When is best for a delivery of twins?
Categories: Pregnancy & Birth
I'll admit: When it comes to the pregnancy and delivery of twins, I'm a little stumped. Honestly, I always thought that twins came a month earlier, though I'm not sure where I got that idea.Here's an article saying that the best time to deliver twins is between 38 and 39 weeks gestation. According to the article, many doctors in Britain deliver twins between 37 and 38 weeks, which some scientists are saying isn't good for the babies.
Researchers at The University of Ottawa, who came up with the numbers for delivery, say that an early delivery of twins at 37 showed a 17 percent chance of requiring lung ventilation in comparison to babies born at 39 weeks.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Adrienne Backus 8-18-2006 @ 2:51PM
Gah. Stuff like this just fries me. Why isn't the best time to deliver twins when they've reached fetal maturity and their mom *naturally goes into labor*? Must *everything* be managed?
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Michelle 8-18-2006 @ 5:27PM
Mine were born at 38 weeks, via C-section. Baby one was breech and smaller than baby two, so I couldn't deliver naturally. My OB told me that 38 weeks is considered full term for twins, and I've even read that the placenta begins aging after that (which happens in singletons, but after 40 weeks). That's why a lot of us with twins end up delivering at 38 weeks. Twins (or higher multiples) are immediately considered high-risk and really do need to be managed more along the way in terms of testing.
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Anna V. 8-18-2006 @ 5:51PM
Military hospitals do not immediately consider twins to be high risk, though. I was not high risk until I went into premature labor at a day over 31 weeks. Three weeks of hospital bedrest later, I gave birth at a day shy of 34 weeks to two babies over 5 pounds each. They weren't low-birthweight babies, and the time in the NICU was minimal (mostly waiting for hernial surgery), and so we barely considered them premies. Some docs say 38 is the magic number, but I though it was rare for twins to go the full 40 weeks. I would have killed someone if I had gone the full, normal gestation.
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niya 9-14-2006 @ 7:27PM
My friend went upto 40weeks of her twin pregnancy.The consultant in the hospital preferred to wait for normal labour but in the end she went past her due date and ended up losing her daughter.Luckily her son survived.Not a good idea to wait for things to happen naturally in every case!
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