'm not a big proponent of invasive medicine myself, but if they are mono-di's, I would ask for ultrasounds at least every two weeks to keep a check on any possible changes and discrepancies in amnio fluids and estimated sizes of each baby.

I don't want to scare anyone, because TTTS is rare. . . (We experienced it!) But health profs aren't so "up" on TTTS, and they certainly are not very proactive in watching out for it.