Category: Pregnancy

(Note from Twinfo:  This is part one of a five part series, where we will follow Nissa’s journey from when she found out she was pregnant with twins to their birth.  Links to the other parts of her story will be at the end of this post)

Author: Nissa Vagg

Introduction

I was 29 when I found out I was pregnant. It was a hot summer day in 2017, not long after New Year’s, and not a single thing following that day was as I imagined it would be. Not that I had spent my life dreaming of exactly how this pregnancy, birth and our life would go, but I just thought things would be different. The image in my mind was a bit like the filtered photos you see on social media: setting up the nursery in a stable home that we own…

Me lying on a beach with my cute little tummy sticking up at the sun… My husband holding my hand and watching with awe as our baby comes into the world… And delightful (although sleepless) early days full off baby gazing and cute outfits. But it wasn’t like that at all, instead it was real life. It was hard, and scary and full of ups and downs. At times I really struggled to cope with my reality and my emotions and I mourned the loss of the way (I thought) it was meant to be.

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Author: Caitlin Ryan

What is Hyperemesis Gravidarum?

Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) is also known as “severe morning sickness”. Doesn’t sound that bad right? It is so much more than that. An all-consuming black cloud surrounds you during what is supposed to be a happy time for you and your family. It is severely debilitating, depressing and isolating and only truly understood by those that have experienced it. Imagine a bad hangover and gastro combined that doesn’t end. For 9 months. 24/7. And you’re getting close to what it feels like to experience HG.

“If morning sickness is a drop of rain. Hyperemesis Gravidarum is the hurricane.”

HG is severe vomiting and nausea in pregnancy. It is estimated to affect around 2% of pregnant women. There is a higher incidence of HG in multiples pregnancies. For some women it lasts for some of their pregnancy and for others like me it lasts the entire pregnancy and only stops once the baby is born (or babies). For some women the symptoms even linger post birth.

I suffered with HG for the duration of my pregnancies with both my daughter in 2014 and my boy/ girl twins in 2017.

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Author:  Emma Thomas

My husband and I had been trying to conceive for some time, however, I had very irregular periods (I only got a period once every 2-4 months), so it was hard to know if my “missed period” was due to being pregnant, or whether I just hadn’t ovulated as usual.  Both my mum and aunty had a condition known as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and Mum had warned me that it can “run in the family” and can cause fertility issues.  Women with PCOS often don’t ovulate, so they can go months without periods; this also makes it extremely hard with timing when trying to conceive.

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What is hyperemesis gravidarum?

Whilst the majority of women may experience what is commonly known as ‘morning sickness’, a small percentage of women develop hyperemesis gravidarum, which is a really severe form of nausea and vomiting that can last all day.

What causes hyperemesis gravidarum?

According to Standford Childrens Health the cause is unknown however it is thought to be hormone related.   Unfortunately it is also more common in multiple birth pregnancies.

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Author – Illiana Bell

Over 12 months of no periods, no ovulation and no pregnancies, my partner and I decided to consult a Gynaecologist at the Royal Woman’s hospital, Melbourne.  After blood tests and ultrasounds everything was reported within normal range… still no periods and of course no ovulations. The gynaecologist was concerned that the Depo Provera shot I had in 2011/2012 had completely messed up my hormones.

I was put on medications to bring on a period and then another lot of medications to bring on ovulation. After finally getting a period I was still not ovulating. Finally, I got a period without medication, however they only occurred every 3 months. This left us with a really small window to try and conceive. After 12 months, what felt like a life time., we were going to try one last time on the medication.  And if this round did not work a referral would be completed to an IVF clinic.

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Author: Emma King

In September 2016 my wife Stacey and I welcomed beautiful boy/girl twins into our family as two mums.  It was the most wonderful day of our lives but was also a long time coming as we know so many other families have experienced. We knew it would be a long and expensive journey being a same sex couple, using donor sperm. We wanted to share our story to provide hope and encouragement to anyone in the same situation.

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Author:  Jess Webster

The realities of having a remote area pregnancy means I’m writing this to you from a motel room, hundreds and hundreds of kilometres from my home, my husband and my children.  I am about to miss my daughters first ever day at school because I’m waiting forever away, in another state. Had this been a single baby, I would have been home still, however because it’s twins I had to come into town early. So here I am.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I love where I live and I feel so blessed to be having twins, it’s just some of the logistics are less than ideal. It starts with something simple like finding out if in fact you are even pregnant. We don’t have a grocery store, let alone a pharmacy. I had been having pregnancy symptoms for nearly two weeks and was well past due on my period before I was able to get into town to grab a simple pee stick. It wasn’t a case of just running up the road and grabbing every box of them that you can find, and testing daily until you see those 2 lines.

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Author: Kate Lucas

31 Ultrasounds Later…

I have always loved babies, and so I was thrilled when, after 6 years together, my husband agreed we were ready to have one of our own!

After a fairly uneventful pregnancy, and a fast but fantastic water birth, we were blessed with a beautiful boy – Hudson.  A delicious, fun-loving, bright, adventurous child – and thus a good advertisement to sell hubby on the idea of having more! I promptly started to hint that another child would complete our family.

As we also had a 13 year old daughter from my previous relationship, a new baby would make 3, so it would be a bit of an adjustment. But we wanted Hudson to grow up with a sibling close to his age…and hopefully a daughter so Adam would have a son and daughter of his own.

Not one to leave things to chance, I followed my cycle with a vengeance. I ate all the stuff to “make a girl”, we took all our zinc and folate and everything else that was recommended…..then New Years Eve…a few drinks and a fun night out and…Success! A positive test 8 days after ovulation! We could hardly believe it.

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Author:  Kristie Miller

The day we found out I was having twins, I wasn’t really that surprised. After my two Singleton pregnancy so close together (15 months) I thought I got this. It seemed breezy until I hit 18 weeks and had my first small unexplained bleed. I had never had a bleed before during pregnancy so the panic really set in.

The scans seemed normal then at 22 weeks a passed a large clot in the toilet followed by bleeding. I was hospitalised for a week on bed rest as I was still not considered a viable stage in my pregnancy. I was discharged and told to take it easy as the bleeding was still unexplained, and this is where it started to get Tricky. Twin B wasn’t putting on weight over the next few weeks and was diagnosed with IUGR. His cord Doppler’s where low and soon his sister Twin A was almost a kilo heavier. I was on twice weekly ultrasounds and was allocated a twin specialist to scan me to keep a close eye. Our aim was 32 weeks for delivery.

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