Pregnant with Twins - Liberty,MO

Hi! Welcome to the amazingly wonderful world of twins!!

Mine are a year and a half. Most doctors do not let you go past 38 weeks due to risk of complications. I did make it to 38 weeks without needing bed rest. But, be prepared to deliver early since the average delivery is around 36 weeks. Mine was a scheduled c-section, but I couldn't have delivered anyway because of their position. Plus, mine weighed in at a whopping 8lbs 7 oz and 7 lbs 13 oz!

Yes, some companies offer free items. I received great coupons from Pampers, including a free package of diapers. Just call and ask if they have a mother of multiples program. I was able to get free stuff from Beech-nut, Pampers, Gerber, Playtex, and some other. The First Years has a program, too.

Yes, have them sleep in the same crib, but separate them when they start moving around. Other moms I know said the transition was tough if they waited until after four months of age, so separate them sooner than that!

As for maternity clothes, most of my clothes fit until the very end, but, again, I was carrying 16 lbs of baby and was HUGE. The shirts that lasted the longest were made of stretchy cotton.

I highly recommend finding a mothers of multiples club near you. You can find one at www.nomotc.org. My group has great support services for women who are pregnant, and I couldn't imagine being pregnant with twins without being around other women who've done it!

Congrats, and good luck!

Find your local chapter of Mothers of Twins Club. They love to give lots of advice. They have great biannual yard sales from other moms of twins where you can get matching baby clothes and two of everything as far as baby equipment. When I joined, I bought a ton of stuff from them. It wasn't junky, icky stuff, but nice things. They gave me a large packet of advice on the pregnancy and then surviving the newborn and baby stages. It was all great advice.

I went to 38 weeks and was induced, ended up with a c-section. Everyone's pregnancy is different. The main thing is your doctor will be worried about them coming premature and may put you on bedrest or modified bedrest. You will also have lots more ultrasounds than normal. If you are not having premature labor symptoms, you will be fine. You have to take extra good care of yourself- drink a lot! Being dehydrated can cause contractions. Eat a lot of good food. Now is not the time to try and lose weight. The mothers of twins yardsale will have clothes that are bigger maternity size. Also, have you seen those pregnancy belt things that you wear under your tummy? I would suggest one of those to hold everything up.

When they are newborn, have them have identical schedules - eat, sleep, change diaper all at the same time - don't stagger schedules! Put stashes of diapers and bottles and binkies both upstairs and downstairs so you don't have to walk all over your house.

BTW my twins would cry if I separated them. They always wanted to be together.

yes i was induced at 38 wks 1 day. i asked for c section but would have had to go it anyhow. one baby was breech. i was walking the same day after having c section. i had heard the scaring would be less if you walk right away. that came true with me. i can barely tell there is a scar down there.

free stuff?
i don't know. our ped's office gave us plenty of infant tylenol and formula but no free stuff.
got my maternity stuff at pea in the pod.
i gained 37 lbs and lost it all those first few weeks.
my twins slept in the same crib for a while. i didn't use pacifier for them.
good luck

I just want say CONGRATULATIONS!!! What a blessing!!! Please keep us all posted! <3

Congrats on your twins! We found out we were having twins at 20 weeks and they were born right after my daughter turned two. They are now 2 1/2 months old and doing great! I had a vaginal delivery and was induced at 38 weeks exactly. If both kiddos are head down, I would say go for it- a vaginal birth is much easier to recover from then a c-section. However, if both are not head down your doctor will most likely suggest a c-section. From what I have read and what my Dr said, it is very unlikely that they will let you go past 38 weeks, although some ladies do. 36 weeks is the average for twins.

For Maternity clothes I loved Oldnavy.com . They have great prices and the reviews people leave are usually right on. I also borrowed my husbands t-shirts at the end, I lived in those and stretchy black pants.

