May 2009

What are the chances I’ll carry to term?

Preterm birth is a big concern for moms pregnant with twins. We’re often told that we will deliver earlier than with a singleton pregnancy, but what are the chances that a twin pregnancy will make it “to term”.

A 23 year study conducted at four US medical centers used information from 1,612 twin pregnancies where twins were born after 28 weeks to come up with the following statistics:

• Chances of extremely preterm (28-30 weeks): 5.3%
• Chances of very preterm (31-32 weeks): 8.5%
• Chances of preterm (33-36 weeks): 40.1%
• Chances of delivering at term (36 – 40 weeks): 46.1%

This study is pretty reassuring when you realize that you have close to an 80% chance of delivering your babies near or at term.

While babies often time have a mind of their own when it comes to making their first appearance, there are things that you can do to help increase your chances for having healthy and full-term twins:

• Keep your doctor appointments. Prenatal care with regular checkups and ultrasounds is essential to monitor the babies’ growth and development, and to identify and treat problems early.
• Take folic acid and prenatal vitamins
• Diet and nutrition are important to both mom and the babies’ health. Cut down on sugars and caffeine, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and make sure your meats are fully cooked.
• Drink your water! Dehydration is one of the three leading causes of preterm labor.
• Exercise regularly. Check with your doctor to see how much exercise you should do, but try and get some light to moderate exercise every day (water aerobics are great, especially once you reach the six month mark of your pregnancy). Don’t overexert or allow yourself to become overheated, as both these can have a negative impact on your babies.
• Avoid harmful substances like drugs, alcohol and smoking.