Pregnancy is already life-changing, and carrying more than one baby makes it even more unique. At Modern OBGYN Care in Pembroke Pines, Florida, our board-certified OB/GYNs are prenatal care experts with a compassionate approach.
We create a customized pregnancy plan and monitor you and your precious babies at every stage. In this blog, we discuss some of the ways multiple pregnancies affect prenatal care plans.
Prenatal care is essential for all pregnancies, but when you're expecting multiples, you need more frequent monitoring. At Modern OBGYN Care, the standard prenatal visit schedule is:
However, with multiples, you will likely have additional visits. In the first trimester, your prenatal care appointment frequency usually follows the standard schedule.
In the second trimester, you'll typically have visits every two weeks, and in the third trimester (week 28 onward), weekly visits are the norm until delivery. Depending on your unique pregnancy needs, our team might increase visit frequency.
Growing more than one baby requires extra nutrients. You may need to increase your calorie intake and focus on getting enough protein, calcium, iron, and folic acid.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends increasing your caloric intake by 300 calories per baby. For twins, that means eating 600 more calories than usual each day. For triplets and higher multiples, you may need additional calories.
Your exact caloric needs can vary based on your weight when you get pregnant and other individual factors. Our team guides you on the best dietary choices to support your babies' development while keeping you healthy.
Carrying multiples increases the risk of complications like preterm labor, gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia.
We monitor you and your baby closely through ultrasounds and other screenings to check blood sugar levels, fetal growth rate, amniotic fluid levels, and other important metrics.
This helps us detect and manage such risks as early as possible.
In about 65% of multiple pregnancies, the babies arrive early. Although our team aims for full-term delivery, we also prepare for preterm births.
Twin pregnancies typically end around 36-37 weeks while triplets or higher multiples may arrive even earlier. We help you formulate your birth plan, explain potential neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) needs, and guide you in prepping for a preterm birth.
At Modern OBGYN Care, we treat our patients and their growing babies like family. If you have multiples on the way, trust our caring board-certified OB/GYNs to guide you through a safe and healthy pregnancy. Schedule an appointment online today, or phone our Pembroke Pines office to start planning your prenatal care.
