Double the symptoms
One of the early pregnancy symptoms with twins or other multiples is morning sickness– yup, nausea and vomiting. YUCK.
Around here it was a running joke as to where was mom? Always in the bathroom – especially when I was cooking for the rest of the family. ( just a note here – make a mental note to yourself to keep that toilet bowl clean because chances are you’ll have your head in it quite a bit !)
I had already had two pregnancies already with barely a sick moment so this was new to me – very unpleasant – but it did result in finding out early in the pregnancy that there were two babies coming!
Chances of Having Twins
I would get asked a lot “how soon did you know you were having twins ?” – well – since all of the early pregnancy symptoms were doubled in intensity- I’d say I knew pretty early on that something was up. Most of this yuckiness is actually due to a good thing – strong hormones raging due to the growth of the placenta(s). More hormones are being produced so you really get hit with a double whammy . I found my sense of smell went crazy too – I could smell things through walls! This of course plays into the morning sickness – things like a pee-soaked or dirty diaper, tuna fish or parmesean cheese would all send me running for the bathroom.
Some of the best advice that helped was to:
-never let your stomach be completely empty
-go with what your body is telling you – if the smell of coffee just turns your stomach – stay away from it
-sour things seemed to help – sucking on lemon candy, tic-tacks, having a drink to sip on –
You also tend to get this build up of extra saliva in your mouth which adds to the nausea.
Find what you can eat and keep down and eat it. Keep your sense of humor as this morning sickness will pass!( although it took longer than the usual 1st trimester for me ) This is usually an early pregnancy symptom – as in – it won’t last the whole 9 months.
NOTE -If your morning sickness is to the point that you cannot keep any food down – please make sure you are seen by a doctor immediately.
How big will I get ?
The size of your uterus is another indication or early pregnancy symptom – although due to the morning sickness in the first trimester I had actually LOST weight and wasn’t that big at all. By around week 14 though it started to be obvious that things were growing bigger and faster than normal. I was measuring at 18 weeks. By the time you are 6 months pregnant with your twins you will look like a full term pregnant mommy! You can check out our twin belly shots gallery !
As early as 10-12 weeks into the pregnancy , 2 heartbeats can start to be heard using a device called a Doppler. My kids just loved having our midwife come to the house with her little microphone that she would put next to my belly and then we’d play find that baby ! It was interesting to me as the 2 heartbeats were generally on different sides of my uterus – sometimes hard to find each separate sound , but she ( my midwife Marla) was great and always kept at it until we had heard both babies. It helped me start to visualize who was where inside me as well! This was my favorite of all the early pregnancy symptoms because it made the twins seem real.
Of course an ultrasound will usually give you a definitive answer , but sometimes one of those little ones is playing hide and seek and get missed on the scan. So if you are feeling like there might be something going on – tests such as the AFP ( alpha fetal protein) can show higher than normal levels of protein produced by the fetus, and will in turn suggest that you need more tests. If you have already been pregnant before and are familiar with the feelings of fetal movement, this also can be an indicator as 2 babies move around more than one . This can also be considered an early symptom of pregnancy with twins as the movements are so pronounced with two babies that you’ll likely feel this much earlier than women only pregnant with one baby.
Did we say tired?
Extreme fatigue ( again due to the hormones ) is yet another early symptom of twin pregnancy. Falling asleep while you are doing things, needing naps, going to bed and sleeping for 10 hours and still feeling exhausted. ( this is why it can be so hard having other children to care for !) I really felt that ALL the pregnancy symptoms were doubled. One of the most frustrating for me were the unbelievable dreams and nightmares I had. I am assuming this was yet another by -product of the hormone overload, but even when I did get to sleep , my dreams were so vivid and usually insane that they would actually wake me up! I can’t begin to describe it but if you’ve had hormone-induced dreams before you know what I mean, and if you haven’t, well this is something you might want to expect. Trying to get enough sleep during a twin pregnancy is a feat in itself for so many reasons.
Waterworks!
Frequent urination is another early symptom of a twin pregnancy – nightly trips to the bathroom and many during the dayis common. Frequent mood swings and emotional outbursts are others. Everything made me cry when I was pregnant, even commercials! Keep the Kleenex handy – you’ll be needing it.Just blame all these troublesome early pregnancy symptoms on your raging hormones.
Time to get on to those preparations now !
