Multiple Gestations are pregnancies which involve more than one baby at a time, such as twins, triplets and quadruplets. About 3% of all pregnancies are classified as such and their occurrence can be quite random.

While multiple gestations are super exciting and oftentimes completely unexpected, there are quite a few things to consider when carrying more than one baby. For example, are you prepared to bring up multiples, what are the birth complications associated with multiple gestations and how to minimize the risks?

Answers to all of these questions and more await you in this article.

What Causes Multiple Births?

Multiple gestations occur at random, but if you have a family history of twins, triplets, or quadruplets, your chances of having multiple births are increased. 

Another favorable factor for multiple gestations is fertility treatments, which make it more likely for you to ovulate two or more eggs during a menstrual cycle. Generally, women over 35 years of age are more likely to release more than one egg per cycle, regardless of whether they’ve had fertility treatments or not.

Scientifically speaking, if a woman ovulates more than one egg during her menstrual cycle each egg has the potential to be fertilized by sperm. If each egg is fertilized, more than one embryo can grow in the uterus and this will result in fraternal twins (or more), or also referred to as non-identical. When a single fertilized egg divides into multiple genetically identical embryos at random, identical twins (or more) will develop.

Usually, fraternal twins are much more common than identical twins, but they’re both a blessing for the new parents.

What Are Some Common Multiple Gestations Symptoms?

Wondering if you are having twins, triplets or quadruplets? Then you should read more into the pregnancy symptoms you are experiencing. They are very similar to those that occur during a singleton pregnancy, only they are much more exaggerated.

Here are some of the most common symptoms which can indicate that you are having multiple gestations pregnancy:

• Severe morning sickness and nausea. To ease this quite unpleasant pregnancy symptom, we recommend you to use peppermint essential oil. The DoTERRA Peppermint Beadlet Essential Oil is a highly-trusted special blend with proven results. You can directly inhale from the bottle, put a few drops on a cotton pad or in a diffuser. Moreover, the convenient beadlets are ideal for traveling and on-the-go, because you never know when your nausea will strike in
• Severe breast tenderness. We found a product that works wonders in terms of alleviating breast tenderness during twin pregnancy, and is also ideal for post-pregnancy when you might experience some breastfeeding challenges. The Lansinoh TheraPearl Breast Therapy Pack provides therapeutic relief for breast tenderness by offering both cold and hot therapy. Simply store it in the refrigerator or the freezer to activate its cold therapy potency, or put it in the microwave to reap the benefits of the hot therapy.
• Faster weight gain. They always say that if you’re having twins you’re eating for three and that couldn’t be truer. Significant weight gain during multiple gestations pregnancies is quite common but that shouldn’t worry you. In order to make sure you stay healthy and don’t overindulge try to switch to a more healthy diet and eat regularly without overeating
• Abnormally high levels of hCG (the pregnancy hormone)

• Larger belly compared to most women at a similar stage of pregnancy
• More than one fetal heartbeat. There have been a few cases of health care providers detecting a second heartbeat before they can actually see the second fetus on an ultrasound. However, this is quite rare, because it’s hard to distinguish two heartbeats, especially if they’re in sync or close to being in sync.

Twin Pregnancy Ultrasound: When Do You Find Out You’re Expecting Multiples?

Most likely you’ll find out that you’re expecting twins or multiples around week 6 – week 10 through a twin pregnancy ultrasound. This is the only secure way to be sure you’re expecting twins or multiples.

Nevertheless, ultrasound scans are not perfect since they take a sonographic image of what’s going on beneath the surface, and there is a small chance that the ultrasound won’t detect a second fetus. This can happen if the second fetus is hiding behind the other one when they’re sharing the same amniotic sac, or if the ultrasound is done too early on.

For that reason, it’s best to have a second twin pregnancy ultrasound after week 20, since that’s when the results will be certain (in most cases). And don’t forget that the results are being read by a human, so you should always leave some room for error.

You should also monitor your symptoms as mentioned to determine if you’re having a multiple gestations pregnancy, and listen to your motherly intuition.

What Are Some of the Birth Complications Associated with Multiple Gestations?

Multiple gestations pregnancies are considered high risk, because there are quite a few birth complications that might occur, including:

• Fetal conditions, such as problems with fetal growth
• Anemia
• Gestational diabetes
• Preeclampsia
• Miscarriage and preterm birth

Preterm birth is the most common birth complication associated with multiple gestations pregnancies. In fact, more than one half of all twins are born preterm, and triplets and multiples are almost always born preterm (before week 37). A preterm birth is when you start having contractions and true labor after your 20th week of pregnancy and more than 3 weeks before your due date. 

