While twin pregnancy means double happiness for most expecting parents, it can’t be helped but feel a little nervous and uneasy knowing that you’re carrying two babies at the same time.
Carrying twins is categorized as “high risk” pregnancy, which means that there’s a higher chances of having premature labor, C-section delivery, and high blood pressure. There’s no need to panic though, since “high risk” pregnancy doesn’t mean it’s a disaster-prone pregnancy, proper precautionary measures during pregnancy is the key in ensuring you and your baby’s safety.
Prenatal care such as eating well, getting enough sleep, and regular visit to your ob-gynecologist are some of the things that every woman does during pregnancy. But if you’re carrying a twin, you need to be extra diligent in ensuring that you receive adequate prenatal care.
Pregnancy in general requires expecting mothers to increase dietary intake of calcium, iron, and folic acid. Iron is needed for hemoglobin production and mothers carrying twins have a bigger risk of becoming anemic, therefore higher dosage of iron and iron supplement are recommended. Inadequate supply of iron may cause fatigue, anemia, and lower oxygen supply on the babies.
Adequate supply of folic acid especially on the firs trimester is important in order to guarantee that your babies will not suffer from any neural tubal defects. Calcium from milk, broccoli, orange juice, and dairy products will help ensure that you get the 1600 to 2000 mg of calcium per day needed for your pregnancy.
Furthermore, twin pregnancy requires that you visit your ob-gynecologist more often than singleton pregnancy since the chances of developing complications are vaguely higher and close monitoring of you and your baby’s status might be needed.
Though preterm labor risk is higher, giving birth the natural way is still possible if your pregnancy has been free from any complications. In twin pregnancy, giving birth normally takes place 2 weeks earlier than usual so it is also a good idea to be prepared for labor ahead of time.
A fetal monitor is usually connected during labor in order to monitor the status of each baby and there’s commonly less than an hour gap between each baby during natural delivery. Since the babies in general are smaller, it may feel to be a lot easier to push them out.
Twin pregnancy is something that parents should not be scared about. It’s actually twice the blessing and proper care, prenatal education classes, and joining twin clubs are some of the ways that may help you better prepare experience twice the fun any parents may feel.