Tracking movement in utero for multiple babies is tricky, if not nearly impossible.
If you want to test your capacity for intense concentration and focus, try counting kicks and keeping everything straight when you're pregnant with twins.
When you've got one baby on board, if you feel a kick, flutter, or roll, you know your baby is active.
When you've got twins in there, if you feel a kick, flutter, or roll, you have to pay attention to where you felt the movement and the angle of the striking appendage, then think back to your last ultrasound and where everybody was nestled up, and try to determine which baby you felt.
Then, on top of that, you have to pay attention to feel if, and when, you feel more kicks from a different area that is far enough away from the first kicks that it's probably from your second baby.
Talk about dividing your attention for your divided eggs (if you're pregnant with identical twins, that is).
Talk about dividing your attention for your divided eggs (if you're pregnant with identical twins, that is).
With twins, it's almost impossible to know, without a doubt, which baby you're feeling kick at any given moment. You can give your best guess, but even then, you could get them mixed up.
And here you were, thinking you didn't have to worry about mixing them up until after they were born.
And here you were, thinking you didn't have to worry about mixing them up until after they were born.
To make matters even more—shall we say "fun"?—the placement of your placenta(s) can add to the chaos of kick counting (we'll get to that later on).
When should you start feeling movement?
The first flutters you'll feel from your babies are called quickening, and you can start to feel that movement anywhere from 16 to 20 weeks' along. The exact timeframe you can first feel movement can be different with each pregnancy, but in general, the timing is similar to singleton pregnancies.
You might be able to recognize the subtle sensations sooner if you've been pregnant before or if you have a very slight frame. The amount of amniotic fluid in your babies' sac(s) can also affect how early you can feel their movement, as can the placenta placement (more on this, later).
As your twin pregnancy progresses and your babies continue to grow—and as your burgeoning babies share tight living quarters—their movements will become more obvious and you'll feel them more often.
When should you start counting kicks?
You'll want to talk to your OB-GYN or doctor, as each pregnancy is different, and there are more factors at play when you've got multiples on board, but, generally, it's suggested you start daily kick counting at the end of the second trimester, around 26 weeks' along.
Be consistent with your kick counts; choose the same time of day—ideally, when they're most active—to get comfortable (haha, do the words "comfortable" and "twin pregnancy" really belong in the same sentence?) either by lying on your left side or sitting in a relaxed position, and take note of the different movements you feel, from flutters, to kicks, to rolls.
How many kicks should you feel?
When you're kick counting for a twin pregnancy, you want to track their movement until you reach 10 movements (flutters, kicks, jabs, or rolls) per baby.
Try to time how long it takes you to get to 10 movements for each of your babies. When they're cramped closely in tight quarters, this can be tricky. It might be less boggling if you know how they're currently positioned and can focus on one area (and, therefore, hopefully distinguish one baby).
Over time, you'll also become attuned to each of your babies' individual movement patterns (one of our twins was more of a jabber; the other was more of a roller), so that may help you identify who's kicking you during a kick count session.
Alternatively, you can try tracking the movement of both of your babies using an app, like the Count the Kicks app, which you can set to track twin movement before starting a session.
Placenta placement can soften kicks
How well you'll feel your twins kicking can depend on the placement of your placenta.
You can have an anterior placenta (this is a front-facing placenta) or a posterior one (or both, potentially, if you're having dichorionic-diamniotic twins and they, therefore, each have their own placenta).
If you have an anterior placenta, that can cushion your babies' movements, making them harder to feel until you're further along in your pregnancy. If you have a posterior placenta, movements can be easier to feel.
Beyond the placenta(s), you've, of course, got two babies crammed into cramped living quarters, so it's pretty hard to know with absolute certainty who you feel, even if you THINK you know because they roll around and can move position so often while they're in utero.
Whichever baby is nestled up on top has more room than their sibling to move around, so you might feel that baby a little less often or less prominently than the one who's set up camp way down by your cervix—at least earlier on in gestation, before they start packing on the pounds.
With my twin pregnancy, I had an anterior placenta, and it made it more difficult to distinguish when our Baby A was moving.
With my twin pregnancy, I had an anterior placenta, and it made it more difficult to distinguish when our Baby A was moving. Midway through the second trimester, when I started to feel movement, he really had to jab hard for me to feel anything through the placenta; whereas our Baby B was stacked on top and didn't have to punch through the placenta for me to feel his flutters.
Later on in my pregnancy, it became much easier to feel our Baby A's movement, but it also became more difficult to determine who was who because they'd both started to pack on the pounds and were very cramped in utero. I relied on knowing their placement and their individual movement patterns to (mostly) know who was who.
If you don't feel movement every day
Once you're far enough along, you should be feeling movement from both babies every day. Most people go for a thorough fetal assessment around 20 weeks along, during which their babies will be measured and their growth will be regularly monitored from that point on.
If you aren't sure you feel any movement by 24 weeks' along, contact your OB-GYN or doctor right away, so they can perform an exam and / or ultrasound to confirm everything is progressing as it should and to see how everyone is doing.
If you've been feeling movement regularly but don't feel activity suddenly one day, or if you don't feel 10 kicks or movements per baby within an hour or two, call your doctor or head to your hospital's triage department for a fetal assessment.
If you aren't sure if you can feel BOTH babies moving, have a sip of something sugary, go lay down, and wait for 15 minutes. Really pay attention and focus on what you're feeling and see if that stirs up some action because they may be sleeping when you first try to determine if you feel movement.
If you're ever sure you don't feel movement or aren't sure if you can feel both babies, always err on the side of caution and call your OB-GYN or head to the nearest hospital's triage department for an assessment, so they can do an ultrasound and make sure everything looks okay and is progressing as it should be with your twin pregnancy.
The tricks with kicks
No matter how hard you try, it can be hard to keep track of who's who in utero when you're kick counting twins.
There were times when I personally had a hard time knowing who was who in there.
On a day I had a fetal assessment appointment, I was sure I felt Baby B kicking me in a specific spot, but when the technician did the ultrasound, the sonogram showed it was actually Baby A I felt.
They'd changed up their positions since my appointment a few days prior, so what I'd thought was Baby B's hand was actually Baby A's leg.
Track them as best you can, and if you're ever unsure about their movement, try to get them moving by having a sugary drink or snack, and if that doesn't stir up some action in utero, play it safe and contact your doctor right away.
Have you felt your twins kicking yet? Can you tell who's who in there? How? Let us know in the Comments section below or connect with us on Instagram to share your thoughts!
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