16 to 19 weeks pregnant with twins or multiples

Just like in a singleton pregnancy, when you’re carrying multiples, many of their physical structures will have developed by now, with the ears moving to the sides of their heads, lungs starting to work, and eyes developed enough to start to being able to detect light. In the next few weeks, your twins or multiples may start to get restless, and you may start to feel them kick sometime around weeks 18 to 20, just like you would if you were carrying a single baby. Not feeling kicks during that time doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong — there’s a wide range of “normal” timing in any pregnancy, after all, and in a twin or multiple pregnancy, that uncertainty is multiplied.

In particular, an anterior placenta, or a placenta that’s positioned between the baby or babies and the wall of your uterus can muffle the feeling of your twins’ or multiples’ movements. This means that if you have one twin with an anterior placenta, and another with a posterior placenta, or one that’s positioned behind the baby, you’ll probably end up feeling a lot more movement on one side than the other. Your healthcare provider will be able to tell you if one or more of your twins or multiples has an anterior placenta.

Travel with a twin or multiple pregnancy

One thing to keep in mind while carrying twins or multiples in particular is that your doctor may recommend that you limit your travel much sooner than they might with a singleton pregnancy. Since preterm labor and delivery is significantly more common in twin and multiple pregnancies, it’s more risky to be far from home starting much earlier in a pregnancy. Your doctor might start to suggest caution as early as 26 or 27 weeks into your pregnancy, which means that if you have some travel you’d like to do before your little ones are born, now may be a good time to start planning your trip.

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