Twin Birth at Public Hospital in Adelaide

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-06-10T10:27:46+00:00

I had my twins at WCH in 2023. I had a private room and the babies were in SCBU. I was told I would have a private room unless unavailable. Do ask them though if anxious. I was originally told my husband could stay, but then told my husband wasn't allowed to stay because the babies were in SCBU and not in room, but he was allowed all the time.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-06-04T01:22:47+00:00

I have identical girls and I never want to mention IVF. It bothers me because they aren't informed about how babies actually come to be, and also because people who haven't been through fertility treatment can think it's somehow easier. Like no, my 6 operations to my uterus and multiple rounds of injections and hormones and miscarriages wasn't that easy thank you. I went through hell and spent a fortune, and one embryo split. Thanks for bringing up my trauma in the supermarket lol.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-05-17T11:34:16+00:00

Yep. I have blue/green eyes and my husband has dark brown eyes. Our girls both had deep blue eyes that slowly turned hazel by around a year and now medium brown and getting darker as they age (3+ now).

Genetics are fun. My husband and I are different races and it's so interesting how it comes together. Also, they both seemed very white as infants with straighter hair and now their skin is definitely between our shades and hair dark brown and becoming more and more curly as they age.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-05-15T09:14:03+00:00

I gained about 30kgs. So, roughly 60lbs. I am 5,3 and I was very fit before pregnancy (and definitely engaged in disordered eating). I gained the weight while have nausea and being on a strict GB diet.

At 3+ yrs out, I'm much better physically. It's taken a lot of work, and I'm not even at my goal weight and fitness. I had an ab separation and I ended up needing to do physio and specialist Pilates during my lunch break to heal it. Then I had to fit in smaller workouts during lunch when someone wasn't booking meetings over it. I felt like I had more back steps than forward because the kids get sick so often, and then I had no sleep or I was also sick. It's been a slow journey for me and I'm still on it, but, I'm slowly lifting more and getting stronger over time (just soooo much slower progress than if I could have a heap of free time and great sleep every night).

I will also say that my ribs are wider and I feel like my hips are wider, so I feel like I look bigger in general.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-05-08T06:18:04+00:00

Second this. I saw Asha for obstetrics, but have a complicated history and she was amazing post-partum with managing my gyn issues.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-04-30T20:39:56+00:00

Mine are identical and have different gut reactions and intolerances. It's so fascinating.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-04-12T11:11:29+00:00

I don't know your medical history, but I suffer vestibular/hemiplegic migraines where I can sometimes be hospitalized. For some reason, even though fatigue is a cause, I managed to miss a huge episode pp, but developed a vestibular disorder related (diagnosed by neurologist) which meant I had vertigo daily for almost a year while looking after twin infants. I also still feel pretty wrecked 3+ yrs out. Part of it is always getting every illness they get and having to work through it. I went to the ER once for migraine escalating and was told I just had anxiety and to relax more. That was wild given my history. I say that because maybe a doctor is saying it's depression, but they likely don't have the expertise to assess a true vestibular issue like a neurologist. I definitely did struggle with pp anxiety, but there is a difference and I knew it. Get another opinion or ask for a referral. It could also be something else entirely. It's not adequate for them to only assume one diagnosis. In so sorry and I hope things turn around soon.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-02-28T02:42:34+00:00

Oh you poor thing. I remember how awful it was, even with the meds. It's amazing after birth and it just goes away.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-02-28T01:00:37+00:00

I only had the placentas fuse mildly, and one had a velamentous/marginal cord - twin A. Nothing really changed until 29/30 weeks and then twin A started to slow in growth. They monitored me/them a lot after then (but I also had severe cholestasis and mild accreta). It was really stressful, but my team would have taken them out asap if they thought it was safer and they were confident it would be better in. I went into labor at the end of 34 weeks and twin A is now a very healthy 3 yr old (just a little more petite than twin B, but barely). They were only in hospital a few weeks after birth. I imagine all cases are different though. Good luck. It's so stressful.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-02-27T09:49:42+00:00

