(Please note: This article is an overview of haemorrhoids in twin pregnancy, or triplet pregnancy, and should not replace your health care professionals advice).

Ahhh……the joys of being pregnant with twins or triplets.  Particularly the joy of haemorrhoids.  Haemorrhoids are one of the fun things that nobody mentions when talking about being pregnant with twins or triplets.

What are haemorrhoids?

Haemorrhoids (or sometimes referred to as piles) are enlarged veins in your anus and lower rectum.  The swelling makes them susceptible to irritation.  This can cause anal bleeding, painful bowel movements, anal pain and itching.  Although haemorrhoids can be painful and very unpleasant, they can be treated quite easily, and even prevented. Unfortunately, it is quite common to get haemorrhoids in twin pregnancy. And in triplet pregnancies as well.

Author:  Josie Teggeris

Let’s face it right, I never expected to be the recipient of bad news in the office of my gynaecologist. From the tender age of 21, my poor body had been subject to 10 or more laparoscopic surgeries, particularly relating to endometriosis. It somehow became the norm for my pear sized uterus to be put through this so called form of “minimal invasive surgery” every 18 or so months.

I think I was around 36 years old, where I began to consider my age for having children and that’s when I took myself to my gynaecologist to get some tests. After being told I’d need a blood test to see where I was at hormonally, this blood test would also determine whether I had enough eggs to be able to conceive.

Author: Mikaela Holmes

I have four beautiful, healthy children.  Three of them are rainbow babies, including rainbow twins.

My first pregnancy – daughter

I got pregnant with my first as soon as we started trying.  I had the perfect pregnancy, no morning sickness, no spotting, no other health issues at all.  Our daughter was born right on time at 39 + 3 weeks. 

My second pregnancy – miscarriage

When we decided to try for number 2, again I got pregnant straight away.  We told the family at 7 weeks, I had a missed miscarriage at 11 weeks but only found out at our first scan at 12 weeks.  I ended up having a D & C. 

Author:  Belinda Smith

“There’s definitely two but I think there’s three.” The sentence that changed our lives! This was how we found out we were having multiples. I was lying on the bed at the clinic for our first scan and it took the sonographer all of two minutes to say these words. The old saying ‘Your life can change in the blink of an eye’ certainly applied here. We were in complete shock, as you can imagine.  Totally floored, dumbfounded and struggling to come to terms with what our future was going to be like.

We had no idea there was more than one baby in there!

At no point leading up to this day was there even an inkling that we were having more than one baby.  This was my first pregnancy so I had no experience to draw from.  However, I was not violently ill or showing really early which are symptoms you would normally expect when carrying multiples.  I was exceedingly tired for the first six or seven weeks and then had intense headaches during week eleven and twelve.  By the time the thirteen week scan came around I was feeling really great. I even commented to my husband on the way to the scan that I was feeling so good they might not even find a baby in there!

Author: Gina Mullins

My story of pregnancy, difficult birth, sickness, moving across the world and then doubling my family and I would not have it any other way.

So quick background before the twins: my husband (Irish) and I (Dutch) met in a country pub in the middle of nowhere, about 5 hours north of Perth and it was instant attraction. I joked with him the first night I met him that we would get married and have kids. If you would know me you would instantly know that that is odd. As far as I remember I have always said that I would never get married, never have children and would not live in the Netherlands (well at least I got 1 right).

There is a pretty funny meme about pregnancy that shows a woman pregnant with her first child lamenting to a woman with baby and toddler about how tired she is – while the woman with the children knows her tiredness may have only just begun.

There is a particular tiredness we feel during our first pregnancy that we look back on almost fondly with later pregnancies – because once you add one or more other children to the mix, your level of exhaustion takes on a whole new level. To help with this we have put together some tips, tricks and general good advice for dealing with your active toddler while pregnant with twins.

Author: Tracy Benge 

Feeling queasy and nauseous, I took that test and waited for the two lines to appear on the stick, ok that’s a lie it was my 5^th test after 4 negatives but I just couldn’t shake the feeling I was pregnant.

We had finally started out on our actual “trip” we had been waiting forever for, well the last 3 years anyways. You see we live in a 40ft converted bus roughly 11 x 2.3 metres of living space. Two adults, a 13-year-old boy, 4-year-old girl and now expecting twin girls. After a few months on the road our 16-year-old son returned to our hometown to live with family.