Questions about natural birth

JAck5209 · July 2013

So I'm only 8 weeks pregnant but I'm already thinking ahead to the birth of these babies. I had a great natural birth in a hospital with a midwife for my first child and I would love to get as close to that experience as possible with these twins. So, tell me if this is possible. I've already spoken to my midwife and she can be present for the birth but the hospital also requires a doctor with twins. Should I also expect a ton of other people to be present? What about laboring in a tub? How many end up with c-sections?

I'm honestly clueless here and would love to hear twin birth stories. I'm so curious about what's coming.

BeccaFegley · July 2013

Best advise is google. It really depends on the doc, hospital, and area you live in. But you can absolutely have the birth experience you want or as close to it as you can get. I would also ask your midwife what docs they like working with, especially for water births. Your midwife would be your best resource I would think. But there are amazing stories on google. Good luck, and congratulations!!

sparkman-to-be · July 2013

There's an awesome spreadsheet of statistics of twin deliveries on the BabyCenter.com forum. The group is called "Got Twins" and it's the first thread on the board. It shows stats of members of that board for the past few years. I found it very insightful on delivery info like number of weeks into pregnancy at delivery, type of delivery, weights at delivery, etc. Maybe you will find it helpful as well.

katiebenes · July 2013

I will be required to have an epi in *just in case* I need a csection. I've been told it can have a low dose and allow me to feel things still.

Those are my hospital rules. each hospital is different; so for sure talk to the midwife to find out

caden · July 2013

The doctor who delivered me was pretty crunchy so she let me deliver in my room and pretty much let me labor however I wanted. She did pressure me to get an epi near the end, not just because of a c/s risk but also because of what would happen if baby B didn't stay head down. Google internal version. It's not anything I wanted to experience med free. I did have a ton of people in the room, but just while pushing. I was 35w and they didnt know if my kids would need the NICU. Plus I was at a teaching hospital so there were medical students.

yinyang124 · July 2013

I had mono/di twins (share a placenta), and delivered them vaginally with no epidural placed. They were both head down. I labored in a regular room until Baby A crowned, and then they wheeled me to the OR across the hallway. During my labor, I chose to stay in bed. They would have allowed me to labor in whatever position I wanted to though. I had two nurses in the room with me. They monitored their heart rates for 25 minutes every hour, and I did have an IV in for dehydration. In the delivery room, I requested no medical students. There were 2 NICU teams (I delivered at 34 weeks) of 6 people each, 2 nurses, 1 anesthesiologist, my MFM and the delivering resident. Oh, and my husband! If you choose to not get an epidural placed, you must be prepared to go under general anesthesia in case of an emergency.

I was lucky to have the delivery I wanted. You should mentally prepare to be OK to do whatever is necessary to get those LOs out safely. There are so many extra variables with twins that we just have no control over!

carrotcake06 · July 2013

I did not have the delivery I wanted. Pretty much the polar opposite. I wanted a vaginal delivery and instead got a c/a under general. It's been not even a month yet, and I haven't really "dealt" with it, but I have two take home babies and that's what's important.

I took a hospital tour when I was pg and asked all kinds of questions about what a vaginal delivery with twins would be like and that info was really helpful in knowing what to expect.

Since about 20w, baby A was breech. Baby B flipped every couple of weeks, but A was wedged down in there and didnt ever flip. My water broke at 34w and when I was first checked it was discovered that baby A's cord had prolapsed. Once that was found, everything was a blur. Codes were called, I was inundated with what felt like dozens of people, and then when they started to lose Baby A's heart rate, it got even crazier. DH missed their birth bc everything happened so fast.

I didnt get to see them for about 14 hours as I was recovering from the general. I was a hot mess. They ended up spending 13 days in the NICU. But they are doing wonderfully and BFing has been successful so far which is something I really want to work.

JAck5209 · July 2013

sparkman-to-be:
There's an awesome spreadsheet of statistics of twin deliveries on the BabyCenter.com forum. The group is called "Got Twins" and it's the first thread on the board. It shows stats of members of that board for the past few years. I found it very insightful on delivery info like number of weeks into pregnancy at delivery, type of delivery, weights at delivery, etc. Maybe you will find it helpful as well.

Awesome! I'll definitely check that out.

shaunah816 · July 2013

It's more difficult to have a natural birth with twins, but absolutely possible. You can also get close to that experience, even if you aren't able to be completely med free.

I really wanted a med-free hospital delivery, but that went out the door when my Baby A stayed breech. I had a scheduled C section at 38 weeks 4 days.