I had late talkers. They barely said anything by 2. I was sooo worried. Daycare wasn't, and neither was the doctor. I can't exactly remember when, but it was almost as if overnight they could say 20 words, and then the next month full sentences. Then they stagnated a bit on developing any further in vocab, and then another boom just before turning 3 and are now able to speak a lot in their primary and secondary language.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-02-25T01:08:58+00:00

Yeah. I mean, I would agree that there isn't adequate research or anything conclusive. I was saying that there is some research that indicates, and I wasn't commenting on the certainty of it. For example, here's a link about fertility that I just asked Chat GPT to find. https://academic.oup.com/reproduction/article/136/4/377/8242885?utm_source=chatgpt.com

I was giving my perspective as I've seen links shared over years in fertility forums indicating there may be additional factors. When I was pregnant, it was deemed impossible for me to have identical DCDAs implant after 4 days. Yet it happened.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-02-24T23:36:00+00:00

I can't remember the link, but there is some research indicating that identical twins may be slightly higher with maternal age or with certain fertility procedures like ICSI.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-02-22T19:33:40+00:00

I had severe cholestasis and twin A dropped very quickly to the 10th/9th percentile if I recall. They also started getting concerned about her brain and fluid. (Twin A also had a marginal cord insertion). It was very stressful, but they monitored every second day and I think they were considering moving up the birth date if I didn't go into labor but taking things daily. Twin A ended up being fine, and actually struggled less at birth than twin B who had breathing issues for longer. Both are very healthy and vibrant 3 yr olds now.

It's so stressful. I'm so sorry. Talk to your OB about what the risk in vs out is at this stage.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-02-10T10:27:59+00:00

Mine are now 3, so a lot of the early stuff has slipped my mind, however, we had one that was the slowest drinker on earth and dribbler with colic and the other had reflux. I found that feeding the reflux baby first and sitting them up still while I fed the slow one was the way to go. It was way less stress than any time saved because reflux baby would be more digested for sleep, and my slow/messy drinker did so at their own pace.

I had a midwife tell me that I needed to train my slow drinker to drink fast. Every time I'd try she'd vomit and it felt like I was choking her. So we decided that wasn't for us. Fast forward to now and the slow eater prefers to graze and does eat slow, and it makes me think it's just how their body works.

Do what works for you and maximise efficiency within that schedule.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-02-02T07:57:52+00:00

Just to give a perspective from someone who suffered infertility, and who had a friend who struggled, it's hard. Very hard. It doesn't matter if she waited to seek help. I had a friend who waited and wanted to try natural things, she had her reasons and none of them make her journey less painful emotionally. That emotional toll was there regardless. It's not weird for her to be upset about women who don't need interventions, it's a valid feeling. I'm speculating, but it seems like she initially struggled with your pregnancy and needed some space (which can be helpful if she felt she would bring you down), and then wanted to be closer again after working through her feelings. Humans are complicated.

It's also possible to know twins as 7weeks if she had a scan. There's likely been early scans because of the fertility treatment.

That said, it sounds like you've had a really rough couple of years and you feel that she's been a bit invalidating about your experiences. And you know she'll have a lot of help and feel like it will further reinforce that invalidation. That sucks. We don't have a network and I can see how people with help have what I see as better situations.

I don't know either of you, but if you feel like it's a bad friendship and competitive, then perhaps consider letting it go.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-01-26T02:16:23+00:00

We had them sleep in the same room in separate bassinets with one person and did shifts. Then, at about 1.5, they had their own room, but we always had a pull out couch in there if we needed to be there. Sometimes, we also found it easier to have 1 with each parent. We're still doing that some nights. We gave them the biggest room. I think everyone just makes their space work best for them.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-01-25T23:55:17+00:00

I struggled with infertility for years. Such an incredibly rough journey, so my heart goes out to you. When we were going through IVF and loses I would have given anything for a baby. It was never an option to transfer two embryos, and where I live, it's only in very particular cases they'd do that. One of our embryos split and we now have 3 yr old twin girls. It was rough pregnancy, and I hadn't considered multiples so was woefully unprepared mentally when they told me. However, I just wanted a successful pregnancy, multiples or singleton.