Most premature babies are usually put in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) due to the health complications that might occur, such as breathing and eating problems, learning and behavioral disabilities. They will stay in the NICU until their immature systems are stabilized. 

Throughout your multiple gestations pregnancy you will need to put extra care in monitoring your health and that of your babies. This will continue after they’re born, and although you might feel helpless while your babies are in the NICU (if so), there are certainly things you can do to show care for your angels, such as bring home their laundry, bond with your multiples and love them. It’s best to speak with your health care provided to get advice on how you can be helpful in such a situation.

Having Twins: What Do I Do Now?

Congratulations, you’re blessed with multiples! This is an exciting time for the whole family, but can also bring some anxiety in terms of the post-birth preparations. Don’t worry, it’s not as hard as it seems.

Before you go to the hospital for delivery make sure you pack all the essentials, such as extra blankets, diapers, bottles, socks and booties, comfy clothes for you, and most importantly – a going home outfit for your twins. We are sure that they’ll look absolutely stunning in the Miracle Onesies by TwinStuff – the perfect “welcome to the family” outfit that everyone will love.

Multiple Gestations: What Else is Important to Know?

With multiples on the go there are quite a few things to know. First of all, you should consider yourself lucky if you’re having twins or more, because multiple gestations pregnancies occur in about 3% of all pregnancies. Carrying multiples means having the same symptoms as a singleton pregnancy, but more severe. Still, there are things you can do to alleviate the discomfort. You will find out you’re expecting multiples around week 6 – week 10 of your pregnancy through an ultrasound. Once you know you’re having multiple gestations pregnancy it’s time to start planning the “welcome home” of your babies.

Can a hidden twin be detected during a twin ultrasound? How much can you trust an ultrasound scan? While the possibility of a hidden twin is very unlikely these days, there is still a very small chance that this can happen to you.

Pretty much every pregnant woman has her doubts about expecting twins and multiples, especially during the first weeks of pregnancy. But what feeds these doubts even more is the endless stories of women who go to the hospital to give birth thinking they’re having a single pregnancy, but instead end up having two (or more) babies. What a surprise!

While the chances of this happening are minimal, it’s still worth considering that possibility, so that you can be prepared for an unexpected unfolding of the events.

 How Do You Know If You’re Pregnant with Twins?

Yes, a twin ultrasound is the more secure way of visually identifying that you’re carrying twins. In most cases if your doctor doesn’t see multiple babies on the screen then you’re unlikely to have twins of multiples. Still, there are those very few occasions when the ultrasound is not 100% accurate, but we will get to that in a little bit.

Apart from relying on an ultrasound scan, you can also be on the lookout for some of the more intense symptoms associated with a twin pregnancy. While the symptoms during a twin pregnancy and a single pregnancy are pretty much the same, these signs might be a green light for twins-on-the-go:

• Excessive weight gain or fatigue. You are eating for two, at the end of the day
• Severe nausea and morning sickness (hyperemesis gravidarum is more common in twin pregnancies). A proven cure that alleviates nausea and morning sickness is peppermint essential oil. We love the DoTERRA Peppermint Beadlet Essential Oil which is an insatiable blend or aromatic goodness. You can directly inhale from the bottle, put a few drops on a cotton pad or in a diffuser. Moreover, the convenient beadlets are ideal for traveling and on-the-go, because you never know when your nausea will strike in
• Abnormally high levels of hCG (the pregnancy hormone)
• Repeatedly measuring large for your gestational age at your prenatal exams

Lastly, there is your motherly intuition, which is entirely up to you if you want to trust or not.

Can a Twin Go Unseen in an Ultrasound?

While in most cases ultrasound scans are amazing, they are not perfect.

Ultrasound scans are used not only to detect how many babies you’re having, but also what is the gender of your baby or multiples. This is where the imperfection of ultrasounds really comes into play. We’ve all heard the stories of families thinking they’re having a boy until the minute their child is born and they welcome a girl to the family. That happens so because the 2D sonographic image of the ultrasound captures what’s going on beneath the surface and can easily mistake a vulva for a penis.

If we apply this same thinking to twin ultrasounds we are likely to give the device more room for error. The bigger your babies are the more likely they’re to be detected by a twin ultrasound, but sometimes ultrasounds are done too early in the pregnancy and one or more of the babies are not ready to show their faces in front of the camera just yet.

