My early twin pregnancy symptoms were very distinct. And despite all the googling and reading I had done, I hadn’t come across anyone mentioning these specific twin pregnancy signs that I experienced. So I thought I’d share them here for those who are currently trying to conceive twins – and for those who may be feeling these same symptoms right now – I’m cheering you and your TTC journey on!
The two early twin pregnancy signs I experienced that gave me my first inkling that this would be the month before I ever tested positive on a pregnancy test were:
Insatiable hunger at 5dpo
Picture this: my husband and I had dinner around 7 pm. We’d put our toddler to bed, and we’re making our way through our latest TV series. It got past 11 pm and I just felt ravenous. I told my husband that I was going to go make a snack and asked if he wanted anything too – unsurprisingly, he was still full from dinner. I thought I’d maybe make some toast, or have a biscuit or two. Instead, something came over me when I entered the kitchen and I came back with not one but two beef burgers, stacked high with cheese and veggie fillings. Yep – full-on Angus beef patties, cheese, buns and salad. And two of them! (foreshadowing? perhaps!)
Now, while I have a massive sweet tooth and can easily make my way through a block of chocolate in the evenings, before this particular evening, I would not be able to tell you the last time I felt the need to have a large midnight meal, just hours after a full and satisfying dinner. It was uncharacteristic, and my very first signs that something was different and that I could be pregnant. I even thought to myself: “is my body gathering more energy to grow a baby? I hope so!” As it turns out, it was. And two babies at that. So what do I believe happened?
I believe I had started experiencing implantation (which actually occurs over several days and starts around 4-5 days post ovulation) and my body put out “the call” to my brain and stomach that I need more energy ASAP to best support the implantation process. The reading I’ve done has shown me that implantation is a complex process that involves a lot of chemical signalling, physiological changes, and a heck of a lot of energy. In fact, I’d go so far to say that if I’d ignored my body, I may have jeopardised the implantation process in some way, and the outcome for one or both of my sweet babies may have been different. I guess it’s one of those things that we’ll never know – but it can’t be a coincidence that this was the night, right at the start of the implantation process, that my immense hunger started. For the record, after successfully devouring both burgers, I was fast asleep within the hour. So it’s not like I used the extra energy for anything else.
Because I’m a control freak and compulsive early tester, I also took a pregnancy test the next morning at 6dpo. It was very negative.
Bubbles (tapping) at 8dpo
I can remember this day like it was yesterday: I woke up lying on my side like I normally did, facing toward my husband, and feeling a tap-tap-tapping in my uterus area. I guess I’d describe it as bubbles that were consistent, mostly regular and fairly fast – definitely faster than one bubble/tap per second. I just lay there and felt it. I had never woken up to these bubbles before ever, not even in my first singleton pregnancy. I remember reaching for my phone to check the time – 7 am – and breathing a sigh of relief that my toddler hadn’t woken yet. So I lay there and paid attention to these bubbles, knowing from the bottom of my heart that something was happening – or at least trying to happen. At some point I needed the bathroom so I stood up to use it and came back to bed. And just like that, the bubbles were gone. I can’t tell you why or how. I can tell you that I felt disappointed that they’d stopped, as I’d enjoyed feeling them, and I’d already made the mental connection between the bubbles and pregnancy, regardless of how optimistic (or naive) I was being.
In true early tester nature, I took a pregnancy test immediately to find a shadow of an indent line. I’d looked at enough indents and negative tests to know not to get excited about it just yet. But at the same time, at this point, I had really started to believe that this could be it and that I was finally pregnant.
My positive twin pregnancy test
For the record, my first positive was at 9dpo, first thing in the morning. My 8dpo has an incredibly faint line that I’d class as an indent and I don’t count it as a positive test because I’ve definitely had darker indent lines in the past that were negative. Plus, there was absolutely no pink to the line on the First Response (FRER) pregnancy test.
So I didn’t get excited for the most part for my 9dpo test because, let’s face it, it could well have been an indent line, a false positive, or my eyes playing tricks on me. So because I love throwing money away on the FRER early detection tests, I took another one a few hours later. And the line was still there! I wouldn’t say it was any darker, but that didn’t matter, because it was still there. I probably took another two or three tests that day and all of them had the same faint lines. The butterflies and accompanying hope had started.
At 10dpo, the line had darkened somewhat and there was definitely some pink to the test. And over the coming days, it kept getting darker until it was undeniable to the point that I had to share the news with my husband. I had my first beta drawn at 14dpo, as ordered by my doctor who knew we were trying and was ready to give me as many beta tests as I wanted and needed (bless her) to see if this would be a viable pregnancy, given that I have a history of losses.
Did my twin pregnancy symptoms start earlier?
I can confidently say that I didn’t notice any symptoms prior to my positive pregnancy test with my first singleton baby. But this time, with these two hunger and tapping symptoms, they did. I should note that for both my twin pregnancy and my singleton pregnancy, I first tested positive at 9dpo, first thing in the morning.
Did my twin pregnancy feel different?
Oh absolutely, my twin pregnancy felt very different to a singleton (single baby) pregnancy. As well as the early symptoms I’ve mentioned here, the day after my first true positive test, other symptoms started like a strong smell aversion to my favourite sunblock, and extreme fatigue that required daily naps – among many other pregnancy symptoms.
Are twin pregnancy symptoms different?
Throughout my entire twin pregnancy, the resounding message from my doctors was that my body was trying to grow two humans, and that required a lot of effort and work in every way. So yes, my experience was that the signs and symptoms of a twin pregnancy are different in that they were a lot more intense, plus I had a greater variety of symptoms.
As well as being hormonally different and requiring more energy from my body, my twin pregnancy was also physically more demanding on my body. I developed low back pain, symphysis pubis dysfunction (SPD), slept with a maternity pillow from 18 weeks (versus 33 weeks with my first singleton), experienced recurrent hormonal (or gravitational?) fevers from about 35 weeks, had the dreaded PUPPPs rash, had a few yeast infections – you name it.
Have questions about my early twin pregnancy signs and symptoms? Please feel free to reach out and ask and I’ll try my best to write about it and update you when I do. I’m very much of the belief that if you’re wondering it then there will be SO many more people who are wondering the same thing. Us twin mamas need to stick together!
