Top

Twin Winning

Support & resources for the new twin mom

Twin Pregnancy Week by Week Experience

by

Tweet
Pin2K
Share
2K Shares

Twin Pregnancy Experience: My Personal Journey Being Pregnant with Twins

When I was pregnant with twins, I searched high and low for a first-hand twin pregnancy week by week experience documented from start to finish. After finding out we were expecting twins, I decided I would take the week by week pregnancy tracker I had been creating as a gift to my future baby and turn it into a resource for other twin moms to be. It’s why I run this site: to provide resources and support to new twin moms.

Before we dive in, I wanted to share a few tools to help you with your twins:

Pregnancy is a huge, life-changing experience. So big, in fact, that it’s sometimes hard to put it into words.

A twin pregnancy? It’s next level.

week by week twin pregnancy experience - twin winning

.

Being a parent of twins is everything. It’s incredible, and incredibly hard. It’s amazing, exhausting, intense, wonderful, overwhelming, blissful and love, love, love.

So without further ado, here is my personal, first-hand account of a twin pregnancy week by week experience, from the shock to the love. It took a lot of self-convincing to put my story out there. I can only hope it’s helped another twin mom-to-be…maybe even you!

Twin pregnancy by trimester - twinwinning.com twin pregnancy week by week experience

.

1st Trimester: Week by Week Twin Pregnancy Experience

The first symptom that clued me into pregnancy was insomnia. I’d wake for 2-3 hours in the middle of the night for no reason. It’s an odd symptom, but it happened in my first pregnancy too.

week 5 twin pregnancy - week by week twin pregnancy experience - twin winning

Morning sickness shortly followed, accompanied with lower back pain, some mild cramping, becoming more emotional, and then exhaustion. Deep, inescapable exhaustion.

These symptoms happened in my first pregnancy too. But the surprising part? The pregnancy symptoms were actually less intense this time around. Most women claim their symptoms double when expecting twins, so I truly had no hint that there may have been TWO babies growing in my belly.

At 10 weeks, at a friend’s wedding on New Years Eve, I started to not feel so well. We stuck around to click glasses at midnight, then took a quick trip into the local hospital to get checked out. They brought out an ultrasound machine, and we saw our baby, squirming away on the screen. Joy filled me, all the way from my hair follicles to my toenails.

Then the doctor moved the ultrasound wand, and we saw another little blob swimming on the screen.  A blob that looked very much like another little baby.  The tears of joy stopped, and they were replaced by shock.

Sheer shock.

Week 12 twin pregnancy experience - twinwinning.com twin pregnancy week by week experience

There were no words.  I laughed, the same way you laugh on a roller coaster.  “Seriously? No. Seriously?? No…seriously??”.  It was a moment of every emotion available: shock, and awe, fear, and excitement, love, and the spiral of all the thousands, endless ways our lives would change forevermore from that singular moment in time.

I’m not going to lie – I was scared about those exhausting first 6 months.  I worried about how we’ll fit into our condo and if we’d ever be able to get out of the house, and if I could carry them to a healthy date, and prematurity, and if my belly could stretch to those lengths.

And yet…I felt so incredibly lucky.  Growing up in a family of five kids, I saw how we supported each other, and how we became friends as adults.  We even have twin sisters in our family and I see their strong bond (yet I still never considered this could happen).  As my husband said, we get the chance to shape three amazing people to do great things in the world.  What a gift.

Twin Pregnancy Announcement

The net result of trying to balance the fear with the joy was…hope. 

I hoped I would be strong enough.  I hoped I could be a good enough mother to support 3 children in the way they deserve.  And I hoped I would sleep again…one day.

And before I knew it, the first trimester had come to a close, and we transitioned into the 2nd trimester.

.

2nd Trimester: Week by Week Twin Pregnancy Experience

As the second trimester started, I realized I was on the tail end of being able to hide my growing bump. Typically women start sharing just after the 12-week mark, when the risk of miscarriage falls. I don’t work in the same office as my boss, so decided to wait until our upcoming offsite at 15 weeks. Until then? Baggy tops were my go-to. Thank goodness leggings and loose tops are fashionable right now.

Week 15 twin pregnancy experience - twinwinning.com twin pregnancy week by week experience

Luckily, my boss took the news amazingly well, even though I had only been at the company a few months. And even though he thought maternity leave was only 12 weeks, not 12-18 months in Canada, he expressed true joy.

Symptoms

At this point in my twin pregnancy experience, and I apologize to any twin mamas who are facing the opposite, I was surprised at how few symptoms I was having.