 Why Can a Twin Remain Hidden?

There are multiple reasons why one of the babies might be hiding and subsequently not be detected by the ultrasound.

First of all, a second fetus should be clearly visible on ultrasound after 20 weeks of pregnancy. If you’ve had your ultrasound before 20 weeks of pregnancy, there is a chance that the results might not be accurate considering how tiny the fetus is before that point. Once you enter the third trimester the accuracy of your ultrasound scan increases.

Another possibility is that your twins share the same placenta and the same amniotic sac, which increases the likelihood that one twin could be hiding behind the other during an early ultrasound. These twins are called monochorionic monoamniotic (or mo/mo twins). If, however, you are expecting dichorionic/diamniotic (di/di twins), which have separate placentas and a separate amniotic sac, your two babies will easily be detected by the twin ultrasound.

In some cases a single ultrasound might not be enough to detect a second fetus, so make sure you’re having at least a few of them throughout the 9 months of your pregnancy. When you’re 26 weeks pregnant with twins, it’s really important to have an ultrasound and monitor closely the critical development of your babies.

Of course, you shouldn’t leave out the human error factor. It is humans looking at the ultrasound scan, at the end of the day, and we are far from perfect as a species. Plus, sometimes it’s nice to let things unfold in a surprising way.

What About the Heartbeat?

Interestingly, there have been a few cases of health care providers detecting a second heartbeat before they can actually see the second fetus on an ultrasound.

However, this is extremely rare and it doesn’t always indicate that there is a hidden twin. It may simply warrant another ultrasound scan. Also, it’s really difficult to distinguish two heartbeats, because they can be in sync or your own heartbeat might be sending mixed signals.

How to Prepare for a Hidden Twin?

If you don’t entirely trust the twin ultrasound up until the last minute and have serious doubts about the number of babies that will come out of you, then it’s worth coming prepared. Especially, if you’re the type who doesn’t like surprises.

So what can you do to prepare yourself for the delivery of twins or multiples? Obviously, there is no need to overboard and buy every single baby gear in pairs. However, it’s worth it to take a few essential items with you to the hospital, such as:

• Extra blankets to wrapped your babies up. The Upsimples Baby Swaddle Blanket is super adorable and comes in a variety of cute patterns. But most importantly, it’s extra soft, made from 70% Bamboo and 30% Cotton. The blankets come in a set of 4 and are easily machine-washable for extra ease.
• Going home outfits for your twins: we absolutely adore the Born First – Show Off Onesies by TwinStuff, and they’re perfect for that moment of surprise. Plus, they would look awesome on your first family photo at the hospital
• Extra babies essentials: bottles, socks and booties, blanket, diapers

Twin Ultrasound: Can be Trusted?

Ultrasound scans are a trusted tool for determining the gender and the number of babies you’re expecting, yet they’re far from perfect and we should always leave some room for error when having a twin ultrasound. The possibility of a hidden twin is quite minimal, but it still occurs. There are several reasons why the second fetus might want to shy away from the camera, such as a super early ultrasound, or the positioning of the second baby. To avoid any unwanted surprises always make sure you have a twin ultrasound after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and always come prepared.

You’ve already found out that you’re expecting twins and that’s incredibly exciting news of its own. But now comes the follow-up question that doesn’t leave you in peace: What gender are my twins?

When do you find out the gender of twins depends on quite a few factors, such as are expecting fraternal twins or identical twin babies, and many more. We’re going to look at those factors, as well as, the different ways you can get a sneak peek into your babies’ gender.

Once you know the gender of your twins, you can start preparing for your new family members, but we’ll get to that in a little bit.

When Is Gender Determined?

The earliest you can find out the gender of your twins is when you’re 10 weeks pregnant with twins through blood tests, and your twins will also be tested for Down Syndrome. If you decide to have an ultrasound around the 12 to 13 weeks of your twin pregnancy, you will also find out what gender your babies will be. Many couples find out their baby’s gender at the fetal survey appointment, which is around 20 weeks.

And others decide to keep the gender reveal a secret and be surprised at birth. That way, you’re only letting your motherly intuition guide you. As much fun as this might sound, some parents might feel a bit intimidated by the unknown and might start stressing out about getting ready for the arrival of their twin babies. 

How Can They Tell Gender from Blood Tests?

For the impatient parents, and also the concerned ones, any type of chromosomal testing will determine the gender of your twins as early as week 10 of your twin pregnancy. 

