Hi, I’m Alex and I’m a twin mum! When I was pregnant with my twins, there were a few things that I wished someone had warned me about a twin pregnancy, so I’ve written them here for any future twin mums out there!
PGP
Pelvic Girdle Pain, or PGP, is fairly common in pregnant women, but particularly in women pregnant with twins and multiples. Nobody had warned me about it, but one day when I was about 20 weeks pregnant, I couldn’t climb the stairs to my top floor history classroom without experiencing excruciating pain in my hips. I had to ditch the day’s teaching and get in contact with the hospital who explained I was probably experiencing PGP and they booked me in with a physio.
While PGP is horrible and can cause a lot of pain, it isn’t actually harmful, and usually disappears as soon as you’ve had your baby (or babies).
The hospital physio equipped me with some pelvic exercises and crutches and sent me on my merry way. Although the exercises and crutches helped, the more my babies grew, the less I could move. I was an extreme case as my babies were so huge, but from 30 weeks I ended up in a wheelchair! As soon as I had my twins, the PGP disappeared and my hips were back to normal. If you start to experience this then I thoroughly recommend lots of warm (not hot) baths and very gentle stretches!
No midwife support
Throughout my whole pregnancy, I was under consultant care, which effectively meant that I was looked after by doctors rather than midwives. This was because twin pregnancies can come with some extra complications, and for the most part it was nice to have lots of frequent checkups! At one point I was in hospital being checked and scanned weekly, which made me feel very well looked after, and it was great to see so much of my twinnies!
It’s definitely worth noting, however, not being under midwife supervision meant that I missed out on a lot of practical information. I wasn’t told about any of the pregnancy classes available, and had no practical baby related advice given to me through pregnancy. I was intent on breast-feeding but was only provided with help and support with this when I asked – it wasn’t offered freely. I would thoroughly recommend that future twin mamas join up to the Twins Trust organisation – they give great practical advice for looking after multiple babies, even if your hospital hasn’t given you any!
The extra medication
This one won’t impact all twin pregnancies, but it’s worth being aware of just in case! Some twin and multiple pregnancies might require you to take medication to keep you as safe and healthy as possible. I was surprised when I was handed aspirin and blood thinning injections from 26 weeks, and wish I’d had more time to absorb all the information surrounding it before having to start on the medication, especially as someone who usually goes out of the way to avoid medication where not strictly necessary! The injections were pretty horrid, but I quickly got used to them and the doctors were great at answering any questions I had about them! I also ended up on Tramadol for my PGP so I was on quite a cocktail in the end!
It’s also worth noting that a lot of twins and multiples are delivered early, and as with all early deliveries, doctors will try to get you some steroid injections before birth if possible. These help babies’ lungs develop which is important if they’re going to be making an early appearance!
And there you have it, just a few things to be aware of if you find yourself pregnant with twins or multiples!
You can find Alex on Instagram here or on her website here
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