Many woman giving birth to twins are a little shocked at the amount of people present in their delivery suite room during the birth of their babies. When having twins you can expect to have the obstetrician (or obstetric
registrar) overseeing the birth and delivering the babies, perhaps another doctor assisting (a registrar or
resident), up to 3 midwives - one assisting the doctor and two to receive each the twin after they are born, and possibly two paediatric doctors if the babies are expected to be unwell.
As twins are not that common, many junior staff are interested in the learning experience, so there may be a few more to 'help' with the birth. If you are keen to have as few people as possible, you could have one doctor, one midwife to assist with the birth as well as two midwives (or paediatric staff) to attend to the babies once born. Discuss these options with your caregiver.
If you are planning to have your twins at home, then it is preferable to have at least 2 midwives in attendance. Twins are generally not permitted to be born in Birth Centres, although there have been cases where undiagnosed twins have been born unexpectedly, when the woman did not have an ultrasound during pregnancy.
The 2nd twin is not head down
There is much controversy surrounding the option to plan a vaginal birth for a twin pregnancy where the first twin is head down but the second twin is breech or transverse. The research is conflicting in that some studies support a Caesarean operation for the birth, claiming it is safer for the second twin. However, others show no increased risks for the second twin after either an External Cephalic Version (ECV) or an Internal Podalic Version (IPV), explained below. At present there is a tendency to avoid a Caesarean if the first twin is presenting in a head down position.
ECV and IPV