My Twin Pregnancy

My experience being pregnant with twins was not a pleasant one at first. As a first time mom I had no idea what to expect from a pregnancy, let alone a twin pregnancy. There are twins in my family but none in recent years and I had no one I could ask for advice or to know what to expect.

My first trimester was when we found out I was having twins, because of that I not only had to see an OB but also a high risk doctor that’s called Maternal Fetal Medicine. So from 8 weeks until my third trimester I had doctor visits every 2 weeks. My first trimester also brought terrible morning sickness. I had to go to the emergency room twice for dehydration and was given different nausea medications to find something that could help. I ended up losing a little more than 15 pounds in my first trimester due to the morning sickness.

My doctors had told me that my morning sickness might get better or go away in the second trimester, I thought there was no way it was going away. I was on Zofran in my second trimester and by 15 weeks I felt so much better. I no longer had to rely on my medication to feel better. My second trimester was the best. I started feeling little flutters that felt like little butterflies in my stomach. Despite going to a doctor every 2 weeks I didn’t find out the genders of my twins until we did a gender reveal after the 20 week anatomy scan. We were so excited when we found out it was two boys. I also was happy because I passed the glucose test, which to me was not too bad.

My third trimester things started to get worse. I had so much heart burn every day. My boys were getting so big and were breech, they were kicking all over my stomach. It was getting very uncomfortable all the time. Then during one regular checkup around 32 weeks my blood pressure was elevated, I had the beginning of preeclampsia. Being later in my pregnancy they wanted to send me to the hospital to do further testing. I was hooked up to two heart beat monitors, one contraction monitor, and a blood pressure cuff. They sent me home to do a 24 hour urine collection, which was as gross as it sounds, and had to come back 24 hours later so they could get an accurate measurement of how much protein was in my urine. I was admitted and stayed overnight to get two rounds of steroid injections to boost the lung development of my boys and had to do a long ultrasound to make sure the boys were not in distress. During the ultrasound they had to count the amount of kicks the boys did within a 30 minute period. We saw my Baby A kick a little and then fall asleep, great timing Theo. After a little wiggling we did get him to wake back up and kick enough to show they were still okay for now.

After my steroid shots I had to monitor my blood pressure every day and go back to do nonstress tests, the heart rate and contraction monitors, 3 times a week. By 33 weeks the doctors told me I would have a C-section before 36 weeks. We had our last OB appointment July 5th, we were going to schedule my c-section that day. I had to have a C-section since my boys were both breech. They took my blood pressure and that was it, the OB came into the room and said it was very high and since I had already had steroid shots they didn’t want to postpone anymore. She said my boys were either going to be born that day or the following day, and she had already called the hospital to set up a bed and the on call OB was on his way. At the hospital they immediately started setting  me up for a C-section.

My boys were born that day, July 5th 2019 at 3:16 and 3:17 pm.

Finding Balance As A Twin Mom

Finding balance has probably been one of the most difficult parts of being a twin mom. Not only balance between taking care of one baby and then the other, but also balance between being a mom and being myself.

A question I get often about being a twin mom is how do I take care of two babies at once? That part is easy to me because I was a first time mom to two boys and I don’t know what it would be like to only have one. We have a pretty good routine where they eat and nap at pretty much the same time as each other so it works for us. Getting your babies on the same schedule as each other is probably one of the biggest pieces of advice that I would give a new twin mom. It might not work for you but it has seriously helped me.

In the beginning my boys were not on the same eating and sleeping schedule so to me it seemed like my entire day was taking care of one and then the other. Now I feed them at the same time, change their diapers one after the other, and hold them so they can go to sleep at the same time. While they are awake and playing I now have a little free time for myself, and that is so important for me personally.

For awhile I felt as though I was only a mom and not myself anymore. It took me months to figure out how to balance being a full time stay at home mom and also the person I was before I was a mom. Now that my boys can play with each other for awhile I have some time that I have realized I could use to focus a little on myself. I got back into some old hobbies and found some new ones. I never used to write before but now I am sitting here writing a blog while my twins play. Finding even a small amount of time for myself helps me remember I am a person too, not just a mom.

Being a twin mom and a stay at home mom can be difficult at times. One of my babies is definitely needier than the other but I try to make sure I pay attention to and play with both equally. Every day is a little different but it is what works for us.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

Brita