any twins born at home?

[hotmamacita]

Any other mamas who birthed twins at home? I'd love to hear your stories?

Peace,

[Heathermama]

wowo great to hear someone made it all the way...good job ma- my boys 9m twins were an attempted homebirth and even with three midwifes we made it to 7cm and Jonah (first born) was tilted a bit not possitioned right so we went to the hospital because everything had to be just perfect. I think we could have done it at home. My boys were born beautifuly and easy and bliss in the hospital. Who knows why we were ment to be there...I think it was just wonderful regardless...good stuff. Totally natural and even no opesiotamy which I spelled wronge- lots of love RIght on for you ma.

[sleeping queen]

I didn't understand your post. Are you ready to have the babies or have you had them. My twins were my third pg. I had no trouble with the first two. My twin pg was pretty uneventful. I carried to 38 weeks. I would really discourage a home birth. There is just so much that can unexpectedly go wrong. I almost died. I hemorahged and ended up with a hysterectomy and 3 weeks in the hospital. I used to like the idea of home births till my experience. In this day and age where medical prevention can save lifes its not worth it. Plus I have a friend who's friend homebirths and her last child there were problems with the delivery and oxygen to the baby. They aren't sure how much brain damage there is. It is really sad since it could of been prevented.

[hotmamacita]

oh no, sleeping queen, i am sorry about your experience. were you planning a twin homebirth? was this your first homebirth? what state are you in? (I see that you are brand new to MDC and WELCOME!!!!!!!)

i had a succesful twin homebirth with two breech babies and complications during the labour and birth. one midwife was wonderfully skilled in emergency response. she also has great training with experience with twins, breech presentations, and complications. another midwife providing care for me had incredible trianing in nutrition and herbs and taught me much about eating so well to prevent pre-term labour, low birth weight, hemoraghing. i remember right after the second twin was born (a footling) she made me drink this herbal concoction to minimize bleeding. i am so thankful to have been at home with skilled people. imho and knowing the hospital here, things could have been worse for us at the hospital.


sleeping queen, i have had friends who have lost babies in the hospital all due to nurse/doctor malpractice. one close friend lost her baby while pushing as the doctor slept down the hall and the nurses royally messed up. the same friend planned a homebirth after that and had a wonderful homebirth and no complications.

another friend, like you, almost died after bleeding excessively because her doctor not only pulled the baby out but later intentionally yanked on the cord ripping it from the placenta in an attempt to get the placenta out quickly so that she could go on her way. it was a huge mess. we were afraid that she was going to die, even one of the nurses said that to her husband and her daughter was taken to NICU because of the doctors premature decision and developed breathing problems as a result. the hosptial later admitted wrong doing and apologized.

i am sorry about your experience but please know there are many, many, many succesful homebirths all around the world. Hospitals have their place but "are not a guaranteed for a live birth' just because it is a hospital.

no one should be scared into a hosptial or a homebirth. women should not only trust their instincts but be free to choose what is right for them. for some it is definately the hospital. for some it is a homebirth. and in all, birth ultimately is out of our hands anyway.

again, i am sorry to hear of your story and experience, sleeping queen. i am glad that your babies are well and look forward to hearing more about your experiences with twins.

peace,

[Megs Mom]

You had breech twins at home? Both breech? Feet first? Wow, that's so cool!

ETA: are you still nursing one or both of your older children in addition to the babies? How old are the babes now?

[leakyandsnort]

hotmamacita, i'd love to talk to you more, too. i'm almost 20 weeks pregnant with twins, & will be having them in a hospital b/c no midwives around will take us on - the babies are showing signs of TTTS and all that. but my previous birth was amazing, and i really want to bring as much of that with me as i can. i'd love any advice you could give me.

thnaks!
kathy

[hotmamacita]

MegsMOM: Yes, Baby a came out bum first. Then later baby b came out feet first.

No, I am not nursing the older two. Just the twins. they are eleven months. (Wow, I can't believe it's almost been a year.)

LEAKYANDSNORT: I'll PM you with my e-mail. It is CRUCIAL TO EAT PRISTINELY and drink over a gallon of water a day. I found out at 22 weeks and stopped eating anything but protein (150 grams a day), iron rich food/herbs, green leafies, and water. Seriously, I ate NO SUGAR, CARBS, nothing. Trust me it is SOOO worth it. Your diet in a twin pregnancy is so essential. Congrats and I would love to dialogue with you along the way.