As for sleeping together, that was always my plan with the girls. They, on the other hand, had different plans. My twins DO NOT calm each other down, they get each other worked up. We started with them sleeping in bouncy seats on either side of the bed and have recently started to put them in pack n plays on either side of the bed. We do have a crib in our room and we will eventually put them both in that to see how they do before moving them up to separate cribs in their room. I nurse them and it is just easier to have them right beside the bed. You will just have to see what works for you once they get here. And don't feel bad if the only place they will sleep is the swing- you gotta do what you gotta do! =)

I just now got their birth certificates, but when I was pregnant and looking for freebies most of the programs required that you send a copy of the birth certificate. Hope that helps and congrats again, it is wonderful to be a twin mommy! And and check out the Northland Mothers of Multiples, http://www.kcnorthlandmoms.com/ .

I had a friend who gave vaginal birth to a set of twin girls at 36.3 weeks! She was small for being pregnant with twins, but that was just how she was and I feel very lucky :) I was as big with my second single as she was with her 3rd pregnancy with twins. They slept together and were on the same schedual! Also I heard if you contact the diaper companies they will give you extra diapers and stuff. Also contact the formula companies (if your not bf) and they can give you lots of coupons and free samples! Try the resale shops and stuff for cheap baby stuff and see if they have a womans pregnancy center where they can help! (We have a New Beginings and about 45 minutes away a Hope). Make sure to include you include your son in as much as possible and we threw our oldest a little party just for her. Also daddy would spend as much time with her as possible and we would switch so she knew she was still important. We also ALWAYS made my oldest sit by me when feeding her sis so she felt important! Congrates :)

My girl/boy twins just turned 4, and their big sis was 4 when they are born. Congrats! You will have your hands full, that's for sure :)
Mine were in the same crib for about 4-5 months. We went to a multiples class through our hospital and it was highly recommended to share a crib. They usually end up sleeping better. At the time, I think my boy cried most of the night while his sis was silently and peacefully asleep through it all!! (They still share a room & have bunk beds & sleep better together than apart.) We rolled up a towel and used it to divide the crib in half. They were fine and we only separated them when they started to roll into each other. Later, their cribs were on opposite sides of the room, and at 10 months old, my son would climb out of his crib silently EVERY night and climb into his sister's crib :) It still is one of my most treasured sweet twin memories....waking up to find them in the same crib, sitting up talking, smiling, playing, totally content with each other's company.
I had a healthy and uneventful pregnancy. My doctor and specialist (spec was assigned immediately since twins are automatically considered a higher risk pregnancy) both feel that 38 weeks is full term for twins. Both also agree that a c-section isn't necessary as long as there are no complications and as long as Baby A is not breech. My Baby A was my daughter and she did flip breech at about 30 weeks and there was no turning back. So I did have a c-section. Mine was at 36 weeks. They knew both babies were above the average size of a single 36 week baby (5lb 6oz is average & they thought mine were measuring considerably bigger, but they were 5#7 and 6#1, still perfectly healthy). I was really uncomfortable and at the weekly stress tests my contractions were always regular. In my case, they only reason they didn't let me go another 2 weeks was because my hospital & doc was 35 miles from home and because we knew I'd have to have a C they did NOT want me to go into labor and turn a planned C into an unplanned emergency in which I'd likely have to go to another hospital with other docs, etc. They were a little smaller than we all thought, but still wonderfully healthy and came home with me at the same time.
I used my previous maternity clothes and bought a few bigger shirts. I'm short, but still the longer shirts were necessary because by about 32 weeks, nothing was long enough. The tighter shirts were actually great because they clung to my obnoxiously large baby belly and stayed put :) I started out kind of overweight, too, and I swear, with my short torso my babies were starting to wrap around the sides of me...haha :) I got mine at Motherhood and Target.
I breastfed, but at the multiples class (I think it was called Marvelous Multiples and is offered at lots of hospitals), they gave us TONS of info about where to write for free stuff. Lots of it was formula offers, and you'd have to fill out a form and include copies of their birth certificates. I also got coupons for free diapers from Pampers, Huggies, and Luvs by doing the same. When you leave the hospital ASK your favorite nurse for free stuff. Do not hesitate because a good nurse will give you TONS of stuff. I think we left with 10 full packs of preemie Pampers and 4 cases of glass jar formula in case we wanted to supplement. I did breastfeed, but my friend had a baby on formula and we traded. I gave her all my free formula and she bought me diapers :) Speaking of diapers... HAVE A DIAPER PARTY. You will never in your life have imagined that many dirty diapers :) In the beginning, we went through at least 30 diapers A DAY!!! Have a friend help plan a little get together. Mine was really fun & turned into a full shower. We rented out a park district facility and had a party w/ simple catered food. Entrance was a pack of diapers. Many people brought more than diapers, and we were grateful.
(When our babies were born, we had a small "big sister" party w/ family, close friends, cake & balloons so SHE could have a special day since everyone was so interested in the babies. Your son will be old enough to notice that everyone is there for the babies, so don't forget about him :) My poor daughter was like the invisible child for the first year and it hurt her at 4 yrs old. Since then, whenever a friend has a 2nd baby or 3rd, we only give big sis/bro presents & cards.)
My best advice to listen to your doctor and pay attention to your body. Ignore the people who say you shouldn't be out or you look like you'll pop. Be prepared for the touchers and the askers. The first time you're publicly out pushing that double stroller around or carrying 2 carriers people swarm to touch them and ask if they're twins. Then they want to know their names. It gets old fast, and old ladies and well-meaning nosey folks start to feel the paparazzi at the grocery store, but I kept a good sense of humor about it.
Just relax & enjoy your son while he's still the only :)
Best of luck to your family!!
A.

