what to do - pregnant with twins

just wondering which is the best hospital to attend...found out we pregnant with twins 10 weeks and wondering if the coombe is good - which consultant to attend..would you go private/public...am in vhi plan b and also can you opt for elective caesarean...

also anyone any hints on what to do house wise in preparation...

You might consider posting this query on rollercoaster.ie (a pregnancy and parenting website with [broken link removed]). Congratulations, I hope everything goes well.

my cousing is 12 weeks pregnant with twins, she is in a two bed house has one child already. She has put in for a housing transfer for a 3 bed hse.

She is attending as a public patient in NMH, and to be honest i recently attended there myself as a public patient and received excellent care as my child had a medical condition.

My cousin is receiving excellent care and has attended every 2 weeks since she found out.

I think NMH would very at looking after multiple births from what i have seen so far.

Congrats, sil had twin boys last year, gorgeous but a handfull,hopfully you have family around you that will be able to help, get as much rest as you can before they arrive.

While not directly relevant to your original query you might like to know that there are special Child Benefit grant (at birth, 4 and 12) and ongoing payments for twins and other multiple births.

Another site woth mentioning is www.magicmum.com which also has some very good boards on parenting.

thank you so much everyone..what is NHM sorry..am based in dublin
x

National Maternity Hospital (Hollis St) I found them great during my time there too. But also depends on where you work or live as with twins you may have more apts than with one child.

eumom.ie is also another good source.

Also - discuss any concerns/queries/issues with your GP and maybe also your local Public Health Nurse. PHNs can be a great source of advice, information and support in our experience!

AVA1

I definitely recommend going private and to the coombe. We have only experience of one consultant who had no issue with elective C sect and was very supportive.

Don't let anyone talk you into going to a private hospital like Mount Carmel as they are not the real centres of excellence and cannot give all the care that new babies need if there are are complications. I know of 2 people who were very comfortable in their private rooms in MC but baby was rushed to coombe due to complications and then they hed to taxi between 2 hospitals to be with their new baby. Total disaster and v stressful. SO to sum up you may not be as pampoered in coombe or holles st but these are best place for babies to be born.

PM me if you want a recommendation for our consultant. V best of luck

Hi there and many congratulations.

Am mother to twins who will be 11 next month. Have 3 other children also. Was so delighted and so proud to have twins as my set are now 7th generation without skipping, my mam had 2 sets, bless her.

I went public, no prob, got all the care I needed. I was allowed reach my due date, 40 weeks, and was induced. 6 half hours later, c section performed. Dont let them do that, it like having 2 labours! Most people go early, or most consultants recommend c section at 38 weeks.

My boy was 8lb and girl was 6.7lb. Was glad I went 40 weeks cos they were both fine size and very healthy. It was tough in last month because I had put on 4 stone, but earlier on I was advised to eat more as babies were taking everything from me. 3 stone fell off by having babies, etc.

Dont worry about child proofing house yet, you wont have to do that until they get mobile. get a baby/bath changing unit, very important for your back, trust me.

For the moment, just mind yourself, take rest if you need it. Eat well, try stay fit, gently walking, swimming etc.

And when your babies arrive, and you see them and hold them and feel that surge of joy, excitement and pride, it will all fall into place. Twins not so bad, they will lead you.

Am so delighted for you

my sister had twins in january in mount carmel and got incredible support and care there. the babies were her 2nd and 3rd children and she had been to mount carmel before. her babies were born via c-section and she had them at 38 weeks. she probably could have held out until 39/40 weeks but she was incredibly uncomfortble by that stage being so big.

she spoke with several gps within the family and they all said that in this day and age, there is really no disadvantage with attending a hospital like mount carmel because with the number of scans and appointments (particulary with twins) you get, 99.9% of any potential problems are spotted during pregnancy as opposed to there being an emergency in the labour ward - the main advantage is that the place is like a hotel! they took the babies in the overnight nursery - she was there for 6 nights etc - the way they showered her the following day. it was also very quiet and there were no major timeframes regarding visiting.

you will always hear good and bad for all hospitals. go and see all of them and make your decision based on that. remember, if you do go private that you'll get your VHI and 40% tax back.

finally...my sis used a company called nanny solutions and got a maternity nurse from them. she stayed 3 nights a week for 6 weeks from 10pm - 7am - it was about €200 a night and obviously cost a pretty penny - but she trained the babies how to sleep, gave my sister invaluable advice and my sis claims it was the best money she ever spent. thank god for SSIAs!! I couldn't afford it, but she could and she said that the fact that her and her husband got a full night's sleep every second night was a godsend.

best of luck with it all - CONGRATULATIONS too! twins are just magical....and when you have them in your arms it'll be the best feeling in the world - and they're not even mine

by the way, accept ALL help offered!! I've done more ironing for my sister in the last 4 months than i ever thought possible!!

Enjoy your pregnancy and congrats again.

Why is a discussion of which hospital/consultant permitted in this thread and not permissable in the thread on osteopath/doctor question?

Folks

Please do read the Posting Guidelines. I have had to delete posts which discussed medical issues. This is very time consuming for us.

Please don't recommend consultants either or invite people to contact you by PM for recommendations.

The general issue of "which is better - public or private" is a gray area, so I have left it.

Brendan

wow the nanny idea seems great

Congratulations Ava1. My twins are 2 years old now and were born in Holles Street. Would highly recommend the hospital but when choosing, I would opt for a hospital which is most convenient to you as you will have alot more appointments with twins. I was in every 2 weeks from week 20 I think. On the public, private issued, the private and semi private clinics book up extremely quickly, you really need to decide what way you're going and book in asap. The consultants will only take on a certain amount of private patients each month. Hope all goes well for you.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I 'll love to have twins myself, any advice?

sorry ..no advice..we have twins both sides of the family

ava1 said:

wow the nanny idea seems great

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We didn't go with the nanny idea when we had our twins - I took one at night and the missus took the other - separate rooms. Ok we were both up at some stage every night but we found that we each managed to get five or six hours sleep most nights by separating the babies. Also if you have identical twin boys, and have difficulty distinguishing between them when they are babies, you can always tell by their balls.......................one always balls louder than the other . Good luck and enjoy.