How realistic is a natural (hospital) birth with twins??

[Mama~Love]

No, I can't have a homebirth, even though that's what I'd prefer. DH would not go for it, he was freaked out enough at our only HB last time. I asked him if there was anything he liked about it, and he said there wasn't.

So, now that we're having twins, my options are limited to a hospital birth. I really, really, REALLY don't want a C/S, that's my worst fear. I've already had 6 healthy wonderful kids, all born vaginally, all past 40 weeks, some past 42 weeks. I know there's no guarantee that I'll carry my twins that long, I can't predict if I'll have PTL or other complications.

I'm seeing all sorts of birth scenarios going through my head of interventions and unwanted procedures. I'm trying to picture how I want my birth to go, but then I think it's not realistic to expect it to happen, and lose confidence of having a natural, vaginal birth with twins. I'm seeing them taken away from me, and them doing everything I don't want (like vit K, Hep B, eye goop), and not holding them for hours. That would be torture.

My Dr. said as long as Baby A is head down, we can deliver vaginally, no matter what position Baby B is in. But, she said it's recommended to get an epidural, and I'd be delivering in the OR just in case.

I know it's still a long ways off, my EDD is Oct. 23rd, but I want to start preparing for it mentally as soon as possible.

What can I do, except wait to get to the hospital while I'm in transition?? There's no way I can convince DH to have a homebirth, and I would not UC. I feel like I'm sacrificing something very important just to please others.

[AlexisT]

Those are extremely typical conditions for a hospital twin birth.  It may also not be the OB's policy but the hospital's.

If your OB is willing to do it as long as baby A is vertex, that's pretty supportive from what I've seen--the unsupportive OBs demand 2 vertex babies, or won't do it at all.

I'm not sure I would go to the hospital in transition and risk having to get the epidural at that point. They don't care about you having it in for labor--they want it in for delivery, especially if they need to do an extraction or CS for Baby B. Do you want to risk general anesthesia if they need to do an emergency CS?

If the babies are healthy, you can probably arrange to minimize the disruption, though there will be a lot more people in the room and more checking.

Your OB should be able to give you more information on delivery procedure--who's going to be there, how it will vary depending on the babies' GA, etc. So much will depend on when you deliver.

[kitkat5505]

A natural hospital twin birth is definitely possible, I had one that was a vba2c even! Of course the natural part wasn't planned, I was going to get an epidural (not required but recommended by my OB for the possibility of breech extraction or emergency c/s, and since I've had an emergency c/s under general I didn't want to risk that happening again) but I had a super quick labor and was already pushing by the time I got to the hospital. I did have to deliver in the OR, but at that point I didn't care where I was as long as I got to push lol, and with how many people they have in the room for a twin delivery (typically at least 12 from all the drs and nurses) the extra room in the OR makes it a little less crowded than a normal L&D room would be. As it was my DH had to squeeze in to get near me. But the delivery went very fast (total 2.5hr labor) and relatively easy. Baby A had mild shoulder dystocia which was quickly taken care of and Baby Bs heartrate dropped so they used the vacuum for a few seconds to help me get him out quicker. They were born 15 minutes apart. And honestly, it kinda sucked after the first baby was out knowing that I had to do it again right away lol. If I did it again I would still plan on an epidural, but I know I could do it naturally again too. Because A had some major bruising and B needed a little help breathing I did not get to hold them right away, A was taken to a warmer immediately and B was placed on my belly for a minute before taken away. We all left the OR at the same time, they went to the nursery for monitoring their breathing and I went to a recovery room, but they were back in about 1/2 hr where we got to do skin-to-skin and breastfeeding right away. I think the important thing with a twin birth is to be really flexible, having 2 babies in there does change things, because even if A is head down and comes out fine you can't predict how B will go once he has room to move. But it's more likely everything will go just fine. :)