To sum up my twin pregnancy, I’ll say this:  I had a relatively complication-free twin pregnancy, and I would still choose to relive the days with newborn twins over living through another twin pregnancy any day of the week. During my first pregnancy, I struggled. A lot. In almost every way. In fact, I was really, really not sure that I would ever have more kids because I hated pregnancy so much, even though I loved and wanted my babies. Today, I’m sitting at 12 weeks and change and staring the second trimester in the face, so I thought I’d do a little comparison so far of my two pregnancies.  You could poll a thousand women who’ve had twins and a singleton and I’m sure each would have a different take on comparing their pregnancies, but this is how it’s going down at the Blue house.

Nausea

Twin Pregnancy:  I was sooooooo sick every single day. I started feeling queasy right after my BFP at 3 1/2 weeks.  I was throwing up frequently by the beginning of the 5th week. I got a prescription for Zofran around week 7, and I had to take it every day just to make it through work. Even taking Zofran, I probably threw up at least once a day, but for the most part it did at least keep the food in my stomach. I still felt rolling waves of nausea all the time, though, and you could often find my desk trash sitting right by my chair just in case. I stopped throwing up as often around the end of the first trimester (but I still did lose my cookies off and on through out my pregnancy). It was in the first trimester that I discovered that coffee, which is one of my great loves in this world, would make me literally projectile vomit within a matter of minutes of even the tiniest drink.

Single Pregnancy:  I didn’t have any major nausea until around 7 weeks. I have thrown up less than 5 times since then.  The idea of coffee still makes my stomach roll, so I’m avoiding that.

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Cravings & Aversions

Twin Pregnancy:  I didn’t have many strong cravings my first pregnancy.  Bean burritos and sugary goodness were the only things I particularly craved.  I had general food aversions, but not anything that specifically stands out as an item that always sounded bad.

Single Pregnancy:  This time around, I have very strong cravings and very strong food aversions.  I generally am more into savory things than sweet, though I still don’t turn down a good dessert. There’s not one thing that I always crave, but whatever I’m currently craving is ALL that I want to eat. The other day, I wanted steamed dumplings so badly that I didn’t want anything else to eat. Only steamed dumplings would do. I’ve also had food aversions that are more specific this time. Things like pizza and breakfast burritos (at least with any kind of breakfast meat in them) sounds so disgusting that I can almost get sick typing about them.

Fatigue

Twin Pregnancy:  I was super tired around my BFP, and I generally was tired throughout the first trimester.  I definitely came home from work, ate dinner, watched some TV, and went to bed early.

Single Pregnancy:  This time around, I’m so tired I sometimes wonder how I will physically keep going. I suspect it has nothing to do with twins/single pregnancy, and more to do with the fact that I’m chasing two 1-year olds, can’t take naps or go to bed early when I feel like it, buying our first house, moving to a new city, etc.  We’ve got a lot going on. Whatever the cause is, without a doubt, serious I’m-so-tired-I-literally-start-crying fatigue is my most prevalent pregnancy symptom this time.

Medical Care

Twin Pregnancy:  We found out we were having mono-di twins at 8 weeks, and everything changed. My pregnancy was suddenly high risk. After my ultrasound, the MFM immediately came in and started talking about the type of twins we had, the risk level, what the medical plan would be, etc. I learned that I would have u/s every two weeks for the remainder of pregnancy as the MFM monitored for any signs of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion syndrome. I would be seen by my OB more often, as well. Each appointment was filled with discussions of how the babies were doing, any signs of TTTS, monitoring the difference in their size, watching for signs of problems on my side, discussions about how this pregnancy would be treated differently, how delivery would be different, etc.

Single Pregnancy:  Everything is easy, breezy so far with this pregnancy. I went to my u/s and our tech (who remembered us from my 14 ultrasounds last time) quickly assured us there was one baby and that the heart beat was great. The MFM I saw last time came in and congratulated us and asked about the boys. He told us everything looked good, and that there was no reason to think that this pregnancy would be anything but a normal, low-risk pregnancy.  He wished us the best and said he didn’t expect to need to see us again. All my appointments are relaxed. I haven’t had a lot of questions other than about VBACs and asking how “normal” pregnancies generally go as far as when you’re seen, etc.  It’s all been really low key so far.

Emotions

Twin Pregnancy:  Related to the medical care, my twin pregnancy was very stressful and emotional in a not-so-good kind of way. From the time we found out there were two babies, I lived in fear of every ultrasound. I would relax a little for about a week after a good ultrasound and then would be extremely stressed out the next week waiting to see if that would be the day the sky fell. We had a lot of emotional mess to work through as well.  How would we take care of two babies? What budget changes did we need to make to afford daycare for two?  How would two cribs fit in our tiny nursery? Would our babies be missing out on something because they would never have our undivided attention? I feel terrible saying this because we very much wanted a baby, but I never was able to get really excited during my pregnancy because I was just so bloody scared that something would go wrong or that this would be more than we could handle.

Single Pregnancy: Even though this pregnancy was a bit unexpected, I’m far more bonded to this baby than I was to the boys at this stage. I’m really excited dreaming about whether it will be a boy or a girl, what life will be like with this new little person, what it will look like, etc. I do worry a little bit about surviving with three kids under 2 (just for a couple months!), and sometimes I get a little nervous that something will be wrong and we’ll have to live through NICU again.  Overall, I’m more relaxed and able to “enjoy” this pregnancy and anticipate the arrival of our little bit, while hoping to finally experience a “normal” pregnancy.

So far my pregnancies have been very different, and I’m sure that will continue through out the next 6 months.  How were your pregnancies different?