Pregnant with Twins - New to BellyBelly

Hi Everyone
I am new to BellyBelly and find the advice from you all very comforting. I thought I might join the thread also as I am 21 weeks pregnant with identical twin girls. We also have a 15month old son Mitchell, who will be about 19months when the girls arrive.

As I had been through a pregnancy before, I attended my first OB appt at 7 weeks alone, assuring my husband that it would be a short and routine visit to confirm the dates of the pregnany etc. and he needn't have the time off work to come with me as it was only very early on anyways. I couldn't believe it when my Dr said - Oh Dear with a big smile on his face - Twins!

Like most of you we were quite surprised but definetly very very excited at the prospect of havings and have been closely monitored so far for TTTS - all going well so far. I plan on breastfeeding and have bought a twin feeding pillow which straps around your waist and has a built in back support - it looks great - will let you all know how good it is when I get to use it. Cant wait. I would love any advice/tips on getting through the first few days/weeks/months?

Just wanted to say welcome, will leave the advice for those who know!

Thanku for the welcome :D

Twins!! How exciting!! Congratulations!

Welcome to BB ... i think you'd be due around the same time as me so you should pop over to our Belly Buddies thread .. https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...-2010-3-a.html if your due date falls out of that group there will be another you can join if you like :lol:

Hi and Welcome to BB and Congratulations on your Twin PG :dance:

:dance: yay hunny way to go on your twin pg and a big welcom to you i hope your going well.

Congrats on your double delight Molly! And great on already having the twin feeding pillow. Sounds exactly like mine. Blue, strap around the back, and back rest. You are def going to need it if you want to double feed (big time saver and great if you can do it!).
Tips- have you got a breast pump? Of not, its a good idea, then you can express inbetween some feeds and get DH to feed one to have the odd break (taking care not to interfere with your supply). Also expressing is good to up your supply especially when the bubs are going through a growth spurt, that sometimes never seems to end! main tip, is to be super organised. Accept help if you have any around, do your best and also try to relax and take everything in. Its so easy to get lost up in everything.
Oh, and try and get as much sleep before they come!!
xx

Thank u for the tips and the lovely welcomes.

I do have the single Avent electronic breastpump - do you think it is worth investing in a double breast pump though? I expressed with my first though not as much as I would have liked...mainly in the morning when I had soo much milk it wasnt funny. I am really divided on the double breastpump though as I think it would be difficult to have both going at the same time.......has anyone used a double breastpump before/wondering how easy they are?

Hi Molly and Welcome to BB

Congratulations on your twin pregnancy -how exciting!!! I hope things continue to go well for you.

Take care :)

Hello and welcome to bellybelly from another twin mamma. May I say a huge congratulations, you have such an exciting journey ahead of you, twins are such a double blessing.

I never expressed for my twins apart from when my boytwin was in hospital (he was sick as a newborn) so can't really comment on that, although it sounds like a good idea, but other than that the best tip I have for breastfeeding is try to feed them one at a time until all of you get into the swing of how they attach. The only time I tandom fed was at night in my big comfy chair, during the day it was too difficult with my other little ones running around wanting attention. Tandom feeding equalled poor weight gain for my girltwin and as soon as she was feeding on her own she got much better at it and started putting on the pounds. It didn't take twice as long either, as I didn't have to spend ages trying to get the attached before they fed.

Good luck, I hope you have an uneventful pregnancy

T
xx

Hi MollyC
Big congratulations to you, and good on you for getting organsied early. I have the same twin feeding pillow and use it religiously. Just to give you an idea from the other side, I pretty much tandem feed from the get go, my girls were good with their attachment, and I just find it saves so much time. Some of the books I read suggested treating them as individuals on their own time/routine, however I have never done this and kept them on the same routine always, they feed at the same time, I wake them both or the other is one is already away, they sleep at the same time, the only time I have feed otherwise is when they have been overly hungry and obviously needed a top up.

My girls were born at 37 weeks, and luckily didn't spend any time in special care nursery, though we did have 7 nights in hospital until my littler one started to gain weight. I hand expressed for the first 2 days, started on the double electric pump on day 3 and my milk came in by the morning of the 4th day. I had really good supply right away thankfully. We bottle feed expressed milk for the first 2 weeks, just to make sure they were getting enough and as they were small would tire easily on the breast. From there I slowly introduced an extra breastfeed each day and dropped a bottle feed until they were fully breastfead by 3 weeks. I have just had a week or so of a growth spurt and have gone back to expressing just to make sure I am producing enough.

I would highly recoomend getting a double electric, it saves so much time and once you get the hang of it it is easy.

I feed pretty much 3 hourly for the first 2-3 weeks until my little Aria reached 3kgs, then started on the routines in the book Save our Sleep by Tizzie Hall, which is working really well, so much so they slept from 10pm to 5am last night, so I am very happy.

Hope you are tracking along ok, look forward to hearing how your pregnancy progresses, xx

Babydreamtime - do you mind me asking what size clothes your girls wore when they were born 37wks -were they in 00000s or 0000s? My MIL and has been buying 00000s
and said said they wont be any bigger than that when they are born but I am not so sure
as I have had a cervical stitch put in at 14 weeks to help me carry to term (or as long as I can possibly go) and have heard some babies even at 37wks can be up to 5-6 pound - and am wondering if 5-6pound babies still fit in 00000s? My doc has indicated he wont let me go past 37wks so am wondering - ideally if they arrive at 37wks what size i will need most of.....

my girltwin was 6lb2oz and in 00000's and premmie nappies, my boytwin was 6lb12oz and was in 0000's, it really depends on the child

Hi MollyC
My girls were 2330g (Aria) and 2830g at 37 weeks, not sure what that is in pounds, both fit 00000. Aria has just reached 3600g, I am now finding the 00000 too small.

I used 0000 bonds wondersuits in hospital along with 0000 singlets. They were a little big on Aria to start with but I just rolled up the sleeve. I did have about 8-10 day suits/onesies in premie or 00000, they didn't really wear them enough to get use out of them, and now at 7 weeks are too big. I would recommend having just a few 00000, but would go with mostly 0000.

As Traveller said, it depends on when they are born and how premie they are, if they are very premie they may very well be in the humidi cribs, from what I remember seeing of other bubs, they normally wear just a nappy as the temp is controlled. By the time they are out of the humidi crib, 0000 might fit. I hope this makes sense.

Fingers crossed you get to your goal of 37 weeks.

I forgot to say re breastfeeding, it is very hard work, at least for me, a couple of times I have almost given up, but really want to get to 6 months so am persevering. If you are BF, maybe google lactation and thrush, I have still trying to kick the thrush in my nipples, if you can do anything to avoid it it will make your life and BF so much better.

xx

my boytwin wore a sleepsuit in his humidicrib but then he had hypothermia when he was admitted so maybe he was a special case:think:

Congratulations on your twin pregnancy!

My only advice is that routines are your friend and battery operated swings are a life saver!!

Thank you - I have this book called 'a contented house with twins' which has a great routine in which I intend to start from about 4 weeks old....and will definetly look into the swing.