24 to 27 weeks pregnant with twins or multiples

Happy viability milestone! Because early delivery is much more common for twins and multiples than it is for singleton pregnancy, viability milestones become that much more important. Around this time, your little ones’ lungs have started to make surfactant, a substance that will help their lungs expand when they’re out in the open air.

Most babies born around this time will need to spend an average of about three months in the NICU after birth. It’s definitely ideal for babies to grow and develop in the womb a while longer, but meeting this milestone means that, whatever happens next, your little ones’ chances of good health in the future have just increased significantly.

In the next month, your babies will start to respond to sound. By the time they’re born, they’ll be familiar with the sound of your voice! Some parents find that if they start playing music for their babies during pregnancy, their little ones respond to these songs as if they recognize them after birth.

Twin or multiple pregnancy in the twenty-fourth week

If you’ve been pregnant before, you may have noticed that you’re growing significantly bigger than you might have during a previous, single pregnancy. You may also find yourself growing faster, or if you felt like you were growing at a comparable rate, that it just hasn’t slowed down when you expected it to. This is a perfectly normal consequence of having two (or more!) babies developing in there, instead of just one.

This growth may lead to even more fatigue than you might have felt during a previous pregnancy. Your healthcare provider may recommend an increased amount of rest throughout the rest of your pregnancy. Other side effects of this increase in size might include back aches or hemorrhoids.

Around the twenty-sixth week of your pregnancy, your doctor may recommend that you start counting your babies’ kicks.

Sources

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “Multifetal gestation: Twin, triplet, and higher order multifetal pregnancies.” National Guideline Clearinghouse. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, May 2014. Retrieved January 25 2018. https://www.guideline.gov/summaries/summary/48025/multifetal-gestations-twin-triplet-and-higherorder-multifetal-pregnancies.
• Stephen T. Chasen, Frank A. Chervenak. “Twin pregnancy: Labor and delivery.” UpToDate. Wolters Kluwer, December 2017. Retrieved January 25 2018. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/twin-pregnancy-labor-and-delivery.
• Richard A. Ehrankranz, Mark A. Mercurio. “Periviable birth.” UpToDate. Wolters Kluwer, December 2017. Retrieved January 25 2018. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/periviable-birth-limit-of-viability?search=viability%20milestones&source=search_result&selectedTitle=2~150&usage_type=default&display_rank=2.
• William Goodnight, Roger Newman. “Optimal nutrition for improved twin pregnancy outcome.” Obstetricians & Gynecologists. 114(5): 1121-1134.
• Atsushi Kuno, Masashi Akiyama, Toshihiro Yanagihara, Toshiyuki Hata. “Comparisons of fetal growth in singleton, twin, and triplet pregnancies.” Human Reproduction. 14(5): 1352-1360. https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/14/5/1352/766210.
• http://www.mfmsm.com/media_pages/MFM-Optimal-nutrition-for-improved-twin-pregnancy.pdf.
• Kenneth J. Leveno, J. Gerald Quirk, Peggy J. Whalley, Robert Trubery. “Fetal lung maturation in twin gestation.” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecologists. 148(4): 405-11. March 1984. Retrieved January 25 2018.
• Mayo Clinic Staff. “Twin pregnancy: What multiples mean for mom.” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic, December 13 2014. Retrieved January 25 2018. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/in-depth/twin-pregnancy/art-20048161.
• “FAQ: Multiple pregnancy.” American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, July 2015. Retrieved January 25 2018. https://www.acog.org/Patients/FAQs/Multiple-Pregnancy.
• “Tracking your weight, for women who begin a twin pregnancy at a normal weight.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved January 25 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/pdfs/maternal-infant-health/pregnancy-weight-gain/tracker/twins/normal_twin_weight_tracker__508tagged.pdf.
• “Twin pregnancy obstetric care guidelines.” Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, June 28 2016. Retrieved January 25 2018. http://www.brighamandwomens.org/Departments_and_Services/obgyn/Services/twin-pregnancy/twin-pregnancy-obstetric-care-guidelines.aspx?sub=6.