Parent to Parent By Jodie Lynn
Moments for Mom By Elisabeth Corcoran
Ask A Twin Mommy By Cheryl Lage
Mothering By Heart By Cheri Fuller
Jelly Mom By Lisa Barker
Family Check-up By Sheila Wray Gregoire
Simplifying Motherhood By Trish Berg
Making the Most of Marriage By Paula Friedrichsen
Bigger Faster, Feel 'Em Sooner?
December, 2006
By Cheryl Lage
QUESTION:
I have reached the 10 week point and am carrying twins. I know I am showing sooner than most people I know that are carrying singles. Is it possible that I will feel the babies sooner also?
Thanks
ANSWER:
CONGRATULATIONS on your twin pregnancy! I know this
Thanksgiving must've given you special cause for celebration.
You are absolutely right that as a "twin carrier", you are/will show earlier, and more pronouncedly expecting than your pregnant with a singleton pals.
But when you will actually FEEL either or both of the babies is a tough thing to predict with any accuracy. Women who've experienced a pregnancy prior to their twin pregnancies have occasionally indicated they've felt the twins earlier. Yet women pregnant for a second pregnancy with a second singleton also tend to feel their second baby sooner. Why? Perhaps because they're familiar with what to anticipate.
Of course it would seem logical that with double the uterine inhabitants, you'd have twice the potential for early internal poking and prodding due to double the extremities. Of course, the babies' positions within your belly play a big role. Your ability to decipher between the gas-intensification somewhat inherent for many pregnancies and the first "flutters" everyone alerts you to may need to be VERY honed if you can attribute abdominal action with 100% veracity to the babies!
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For me, the twins were my first (and only) pregnancy. All my friends (many of whom had been pregnant before me) exhorted me to anticipate the "butterfly" flutters, and try hard I did. However, I was between 19 and 20 weeks before I could say with Ivory Soap percentages certainty that the gurgling/fluttering/shifting feelings was undoubtedly the babies. Don't worry if you are equally "late" in feeling your sweeties...you won't be alone. Many twin mamas I've communicated with also sensed their babies "later" than they had anticipated.
Conversely, if this is NOT your first pregnancy, you know what you're looking for/feeling for tummy touch-wise. You may indeed sense their physical presence (beyond morning sickness, exhaustion, etc!) earlier this go around.
Please keep in touch, and let me know when you DO know you feel them alerting you to their dual residency. Once you feel them, some phenomenal fun begins!
Thank you for your question, and for sharing your doubly good news with us!
Best and blessings-
Cheryl
www.Twinsights.com
Feel free to contact me with your experiences in twin potty-training, or with any twin parenting dilemnas you may have at http://www.twinsights.com. I hope to hear from you!
© Cheryl Lage, 2004-
Author of "Twinspiration: Real-Life Advice From Pregnancy Through the First Year" from Taylor Trade Publishing (2006), Cheryl is a fully-mobile, full-time mom to four-year-old fraternal twins, Darren and Sarah. Cheryl's unabashed honesty, vigilantly supportive style, and willingness to share "what works" have made her a requested speaker on a broad range of topics, twin-related, and otherwise. Check out her website @ twinsights.com.
Read Cheryl's Ask A Twin Mommy column at C'Moms