Moms-To-Be Of Twins Want To Know: Will My Belly Get Bigger With Twins Than One Baby? Will I Show Sooner? (My 3rd Singleton Compared To Twin Pics Inside.)

 

 

Moms-To-Be Of Twins Want To Know: Will My Belly Get Bigger With Twins Than One Baby?

(My 3rd Singleton Compared To Twin Pics Inside.)

 5-1-2012

My big baby bump is now 25 months, 4 weeks, and 1 day old.

 

 

Question: Will my baby bump be bigger with twins than with one baby? Will it be a big difference and will I show sooner? 

 In a word..YES. Maybe not insanely larger, but for most all twin mamas the extra expansion ranges from noticeable to very noticeable. It depends on several factors as further discussed below. If you have had singleton babies before it is especially easy to wonder things such as this. I had photos from my 3rd baby and was comparing them to the ones I was taking this time around.

 

While the first several months were almost the same, after the bump really stated filling out, it was a clear 3-6 week difference in pictures vs. my singleton baby. 28 weeks plus, I got big SO much quicker than in prior months. (Though I never did need that wheelbarrow my OB joked about which I did NOT find funny.)

 

 This extra expansion makes some sense being that the uterus with a twin pregnancy averages 6 weeks ahead of dates. However, this number can be less or far more and can change at any time, and at every visit. In fact, I was measuring at 38 weeks at only 27 weeks. Talk about scary news to hear. But my babies were both fully out-stretched which made the number so staggering.

 

*Note- Don’t pay much attention to uterus size measurements. Amount of fluid, baby positioning, etc. can change that measurement easily. Don’t let those numbers freak you out. I wish I hadn’t.*

 

If you never had a child before you will have nothing to compare your belly to. It truly is just like anything else. It varies from person to person. Some people will get quite huge while others may remain quite petite and people may assume she is carrying only one baby. Some with one baby will get huge and people may suspect twins.

 

What determines this in its entirety is really a mystery, aside from a few things that most women seem to have in common. Perhaps, it may be part genetics in fact? Who knows? Some things that we do know that factor in on belly size during pregnancy that are not part of the mystery, are as follows:

 

1. Number of babies.

Of course with 2,3, or more babies you will be larger than with only one in your tummy. An overly stretched uterus usually will look larger than a single baby, be it all along, or just towards the end of the pregnancy.

 

2. Number of prior pregnancies.

I did not note a big change in my singleton pregnancies, but did not have all the pictures to really investigate the matter thoroughly. We didn’t have digital cameras back with my boys (dang it.) From memory it didn’t seem like a huge change, but I can’t be sure.

 

There were some years in between them and my now 6 year old, which may have made a difference. But my boys were extremely close in age, and I don’t recall getting noticeably larger. But again…no comparison pics.

 

3. Possibly hereditary?

I knew a lady who had a 4 lb. baby girl, her 1st child, and looked like I did with twins at the end. She was big! Her mom said she carried large to. It definitely makes me wonder if there is a genetic component here.

 

4. Ab muscle strength.

They say if you are fit or get fit before a pregnancy and stay healthy during, your abs will be stronger and you may carry smaller/ higher, and even have a quicker and easier labor and pushing phase to boot! Definitely stronger abs help women to not show for a longer stretch in my opinion.

 

 Of course, we all want to show to get that ‘pregnancy acknowledgement’, but it does tend to have an impact on how large you may get in the end as well, and how fast you get back into shape postpartum. When you try to conceive, also try and exercise more to. Check with your doctor about an exercise regimen that is safe for you and your babies during a twin pregnancy, especially.

 

5. Weight gain.

Excessive weight gain leads to getting larger in every place on the body, though it is also true that many overweight women hide a belly bump quite well. A lot of extra weight will make it harder to lose in the end, and get back to your former weight. Therefore, while you must gain, especially with multiples, heavily over-gaining is never a good thing for you in the postpartum period.

 

 

Will I show sooner?

Most likely, but not necessarily. I didn’t really notice showing faster to start, but once I did show, the week by week belly growth was quicker and much more apparent than the growth in the singleton pictures I had, and from all I remember. With one in tow there was a week or two..even 3 here or there where I didn’t look any larger at all. With twins there was always a notable difference every week.

 

Here was the start of things. No real difference to note at 10 + weeks that I can see. I just started out a few pounds heavier this time around.

 

Most twin moms you will find will attest to showing earlier. Remember ladies, the super early ‘showing’ is bloat not baby. Two fetuses the size of peas do not greatly expand the abdomen. There is extra water retention and extreme blood volume increase in a twin pregnancy. It can easily fool you though, this I know.

 

You will notice plenty of bloat in the first 2-3 months, especially. You may notice the whole way through that in the morning, when I took most of my belly pictures, your abdomen will look it’s smallest while it looks strangely larger at the end of the day.

 

You may think this is showing until you wake up again and it has gone back down again. Weird phenomenon. Most twin moms report true twin showing at 14-20 weeks. A few will note before or after, but this is when you may expect to see some true showing, especially toward week 20. Though many moms could even hide a single baby at 24 weeks, with twins don’t expect that to happen.

 

Twin belly at 22 weeks vs. a 24+ week singleton belly.

 

Around week 18,19 for me.. there started to be a very noticeable difference, but how about those final couple of months and the last day of a singleton pregnancy vs. a twin one? See below for yourself.

 

33 weeks

 

 

38 weeks with 1 and 37 with twins. (Trust me…I took that pic in the morning. I was bigger than that picture depicts. The other was in the afternoon.)

 

I hope this helps answer these questions for those who are wondering. And if you are a mom-to-be or a mom of twins with a question for me, drop me a line at: contact@twinpossible.com. I’ll do my best to help get your question answered.