I want to document as much as I can remember regarding what helped me during my twin pregnancy. This was my first pregnancy and I had some interesting advice and things that I did that I felt were vital in me being able to carry my twins to 37 weeks. While my pregnancy wasn’t completely perfect, I am really happy with the care and guidance I received. I felt in control with the direction of my health during that time.
Prenatal tea and vitamins
I consistently drank a prenatal tea or took a prenatal vitamin on the days I did not drink the tea. I preferred the tea because I was drinking tea before I got pregnant almost daily so I just switched the type of tea I would drink. I typically would have 3 cups a day for a total of 24 ounces.
Eat well
Whole foods, fats, fruits, nuts, soups, bean chili, steamed greens, sardines, sourdough bread, etc. I had fast food too. However when I did end up in the drive-through I stuck to grilled chicken sandwiches. I did my best to be mindful and focus on eating nutritious food the majority of the time.
Hydrate (water + electrolyte drink)
I kept my water intake high. Anytime I was thirsty I would take a swig of water. I had one of those 40oz tumblers and could easily drink three of those a day. My midwife suggested that I also take an electrolyte drink 2 to 3 times a day since I was drinking so much water. I was not consistent with this at all, having a drink once a day for a week or two and then not having it at all. Toward the end of my pregnancy, I became dehydrated despite drinking large quantities of water, My electrolytes were imbalanced and I ended up being sent to the hospital by the doctor’s office for an IV.
You can make a homemade Gatorade or buy an electrolyte packet such as LMNT or LiquidIV. I have tried all three and the order in which I have listed them is how I prefer them – however, LMNT was the go-to because of ease. I chose LMNT over LiquidIV because I wanted a low-sugar option. Additionally, you can just buy premade electrolyte drinks such as Gatorade or Body Armour from the store.
I wasn’t as consistent with the electrolyte drinks as I should have been. Due to that, when I went to have my induction they had to try so many times to get the IV in. This ended up being so painful – I got poked over five times to get the first IV in. I also ended up with a ton of bruises up and down my arms. Lesson learned – drink your water and electrolytes too.
Vitamin D Supplement
My vitamin D levels were a 9 when I got my labs done. This was either the end of the first trimester or early second trimester when I got the results back. Anyway, my levels were so low the midwives had me start taking a supplement in addition to getting more sunlight and tracking it using the Dminder app.
They had me taking 5 daily for 2 to 3 weeks then reduced down to 2 daily after that. After about two months my levels had shot up to the 60s. Remember that I was also tracking my sunlight exposure and would go for walks or sit out in the sun throughout the day. I enjoyed using the Dminder app because I could see the optimal times.
Stay on top of iron
My iron levels were fine (as in above the cutoff), but I needed to increase them. I ate chicken liver, wild-caught cod liver, dandelion greens, herbal tea, and iron-infused lotion. My levels never dropped below the cutoff to where I would need to supplement; however, after doing all this, they did decrease by the time I got my next set of labs done.
Taking an iron tincture helped to bring them up quickly. I took Energy Plus by Earthley and saw a nice increase once my next set of labs came back. I was advised to take two full droppers every day.
Eat watermelon and cucumber
As soon as watermelon season hit I was going through at least two huge watermelons a week. I ate it pretty much every day for breakfast. There are so many amazing benefits to eating watermelon and I think it truly helped me in my pregnancy. I was consuming them like crazy during the last 4 months of my pregnancy.
Cucumber is another must have. I would eat 1 a day at the very least. Sometimes, I would just add a sprinkle of sea salt and a squeeze of key lime to eat them or have them plain. I would eat them as a side to one of my meals or on a snack plate. I did my best to eat one everyday because I felt it was important.
Both of these foods aid in hydration, have high water content, are full of nutrients, clean the kidneys, and are natural diuretics. I did not swell at all in my pregnancy until the last two weeks. I specifically chose to eat these foods because avoiding swelling was important to me.
Magnesium lotion
I started off using a magnesium lotion in the second trimester. I would do 1 pump for each leg or each side of my body at the advice of my midwives. In the third trimester, they had me increase to two pumps for each. Honestly, I didn’t think it was doing anything until I didn’t apply the magnesium lotion for a few days. Well, guess what? I woke up screaming and crying because I had the worst leg cramp I had ever felt in my life!! It lasted so long and it hurt so bad, my husband did his best to rub it and console me but it was horrible. I had two of these my entire pregnancy and stayed consistent with the magnesium lotion when I made the correlation.
Walking
I walked every day. Even if it was only 5 minutes because it was too hot outside, I walked. My preferred method was outside, however, some days I had to just get my steps in the house or go to the mall to walk around. I walked at a very comfortable pace. I know a lot of people recommend brisk walking, but I was 325 pounds when I got pregnant. It made more sense for me to walk comfortably so that I could keep up the habit and avoid injury. I would easily get a mile or two in every day at a leisurely pace. It was enjoyable.
Squats
I started squats in the third month of pregnancy. I was told to squat with the number of weeks I currently was. For instance, when I was 11 weeks I did 11 squats a day for that week, then 12 a day during the 12th week, and so on. I kept this up until I came across some information on the internet where pregnant women were doing way more than that – this was probably somewhere between week 26 and 28. I tried that for a few days like a fool and ended up hurting myself. I stopped squatting for like two weeks after that and then eventually recovered and started back but only did what I could comfortably manage. Next time, I will stick to my midwife’s advice and just do the amount that corresponds with the week I am in.
Chiropractor
Seriously, one of the best decisions. I had pelvic pain here and there throughout my pregnancy. I went to the chiropractor a few times and was like new. I highly recommend finding one certified in the Webster technique. It helped so much and I think its the reason why I didn’t have much discomfort during pregnancy.
Spinning Babies
I want to add these because they were suggested to me. I was not as consistent but I did what I could, when I could. They have an entire website you can find information on and both my doula and midwife suggested I do some of the techniques with spinning babies. It’s a lot of information. I found a pamphlet at the hospital I was planning on delivering at that had simplified it to focus on just three of the moves so that’s what I ended up doing at the very least. I’ll admit I wasn’t completely consistent here either but I did do it a few times and later on in my pregnancy (the last week) there was a modified psoas release that I did every day using the stairs.
What didn’t work
Maternity belt – I wore this for less than 20 minutes. Within that time, it caused my head down baby A (who had been that way the entire time) to flip breech. I didn’t have pelvic pain so I should have passed on it in the first place. I promptly sent it back, got a refund, and spent the next few weeks trying to desperately turn baby A back because he had to be head down for me to have a vaginal birth.