Let me just start by saying this – twin pregnancy is very different from being pregnant with just one baby. I’ve been through both, and while of course there are numerous similarities, there are also many differences. In some ways my twin pregnancy was much harder than my singleton pregnancy. Mostly it wasn’t all that bad. Here is what carrying twins was like for me.
In the early part of the first trimester, not a whole lot was different. Some of the early symptoms of pregnancy were definitely more pronounced, things such as nausea and sore breasts. They weren’t doubly bad, just worse than with my first pregnancy.
(Watch my video below on what having twins is really like!)
I probably wouldn’t have noticed anything out of the ordinary if I didn’t already know there was a possibility of being pregnant with twins. We went through IVF and followed our doctor’s recommendations of implanting two embryos. Because of this, there was a chance, although slim, that both would develop and we would be having twins.
The biggest thing I recall about the early part of my twin pregnancy is being a lot more tired. This could also be because I was five years older than with my first pregnancy and not able to sleep as much. But I definitely needed a lot more sleep than I ever have before. I was beat! Thankfully my firstborn was old enough to be able to relax with me on the couch a lot watching movies (and even to allow Mommy to sleep through some of them!)
Bloating was another problem early on with my twin pregnancy. You could say I looked like I was carrying twins! Even though it was much too early to be the babies causing the protruding tummy, there was definitely a lot of stomach bloat.
I started to show sooner too, which you would expect considering there are two babies in there, and in my case, two separate gestational sacs and two separate placentas. So a lot more going on down there to push my belly out. My uterus was growing faster than it would have if I was pregnant with one baby.
Early on, twin pregnancy is pretty similar to singleton pregnancy
Other than some of the early pregnancy symptoms being slightly worse, there wasn’t anything that different about being pregnant with twins early on. I did have a few more early ultrasounds, but that was also because this was an IVF pregnancy, and because I had several prior miscarriages. So I probably would have had these extra early ultrasounds even if I had only been pregnant with one baby. It wasn’t until a bit later that the visits to my OB really increased.
One of the most exciting parts of the first trimester was getting the results of the genetic screening blood test. This is the one where you can find out the sex of your babies if you choose to (which I of course did, I have no patience for that kind of thing).
I have heard that not all of the companies do this test in the same way. The test we had couldn’t separate the chromosomes of twins. We were only able to find out whether or not they detected an abnormality, not which twin it would apply to. If anything abnormal came up, there would be no way to tell if it applied to one or both twins without further testing. However, if the test came back normal, we could rest assured that no abnormalities were detected in either twin.
As far as the sex of the babies went, they could only detect the presence or absence of a Y chromosome. The absence of this chromosome meant that no male DNA was detected, and we could assume both babies would be girls. However, if they did detect the Y chromosome (which is what happened in my case) then we would have to wait until the anatomy scan to find out if one or both babies was a boy. That was quite a long wait for us, especially with my older daughter talking constantly about how much she wanted a little sister – which is pretty funny now considering she seems to have bonded more with her little brother!
Because of this, our insurance company might not cover the test at all. However, because I was over 35 at the time, we opted to have the test. Thankfully, the test came back with no chromosomal abnormalities detected. We didn’t need any further testing.
Second Trimester of Twin Pregnancy
By far the best trimester of my twin pregnancy, the second trimester brought relief for my morning sickness and extreme fatigue. In fact, I had an almost superhuman amount of energy. I remember having a nesting instinct with my first pregnancy, but this was definitely much more intense. I could not stop cleaning and organizing our entire house. Some days I had trouble finding anything to organize and I would be so disappointed! I actually miss having that much energy – it was really something. My husband had to ask me to stop on several occasions. I really don’t know what got into me.
Doctors visits increased in the second trimester. My doctor wanted the heartbeats done by ultrasound until the babies were bigger, so that they could be sure which heartbeat belonged to which baby. Every time I went for my regular pregnancy checkups, I got to have a quick ultrasound as well. That definitely helped with my nerves. Being able to see that the babies were doing well and growing in there every couple of weeks was amazing. It really helped me get through my twin pregnancy by having that regular reassurance that things were ok.
I also had to start seeing a maternal fetal medicine specialist. This is where I had most of my ultrasounds. The NT scan, the anatomy scan, and an extra ultrasound to look at their hearts in detail.