[Megs Mom]

Could you pretty please send me the same PM? I'm 29w2d, on bedrest for a softening cervix since 25 weeks. I'm having so much trouble eating ANYTHING, much less healthy things but I'm willing to commit to doing better with some direction. I want big, healthy babies!

ETA: also using a hospital, with a (fortunately very progressive) OB.

[leakyandsnort]

hey megs mom -
the book having twins by eliz. noble is a great resource for some food. also, she talks about the Brewer diet, which I haven't checked out yet, but have heard is great.

Something that I've been doing for about 2.5 weeks now is drinking 2 cans of Boost or Ensure per day. It's nasty stuff, and has WAY more sugar than i want to be taking in. It's kind of specific to the twin to twin transfusion problem we're having, but I have found that it has made an incredible difference in my energy level and overall feeling of well-being (as an otherwise pretty strict veg., i feel so hypocrytical saying this, but it's true!) as well as helping to keep my amniotic fluid levels in check.

i'd love to talk to you, too! you're a little ahead of me, it looks like, but that's ok! feel free to Pm or email me - hausfrau at mac dot com!

[hotmamacita]

I am fighting a bad cough but wanted to add something...

sugar is a detriment to a twin pregnancy. whole foods grocery store makes a soy powder without sugar. just mix it with milk or water. please, please, please know that the high sugar content in those drinks can be problematic later on.

yes, having twins by e. noble is fantastic. also anne frye's section on twins in holistic midwifery.

pm or e-mail me and I will give y'all both some people to dialogue with via e-mail as well as myself.

my e-mail is [e-mail].

[Tigerchild]

Leakyandsnort,

My twins had moderate-to-severe (though just under the cut for the laser surgery) TTTS starting from 16 weeks.

You might want to consider Atkins shakes if you are concerned about sugar intake (though it does have sweeteners). I actually felt much better after switching over to the Atkins stuff, since it has more protein than the Boost (which is why you're drinking them in the first place), and less dairy product (which made me really ill when I was pregnant).

Are you doing amnioreductions? Please know that in the case of TTTS where the babies remain in good enough shape to avoid any kind of treatment, your birthing optinos (other than a hospital) are pretty much wide open. Do you have access to a good local doctor? That can make a world of difference. I hope your little fighters are doing well.

Feel free to PM and vent about the TTTS anytime, if you need to. It's a very stressful thing to have happen to your pregnancy. I was shocked at the size difference and appearance of my guys (they were born at 36 weeks!) but now at 5 months they really are starting to look identical and now they're on the upper end of the growth scale (unadjusted).

[breathingmom]

I had my twins at home!

I have been waiting for the right time to post on here because I wanted to write my story thoughtfully and with interesting detail. Since I am a busy homeschooling mom of three kids I decided that it would be best to just give some highlights or I may never end up adding my story!

My first child was born at a hospital with a CNM who I had transferred to at 35 weeks. I was not very educated about natural childbirth up until that point and luckily our midwife was willing to take us late in the pregnancy and did much to alleviate our fears and help us find wonderful resources like prenatal yoga.

When we found out we were having another baby we went back to our midwife. At our second visit she said we were either off on our dates or having twins. By the fourth month of the pregnancy we decided to find an ultrasound tech who would do a quick "peek" since we were considering a move that would take us far from family. We were stunned to find out that we were having twins! I literally laughed (2 babies!!!!!) and cried (my relationship with my ds would be so dramatically changed forever) at the same time.

Now armed with the information that we could expect two babies we started reading as much information as we could find. Making our way through the endless information of risks and "less than perfect" outcomes we decided to surround ourselves with positive people and plan for the births of our choice. We moved forward with the belief that my pregnancy was "special needs" and not automatically "high risk". Our midwife bravely made the choice to follow her heart and attend our joyous day.

I went in to labor at 37 1/2 weeks. The highlights of our daughters births were: slow dancing in the living room during the beginning stages of labor, having our son (almost three at the time) weaving his way in and out of the room, being surrounded by the most incredible group of women and one awesome A/P doc, suddenly noticing it was sunrise and in that same instant knowing it was time to push.

My first dd was born at 7:30 am. I nursed her for awhile until the contractions became too strong to ignore, then I handed her off to her Dad. My next sweet baby waited another hour and a half to make her way out. (Her bag of waters was not breaking and I was given the option of breaking it or waiting. I had an instinct that we should wait. Later we discussed with the midwife how we all felt that this extra time gave my uterus time to contract down which helped there to be no hemorrhaging). My dd's weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz. and 7 lbs. 10 oz.

