A quick coles-notes post on Twin Home Birth / Vaginal Birth Info. Post in-progress!
Twins are a variation of pregnancy that can occur in a variety of ways. Here is a good resource on The Biology Of Multiples.
It is often assumed that twins will come early and often by cesarean, but vaginal twin birth is absolutely an option, and yes, even twin home birth if families so choose. Admittedly, options and attendants willing to support a full range of choices for twin birth plans may seem limited depending on your area, but it’s definitely a possibility!
All of the twin births I have attended in my career have been born at full term, and some born past their “due date”, so while it is often thought that twins come early, in my experience, when the births are not induced there is a good chance of the babies being born at a healthy full term gestation.
Managed Twin Delivery or Physiologic Twin Birth
I wrote an article a while ago called The Case For Physiologic Breech Birth. The post focuses on breech birth, but really can apply to twins as well as far as comparing “managed delivery” and “physiologic births” and the options involved. For the sake of avoiding redundancy, I won’t re-write that whole post here, but DO recommend anyone planning a physiologic twin birth give the breech article a read!
Advanced Directive For Twin Birth:
In hospital births for twins, what some people do is make up an “Advanced Care Plan” in advance with your providers that reviews what choices you are making for your birth. This is an official document (much more powerful than a self-made “birth-plan”) that is agreed to by the hospital in advance and which carries much more weight than a regular “birth plan.” This can be helpful when you are birthing in hospital and declining routine methods of care.
Here is a sample care plan that clients of mine made up a few years ago when planning a twin birth where the first baby was breech. They ultimately decided to choose to birth at home, but had the directive made up in collaboration with the hospital in case the chose to birth there. If you are planning a more physiological style of twin birth and plan to decline some routine procedures for twins, a complex care plan may be helpful for you. The best way to do this would be to make a list of the things that are important to you about your birth and request assistance coming up with a unique advanced care plan with your medical team.
Twin Home Birth Stories
Here are a few stories of local twin home births:
Breastfeeding & Postpartum With Twins
In progress