I had a slightly increased appetite, almost no nausea and only a few haywire emotions. Braxton Hicks contractions started early, but they did in my first pregnancy too, and they were mild. The typical exhaustion, and insomnia continued, but perhaps having experienced all of these intensely in my first pregnancy, I felt like could handle them.

We had a vacation booked to Hawaii before we had gotten pregnant and a bonus was that this trip became our babymoon. Perhaps more importantly, it could be the last vacation we took for a long time. To say I was excited was an understatement.

Week 17 twin pregnancy experience - twinwinning.com twin pregnancy week by week experience

It was time to find out genders!

It was here, on a sunny beach on the big island of Hawaii, where we found out the genders: we would be having a boy and a girl. Elation! It was exactly what I would have chosen. We would have a boy in the family and our daughter would get a sister. Having 3 sisters myself, I know the value of sisterhood, and was so happy we could give her that gift. I truly believe that siblings are the best gift you can give a child.

As I moved deeper into my twin pregnancy, my appetite started to spike. I had been so eager to gain a good amount of weight during the first half of pregnancy (per the book When You’re Expecting Twins, Triplets, and Quads), that I forgot my body would know what to do during the second half of pregnancy. The first day where I had four snacks between lunch and dinner confirmed that.

Luckily, I was tracking my food consumption via the My Fitness Pal app, so knew I was still in the recommended range. A side benefit of the app was that it also told me how much protein, sugar, and certain vitamins I was getting, so I could adjust snacks to hit higher protein/lower sugar as needed. I found this app really helpful and wrote about my caloric journey in my week 20 update.

twin pregnancy week by week experience

Time for ultrasounds

Our ultrasounds started in week 20 as well. Getting to see your babies on screen and almost meet them…it’s a pretty incredible feeling. I remember bawling from joy each time I had an ultrasound with our first child. With twins, we would get ultrasounds every month to monitor growth and we would have the opportunity to see that each baby was thriving. Yay!

Also in the second trimester, my nesting instinct started to rise. Okay, it went haywire. This urge to get your home in order for your baby’s arrival manifested in me as a desire to throw out most things we own. Luckily my hubby talked sense into me, but it was so tempting to purge and live in an empty space. Living in a 3 bedroom condo, I was so eager to be smart with each use of space.

It was around 23 weeks where I first thought “hmmm, I’m starting to feel heavy“. Now, this may not seem like much. But consider that I still had 15 weeks to go, and you’ll understand why I was getting nervous.

Speaking of nervous, being pregnant with twins was equal parts gratitude and fear. I felt so, so lucky that we even had the opportunity to be pregnant, let alone pregnant with two. I know how many people struggle with infertility and I cannot imagine the pain that accompanies it. So I tried to focus on my gratitude over the fear.

I also realized that time was speeding by!

.

3rd Trimester: Week by Week Twin Pregnancy Experience

The 3rd trimester of my twin pregnancy is when things got real.

My doctor warned me that it would, but oh boy. Was she ever right.

This trimester started with moments of heaviness, coupled with moments where I barely felt pregnant…or maybe I was just fooling myself. When I look back and see how big my belly was, it’s hard to believe there were moments that felt almost normal.

week 28 twin pregnancy - week by week twin pregnancy experience - twin winning

By 29 weeks, I was measuring around full term for a singleton pregnancy. Now imagine if you were full term, and someone said you’d continue to get bigger for another two months.

I worried constantly about carrying the babies to term. I wanted so badly to carry them to week 37 (full term for twins). Prematurity is a very real risk with twins and everything I read said to prepare yourself for a potential NICU stay.

I took multiple strategies to help decrease prematurity, including:

  • A high calorie diet prior to 20 weeks, per the recommendations in When You’re Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads
  • High-to-moderate calorie diet from week 20 on (an extra 500 calories in the 2nd trimester / extra 1,000 calories in the 3rd trimester)
  • Light physical activity up to week 34 (e.g., 30 minute walks)
  • Limited physical activity from week 34 on – trying to stay off of my feet, limiting walks to 10min, etc.
  • No lifting over 20lbs
  • Avoiding the risky foods and activities in pregnancy

Around week 30, the comfortable stage of pregnancy officially came to an end.

In the 2nd trimester, my doctor recommended I go off of work by 32 weeks. I smiled, thinking it was overly cautious and that I’d continue working until at least 36 weeks.

Looking back, I’m so grateful she warned me of this, and that I had in turn warned my office that it was a possibility. By week 30, being the size of 40 weeks, you can imagine how I felt – with two months left to go.

