Complications can arise during a twin pregnancy

Complications - While healthy twins are born all the time , it is beneficial for you to know and understand some of the possible issues that can arise in a twin pregnancy. Sometimes vanishing twin syndrome can occur - depending on where in your pregnancy this happens it can be heartbreaking.Bleeding during pregnancy can be another thing to cause concern.

Preterm Labor

Pregnancies usually last between 38 and 42 weeks with a single baby. For a twin pregnancy , 37 weeks is considered 'full term'. Preterm labor is when you start having contractions that start causing the cervix to open before 37 weeks of gestation. Sometimes doctors are able to stop these contractions through medications , fluids and bedrest .

It is very common to go into labor prematurely with twins so it's something all moms to be need to be aware of. The stress on your body of growing two babies to a healthy weight often will result in an early arrival.

Depending on how early your babies decide to arrive will impact what, if any, complications or medical conditions they might have.

How premature your twins are will also impact how long they will have to remain in the hospital after you are discharged, which can be really hard. Sometimes they will have to stay until they reach their full gestational age which can be anywhere from 2-3 months.
It is extremely important to be aware of the signs of preterm labor so that you can take measures to keep those babies in as long as you possibly can.

If the early labor cannot be stopped through medications or bedrest, then your babies might be born too early. This is probably the most serious risk about having a twin pregnancy and one of the most common. Once in the hospital, you may need injections of a steroid to hasten the lung development of your babies. Depending on how old they are, and how small they might be, they may have to really fight just to survive. They may suffer from low birth weights, have breathing or digestive problems, they may have underdeveloped organs, learning disabilities, vision or hearing problems and developmental delays.

There are rare incidents when one twin is born prematurely, and the other babies stays in the womb to continue developing longer. This is called delayed-interval delivery

High Blood Pressure

Twin mothers are more likely to experience high blood pressure during their pregnancy. If the high blood pressure is combined with too much protein in the urine, the condition is known as preeclampsia.

Very careful management of this condition is necessary to prevent more serious complications to both the mother and the babies. Babies are often delivered prematurely if the condition worsens to protect the health of the mother and the twins.

Premature Birth Complications

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Ideal Weights for Twins Chart

Mothers who are pregnant with twins can be more likely to develop a complication called gestational diabetes. It is a type of diabetes that occurs only during the pregnancy. Gestational diabetes can cause damage to the placenta and increase the chance that the babies will have breathing problems after birth. There is also the chance that gestational diabetes can cause the babies to grow too large, although this is usually only a problem in a single pregnancy.

Twin-Twin Transfusion

When there are identical twins, there is a complication known as twin-twin transfusion there a blood vessel in the placenta connects the babies circulatory systems. This causes one baby to start receiving too much blood while the other baby receives too little. Most of the time with this situation, a decision is made to deliver the babies as soon as possible as a precaution to outweigh the potential problems of premature development.

Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome - read success stories here

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C-section delivery

It is absolutely possible to have a vaginal birth for your twins ( I did !). However, C-section deliveries are extremely common in twin pregnancies. One factor is their positioning - are they head down or not? Sometimes other complications arise during a normal vaginal delivery and a c-section may need to be done for the second twin, or the decision might be made to deliver both this way. Twins are almost always delivered in an operating room to prepare for this. Even if your heart is set on a vaginal birth, sometimes it is necessary to have a c-section done to protect the babies. Going into labor and delivery with a plan is a great idea, however try to keep an open mind just in case it doesn't go quite the way you planned due to an unforeseen problem.

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