Are you wondering how to get pregnant with twins naturally? This is exactly what we did to get pregnant with our identical twin boys.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this blog is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
How To Get Pregnant With Twins
When we were trying to get pregnant for a second time, we weren’t trying for twins, we actually did exactly what we did when we were trying to get pregnant the first time, which resulted in a single pregnancy.
We did get pregnant with twins naturally though with this method!!
I’m not saying this will get you pregnant with twins but it will surely increase your chances of getting pregnant overall.
Before we got pregnant with our first child, I had read so many different books and blog posts regarding “how to get pregnant” and followed a specific method that I think really helped us. Especially since we got pregnant the first month we were trying!!
Steps for How To Get Pregnant with Twins
Through my reading I learned that starting prenatal vitamins 3 months BEFORE trying to conceive is important, if you can. If you’re already pregnant and you didn’t do that, it’s ok, just start the prenatal vitamins now. As I note below, it’s important that your prenatal vitamin contains folate which is the natural form of folic acid supplements.
Things I Did as the Female
- I started prenatal vitamin with folate 3 months before trying to get pregnant.
- I tracked my menstrual cycle and on days 6-21 throughout my menstrual cycle (basically right after I got done with my period to two weeks after that) we had intercourse every other day.
Things My Husband Did as the Male
- My husband started taking a multivitamin 3 months before we started trying to conceive.
- He started to wear boxers to keep things loose instead boxer briefs because I read boxers are ideal.
- No other expelling of semen was allowed when I was between 6-21 days in my menstrual cycle because the semen need to repopulate during those 2 days to be as viable as possible. (This means no self pleasure, guys! But you’re getting off every 2 days…you’ll be fine!)
Things We Did Together
- We had intercourse every other day: days 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 of my menstrual cycle.
- When in the bedroom, we’d have sex in any position but would always END with me on my back as he got off.
- I’d stay flat on my back for 15 minutes after with my legs up, sometimes elevating my butt with a pillow.
- I’m not sure if all of that helped or not but with our first child we got pregnant the first month trying and with our twins we got pregnant the second month of trying, so it surely could have helped!
Other things not directly related but may have helped our chances
- Neither one of us drink alcohol, smoke, or use any recreational drugs.
- I have cut out many inflammatory foods from my diet such as gluten, dairy products, and soy.
- Adequate sleep (as much as possible with a 1 year old) and trying not to stress about getting pregnant.
We followed the steps above the first time we tried to get pregnant and got pregnant the first month of trying.
The second time we tried to get pregnant using these same steps, we got pregnant the second month of trying, that time, with identical twins! I didn’t know I was carrying twins until my 8 week ultrasound, though I did notice that when I took pregnancy tests at 4 weeks along that the line was much darker than with my first child. This was possibly due to higher follicle-stimulating hormone due to carrying twins.
What We Were Up Against
I have Hypothyroidism caused by the Autoimmune Disease Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Many women with this condition have difficulty conceiving and if they do conceive, they have difficulty carrying their babies to term.
Luckily, I found out about all of this before we tried getting pregnant and quickly learned I had to do my own research and become my own health advocate to ensure the health of myself and my babies.
Due to me having hypothyroidism caused by the autoimmune disease, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, I made sure that my thyroid levels were in the optimal range before we started trying as well. More on that below but to keep it simple, for me, having my TSH around 1.0 has been ideal for becoming pregnant and where I feel the best overall.
Quick Primer on Types of Twins
Did you know that identical twins don’t run in families and are completely random? It’s true!
The first question we always got during my twin pregnancy was whether we had a family history of twins. Oddly enough, we do, but we were quick to learn that since I was pregnant with identical twins, family history didn’t matter. However, had I been pregnant with fraternal twins, that’s where family history comes into play. Some women have multiple sets of twins due in part to family history.
In the case of identical twins (monozygotic twins), a single egg splits within days of being fertilized by a single sperm. In the case of fraternal twins (dizygotic twins), two separate eggs are released by the female at once and two separate sperm fertilize those two eggs. If you want to know more about the different types of twins, I have a whole blog post about the different types of twins here.
Higher Risks Associated with Twin Pregnancy
Keep in mind that if you become pregnant with twins, there are higher risks associated with twin pregnancies than singleton pregnancies. There are higher risks of preterm birth, high blood pressure, birth defects, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and other medical conditions that affect the babies and the pregnant woman.
There are more hormonal changes and more frequent prenatal visits to your health care provider, especially if you have identical twins.
With monozygotic twins who share a placenta, there are risks of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, amniotic fluid discrepancies, preterm labor, and other health problems.
Beyond natural conception, there is a higher chance of conceiving twins as a result of reproductive technologies such as fertility treatments with fertility medications and/or in-vitro fertilization (IVF treatments).
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.