Week 29 Twin pregnancy - week by week twin pregnancy experience - twin winning

By 32 weeks, I was off work on medical leave. A part of me felt lazy being off so early. I had worked so hard to get to where I was in my career, and I didn’t want to put it in jeopardy. Yet a larger part of me was so grateful to be off of my feet. Everyday tasks were getting hard to do, and even sitting in an office chair for more than 15 minutes would start to hurt. From that point on, I spent the majority of my time between the couch, doctor appointments, and a few trips out in the sun.

I do believe that going off at that point helped the babies stay in longer. I was having Braxton Hicks contractions about 20 times a day, sometimes every 8-12min apart. They’re scary, as you fear labor could be starting at any point. Each time I felt them, I would try to lay down, drink a ton of water, and relax. Well, relax until the next urge to pee came, which felt like every 30min.

Week 34 Twin Pregnancy - week by week twin pregnancy Experience - twin winning

We were getting close!

By week 34, I was huge, constantly uncomfortable and so cranky. Nothing I could do would make me comfortable. I was close to 50 pounds up, and carrying 11 pounds of baby, with almost another month to go. Most women never feel that kind of weight in pregnancy, and there was another MONTH to go, people.

The weight felt oppressive. The itching was awful and the swelling was annoying. And my stomach was tearing. My nose and ears were constantly stuffed. It hurt to stand, to roll over, to walk. And each day was just a little worse than the last.

And yet, I wanted it to keep getting worse.

I prayed for it to keep getting worse, because that meant the babies were getting bigger and healthier. I would do anything for them, be anything for them. And I was so grateful that this was all I had to go through, knowing many women had much more serious complications to deal with.

week 36 twin pregnancy - week by week twin pregnancy experience - twin winning

So, day by day, I pushed through. I would try to smile, and be joyful. And when I wanted to curl up into a ball of complaints, I would just stop and remind myself that this was likely to be my last pregnancy. I knew no matter how uncomfortable it gets, there is likely to be a day, as incomprehensible as it may seem, that I would miss this.

As the pregnancy neared its end, things…I don’t want to say became easier…but I suppose knowing that the days were numbered it became more bearable. I also knew that the tough newborn days were just ahead, so I fully embraced my daily naps, which were pretty much a necessity at that point.

week 37 twin pregnancy - week by week twin pregnancy experience - twin winning

My twin pregnancy got me to 37.5 weeks.

At exactly that point, we went in for my weekly doctor’s appointment and our doctor told us that I was 4cm dilated. For those of you who don’t know, this is typically when they admit you into the hospital to give birth.

Had I felt any contractions? Well sure, I had been feeling dozens a day for the past few weeks. But it didn’t feel much different today. After we left the appointment, we grabbed some lunch and I went home for a nap. By the time I woke, the contractions were every 3-4min apart.

Still, I debated going in. Knowing it was twins, they definitely recommend you arrive by this point. But having been through labor before, and knowing how bad it can get (it can get BAD), I didn’t think it was at that point yet.

twin pregnancy week by week experience

Regardless, we decide to to swing by the hospital to be safe. They admitted me right away, and shortly after, things really picked up. After an allergic reaction to the epidural (to the point where I asked them to stop the drugs – I’d rather the pain than the intense itching), and about 7 hours after arriving, the twins were born. Two pediatricians were in the room to make sure they were healthy, but at 6lbs and 8lbs, both were given the green light to stay with us.

If you’re counting, that’s 14 pounds of baby I was carrying.

And then this happened:

twin pregnancy week by week experience

This moment.

The moment when you first hold your new babies, when the tear-stained cheeks are forgotten, and the previous 9 months melts away. The moment when you feel the world slow on its axis, when a sparkle of wonder, and elation, and a million other thoughts pour through you, and you want to memorize every second.

This moment makes everything worth it.

twin pregnancy week by week experience - my personal journey - twinwinning.com

.

Now the REAL work begins…

I hope this twin pregnancy recap was helpful to you. It’s important to me to share a real story of being pregnant with twins because sharing the ups and the downs makes it real. I hope my story can make your pregnancy experience just a little easier.

Now onto the truly exciting part – the first year with twins and Lord knows it won’t be easy! But there’s one thing I do know – and it’s that it will absolutely be worth it.

Wish us well!

.

Read Next:

The Ultimate Twin Pregnancy To Do List

The Minimalist Twin Registry Checklist

Top 10 Essentials to Thrive in Your Twin Pregnancy

Twin Baby Gear Must Haves to Make Life Easier

Follow along on social @TwinWinning on Pinterest and Instagram