36 and 6, attempt at vaginal, got way to strong if an epidural and couldn’t feel myself pushing…. (My advice ti all moms is that tell the anesthesiologist that you still want to feel yourself push!) … By the time baby A was born baby B was no longer head down and the placenta had moved between baby B and the birth canal AND my dilation had gone smaller. Too dangerous if a situation to try to have baby B vaginally, so we went to c-section.
I was already prepped for surgery and on a surgery room with a team on standby since all of that precaution was standard for twin births in my state (California), plus I was over the age of 35 which put me the “geriatric pregnancy” realm
So it was all of five minutes after me giving the go-ahead for the emergency c-section that it was happening.
Crazy times. The doctor said this only happens to 2% of twin births (this = having both vaginal and c-section).
The worst part about the c-section was the amount of drugs I was pumped with… I switched to a high strength ibuprofen within 12 hours of having the c-section. They send me home with roxi-codone (sp?), I got it filled but never ended up using it. I was fine on the 800 mg of ibuprofen.
@ntlfr8 I delivered vaginally. They were both head down. Twin A comes out and BAM! twin b does a somersault and is head up. MFM still let me give birth vaginally. I ended up hemorrhaging and almost dying. In hindsight I should have gone with a scheduled c-section.
@ntlfr8 I had mo-di and was told that even if Baby B isn’t head down they have a lot of room to move once Baby A is born and so even if head down they can move and vice versa. However, was also warned that I could be in a situation where I vaginally birth Baby A and need a C-section for Baby B. I decided that I had enough surprises with getting twins and had a planned c-section.
Having said that there were many multiples in my multiples group that had straight forward vaginal births.
I think advocate for yourself and find out where the cutoffs are for your doctor. If you aren’t comfortable with that then ask if there is a mother OB you can see. I think that most OB’s tend to be on the cautious side because it’s much better to do a c-section and have a controlled environment and low risk. However, this is your pregnancy and as long as you are making informed choices within the comfort of you OB then you should see if you can try for what you want. The worst they can say is no and you you have time to see if there is someone that would be comfortable with it.
If you can safely birth and have the birth you want it’s worth going for.
@ntlfr8 I had my first babies via vaginal birth at 36+1. Both were head down. They used forceps in on Baby A but baby B was out in 1 push. It was amazing and I’m so thankful they supported my hopes for a vaginal birth even though they were my firsts.
Mine were preemie. Elwood exited through the door. Jake decided to go transverse and needed an emergency exit. Wasn’t willing to risk potential internal decapitation by pulling him out breech.
That being said - the birth was not traumatic. I was surrounded by good people and an excellent OB.
NICU was where it sucked. And that was because of boob Nazis.
@ntlfr8 I’m a doctor and I asked a gagillion questions to my wife’s OB. I agree there are many factors posted on here baby A is the main factor, size discrepancies, first time birth or multiple gestations, hospital policy, mother risk factor, infants risk factors, prior C-section or Vaginal births. Etc etc. at the end of the day your doctor knows all the details. Have a frank and honest convo on your fears, the statistics, the risk and complications. All these stories are anecdotal, what matters is what is happening to you at that moment during birth. Congrats!!! I pray you have a fast and safe delivery and that your kids are born of healthy body and mind.
@ntlfr8 If you’re having mo/di, the medical advice is a C-section, as Baby Bs oxygen supply gets cut off once A is born. Or something along those lines. The chances of Baby B being stillborn are very high with a vaginal delivery in Mo/di.
I had my Mo/di girls last year, and had a c section.
@ntlfr8 My Modi twins are a month old this week born vaginally. Baby A was head down, baby B was traverse. As soon as baby A was born the doctors flipped baby B to a breach position and literally pulled her out. No pushing. Sounds scary but it was actually great and thanks to a magical epidural I felt no pain whatsoever, just pressure. Both babies were born in less than 30 minutes and only 4 minutes apart. To my surprise this birth was so much easier than my first singleton. Recovery was also significantly easier. I was so stressed my entire pregnancy about delivering two and it ended up being so much easier than I could have imagined.
Lastly, and significantly, I gave birth at a hospital with a practice dedicated to multiples and high risk pregnancies. I gave birth in a OR with no less than 20 doctors and nurses present all with experience with multiples. I also had a quick and uncomplicated birth previously with my singleton. I think the experience of my team and my prior birth were two factors that weighed heavily in the decision to allow me to attempt a vaginal delivery.
Best of luck to you however you welcome your babies into this world. Twin parenting has been the best surprise of my life. You’ve got this.
@ntlfr8 37,5, vaginal, scheduled induction, born like 7 mins apart because they were positioning the second one a bit (she was head up).
It was very normal pregnancy, nothing special, no problems with the twins, but they decided to schedule an induction as a precaution (possible complications with twins), they wanted to have control of the situation, there were 2 midwives, 1 OB and 1 pediatrician present per twin, also anaesthesiologist and child cardiologist. We did fine with only the first set of doctors (the unnecessary ones were waiting outside the room).
In the end it went really smoothly and quickly, all I remember is being hungry (they didn't let me eat much because of possible anaesthesiology).
@ntlfr8 I had a VBAC at 34+6. Labor started naturally and progressed quickly. My hospital only required twin A to be head down, although both were. They did insist on an epidural to make it easier in case everything went sideways, but that wasn’t an issue for me.
@ntlfr8 C section at 33+0, di/di twins. Both were head down so I had the option to try for vaginal, but I decided to go with CS because I didn’t want to have to deliver breech if one flipped or deal with an emergency CS. So incredibly glad I did a CS because things went south for baby A really quickly and I likely would have needed a CS anyway. Recovery was great and I’m completely back to normal 3 months pp. C sections get a bad rap, but I had a positive experience with mine!
@ntlfr8 Tl;dr - because I ended up having a C-section anyway, I wished I’d just done that from the beginning…
Water broke at 33+3. I had planned for a C-section the whole time but both babies flipped last minute to be head down AND B pushed his way in front. My OB had just left town on vacation. The OB on duty wanted me to try delivering vaginally. I was literally googling how to push while in the hospital. Hospital policy was to deliver in a OR so they could switch to C section if needed, and I was so miserable trying to push on that little table; there was no room to relax between pushing. Baby B had the cord around his neck and wouldn’t come out. I pushed for 3 hours, during which time there was a shift change and the new doctor realized how long I’d been pushing and asked if I wanted a C section. I’d never said yes faster in my life. Everything was fine, just some NICU time for the boys until 35 weeks. Plus, Baby A still got to be the first born (their names were planned on a family tradition for oldest children) because he was sitting up top!
@ntlfr8 I'm only ten weeks with di/di twins, so I haven't had these conversations with my doctor yet, but I'm confused about the breach extraction if Baby B isn't head down. Does that mean you would have a versioning done right before pushing, or that you would attempt to deliver Baby B feet down?
@ntlfr8 I planned for vaginal and wound up with an emergency C-section at 35 weeks (even though both babies were head down). My OBGYN recommend vaginal as long as Twin A was head down as there is enough room to turn Twin B into position. Unfortunately, I had preeclampsia so that changed things pretty quickly.
I don’t think advocating for a vaginal birth is at all out of the question but I would recommend wrapping your head around the possibility of it changing so you aren’t totally shocked if things don’t unfold the way you are hoping. I certainly didn’t prepare myself for that and found it difficult to cope with.
I’m 4Mos PP and I have to say, Im happy with the C-section after the dust settled. Even though it was a longer recovery, I rest assured knowing both babies were delivered without complications.
(didi twins) one was head down baby b was transverse.