After the shocking ultrasound that revealed two babies instead of one, I was just as overwhelmed by all the information I got at my first appointment after that. Who knew twin prenatal care would be so different from a singleton?
I’ll explain…
At my initial appointment after finding out I was going to be a twin mom, my doctor prescribed me several medications that typically in a healthy singleton pregnancy you wouldn’t get.
I’ve had 3 previous singleton pregnancies and with each one I’ve only had to take a prenatal… but with twins I was prescribed Folic Acid and a low dose Aspirin, both to help insure the babies are less likely to have any birth defects and lessens the chances of me getting preeclampsia. I assumed these are a basic combo most twin momma’s take. I was already taking my regular prenatal, and a stool softener because… well obvious reasons. And then along with those, she gave me vitamin B6 for the nausea I was having.
Nausea. bleh.
I said when we found out they were twins that I should have known there were two because I was so sick. Each pregnancy is going to be different, and I’m not saying if you’re really sick that it’s twins, but with my 3 previous pregnancies I’ve never been as sick as I was this time around so I joked that I should have known. I felt like I couldn’t leave my bed or the couch, and it was so hard to keep my pregnancy a secret in the beginning. Family and friends would want to visit or have me watch their kids and I could hardly keep my eyes open without wanting to vomit. On top of just general nausea, the food aversions were unreal. Things I usually love made me sick the second it touched my tongue-now that’s an odd experience.
Needless to say… I was living off crackers, hard candies and ginger ale.
If I’m keeping it real with y’all, nausea in the first trimester with my twins was horrible on my mental health. It’s crazy to think how just the nausea during those weeks made me so depressed. My house wasn’t getting clean, I felt like the babies wouldn’t grow or be healthy because I couldn’t eat anything, I felt like a terrible mom because I would lay on the couch all day and didn’t play with my kids, I couldn’t show my husband the affection he needed which in return made me feel like I was failing as a wife, etc. I just felt worthless and it was a very hard time for me.
Thankfully, about a week or two after my second trimester it started to clear up. I stopped taking my vitamin B6, and I felt human again. (praying it doesn’t come back in my third trimester.)
Another thing my doctor mentioned at my first appointment was how much of a higher risk twins are than a singleton. Two babies means double the risk of everything… gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, preterm labor, birth defects, etc.
Because of the risk with twins, we found out we would have an ultrasound at every appointment. This was exciting for me because I’m use to something more like 3 ultrasounds for my whole pregnancy with singletons lol I think the ultrasounds at every appointment are to mainly check heart beats. With singletons they use a Fetal Doppler, but apparently it’s much harder to distinguish heartbeats on a Doppler when there’s two.
At each ultrasound, it was also important that they checked my cervical length. When you have two babies it creates more pressure that could cause your cervix to shorten, which is why preterm labor is so common in twins. (the uterus of a mom carrying twins is comparable to a mothers uterus carrying a singleton 6 weeks further along.)
My first trimester with twins was overall a learning experience, even for me, a mother of 3 already. I was filled with so much new information, and just fascinated at how different twin prenatal care was from singleton care. I spent those 3 months absorbing information, becoming one with my couch (thanks nausea), and playing 20 questions with every person I talked to (if you’re a twin mom… you know lol)
Anyway, be sure to keep up with my blog to see how the second trimester is going and all things twin pregnancy!
xo.brit