Pregnant with Twins? Join the club :) - Page 11

[mauri456]

I worked until 34 weeks.  I carried my girls to 39.6 weeks.  I would have gone lower but my BP was starting to rise.  It was never anything more than just high BP (no pre-e), but my MW and OB wanted me to stop working. My work can have a lot of time on your feet (nurse), so I was proud of how far I made it.   With my older child (singleton) I worked until 41 weeks and had her at 41.3

[ifnotnowwhen]

Mauri456: I admire you. I am a nurse also and constantly on my feet. I am 30 weeks and currently weighing my options as to when I should leave work. It is definitely getting harder it seems with every shift. I am really hoping to make it to the end of October and some days I feel like I can do it, then some days I wonder if I'm crazy for trying. I used to love working my three 12 hour shifts per week, but not so much anymore. I can no longer work 3 days in a row, and the days when I work 2 in a row I have pretty severe edema afterwards and am sore for nearly a day after. My doctor told me I can take off whenever I'm ready to, but I haven't decided if that time is now. It's silly, but part of me wants to continue working to prove wrong all of the people who told me I should have been on bedrest from 20 weeks on (Not that I should have any reason to prove anything to anyone, but it's a pride thing, and it really bothers me when people I work with give their unsolicited opinions about how long I should continue working. - A CNA here has been telling me since I announced I was pregnant that I'll never make it. Ugh). I am proud that i have made it this far and I know nobody will judge me if I decide to stop, but honestly we need the money too, so I'll keep going for now.

[Brambleberry]

Name? (if you feel like it)

Espri

You and maybe your partners age at the birth?

I'll be 35 in November.  DH is 3 years younger.  That was my only risk factor for having twins - no family history or anything.

Are the babies Mono or Di or what combo of both?

Di/Di

What number of kids will is be for you?

2 & 3

Sexes? Will you be finding out?

We were not planning on finding out, but I think there may be some benefit to knowing if they're fraternal or identical, so we may find out if they are the same sex or not.  Is there a benefit to knowing?  We did actually ask if they were the same sex at the ultrasound today (just found out today - at 19 weeks!), but the babies weren't cooperating enough to tell.

EDD and or planned birth timing?

EDD Feb. 23

State you live in?

Indiana

Anything else you want to share?

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed still, but mostly positive and excited about it.  Both me and DH REALLY did not want this to be twins.  I've been measuring large for the past 5 weeks or so, and I'd been freaking out about the possibility of twins, but now that I know I feel much better about it actually.  I'd been mentally preparing myself for the possibility, and there are a lot of cool things about having twins too.  So I'm coming to terms.  I have so many questions!  

-carrier recommendations for wearing both at once?

-can they share a crib (side-cared up against our bed)?

-book recommendations with a more natural bent?

-I've already gained 15 pounds and I have a little extra padding to start with (135 pre-pregnancy and 5'2"), do I really need to focus on eating more?

-Mini vans or cross-overs with really good gas millage? 

I'm sure I have lots more - I just need to start researching.

[Adaline'sMama]

Brambleberry- I am SO excited for you! Now it's an absolute must that we see each other in real life at some point- even if just to get a pic of four newborns next to each other!!!!!

Also, my birthday is Feb 23.

[Brambleberry]

Wow - hope I make it to your birthday!  We definitely should meet up some time.  I'm actually going down to Mama's Hip for the diaper swap today - it'd be cool if we could meet up.

[Adaline'sMama]

Yes! I'll be there! Ill see ya there :)

[eminvc]

Brambleberry-

How exciting! My EDD is 2/22. I can't answer all your questions but here's what I've found out so far:

Yes, they can share a crib until they start kicking each other, seems to be the consensus (I've gotten lots of different answers as to how long that is)

A book I really liked that has been most helpful thus far is Mothering Multiples: Breastfeeding & Caring for Twins or More, by Karen Gromada. It's a La Leche League book and besides breastfeeding info, also has some stuff on pregnancy, NICU, raising twins w/ individuality, etc.