Noninvasive parietal testing (NIPT), or also called Cell-free fetal DNA testing gender reveal (cfDNA), is usually done to screen for Down Syndrome – something which is definitely worth getting checked for. As a bonus, you will also learn the gender of your twins, because the blood sample will include DNA from both babies. 

If your NIPT test indicates the presence of a Y chromosome, which is present in the XY chromosomes of males, you’re expecting at least one boy. Regardless, you will still need to wait for your ultrasound to give the final determination of two boys or boy/girl twins. If NIPT doesn’t show any Y chromosomes, it’s most likely that you’ll be having twin girls.

When Do You Find Out the Gender of Twins?

Ultrasounds are a must during twin pregnancies; because there are quite a few complications that might occur. But that shouldn’t worry you, because that’s what ultrasounds and other tests are for.

If you’re lucky you might even be able to find out the gender of your twins during your very first ultrasounds at around weeks 12 to 13. By lucky, we mean that your babies must be positioned in a way that is easy to read both of their genders. Oftentimes one of the babies might be blocking the view of the second one, but it’s worth giving it a try.

Nevertheless, if you wait a little bit longer ultin week 16 to 18 and are in the hands of a competent physician you will most likely find out the gender of both twins during your ultrasound.

The Chinese Baby Gender Predictor: A Fun Gender Reveal Method

Are you a fan of old traditions and non-scientific approaches? If the answer is yes, then you might fall in love with the Chinese Gender Predictor. This gender predictor guesses the sex of your babies based on an ancient Chinese gender chart and the Chinese Lunar Calendar, using your age and when you got pregnant.

It’s worth giving it a try even if it’s just for fun.

What to Do Once You Know the Gender of Your Twins?

Having boy/girl twins or same-gender twins? Congratulations! Now that you know the gender of your babies it’s time to start getting ready for welcoming your new family members to the household.

There are tons of things you’ll need to get but here is a quick checklist of the very first items you’ll need for your newborn twins:

• Lots of bibs for your messy eaters. The Drinking Buddies Twins Baby Bibs are the perfect solution, which is comfortable, practical, and fun at the same time
• Breast pump. The award-winning and best-selling Haakaa Manual Breast Pump is recommended by nursing mums, magazines, celebrities, doulas, and lactation consultants all over the world
• Nipple breastfeeding balm. To soothe and moisturize sore nipples during breastfeeding, we recommend you the Organic Nipple Cream by Earth Mama, which is made with ethically sourced organic beeswax that’s been gathered in a bee-centric manner
• Other feeding essentials: burp cloths, nursing pillow, nursing bras, breast pads, and milk storage containers
• Lots of diapers. Either disposable ones by Pampers or reusable cloth diapers, such as the ones by ALVABABY, which are eco-friendly and super stylish
• Onesies for comfort and ease. There is nothing more convenient in terms of newborn clothing than cute, breathable onesies, such as the Best Friends Onesies by TwinStuff. TwinStuff has a wide range of funky twins’ clothes, so feel free to browse around.

• Other baby clothing essentials: nightgowns, newborn hats, socks and booties, scratch mittens and pants
• Soft blankets, because you will have your babies wrapped up in one pretty much all the time. The Upsimples Baby Swaddle Blanket is super adorable and comes in a variety of cute patterns. But most importantly, it’s extra soft, made from 70% Bamboo and 30% Cotton. The blankets come in a set of 4 and are easily machine-washable for extra ease.
• Bathtime essentials: an infant tub, washcloths, baby soap and shampoo, soft-hooded towels
• Twin Crib. There are multiple choices in terms of the sleeping arrangements that would best suit your needs. You might decide you want to go for co-sleeping, or that you want to first get twin bassinets and then switch to toddler cribs, or a convertible crib might be your best option. To find out which is the right one for you check out this article: What Are The Best Cribs For Twins? Time To Find Yours

While there are many other items that you will need for your twin parenthood adventure, this checklist gives you the top essentials you can’t live without.

Twin Pregnancy: When Do You Find Out the Gender of Twins?

As your twin pregnancy progresses your curiosity about your twin’s gender starts kicking in. You’re wondering when do you find out the gender of twins. Luckily for you, you might be able to get a sneak peek into your babies’ gender as early as week 10 of your twin pregnancy via blood tests.

Other methods that can aid you in the gender reveal include an ultrasound during week 12 to 18, or the Chinese baby gender predictor. Once you know the gender of your twins it’s time to start preparing for the big welcome home to your new family members.