The last three weeks of pregnancy were a challange but having healthy, 7 pound babies made it all worth it! My dd's are now 6 years old and while homebirth of twins might not be for every family, it was a incredible experience for us and one we will always treasure.

hotmamacita, I can't believe that your babies are almost a year old! It's great to hear how wonderful you all are doing and that you are sharing your inspiring story with others!

Blessings to all you moms who are expecting two! I assure it's not "double trouble" it's "twice the love"!!!

~Jill

[sleeping queen]

You women are amazing!!! How did you handle all the labor pains. My first dd I didn't dialate very well and ended up on a pit drip and begging for pain medicine. With my first dd I did a lot of walking to help progress things and it didn't seem to help.

[Megs Mom]

Laura, check out http://www.hypnobabies.com

[hotmamacita]

breathingmom---great story!!! THANK you. Yes 7 pound twins are worth it. I am encouraged by your and your midwife's desire to honour your hearts.

sleeping queen--labour pains stink. my husband held me during each contraction OR i got into the tub. (WATER IS SOOOOOO Amazing--i barely felt my contractions)

I hear pit. is horrid. and that is makes you feel like dying. so i don't know if labour with pit is a good comparison to labour w/o drugs.

POR-My twins were 8 pounds 3 ounces and 8 pounds 10 ounces. Breathingmom, if yours had not decided to hurry up and meet you they would have been what, TEN pound each? I can't believe they were that big at 37 weeks. Way to go!!!

[1Plus2]

Re: I had my twins at home!

Originally posted by breathingmom
We were stunned to find out that we were having twins! I literally laughed (2 babies!!!!!) and cried (my relationship with my ds would be so dramatically changed forever) at the same time.

Blessings to all you moms who are expecting two! I assure it's not "double trouble" it's "twice the love"!!!

Jill - That is EXACTLY how I felt when we found out we were having twins. I was getting an ultrasound at 8-weeks (to confirm my due date since I was nursing when we conceived) and my dh and dd were there also. I just remember looking at the screen and laughing and crying with joy and then turning to my then 18-month-old dd and crying with sadness knowing how her life would NEVER be the same. Would I ever change it? NO WAY!! My dd LOVES her sisters with a passion and she now thinks anyone who has only one baby got the short end of the stick. I also agree with you about the "double trouble" thing...I see myself as doubly blessed!!!

[Megs Mom]

It's really nice to hear the positive comments about twins, esp. in the context of the older sibling. Thank you!

[leakyandsnort]

i know this thread has been snoozing for a while, but...

Ok, so I think I'm hitting 24? 25? weeks with the twins. We've still been seeing the high risk specialists, but it looks like the TTTS is taking a rest & we've been promoted to every other week appointments instead of weekly.

So here's where I am - when we were diagnosed as monoamniotic, I accepted completely the inevitability of a c-section. When they found the membrane, I got a little excited.

The folks we are seing are great, and have said that if everything lines up for a good vaginal birth, they won't get in the way. However, I know not everyone on the staff is prepared for breech presentation.

So my worries are focused on the possibility (probability, if I can help it!) of carrying these girls to term, having them be healthy....and end up in a hospital birth hell scenario.

I saw that someone had experience transferring care sas late as 35 weeks. I guess I'm looking for advice - of any sort, be it direct references/names/starting places, etc. - on how to go about changing care if/when we get to that point. Where can I find midwives who will be willing to even talk to us post-high-risk pregnancy? I'm comfortable with home birth, if that wasn't clear.

Argh - things here are crazy. That's not the clearest post I've ever written, but I hope you get the idea of what I'm asking!

[drmoms]

I just posted on another twin thread in here... but found this place so Im posting again!

I just found out Im expecting twins (boy/girl) I have 3 other children ages 7, 4 1/2, & almost 3. The first two were c-sections (cringe) and my third was a painless,easy, & successful homebirth. The best experience of my life. I want to have these twins at home so I have been searching online and purchased a book/video on the subject and want to educate myself. I will be coming back here time and again during this pregnancy, because I need support!

Im 20+ weeks (due 4/29/04). Thanks to everyone who has shared their story and success with us moms who are batteling the "your not gunna do twins at home are ya's"!

Randee

[Megs Mom]

Welcome, Randee, and good luck!