I just want to add that while the Mothers of Twins clubs here were great for people with just twins, or twins first, they were NOT good for me with my already single kid. In our case, the focus was solely on twins, twins, twins. For me, going to their events was almost harmful for my 4 year old as she was constantly excluded from the specialness of having a twin present. Because I already had one, I have always raised mine to be 2 individuals. Their bond is undeniably strong, but so is their bond with their big sister. I will not allow for them to be called "the twins" in school or otherwise. I have 3 kids, not 1 and twins. For our family, this was best. We celebrate them equally and individually. Perhaps it was just our twin clubs here, but they were over the top exclusive to twins so they didn't work for us. Now, at age 4, they will say themselves that they are not twins and just brother & sister with the same birthday. I now know many, many families with twins and the ones with just twins or twins first are so much different than those who had a single child first. It's not bad, it's just different. When you become a family of 5 like this there is always "mom & dad", "twin & twin", and then "just me" for the single kid. In our case, the feelings of isolation were incredibly sad for our daughter who didn't have anyone to pair up with by default, so we were quick to stop that. Again, just my 2 cents :) Not trying to take away from anyone else. Good luck!

You should check out pregnancycenter.com and baby.com and diapers.com.
Mention my name, K. Verge. There is a load of info there for your pregnancy and then into baby.com for a load of info on births and babies development.
My best to you. Blessings...........K.

Congrats!! Boy, you'll be busy:)
First, there's no evidence that it's safer to induce or section a mom because of twins. NONE. Don't let your doctor tell you it's better. It's perfectly safe to birth your twins vaginally whenever you go into labor:)
Yup, they can sleep in the same crib. Same rules go for two as one - no pillows or blankets or anything, but most twins happily snuggle together and sleep better in the same bed!
You'll probably be more comfortable in maternity clothes that are meant to be loose-fitting instead of the form-fitting ones, but some women don't gain much more weight or size with 2 as they do with one. Being your second pregnancy, you're more likely to grow more than you did with your first anyhow.
Good Luck!

I know there are great Moms of Multiples groups in KC, our daycare lady is in one and so is my husband's cousin's wife. Here are a couple of websites:

http://www.kcnorthlandmoms.com/
http://www.gkcmotc.com/home

I also recommend getting involved in your local freecycle, that is how my mom gets us and my sister lots of nice baby stuff for free.

My twins slept in the same bad until they started rolling over. They were 10 weeks premature and the NICU at the hosptial would keep them in the same "bed" because the dr said it could help them thrive. They stayed in the hosptial 14 days. Of course they weren't always together because of wires and tubes and such, but a few hours everyday they would put them together and swaddle them real tight. So cute! I have an 2 year old and my twins are now 4. I have to say the twins were far easier than my youngest:) Make sure they get on the same routine it is a life saver when they eat, sleep, and poop at the same time! Google twin support groups in your area... they are everywhere! Currently pregnant with # 4 but having an ultrasound in 3 days to confirm its not #4 and 5 lol. Good luck!