Pregnancy Info HOME

Wow, going by that post, you'd think I can't write at all, wouldn't you? I promise the story looks better. ;) Anyway, if you have any other advice to add or questions for me, feel free!

i'm expecting twins - first pregnancy - so this info is from reading TONS of books - not from personal experience... YET! Twins are more likely to be born prematurely - they are full term at 37 weeks and while they can last in utero for up to 39 weeks, they are usually born around 36-37. For your second question, 85-90% of twin births are via C-section. It is much safer because often times both babies are breech, or one is okay but one is transverse or breech, and they just aren't in good positions. So if the first baby is head-down, they can start a v____al birth, but a lot of times the second baby becomes distressed during this process and they opt for C-section. Unless both babies are head-down, many doctors don't like to try v____al birth. Also, sometimes you can have the first one v____ally and then have to have a C-section for the second and that's just the worst. For your third question, the average time between both births is 17 minutes (v____al). Since you are already stretched out, the second birth is still strenuious, but not as difficult. This is why sometimes doctors will allow the second baby to be born breech. So you have a little bit of a breather in-between. I'm not sure about contractions letting up between babies - most likely not so much. HOpe that helps.

Can only men make twins or if it is in the womans family she has potential to have twins?

I have 2 year old fraternal b/g twins. I went 38 1/2 weeks with them... no bed rest needed, no gestational diabetes, no complications so I was given the option of attempting a v____al birth. I was told to go to the hospital immediately when labor began and was to get an epi at 4 cm... in case there were complications they wanted to be able to go in and get them fast. Labor was 19 hours with my son. 9 minutes later my daughter was born. He had a huge bruise and a cone-head... she had a perfect little round head. He was 5' 12" She was 5'5"... they both were observed in the NICU for an hour, moved to the regular nursery and went home with me 2 days later. We know we were very fortunate. Hope our story helps.

twins run on the mother's side, not the father's. It's our eggs that decide if we have twins or not - just his sperm that can or may not surround both eggs.

I have 2 1/2 year old fraternal boy/girl twins. I had to have them by c-section because of their postion, but my sister in law had identical twin boys v____ally with no problems and they were born 30 minutes apart. But about your question if of the hereitiy thing its just the mothers side and it has to be fraternal twins but anyone can have identical. because fraternal occurs when two eggs are released and of course there are millions of sperm to fertilized those eggs but idential is one egg and one sperm that happen to split. Twins can be born at least two month early which i carried mine 39 1/2 weeks while my sister in law had them at 7 months preg. But i am not sure about all your questions on the v____al births i just know you have an 85% chance on having a c-section either with one or both of the babies. Mine were my first and my sister in laws was her third pregnancy so i dont know if that had much to do with it. But i had no problems with my pregnancy while she had to have shots to help their lungs develp and a few weight issues. hope i could help a little

39 1/2 weeks! My doc said make it to 32 and cheer. Then try to go 36. The 36 week appt came and went. The 37 week... the 38 week appt was scheduled for the day I actually ended up delivering and I was ready to pop my doc in the nose. I can't imagine going nearly 40 weeks w/ them! I had myself so prepared for a premature delivery that when they sent me home I was ready to cry... even tho I knew that the longer they were in, the better... it was still hard.