Vaginal Birth of Twins

Posted by Brenda Lane Mar 20, 2008

In the March 2008 issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers from France have taken a look at over 700 pairs of twins with regard to whether a vaginal birth should be an option and should be considered "safe." Safety was determined by several outcome factors including the Apgar scores of the twins and visits to the NICU.

Results showed that overwhelmingly, mothers can safely give birth vaginally to twins after 35 weeks of gestation when the first twin is in a head down (vertex) position. In fact, out of the original 758 pairs of twins participating in the study, 515 sets of these twins were both born vaginally.

One of the concerns that mothers of twins have expressed to me over the years is that what if they go all the way through labor and give birth vaginally to twin A (the first or lower twin in the mother's pelvis) and then they have to give birth to twin B due to unforeseen problems. This study actually addressed that issue and found that only 3 of these mothers had both a cesarean and vaginal birth.

This should be yet another encouragement to mothers of twins around the world!

Brenda