Carriers--If you google "babywearing twins" you can get several recommendations--it seems that there are several wraps that allow you to carry both babies at once.

Weight gain-I have also gained 15 lbs, at 18 weeks (well, officially 19 now but I may be up to 16 lbs as well), according to my OB it's right on...she also had me consult with a dietician and the consensus between them seemed to be as long as I'm eating healthy, just do what feels right. I eat three meals + 3 snacks per day and don't count calories.

Hope that helps!

emilyinvc

[baileyandmikey]

Welcome Brambleberry!  Yeah!  We are due really close togehter.  I too am freaking out about twins, but I'm sure they will be amazing.  

[SortaCrunchy]

Welcome Brambleberry! WOW! I can't imagine finding out at 19 weeks, but I can see how you would be relieved to know. I'm looking forward to hearing answers to your questions! We have two cribs (given to us by another twin mama) but I think we'll try to get away with one crib as long as possible since we are a little cramped on space already.

*** Question for others - did or are any of you dealing with nausea/vomiting past the first trimester? I'm 17 weeks and still throwing up every few days and dealing with nausea every day. I have Zofran which definitely helps but I try to take it sparingly or I get really constipated. I wasn't sick with either of my daughter's pregnancies, and I was so hoping to be done with this by now. I guess I'm wondering if this is might last the whole time?

[eminvc]

Originally Posted by SortaCrunchy 

Welcome Brambleberry! WOW! I can't imagine finding out at 19 weeks, but I can see how you would be relieved to know. I'm looking forward to hearing answers to your questions! We have two cribs (given to us by another twin mama) but I think we'll try to get away with one crib as long as possible since we are a little cramped on space already.

*** Question for others - did or are any of you dealing with nausea/vomiting past the first trimester? I'm 17 weeks and still throwing up every few days and dealing with nausea every day. I have Zofran which definitely helps but I try to take it sparingly or I get really constipated. I wasn't sick with either of my daughter's pregnancies, and I was so hoping to be done with this by now. I guess I'm wondering if this is might last the whole time?

SortaCrunchy--yes, I am 19 weeks and still throwing up 1-2x/week and nausea every day--take Zofran once a day on most days, as I really can't get through the workday otherwise. I have tried about 40 different home remedies and absolutely nothing works for me; apparently I'm immune to the powers of ginger and lemon! I just adopted the attitude that I might be like this the whole time, and as long as it's only bad 1-2x/week that's better than daily, which I was up until about week 16. Sorry, that's not very optimistic! My grandmother told me she threw up every day all nine months when she was pregnant w/ twins (my dad and his brother), so I'm just grateful it's not that.

I do find it's worse on days when I am tired, such as today when I woke up at 3am and never got back to sleep :(

[Brambleberry]

I haven't had bad nausea or serious food aversions since about 15 weeks, but still occasional episodes.  I'll be really hungry, sit down to eat and suddenly just have to force myself to get anything down.  I can't let my tummy get empty at all or I'm miserable.  And I'll second that about it being worse when tired.  WAY worse.  I didn't sleep much last night either.  I think it was the full moon.  Someone else in our DDC was complaining about a sleepless night last night too.  I managed to get a 1/2 hour nap but could have used way more.  DD has a cold and I was hoping she'd nap longer but I think the stuffy nose woke her up early. 

[baileyandmikey]

Sortacrunchy-  I have had horrible morning sickness and was on a high dose of ZOfran just to make it through the day, but it does cause horrible constipation!  I am finally to the point where I'm actually hungry, and in just about 2 weeks of slowly taking less and less meds, I've gained like 5 pds!!! I had lost so much from not eating and being sick. ANd the fact that I'm taking less is really making the constipation issue clear up. 

