With so many mamas having twins these days, it would seem like a twin pregnancy is no big deal. But carrying two instead of one is a very big deal, indeed. Women expecting twins are at higher risk for preeclampsia,gestational diabetes, andpremature birth. In fact, about 60 percent of twins are born prematurely, according to the March of Dimes, with the average twin pregnancy lasting 35 weeks.
Twin moms are more susceptible to the baby blues
It’s hard to bring one newborn home, let alone two. Juggling the feeding and sleeping demands of a pair can be exhausting, and parents of twins get less sleep than parents of singletons, at least for the first few months until the babies get on a more synchronized schedule. Exhaustion can make everything more challenging. If you’re breastfeeding, you’re likely either nursing or pumping around the clock to keep up with your wee ones’ demands.
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Now, the good news: Raising twins will not be this difficult forever. With twins, the hard work is front-loaded in the first three years or so. Later on, your same-age siblings will be able to entertain each other. Plus, you can put them in the same schools, camps, and extracurricular activities without having to shuttle between programs suited for different ages. Also, they’ll likely be interested in the same shows and movies, eliminating fights over the remote, and you’ll have one bedtime instead of two.
A recent study out of University College London found that 15 percent of parents were mistakenly told that their identical twins were fraternal. Why the confusion? Most identical twins share one amniotic sac and one placenta, but 25 to 30 percent actually have two separate placentas and amniotic sacs. However, not all doctors are aware of that fact: 81 percent of doctors think that twins who don’t share a placenta are fraternal.
