Pregnancy: Singleton vs. Twins

As 2017 comes to a close I figured I should finish it out with one of my biggest accomplishments this year, which was starting this blog. As you know I am still pregnant with twins, but I am on the final countdown. One of the questions that I get the most is how is this pregnancy different from my last. In the beginning, it wasn’t (other than adding the word “singleton” to my vocabulary), but now that I am coming near the end I can think of quite a few ways.

1. Doctor Visits and Ultrasounds

When I was pregnant with a single baby, I had 2 ultrasounds; one at the beginning (which wasn’t quite at the beginning due to some confusion on my part) usually known as the dating scan and one in the second trimester; the anatomy scan. It was at the dating scan at 7 weeks that I found out I was having twins. My regular OB said I needed to schedule an appointment with a specialist asap. 

Before we found about the twins I was already considered high risk due to my last delivery so I knew I would need to see the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist (MFM). So it wasn’t a big deal to schedule that appointment. However, having twins means that the MFM has been monitoring me the whole way through to delivery. They essentially are the twins doctor and the ob is mine. In the first trimester I saw them once a month and since around 16 weeks I have seen them every two weeks. Each appointment basically consists of an ultrasound to determine each baby’s growth, the amniotic fluid around each baby, and that their heart, brain, kidneys, and bladder looks good.

The appointment with the MFM is in addition to my appointments with my regular OB who follows a typical pregnancy schedule. I have been seeing her once a month up until the third trimester and now see her bi-weekly. So at this point I will be seeing at least one doctor a week until deliver. The positive is that I have gotten many pictures of the babies and know they are doing well. The negative is that I have to try to schedule and keep track of so many appointments.

2. Indigestion

I thought when I was pregnant with Baby Girl the indigestion was bad, but it is nothing like this. Less space inside means that the babies are pressing on my stomach even more causing stomach acids to rise at the worst possible times. Sometimes I feel the burn after only drinking water or in the middle of the night when its been hours since I have had anything to eat or drink.

I have been blessed in both of my pregnancies to not experience morning sickness. With my first I think I threw up 3 times total in the whole pregnancy. However, with the twins indigestion has caused me to throw up countless times. The bigger the babies get the more often. I am thankful that I’ve only ever been sick when I am at home.

3. Belly Size and Sleep

This may seem obvious, but two babies take up more space than one. Thus my belly at 27 weeks measured what a single baby would at 37 weeks. Needless to say the last few weeks have been uncomfortable. There were many nights where I tossed and turned so much that I gave up and lay on the couch so at least my husband could sleep comfortably. Thankfully it has improved in the last week or so, I believe this is in part due to the position of the babies.

4. Delivery

For the type of twins that I am having, mono-di, it is not recommended that delivery go past 37 weeks. This is due to the fact that they share a placenta and the placenta may begin to break down and become dangerous for the babies. Thus I know that when the twins are born they will be small and could potentially need NICU time. Having 5 or 6 pound babies makes me slightly nervous after having an 8lb 3 oz baby. In the past year I have looked at other babies and said wow Baby Girl was never that small. Even after she dropped a little weight she never went below 7 pounds.

A common misconception is that twins have to be born via C-section. This is not true, I am a member of twin group on Facebook and many ladies have had successful vaginal births with twins. The risk there is that if the second baby goes into distress or is unable to be delivered you’ll end up with an emergency c-section and have to recover from both types of delivery. Which happens from time to time. It is for this reason that those pregnant with mono-di twins are generally set to delivery in an operating room, regardless of how the baby is being delivered. In my case, I am having a scheduled C-section, not because of the twins, but because after the birth of baby girl it was determined that my body is not capable of giving birth the “natural” way.

At some point I will probably need to write a follow-up post to this as it in no ways covers everything that I have learned or had to think about during this pregnancy. But this post has already become very long so I will close here. Feel free to leave questions below if there is something that is unclear. Please keep in your prayers as I make it through these final 8 weeks!

Martina