Be careful what you wish for … twins are more high risk than a single baby, although most twins do fine with good OB and neonatal care, some twins have long-term problems, some are premature and some don’t even make it to viability and are born before 24 weeks. The risk of cerebral palsy, a serious birth defect, is 4 – 5 times higher in twins compared to a single baby. You have a higher chance of pregnancy complications including serous ones like preeclampsia or placental abruption, a higher risk of C/Section, and even a very slight increase in divorce rate.
I know the media and Anne Geddes and other baby photographers all love to show pictures of cute twins all dressed up … the kids with cerebral palsy are generally not shown on the front cover of a magazine.
Couples who need treatment for infertility, from simple treatments like Clomid to advanced treatments such as In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), often have an increased risk of twins if more than one egg is released with fertility medications, or if more than one embryo is replaced into a woman’s uterus after IVF.
If we’re treating couples for infertility who can’t get pregnant on their own twins may be an acceptable risk of the treatment. Many couples tell me they want twins – they have been trying for a baby for one or many years, and many couples want two babies total and would love to have twins and ‘be done’. We do our best to avoid triplets or more, though. In this case the risk of twins is justified by the benefit of treatment of their infertility.
If you don’t have any problems getting pregnant your natural chance of twins is about 1%. I don’t recommend going to an Ob/Gyn or Fertility MD just because you want twins (wanting twins for social reasons””) – if you end up with complications to you or the babies” would it be worthwhile compared with just having two more kids separately? I would not recommend “getting fixed” in your early 20’s until you are 100% sure that you’re done either we have great birth control options like the Mirena IUD which is about as effective as having your tubes tied but reversible if you have one more child and then want another one later.