[Brambleberry]

We've figured out one of our practical worries about having twins: the car situation.  We really didn't want a mini van, since we just can't afford paying twice as much for gas as we currently do, so I spent a while researching car seat widths and back-seat widths and figured out that we can get three car seats in a Pontiac Vibe, which gets 36 mpg hwy.  Even better, DH's parents have a Vibe they're willing to pass on to us, since his dad wants an excuse to get a new car ;).  One of the two infant seats we have is a little too wide, so we'll have to buy one new infant seat (Graco Snugride 30 is only 16.5 inches wide), but the price of a new car seat is nothing compared to the price of a new mini van!

[gozal]

Ooh, good to know about the Snugride 30's width. I just took my car (Volvo wagon) to the police dept's install program and the officer told me the infant buckets are all basically the same width. Brambleberry, what kind of seat do you use for your older DD? We have a giant Britax Boulevard that we really don't want to replace unless we absolutely have to. I'm happy to invest in the Radian RXT as our second convertible when the time comes, but uuuugh $300 to replace something that is perfectly good, just possibly a smidge too wide in our car. We're not ready to put DS in a booster yet, even a good one, because he's super skinny and can be in a 5-point harness for another 1-2 years potentially. My friend is supposed to give me her infant bucket and if that works, awesome. If not, we'll have to buy one seat new...and I'd rather it be the Snugride 30 rather than the Radian!

Thought I'd share a resource on car seats...a forum frequented by car seat install experts and people who are seriously obsessed with car seats (in a good way mostly): http://www.car-seat.org/ Although their basic advice on three across is Get a Minivan. (I'm not even opposed at this point, we just don't have the moolah. Our Volvo was a generous hand-me-down.)

[Adaline'sMama]

We got a minivan, but I tried and tried to get out of it. I couldnt find a way to fit three across my car all rear facing at the same time, which is what we needed. 

[Brambleberry]

gozal - here's a link to car seat measurements: https://sites.google.com/site/carseatmeasurements/  I'm not sure it has every single seat listed that's out there, but it has a lot.  DD has a Costco Scenera. It measures a little less than 17.5 inches at it's widest point.  The Combi Cocorro is a convertible car seat that is actually narrower than any of the infant seats, at 15".  It is cheaper than the Radian too, but more expensive than the snugride 30.  I personally prefer baby buckets to convertibles, though, and it looks like the cocorro has one of those puzzle latches which I hate.  

Adaline'sMama - I don't blame you for getting a minivan at all - we're still a little on the fence about it for the sake of cargo space and being able to have a parent in back with the kiddos.  We have DD front facing now and hope she'll be able to help entertain the babies on either side of her.  We'll see.

[~Adorkable~]

i went the "station wagon route rather than the minivan and could not be happier, I got a Ford Flex. When we first started looking into it we were thinking that 3 across would be in our future, in the end we still got it because we wanted to be able to take passengers in the way back when our twins were in the middle row and still hold their stroller and such. Now that they First model year is 3-4 years old and they came out with a big remodel this year a lot of Flex owners are upgrading, meaning there is going to be a handful of used ones on the market.

[SortaCrunchy]

Thanks for the feedback on the continuing nausea, mamas. In some ways, it does make me feel better to know I'm not alone in this yuckiness going past the first trimester! I just keep trying to focus on it being a good sign of my body doing what it needs to do to build healthy babies.

On the car situation - we are going to have to go with a minivan. We have a 7 and a 5 year old already. I don't think there is anything else that will seat 4 kids when we'll have two in infant seats/rear-facing convertible seats for so long, is there? Besides a Suburban which is just not workable for us.

UPDATE for our running list: we had our level II ultrasound today and found out that our mono-di twins are BOYS!!!!!!!! TEAM BLUE (finally!) for us!

[~Adorkable~]

wow, identical Boys are a minority within the already rarity of MZ twins, congrats!  

[KnittingTigers]

I'm really appreciating the carseat conversation here. About two months before I got pregnant we bought a used Honda Accord, and while I'd love to upgrade to a minivan, it's just not going to happen financially.:( So, we're also doing the three-across calculations now... (I have a four year old DD.)

Sortacrunchy, congrats on your boys!