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Development Times Two
From Womb to Delivery Room with Twins
By Renee Roberson
"Both were absolutely perfect," says Freiberg, a Chesterfield, Mo., resident. "The second one needed oxygen at first but was fine. Not exactly what I expected when the multiples were discovered at 18 weeks."
Allison Yrungaray from Riverside, Calif., on the other hand, was completely surprised when her water broke at 35 weeks. The second baby delivered, her son, was slightly smaller and had to be in the NICU for three weeks following the birth.
"I would have gladly gone on bed rest beforehand to avoid having one twin in the NICU and the other one at home," Yrungaray says. "That was hard."
A multiple pregnancy is a miraculous thing for a mother to experience, but for the most part, multiple embryos develop pretty much on the same timeline as a singleton pregnancy, except the womb has an extra embryo to protect and nourish. After the implantation, most of the time the fetuses will grow and develop fairly equally and the size of the uterus will let the body know when it's time for labor to begin.
Carrying multiples places extra demands on the mother, no doubt, but for the most part she can rest assured that each baby is developing as any other fetus would, just with an extra partner to share the experience with in the womb.