I had a scare in early pregnancy that led me to have an early scan. The nurse who performed the scan said, “One baby, heart beating,” much to my great relief – on both parts.
Multiple births are becoming more and more common, mainly due to the increase in the average age that women are giving birth. After the age of about 30, women’s ovaries go a bit haywire and more than one egg may be released at a time, increasing the likelihood of conceiving twins, triplets or more. There has also been an increase in the number of babies conceived through IVF, which often involves more than one fertilised egg being implanted in the hope that one will develop into a foetus. There has been an increase in the number of terminations as women who have undergone IVF seek to reduce the number of babies unintentionally conceived through the process.
If you discover that you are pregnant with more than one baby, there are some things you need to be aware of.
For a start, you’re likely to be pregnant for about three weeks less than if you were pregnant with just one baby – most twins are delivered (naturally or by Caesarian-section) at 37 weeks.
You’ll also be kept a very close eye on – you’ll have several scans and frequent appointments with your midwife to check that both babies are developing as expected. Sometimes one twin can be in the breach position, or it is possible to develop twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome where one twin takes most of the nutrition and oxygen at the expense of the other.
Pre-eclampsia and high blood pressure are more common in women who are expecting more than one baby. You’ll also gain more weight than you would if you were carrying just one baby – partly due to the extra baby but mainly due to the weight of the extra amniotic fluid.
It is possible to give birth to multiple babies naturally, but much will depend on their positions. If they are both head-down (as they are in around 40% of pregnancies) then you will be able to deliver vaginally. However, if the first twin is head-down but the second is breach then vaginal birth should be possible, but there is an increased risk of complications (including oxygen-deprivation to the second twin); it may be that you have a Caesarian-section, or deliver the first vaginally and the second by Caesarian-section. If they are both in breech, or if the first is in breach, a Caesarian-section will probably be necessary.
If you have a vaginal birth, you’ll have just one set of contractions (you’ll be glad to hear) because your cervix will remain open whilst you push out the second baby.
It is important for any new mum-to-be to get support from other mums, and to develop a network of support before the babies arrive. If you have always worked, you may not have close community contacts, and your family may live some distance away. If so, the early weeks with your new babies could be quite lonely and exceptionally hard to cope with on your own. So build up those friendship networks during pregnancy – there are special clinics and groups that cater for women expecting multiple babies, so seek them out or ask your midwife for advice. Or check out online sources by searching for ‘twins advice’ to find local support groups and general advice.