Pregnancy visits
Ultrasounds
Cervical measurement
Bed rest
When a multiple pregnancy is discovered, a woman's planned pregnancy care and where she would like to give birth to her babies may need to be reconsidered, because her choices often become limited. In Australia, birth centres, midwives' clinics and midwifery teams will not permit twins. Sometimes shared care can be organised between an obstetrician and a local GP (or perhaps midwifery care) and occasionally a woman will organise to have her twins born at home with a supportive midwife, if this is what she strongly prefers and the pregnancy is otherwise progressing normally.
Depending on where you live, most caregivers recommend that women having twins (and definitely women having triplets or quads) be cared for by an obstetrician during the pregnancy, either through the public hospital system or privately. In many cases, it is also recommended that the woman has her babies in a delivery suite of a larger public maternity hospital. Smaller metropolitan, private and rural hospitals will probably accept twins if they are uncomplicated and not too
premature, otherwise you may need to transfer to a larger public hospital with a Level 3 neonatal intensive care nursery if the labour starts before the babies reach a certain
gestation, or health complications arise for you or your babies. This is discussed in more detail
here.
Pregnancy visits
Pregnancy visits for women with a multiple pregnancy are generally very similar to visits for women having one baby. This is discussed
here. However, bear in mind that many multiple pregnancies are not discovered until a couple (or several) visits with the caregiver or perhaps a routine ultrasound at 18 to 20 weeks. Once the number of babies is revealed, the frequency of your routine pregnancy visits will probably increase, depending on how the pregnancy is progressing and your caregiver's preferences.