Twins means twice the love, but in what other ways is pregnancy different with twins? Here’s what moms like Beyoncé can expect while carrying two buns in the oven.
1. You’ll need to eat up.
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends consuming 300 calories per day, per child, above your typical calorie intake—which means taking in an extra 600 calories a day. This should equate to an extra 10 to 15 pounds of weight for twin moms of normal BMI, on top of the standard 25 to 35 pounds for an expectant mom of one (roughly 35 to 45 pounds).
Also, twins may also require mom to increase her folic acid intake to help reduce the risk of birth defects, such as spina bifida.
2. Be prepared to go to the doctor… A LOT.
Doctor visits are routine during a single pregnancy, but twin pregnancies require even more visits with your obstetrician. Ultrasounds tend to happen more frequently with twin pregnancies to check for normal growth, compared to one anatomy scan and one growth scan standard with a single pregnancy.
3. Pregnancy symptoms may be more severe.
Moms pregnant with twins may experience an uptick in morning sickness, caused by high levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) – a hormone found in both the blood or urine – which has been linked to nausea and vomiting in the first trimester.
Twin pregnancies can also increase back pain, sleep problems, heartburn, maternal anemia and a higher rate of postpartum hemorrhage (bleeding) after delivery, experts say.
Talk to your doctor about what, when and how much you eat. Avoid foods that make you feel sick. Try natural remedies like ginger or vitamin B6 to keep morning sickness at bay.
4. There’s a higher risk of certain pregnancy-related conditions.
Though the biggest risk associated with multiples is preterm labor, moms-to-be are also at risk of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.
Preeclampsia, a blood pressure disorder, can present itself after 20 weeks of pregnancy or after childbirth. Preeclampsia that worsens and causes seizures is called eclampsia. Also called toxemia, preeclampsia can damage many organs in your body including the kidneys, liver, brain, and eyes – if worsened the condition can also cause seizures called eclampsia.
Gestational diabetes, a form of high blood sugar affecting expectant mothers, can increase the risk of preeclampsia, development diabetes later in life, as well as create breathing problems or low blood sugar levels for baby.
Reduce your risk with diet, exercise, and medication (if necessary).
5. Your delivery window decreases.
While a normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks, the risk of stillbirth increases with twin pregnancies. After analyzing 32 studies (including 35, 000 twin pregnancies) which were conducted over the past decade researchers found that the risk of stillbirth increases as the length of pregnancy increases.
In pregnancies where each child had an individual placenta, the risk of stillbirth and newborn death was balanced until 37 weeks’ gestation. However, if delivery was delayed until 38 weeks, the risk of stillbirth went up by 9 deaths per 1,000 births, the study says.
Meanwhile, in pregnancies where twins shared a placenta, the risk of stillbirth appeared to be higher than newborn death if a pregnancy went longer than 36 weeks.
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