If I'd been able to delivery vaginally, I would have had an epidural placed, but asked them to hold off on administering it until/if I requested it. I wanted it there in case it looked like I might need an emergency C, or that they'd need to reach up and try to turn Baby B. Personally, I wasn't willing to take the chance of needing general anesthesia if I needed an emergency C section, but that's totally an individual decision.

From what I've seen, pretty much all hospitals require twin moms to deliver in the OR, just in case of emergencies, but you don't HAVE to get an epidural. They usually encourage you to get one because of the chances of needing to turn a baby (which I would imagine is extraordinarily painful!) or have an emergency section, but they shouldn't require you to do that. My hospital would've let me labor in the tub and use wireless fetal monitors.

I started my prenatal care with a midwife, but was required to go under the care of an OB after we found my twins at 20 weeks. I insisted on continuing to see my midwife, so I alternated care with her and my OB for the rest of my pregnancy. Because I was having twins, my OB delivers with another doctor, and she was OK with having that be my midwife. So I actually got to have both my OB and my midwife there during my C section, which was awesome. My midwife sort of served as my "C section doula" for all intents and purposes. I was comforted by her being there, and knew she'd advocate for me seeing and touching the babies as soon as possible.

So, in a nutshell, it's possible. Check with your hospital about their policies and push for what you want!

steidla · July 2013

I just delivered my di/di twins at 39 weeks after induction. My doctor wouldn't let me wait longer. I got a ton of pitocin, and it basically did nothing. I finally got an epidural under suggestion that sometimes it's just enough to jar your body and make you dilate. I knew I'd be head for a C-section if I couldn't make progress, so I went for it. Lo and behold, 2 hrs after the epidural, I was 10 cm. My Baby B was transverse during the pregnancy, and he did not flip head down after A left. They tried to manipulate him from the outside but no luck. My doctor reached in and was able to grab feet, so she pulled him out breech. Although I desired natural birth and cried a lot during the induction because I kept having to do non-natural things I didn't want to, I think I would have just died if I had to go through that breech birth with no meds. Also, check with your doc about breech Baby B if vaginal birth is your desire. I didn't want to be automatically doomed to a vaginal A and C section B if B was breech. Luckily my doctor went for it!

ehighlan · July 2013

I had a vaginal delivery, but had to have an epidural just in case there was an emergency. I was allowed to push in my regular room until I felt the 1st baby's head and then I was moved to the OR b/c it was policy in our hospital. A ton of nurses and doctors were in the OR with us just standing around. When each baby was born they clapped and cheered then they left cause my regular OBGYN did all the work. Like PP said, I would check with your midwife about hospital policies.

24karat · July 2013

My 2nd pregnancy was mo/di twins and I wanted a natural birth too. My hospital branch is midwife care and I was told I could have the babies there with no interventions so long as I was 35wks, earlier and I'd have to go to their main hospital only because of the NICU. Long story short, my twins forced us to schedule a 37wk c/s because both babies were wedged in transverse positions. I hope you can find a team who are open to natural birth, but be ready for changes since a lot of things can affect it with twins. Good luck!

MrsCaseyK · July 2013

I had a vaginal birth with my di/di twins 2 weeks ago. I had a hep/saline lock when I went in, so no ivs for me. No drugs, allowed to progress normally. As soon as I was at a 9 they wheeled me to the OR. I pushed them both out 16 min apart. No oxygen and Apgars were done in our arms! Scored 8 and 9 for both. The only "intervention" was pit after delivery and stitches. It was awesome!!

CNYBride05 · July 2013

I'd echo everyone else - it's really hospital/doctor dependent. I had a double vaginal delivery of vertex/vertex mono-di twins. I was highly encouraged to get an epidural just in case we needed to do a breech extraction or emergency c/s. I felt when I needed to push and don't regret the epi at all. I was induced, expecting a lot of pain from Pitocin contrax, but actually was not in pain at all. I had a hard time getting comfortable, but that was it. I labored for 9ish hrs prior to getting the epi and continued to progress. Once I was fully dilated, I was taken to the OR for delivery. Pushing was the least fun part, but less than 3 hrs later, both girls were healthy and out

JAck5209 · July 2013

Thank you for the stories, I love reading about all of your experiences. I just found out today that my twins are mono-di but my doctor was encouraging during our birth discussion. I'm feeling very hopeful. Thanks!

Questions about natural birth

Re: Questions about natural birth

Choose Another Board

Search Boards