Pregnant with twins measuring 9 days apart

[Annie0]

Last week I went in for an early US (7 wks). The tech found 2 babies, both with a heartbeat, though they measured 9 days apart. "Baby A" measuring 5w 6d heartbeat 107 bpm, "Baby B" measuring 7w 1d heartbeat 135 bpm. The tech says that they appeared to have been conceived over a week apart, which is apparently extremely rare. I have read many stories of twins with different gestational ages, but can't get a sense of whether the discrepancy in growth rate should be occurring this early unless they truly were conceived over a week apart. It's my understanding that in the first weeks of pregnancy the rate of growth is very specific and accurately measurable, which seems different than twins who begin to grow at different rates later during pregnancy.

I have yet to see a doctor to discuss all of this. We were scheduled for our first prenatal with our midwife on Monday, but went in after some spotting for an US, which is when we discovered the twins. This has been both exciting and scary, mixed with a bit of grief over now being in a high risk category which will require a different kind of prenatal care than we experienced with our first child. I have referral to an OB who comes highly recommended (advocates VB with twins) and I do feel that the hospital will ultimately be the place where we feel safest birthing twins, but we had such a beautiful home birth with our daughter...I never imagined doing anything different the second time around. I am surprised at how deeply sad i feel over this aspect of our situation. I wish I could just be present with the joy of our exciting news, but i keep finding myself worrying about the growth difference and if it is something more serious, as well as grieving the fact that our prenatal care will be hospital based. I have so many friends who have had wonderful hospital births, and I'm trying to embrace it, but I guess I was really attached to my vision of having all my babies at home.

Any of you momma's of mutiples experienced any of this? Thanks for listening. :)

[mylilmonkeys]

Congratulations on your twin pregnancy!!  I had many mixed emotions over my birthing plans, too.  We continued with dual care after confirming our twins at 19 weeks.  Ultimately, we went ahead with our home birth plans at our midwife's home which is a block away from the hospital our back up worked at.  We had significant complications with Baby B's birth, including a needed call to 911.  There's another recent thread on this forum about home birthing twins where I went into a little more detail.  But the short of it is, I don't think it is wise to home birth twins!  Although any future singletons will be welcomed at home just like most of their siblings have been.  Allow yourself to mourn your change in plans.  See if you can engage your midwife in a doula role, and even consider dual care to continue with the midwifery model as much as you can.  Your twin pregnancy should be treated as normally as possible (i.e. don't borrow trouble!).  

At our 19week scan, our twins measured about a week apart, too.  We were given separate due dates for each baby, which I thought was hilarious!  It freaked my dh out, because he didn't understand at first that it was just a number, that of course they'll be born the same day. LOL  It is much more typical for that to happen at that stage, but I wondered about whether I'd actually conceived a week apart.  I have had many, many NFP charts which have shown a pattern of a normal ovulation, followed by a drop in temp at about 3 days following the spike and then a second typical ovulation pattern.  For us, NFP requires so. much. abstinence.  Which is why we have so many kids, cause you can only deal with so much. ;)  So, who knows.  The cycle we conceived, we were visiting family during the portion of my chart where I would have seen a second spike, and I didn't bring my chart or thermometer.  The NFP community is adamant that double ovulations only happen within 24 hours of each other, but with my history, I don't buy it.  My mom is a twin, so I always knew I had a potential, but once I learned NFP and started seeing these patterns, it was a virtual certainty we would have twins some day.

[Annie0]

thank you for the affirmation. our midwife has offered to work as our doula which does take some of the sting out. I think it's just gonna take some time to warm up to using an OB. Two safe and healthy little bundles will make it all worth it! 

[rinap]

I found it very hard to integrate the change in plans. But finding the right doctor (one who thought a vaginal birth of twins was a real possibility and understood that I wanted things done naturally wherever possible) and a good doula made all the difference.

Oh! Also, when you check in  to the hospital (I realize that this is a long way away), specifically ask for a nurse who's supportive of natural childbirth.

But yeah. Take some time to grieve and try to appreciate what is. I understand how hard that is.

[~Adorkable~]

First of all  big congrats! Then I would recommend thinking of yourself as something more positive than "high risk". While it is true that there is more things that can get crazy in a twin pregnancy than in a singleton, just having twins doesn't have to be smacked with that label. I think when everyone talked like that to a pregnant lady they are collectively stearing things that way. Think positive and learn everything, that way if things come up, you can understand what they mean and what your choices are.

A twin pregancy can have high risk elements, ( like high blood pressure or preterm labor) but they are NOT high risk just for being twins. I think the more OBs can work on this little change the better all twins mommies will be treated and taught.

As for your particular question about then being different sizes. Best to wait and see what happens at the next scan, do you have one scheduled for soon I hope, hate to have you sitting and worrying for long.

3 things could happen im guessing,

•the gap could disappear, meaning that it was likely a measuring error, I had 2 scan where one twin was measured badly. Taken by itself it would have really worried me, thankfully it was not the first scan so I figured it was an error and the next scan proved it was.

• it could stay the same, meaning they are both growing well just on their our curves, possibly nothing to worry about just a strange curiosity. Though I'm guessing explained. By something else than actually being 9 days younger, but who knows!

• the gap could increase, this would worry anyone, and I understand how hard it is to stay calm and wait to a next scan, hang in there, we are all here for you.

huggs

[Shuli]

My twins were also measuring about a week apart at our 8 week scan. They measured a week apart their whole gestation and my Baby A is still smaller by his brother by about an inch and three pounds. They also thought that I conceived a week apart and were measuring each baby on their own curve. Their placentas fused very early and at the 16 week ultrasound they were convinced that they were identical. This put me in the "higher risk" catagory, and I had to have scans every two weeks. This didn't effect my much and I had a pretty unevenful pregnancy until the end. I was going to have a c-section anyway because they were both transverse, but at the end of the 36th week the tech noticed that Baby A hadn't grown as much as he should have and Baby B did, so I did another scan a few days later and he had not grown at all, so out they came.

I have an OB who is highly recommended but a little too laid back for my taste. As soon as there was any problem he sent me straight to the high risk clinic to discuss things with them. We decided that it would be best to take them out sooner so I went to the hospital to do pre-registration for surgery and two days later I gave birth. I had a really positive hospital experience and went back to the same hospital to have my third.

Twins does not have to be "high risk" and as long as everything is developing normally, intervention should be minimal.

Good luck!

[Annie0]

Thank you all for the encouragement. I have an intake scheduled for thursday but don't actually see the OB until the 1st...then who knows how long until i get another scan. The waiting is killing me Keep y'all posted!

[~Adorkable~]

checking in for an update....