Complications that arise during twin pregnancy
Pregnancy is that time of your womanhood when you feel most fulfilling but it is not as easy for some as it is for most others and sometimes the problems faced by an expecting might worry her a wee bit too much. Especially for women who are expecting twins, the chances of facing complications are almost doubled just as how the joy of giving birth to two babies at the same time is more than delivering only one. It is important that is why to be familiar with the signs of the different kinds of complications which may arise during your nine months of pregnancy, especially if you are expecting twins.
Miscarriage
This is a problem that occurs mostly during the first trimester and worries most expecting women, especially those becoming a mother for the first time. If your pregnancy is lost before the twentieth week, it is medically termed as a miscarriage. Twenty out of every 100 cases of pregnancies suffer miscarriages and unfortunately in mothers carrying twins, the chances of suffering a miscarriage is slightly higher. This happens because there might develop an imbalance in the chromosome while the cells are dividing to form two babies instead of one. Abdominal bleeding and cramping are signs of a miscarriage. In some cases of twin pregnancy, the vanishing twin syndrome may also be seen, where even though two fetuses are detected, only one grows into becoming a baby and strangely the other’s miscarriage shows no outward manifestation.
Preterm Labour
This is the most common complication faced by mothers carrying twins. Most twins are born prematurely. Preterm labour takes place when the contractions begin to occur before the thirty eighth week of pregnancy. This happens mostly because of the overcrowding in the uterus and the fact that the mother’s single uterus cannot accommodate the two babies who are growing together. The chances of preterm labour are higher according to the number of babies you are expecting in a single pregnancy.
Intrauterine Growth Retardation
This complication happens to take place when a baby is 10% less than the expected weight for his or her fetal age. This stems from a number of things – infection in the placenta or poor blood circulation in the placenta, or overcrowding in the uterus which obviously stands a higher chance if the pregnant woman is carrying twins or more kids rather than one child. There are chances that this may lead to preterm labour so speak to your doctor right away.
Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome
This is a very frightening complication that might arise in twin pregnancies. In this case one twin takes over the other twins’ blood supply from the utero. This obviously makes it difficult for one baby to get as much supply or air and nutrients as the other. Thus what happens is that one twin becomes larger than the other and the other remains small and under developed. However this is a rare occurrence and takes place in only one out of every thousand pregnancies but if it does take place, it can cause serious abnormalities. You should set things right the moment TTTS is detected. So the symptoms for TTTS are rapid gain of weight, pains in the abdomen, tightening of the stomach and also premature contractions.
Preeclampsia
There are chances of this complication arising in the second trimester. High blood pressure and too much of protein in the urine are signs of preeclampsia. This is a relatively common complication so do not get agitated. Every two out of ten cases of twin pregnancies experience some form of preeclampsia. During this complication, your hands and face might also get swollen and you might also experience fever and head aches.
Conjoined Twins
1 out of every 400000 twin births result in the delivery of a conjoined twin. This complication occurs when your fertilized egg does not split completely. The two separate parts stay intact at some point and this, results in the formation of two separate babies however joined at one point. There are different kinds of conjoined twins depending on which part of their body is attached. Most conjoined twins are either still born or unfortunately perish within twenty four hours of delivery as most of them share very vital organs with each other. Other who do manage to survive are usually separated at birth but this can be a very risky operation.
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