Needless to say, my car racked up a lot of miles getting to all these appointments!
The second trimester is also when I was able to start feeling movement.
It would be awhile before I could tell which twin I was feeling, but feeling any movement is an exciting time in all pregnancies, and it was no different being pregnant with twins. I definitely started feeling movement earlier this time, but that could be for a number of reasons. For one thing, there were two babies in there, so twice the arms and legs to kick and punch me with. For another, it was my second time around, so I knew what a kick felt like.
With twins, the babies are more spread out in your belly, so you can feel kicks and punches in different places early on than you can with a single baby. Your uterus is larger at any given point in a twin pregnancy than with a singleton.
As far as my appetite went, as my belly got bigger, my stomach seemed to get smaller. It felt as though I had no room in there, and it was difficult to get myself to eat much at mealtimes. This was something I really struggled with for the rest of my twin pregnancy. Trying to make sure I got enough calories each day was a challenge. I resorted to smoothies and ice cream many times. Things that packed in the calories but didn’t make me feel too full. I really didn’t expect anything like that to happen. When I was pregnant with my first baby, I had no trouble eating whatever I wanted.
Sleeping was also more difficult. It was harder to get comfortable, and I was waking up constantly to pee during the night. Not to mention the totally crazy dreams I was having. This happened during my singleton pregnancy too, but the extra pressure on my bladder definitely had me getting up more at night when I was pregnant with my twins. This probably contributed to me remembering so many weird dreams.
The Last Trimester
This is where twin pregnancy gets hard. Those stories you hear of twin moms begging their doctors to find a reason to deliver them early are true. It gets rough, it really does.
Being only 5 feet 2 inches, there wasn’t all that much room in my belly for these two babies. Baby B, the boy twin, ended up taking up residence underneath my rib cage for most of the last trimester. I was constantly trying to find ways to relieve the pain. Boy did it hurt!
I tried stretches that I read about on the internet, no matter how silly I felt and looked. I even put ice on my ribs to get him to move a bit, heating pads, tylenol, etc. It got to the point where sitting upright in a chair, any chair, was too painful. I had to position myself to make as much room as possible for the babies in there. I spent much of my day reaching up and holding on to door frames and kind of letting myself dangle there to make some room and take the pressure off. No lie – it was that bad.
If the rib pain wasn’t bad enough, the back pain made up for it. It is hard on your body carrying twins around all day. Even if you don’t gain that much more weight than with a singleton, the way twins are positioned is different and really throws everything off. My ribs and back are hurting me right now just remembering the pain. I think that was the worst part for me of the whole pregnancy, and it didn’t go away until they were born.
I also had to have non stress tests done near the end of this trimester. My doctor’s office didn’t have the equipment to administer these tests for twins, so I had to go to the actual hospital twice a week. It took longer just to get there and park than the actual test, which just involved laying there with heart-rate monitors on each baby. Add to that the weekly visits to my OB, and a few more ultrasounds at the MFM office to check for growth, and it felt like I was at the doctor every day!
Another thing I wasn’t prepared for was something called “irritable uterus”. This started happening to me late in the second trimester, but it really picked up in those last couple months. This is something that causes contractions, but is not the same as Braxton Hicks. With irritable uterus, things like drinking water and lying down don’t make the contractions go away. They weren’t painful, but they could be quite uncomfortable. Before I understood what was happening, I was at labor and delivery a couple of times, anxious about preterm labor.
Eventually I learned to ignore these contractions. I was told by several doctors that these things just happen more with twin pregnancy.
As the third trimester went on, I started to think a lot about how early the twins would arrive. I worried about preterm labor, and about the possibility of them having to stay in the NICU. My goal those last few weeks was just to keep those babies in there as long as possible – even though I knew it was mostly out of my control.
In the end, my twins were born at exactly 35 weeks and 6 days. My water broke in the middle of the night and they were born by c-section early that morning. And while there were certainly things to be glad about not being pregnant anymore (no more rib pain for one!) – I have to say, I really miss being pregnant with twins, and I would do it all over again. Even though it was a shock at first to learn that I was going to have two babies, once I got used to the idea, I couldn’t imagine it any other way.
