Think you might be having twins? (spinoff) - Page 2

[2much2luv]

How exciting! All the twin talk.

I felt for certain that I was pregnant with twins a week ago. From the start my "signs" were: inadvertently saying babies instead of baby, I could envision the two of them in there, lots and lots and lots of dreams of triplets and twins, much more tired and sick than with my other three pregnancies. But this last week I haven't felt it so much anymore. and I had a dream of one baby.

[RAF]

At the beginning of this pregnancy, I suspected twins. I gained alot of weight very early, and now I have gained about 36 pounds, and I am only 22 weeks. I don't have any swellings or blood sugar issues, etc. so I am not concerned. I was measuring large, and I felt movement very early, like I don't know, around 10 weeks or so.

Now however, I am measuring on target for 22 weeks, although I look like I could be more like 7months pregnant. I feel a good amount of movement, but it isn't what I would expect for twins. It feels the same as with my 2 other singleton pregnancies. So I have decided that it probably is not twins, but still keeping an eye on things just in case.

Also, I have been ravenously hungry this time around, mostly for high protein foods. I probably am getting enough protein for twins, even if I am not carrying them, just because my body is telling me to eat it. I also don't eat any junk food, so another reason I am not concerned about the weight gain. Also, I have been taking folic acid and b-vitamins for at least a year before getting pregnant, and we raise dairy goats, so I am a dairy consumer! Where did you read about those things as increasing the rate of twins again?

Anyway, hopefully, if it is twins, I will know at some point before labor, because I really don't want to do ultrasound, unless I feel there is danger of some sort, which I don't feel at this point. Anyway, it will be exciting to find out how many we are all having!

[christyc]

I think I read about the folic acid thing in Dr. Barbara Luke's book. I just did a quick google, and the twin rate has increased since food fortification with folic acid began, though I didn't read enough to see if they had excluded factors such as IVF, etc.

[crunchymomof2]

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiol...s_hormone.html

Although this involves growth hormones. I was drinking fresh raw milk leading up to my pregnancy so if I am its not because of this I guess.

[meemee]

another here who is not preggo. for teh last two years my dd has been dreaming about twins in my belly and i have since the last year. and yes i will be doing UC.

[littleteapot]

I was so convinced I was having twins that even after I had my 9+lb baby come out of a 5' me I looked at him and thought, "he's too small!" and felt around for another one. :

I suspected it early on, just a "feeling". It killed me. I measured 5, then 6, then 7cm ahead for the entire pregnancy. I gained a LOAD of weight in the beginning despite barely eating (lost a significant amount through hyperemis), high BP (I have chronic low BP and have in both my prior pregnancies as well), horrific exhaustion, nausea, everything was exaggerated. The symptoms were so, so, so much worse than either of my last pregnancies combined.
I actually caved and had a curiosity swipe, ended up running out of the exam room after two minutes... it was a bad experience. Even though the tech said "one" I still thought about it. People told me she could have missed it with only two minutes of searching.

I did have heavy bleeding in early pregnancy that, at the time, I thought was a period but later realized I had actually been pregnant at that time. I wonder now if I didn't miscarry a twin. I've never even so much as spotted for implantation before, so that was pretty bizarre.

ETA: forgot to add about the movement. I would feel and see movement sometimes in five places at once. Both sides (toward the back), the pelvic bone, the top of my stomach and the center. CLEARLY little knobbly bits, no heads or butts. It seemed physically impossible for a baby to be in all those places at once. I felt movement like that from about 13 weeks onward. At first it was just inches apart and then it was literally feet apart. To me that was the biggest "WTF?!" as far as suspecting twins. That movement just could not be explained.
Oh, and I also looked like this (I'm 5' and 110lbs pre-pregnant. I was 129 two hours after birthing a 9+ baby and a 4lb placenta, so none of that is "fluff"!). That was two weeks before he was born. I ended up measuring 46cm AFTER he dropped, just before birth (43 weeks pregnant).

[a~...Mamacitaa~...]

when i was 6wks prego..i started bleeding.. i went to the ERwith extreme pain.. they took a hormone level .. it said i should have been 8-12 wks preggers..no way.. i know when i got prego.. Dh was on leave.. so they do a sono..NOTHING.. just an empty geustional sac....nothing in it..and then what looks to be a not formed sac???.. soo they come in and say.Im sry you had a miscarriage.. we need to do a D&C.. i said NO.. it will happen on its own and went home.. i week later they wanted a sono to conform the proscess was going ok.. THERE WAS A HEATBEAT.......i had a live baby......soo doc says i lost a twin.. and that alot of women do... it broke my heart.. but i was happy for our lil daughter who is still growing health until she is born......its hard.. but i think god new i wasn;t able to cope..

[christyc]

Originally Posted by *MAMACITA*

.soo doc says i lost a twin.. and that alot of women do... it broke my heart.. but i was happy for our lil daughter who is still growing health until she is born......its hard.. but i think god new i wasn;t able to cope..

