Share your story! | Imamother

amother ↓

Tue, Oct 04 2011, 9:17 pm

I am 5.5 months pregnant with twins and have an almost 14 month old. When I went to the perinatologist, he asked if these are fertility babies. My answer was, I have a one year old, so no definitely not! Which is not to say it's not a double bracha, and I am very grateful to Hashem!! but it's still kind of a shock shock

Looking forward to when they are born (after 36 weeks, please Hashem!) and I can stop stressing about weight gain and how long my pregnancy will be etc etc and be a lack of sleep kind of tired instead of physically beyond dead type of tired.

↑ ellie23 ↓

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 6:50 am

amother wrote:

thats so exciting! how is your pregnancy so far? dont worry about weight gain- you should gain between 30 and 65 pounds or so...of course those are only averages but above 60 is certainly not recommended.....I gained 58 in my twin pregnancy and I am quite petite so I felt like I swallowed a suitcase full of shoes! try to limit your stress level and take it easy...I put myself into early labor 4 times because I took on too much...there is nothing like giving birth to healthy twins and going home with them from the hospital!

good luck! its a fun ride!!

↑ amother ↓

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 11:07 am

ellie23 wrote:

amother wrote:

BH, everything seems to be going good, they are di/di so I have much less to worry about in reference to that, thank G-d. I'm worried about gaining enough weight, not too much lol. So far I've put on only about 12 lbs and I'm really struggling to gain weight, I'm also a small person and just not a big eater and find eating 3000+ calories a day almost impossible. My energy levels are just about forcing me to take it easy right now, it's never really come back since I got pregnant, which I guess is good otherwise I probably wouldn't have made myself slow down much.

Anyhow, we're very excited and can't wait till they are born!

Did anyone here have a natural birth? I BH have a doctor who is willing to let me try, but I am SO TERRIFIED of having a C section!

↑ amother ↓

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 11:33 am

amother wrote:

I am SO TERRIFIED of having a C section!

Why, unless you're going to have to pay for it all out of pocket? (Now THAT's terrifying!) They've been doing c-sections for a long time now and they're almost as routine as dental fillings.

I don't know what you've heard about c-sections but they're no big deal. If you've already had an epidural you can be awake during the procedure and they'll put the babies under your arms as soon as they're cleaned up and swaddled. If you have general they'll be in a bassinet near you when you wake up.

I've had cesarean, and I've had dental work, and I'll take cesarean over dental work any day.

↑ amother ↓

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 12:21 pm

amother wrote:

I am SO TERRIFIED of having a C section!

Same amother here, I would also take (natural) birth over dental work any day. In fact, I told that to my dentist shortly after my first was born, lol.

Ah where to start about why I am terrified?? Suffice it to say that natural birth scares me a lot less, because it's natural. The recovery is a heck of a lot easier. I also live in a place that is extremely anti-VBAC, so much so that I know of only 3 or 4 doctors in the whole county (out of hundreds) who are willing to do one. I don't want to turn this into a csection vs natural birth thread, but if we went on, it would probably go there Wink

That being said, I know that c-sections are a routine procedure, and if I have to have one, I obviously will. But I'm one of those people who would probably have a home birth if I could afford it. Hospitals scare me. Anyway, let's not get into it.

A di/di twin pregnancy is one where the twins are in two separate sacs with two separate placentas. So you don't have to worry about TTTS or cord entanglement.

zaq ↓

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 12:26 pm

MyKidsAreEverything wrote:

Wow I seriously don't know how you women do it. I have two kids ka"h who are 19 m apart and I feel so dysfunctional! How would I be able to handle TWINS??
I have no multiples in my family so I never even thought about having a multiple pregnancy myself, but... my FIL is a twin.
What are the chances of me ever having twins???? The thought of it just freaks me out.

1. Identical twins are pretty consistent in populations. Statistically a certain percentage of embryos split at the 2 or four-cell stage regardless of heredity or ethnicity, so your chance of having identicals is the same as anyone else's.

2. Fraternals are more common among certain ethnicities and more common with increasing maternal age, as well as (obviously) with use of fertility drugs. Where twins appear to run in families and fertitlity drugs are not a factor, the cause is maternal factors, IOW the tendency of the mother to release two eggs in one cycle. Your FIL being a twin is not likely to affect your chances of conceiving twins. If there is some factor in males that stimulates hyperovulation in their partners, it hasn't been discovered yet. That's not to say that there is no such factor just waiting to be discovered.

↑ amother ↓

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 3:36 pm

zaq wrote:

MyKidsAreEverything wrote:

Different amother here. So if my maternal grandmother birthed two sets of fraternal twins, my chances are like huge?

↑ zaq ↓

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 5:05 pm

Not really. Don't get hung up on the idea of twins skipping a generation, b/c that's a myth. You have no way of knowing why your g-ma had multiples. There's a tribe in Africa--Nigeria, I think-- whose astronomical rate of twin births is attributed to their diet that consists largely of a certain yam-like root vegetable which has estrogen-like qualities. Ironically, that tribe considers twins to be very unlucky. Of course they're poorer than dirt so producing two extra mouths to feed is a big problem... They can't stop eating that root b/c that's almost all they have to eat.

anyway, your g-ma may have had something in her environment or diet or other factor that's not genetic. The natural environment has become chemically more and more feminizing as a result of more and more estrogen-like chemicals polluting the air, land and water. Hormones given to cattle and poultry affect the people who eat them.

How old was she when she had the twins? Older mothers tend to have more twins because ovulation becomes erratic, sometimes releasing no eggs and sometimes releasing two.

↑ amother ↓

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 5:20 pm

I am also 14 weeks pregnant with twins. We are very nervous as this pregnancy has had a lot of complications. T"H things seem to be moving along well now so its a bit of a relief. I am constantly exhausted by I also have a 2 year old and work full time in a very stressful job so there is no relaxing time. We told my parents and in-laws that its twins but we are planning on keeping this little secret to ourselves until they come. I know that our siblings are going to flip out and I can't wait to surprise them with this Very Happy

. I lost 15 pounds already with this pregnancy and am trying to gain it back (I have been eating chocolate all day at work LOL

) and I go to the doctor tomorrow again to see how things are going. For those moms who have twins with a toddler is there anything you recommend on how to deal with your toddler and twins. My DC is very attached a loves to be picked up and she is having a difficult time with the fact that I cannot pick her up. Any tips would be appreciated.

TIA

↑ life'sgreat ↓

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 6:12 pm

amother wrote:

I am SO TERRIFIED of having a C section!

They might be as routine as dental fillings (which I don't think is true), but it's not as simple as a filling.

↑ ellie23

Wed, Oct 05 2011, 6:46 pm

amother wrote:

ellie23 wrote:

amother wrote:

I was going to try a natural birth and that was the plan until I went into labor..my labor never progressed and the doc was afraid of my uterus bursting so I had an emergency c- and I survived! it was scary but not painful...I got alot of meds to aid my recovery....it was just very difficult to move around for a week after...after that I felt much better..just that first week was incredibly hard! just remember you can handle it if it is meant to happen to you!

oh and I never ate 3000 calories a day...I gained weight just eating when I was hungry and thats it....