Some Twin Questions

amother

Tue, Nov 01 2011, 9:52 am

I am currently pregnant with twins and am freaking out a little bit. We are not telling anyone that I am pregnant with twins since this pregnancy had so many problems to begin with. I was just wondering if anyone else did that and did they get away with it.

Also how far did you carry your twins and did they spend time in the NICU? Right now everything looks really good but I am freaking out about having them early and spending time in the NICU. TIA!!!

Blue jay

Tue, Nov 01 2011, 10:13 am

Ba sha tova!

Thank g-d Im glad to hear that everything is going good for you. Initially in the beginning I did not tell anyone I was even pregnant. But when it became obvious and people would ask "When is the baby due" I felt I needed to correct them and say "Babies" Also people would treat me espcially at work with more kindness when they knew I was pregnant with twins

My twin pregancy went until 34 weeks and my babies were not in the NICU. However they were still small (4lbs each) and required alot of extra premie work. Premies sleep all the time and they do not like to eat. That was our experience. By the time they were 3-4 weeks old and at a full term baby size all they wanted to do was eat!

Here is my advice: To do now:

1. Drink alot of water and I mean alot. Dont lift heavy objects, be especially careful when lugging grocery bags. Bottled water can be 5 pounds!

2. Research project- arrange help for the first few weeks in any way shape or form.

All the best and feel free to pm me if you have any questions!

tikva18

Tue, Nov 01 2011, 10:27 am

b'sha'ah tova!!!!

We did not initially tell people - although I have a difficult time keeping news to myself. I had bedrest early on for a subchorionic hemorrhage for many weeks - so people knew that I was expecting (I think that was from about 8-15wks). That, btw, is just a fluke and was not due to a twin pregnancy. By the time we moved to our new home (26ishwks) I was on bedrest for pre-term labor (again, nothing to do with twin pregnancy and everything to do with me - I've had bedrest for all of my pregnancies due to pre-term labor). My neighbors quickly found out - and that was okay by me.

I had been to the dr. on a tuesday and she had told me that I would probably carry to term (ironically, the pre-term labor does not mean I go into labor early - with 2 of mine I was overdue), then that Thursday when I went in for an ultrasound, they saw that baby A wasn't growing like they'd like - so they did an eviction; I mean induction.

Born 35w5d, he was 4lb (baby a) and she was 5 lb. He needed extra care in the NICU, but no oxygen or anything, just extra observation and warmth. She was put in a regular nursery. They both didn't know how to coordinate sucking and swallowing and breathing - so I had to be taught how to give them bottles. I pumped everything for them - although she got a small bit of formula right in the beginning since I couldn't pump enough colostrum for the two of them.

They have had no issues. Both were held in the hospital for 4 days as a precaution and then I got them out of there. They both learned to nurse right at their real due date and nursed like champs.

Advise: increase your protein intake greatly. drink a lot of water, rest, don't stress. believe it's good and it will be good. imagine the outcome (birth), envision how you want it to be, don't listen to negativity.

Even though my birth wasn't what I had wanted, I was still able to make it be good by envisioning a good outcome. And let me highly recommend: http://www.karengromada.com/ She's really great.

littlecat

Tue, Nov 01 2011, 11:28 am

I did not tell anyone except my parents and one sister that I was having twins. I did tell everyone at work bec it garnered more sympathy and helped with my needing to go for checkups every two weeks. (I dont work with anyone frum).

My b/g twins were born via c section at exactly 37 weeks. I had no choice but to have a csection given their positions and a health issue with me required their birth earlier than expected so it was somewhat scheduled (ie no labor or anything). they came home with me and my son's bris was on time. no NICU time. they wer 4"13 and 5'13 and bli ayin hora perfect little babies!

I drank a lot of water and tried to eat healthy. I also worked out just about every day (sometimes it was just 20 min on the elliptical) but I think it made a HUGE difference in my recovery.

biggest advice - GET HELP in the beginning...

ntm1

Tue, Nov 01 2011, 3:50 pm

b'shahah tova-

We werent planning on telling anyone until arnd 7 mnths. but at 3.5 mnths we by mistake slipped and told my mother-she was the only 1 who knew- (she didnt even tell my father) and we told my in-laws and father at arnd 7 mnths.- it was the best thing that my mother knew this way she was able to help me out with cooking for shabbos and the like since I constantly needed to go to manhattan for sonograms to make sure the twins were growing nicely.

I also told everyone I was a month further then I really was so as not to look like I was extra big-

B'h everything went very smooth and they were born naturally at 36 weeks at 4"15 & 5"1 and did not need to spend any time in the NICU- they did need to spend an extra 3-4 days in the nursery since they couldnt maintain their own body temperature

I also made sure to drink a lot of water since I was due right after the summer and it was hot summer

DefyGravity

Tue, Nov 01 2011, 4:33 pm

We told everyone that I was pregnant with twins. It was too hard to keep the news to ourselves and not refer to them in the plural.

People that didn't know me were always surprised to hear I was carrying twins, since I wasn't especially huge. However, it was my first pregnancy, so I wasn't already stretched out.

My twins were born at exactly 35 weeks and weighed 4 pounds 14 ounces and didn't spend any time in the nicu.

amother

Wed, Nov 02 2011, 2:55 pm

ntm1 wrote:

I also told everyone I was a month further then I really was so as not to look like I was extra big-

OP here - thanks everyone for all the information.

I wish I had this idea when I started telling people I was pregnant. My tummy kinda popped early and I gave up trying to hide I was pregnant. Now people just say wow your really big are you sure your due.......

rac429

Tue, Oct 16 2012, 12:05 pm

We only told our parents that we were having twins and no one else. It was so much fun when people found out. My twin pregnancy was very different t than my single. I had a shortened cervix and ended up in the hospital a couple of times and on bed rest. I went on bed rest at 30 weeks and my babies were born via c-section (had no choice since Baby A was breach) at 33 wks and 6 days. They weighed 4"4 and 4"2 and had no major issues but had to spend 12 days in the Special Care Nursery which is one step down from the NICU in the hospital I delivered out. They had IVs and were in isoletes and that was hard but now B"H they are healthy babies with no problems. My advice to you is to take it easy. I am a doer and that was a big detriment to me in this pregnancy. Had I taken it easy I probably would have been able to carry them longer.