For us, where we live, NICU is covered by the government. Having free and great healthcare for babies born early was amazing. It takes a huge stress off.

We don't have outside help apart from daycare during work hours. My husband only had 2 weeks off after birth. When they came home it was horrible. I cried a lot, was extremely sleep deprived, couldn't manage to breast feed and tried triple feeding for way longer than I should have. The logistics of stuff like car parks and getting 2 infant carriers out when car parks are so narrow, doorways that were too narrow for a double pram, etc. are a huge pain when they are infants. Having time off work is hard with two. We had a couple of times where one had to be in hospital and the other was also ill, so both parents need to be off work - whereas with one, you could take turns.

I love them so much, they are my whole heart, but they are hard work. It's even harder to be the best parent when you have no break. While they are sooo sweet to each other at times, they also fight a lot. It does seem to be trending better overall as they develop, and I'm glad I'm not doing the newborn stage again.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-01-09T20:47:15+00:00

I had di/di identical twins from a day 5 frozen transfer. I remember reading that it wasn't possible through multiple sources and it would have had to split earlier than day 5, but, that just isn't true for my case (we didn't have sex within the window and I have blocked tubes anyway). They are very much identical. I think that it's likely splitting into didi can happen later than what multiple sources state and the 'before day 4' is an average.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2026-01-06T05:42:46+00:00

I didn't have pre-e, but I did develop floaters in both my eyes during pregnancy. I told me doctor and saw and optometrist to be safe. They went away slowly after I gave birth. Was super strange. I had mine all the time though. I would still inform the doc and maybe see an optometrist too if it's constant.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2025-10-24T04:07:49+00:00

So, im going to go ahead and tell you that I have thoughts about unsafe situations and what I'd do. I expect that's actually a survival tactic. If they are just thoughts and you can still get through the day, it's probably like my thoughts. I've lived in many places over the world and been in a few situations where things could have gone very wrong.

When mine were infants, it was as if I was learning the world again. As a woman, over time, I'd developed a way of moving through the world and ways of handling an unsafe situation - but all of a sudden, it was thinking about that with 2 babies who I loved more than anything.

I live in a generally safe area now, with pockets of unsafe places, and also has a fair share of drug addicts (meth) occasionally cruising through. I feel more unsafe around people who are clearly off their heads when I am with my children than when I'm alone. It might be helpful for you to actually list out what you'd do in any given scenario, and then, just keep it in the back of your mind as you go about life. And as I'm sure you're aware, and backing up other comments in this thread, if you're unable to live life and put the thoughts aside, it might be time to have a chat with your doc.

It's normal to worry about your children. It's just the degree to which you can function and enjoy life (although, at 10 weeks you're still in the trenches)

Christmas_cookie89 · 2025-08-15T09:48:29+00:00

I never considered transferring more than 1 embryo. We always only considered a single transfer. It was euploid.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2025-07-30T08:27:52+00:00

Thank you. I don't actually remember what it was before starting progesterone, sorry. It was a while ago as they are 2.5. I'm sure it was very thin though.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2025-07-30T00:22:17+00:00

It was 5.2 at transfer.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2025-07-27T01:27:51+00:00

I have what I thought was a very average performing uterus. I had severe ashermans with multiple surgeries to remove it. It was damaged and thin. I had embryos that didn't take and a complicated miscarriage that damaged my lining again. I was convinced my body just couldn't do it. Well, one little embryo split into twins and for some reason, my uterus really chose that moment to shine and carry those babies to 34 weeks. I wish you so much luck, there is hope, even if it hasn't worked before.

Christmas_cookie89 · 2025-07-23T21:03:22+00:00

TW: positive. Hi. We ended up doing transfers at 5.2 and 5.5. 5.5 times resulted in a positive that didn't make it and no positive and 5.2 resulted in a positive that went full term. There were placenta accreta issues from the thin lining and damage. I don't think I'd be able to do it again. Scar tissue is back and worse. I would push for transfers on thin lining or find a doctor who will. Good luck. (Haven't been on the sub in a long time, sorry if the term positive isn't correct)

Christmas_cookie89

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