So sorry for the loss of the twin. I was just reading last night (in Elizabeth Noble's twin book) that one researcher conservatively estimates twin conceptions in about 12% of pregnancies, even though only 3% of all births involve twins. Although I swear up and down I have no family history of twins, my grandmother once told me that she had an experience very similar to you with my aunt. She thought she had miscarried, and then a month or two later was still pregnant. She said the doctor told her it was likely a mistake and that she had not miscarried (this was also almost 50 years ago), but she always swore she had thought she was pregnant with twins and lost one.

and littleteapot-- that looks like a twin belly, for sure! I can see how you would have thought you were having more than one!

[ErinBird]

I had no reason to suspect multiples beyond the fact that they run in my family and I was terrified at the thought of my first birth being multiples.

After my 9.5lb baby was born I felt my placenta (detatched) in my uterus and the urge to push. Having never seen a placenta before, I didn't expect it to be so big. I remember sayign to DH (who was holding our still attached newborn...) that there had better nt be another one- I wasn't up for that!:

A little push yeilded a big, healthy placenta that went skidding across the plastic dropcloths on the floor and almost lauched itself right into the closet! No other baby

[kettunainen]

littleteapot - that's a GORGEOUS belly! When you had the bleeding early on, do you remember how early?

[littleteapot]

I was about 6-7 weeks along, in retrospect. I went most of the pregnancy thinking it was a first period and that I had conceived almost a month later... I was just strangely oblivious to things like hearing the heartbeat clearly and loudly with a fetoscope at "15 weeks" (not likely!).

[kettunainen]

Thanks, that's good to know. And it makes me feel better that I'm past that point. (not that it couldn't happen now; just sayin' it makes me feel better)

[littleteapot]

I know the feeling: I've had four miscarraiges (not counting the 'in theory' loss of a twin, or my son who died after an almost-full term birth). My personal 'safe point' was 12 weeks. I always let out my breath after that point, and again at 23 weeks.

[mother culture]

Just wondering if indeed we are having any Twin UC pregnancies?

[MamaRabbit]

: We are having TWINS :

I suspected at 10 weeks because I was having way more nausea and fatigue than normal and starting to measure big. By 12 weeks, the top of my uterus was just below my belly button.

I have to have 2 documented visits with an OB to get a birth certificate here. I wasn't going to go in until 20 weeks but really needed confirmation. I had not gained any weight and needed to know so I could do diet changes even more. I left the office full of fear. Not because of the twins discovery but because it pretty much means C-section here.

There are ZERO homebirth midwives. My OB is the only one willing to "let" me "try" to do vaginal birth. He's a waterbirth advocate but not for twins.

So will we do a UC with twins? I had really wanted to before when thinking it was just one. My DH and I are re-discussing it. My midwife (who has now moved back to Australia) has said she can come. She's more hands-on than I'd want but only willing to help if both babies are head down. And she's willing to go to the hospital for a vaginal birth "attempt" if not (to help keep interventions to a minimum). Not a good situation huh. The #1 predicament for me is that in case of transport, there is no 911 here and the only hospital I'd trust to actually know what to do is 45 minutes away. Again, not a good situation.

A lot of decisions to make. I'm happy with a UC if the first is head down and the 2nd one breech. If both breech, not sure yet.

So for now, count me in as a UC for twins because it looks like it's my only option. Not because of few to none birth options but because I totally believe in UC. My DH needs to get back on the UC boat with me!

[dantesmama]

Yay, MamaRabbit!!! Congratulations!

[mother culture]

How wonderful keep us posted!

[christyc]

Congrats, MamaRabbit! I know some twin mamas who have flown in midwives for twin births, and a few who were planning to UC.

I'm not UC-ing myself (this is my first real homebirth, first VBAC, and first twins all at once, so I wanted someone there just for my own reassurance), but if I hadn't been able to find a great, laid back, extremely competent, delivered tons of twins and VBACs CNM to assist me, I'd definitely UC before I'd get on the medical-go-round. I've been going to a chiropractor every other week, practicing good posture, etc., so I'm hoping to avoid two breeches or transverse or whatever, by my midwife will help me check for positions and all as the date approaches.

Congrats again on your twins! How exciting!

[punkprincessmama]

wow, what a cool thread. We arent ttc right now, but I've been having very vivid dreams about twins for months now. My dd1 (Age4) told me very clearly yesterday that she expects there to be two more babies next time I give birth.

I have a friend who recently had triplets and she said she had these kinds of dreams for months before getting pregnant.

I've started really looking into ucing twins. I've been interested in UC for awhile, and feel it would be even more beneficial if there were twins involved.

[CalebsMama05]

Originally Posted by zoebird

my husband says that we should do everything in our power (herbally, nutritionally) to get twins. he's 'set' on the idea. lol!

my dh wants twins also