Your Complete Guide to Having Twins or Multiples in Tampa, FL
Finding out you're having twins (or more) comes as a big surprise to most, and it can be hard to imagine how on earth you will manage. On this page you'll find some of our top tips based on years of supporting dozens of local families having multiples (twins & triplets) through pregnancy, birth, and those blurry first months.
Surprise, it's twins! Or triplets?!
Twins or multiples are often discovered through an early pregnancy ultrasound. Surprise! You were just getting used to the idea of being pregnant and suddenly you find out there are two.
Along with the surprise comes a big change in how you will experience pregnancy and plan for birth. Below are some of the most important differences encountered by the Tampa families with twins or multiples that we serve.
Your prenatal care will look a little different.
A twin or multiples pregnancy usually means increased medical care with frequent prenatal visits, ultrasounds, and monitoring of your iron levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar. Some pregnancy symptoms and complications are more common when you’re carrying multiples.
Your OB may also refer you to a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, usually called an MFM. These doctors specialize in pregnancies that benefit from additional monitoring and expertise, including twin and higher-order multiple pregnancies.
Seeing another specialist can sound a little intimidating at first. Remember that with two or more babies, having more than one highly trained professional following your pregnancy and your babies' development can feel reassuring.
You’ll be planning for a hospital birth.
In Florida, licensed home birth midwives and birth centers cannot provide planned birth care for a multiples pregnancy. If you’re expecting twins or triplets, you’ll need to plan to deliver at a local hospital, even if you had hoped to give birth at home or in a birth center.
Twins usually arrive earlier than you’d think.
Most twin pregnancies don’t make it to 40 weeks. Many OBs recommend delivery around 37 - 38 weeks, sometimes earlier depending on the type of twins you’re carrying and how your pregnancy is progressing. Your maternity leave timing, your birth plan, and your “when do I pack the hospital bag?” countdown may all need to happen a bit earlier.
If you’re expecting triplets or higher-order multiples, an earlier delivery is even more likely, and most triplets are born by C-section. Your care team will talk with you about what to expect and when delivery may be recommended based on how you and your babies are doing.
With multiples, you don’t want to save the practical preparations for birth and baby for the final few weeks. Pack your hospital bag, complete your hospital pre-registration, take a hospital tour if one is offered, and make arrangements for pets or older children well before your due date.
A twin pregnancy doesn’t automatically mean a C-Section.
Having twins doesn’t automatically mean you’ll need a C-section. Talk with your OB during pregnancy about how they approach twin deliveries. With twins, it’s especially helpful to understand your options even though some decisions can’t be made until you're in labor.
A vaginal birth may still be an option, and one of the biggest factors is the position of Baby A (the twin closest to your cervix).
- Generally, if Baby A is head-down and there aren’t other complications, your OB may consider a vaginal delivery.
- Baby B’s position can be more flexible and may even change after Baby A is born.
- Occasionally, Baby A is born vaginally and Baby B needs to be delivered by C-section.
Your babies’ positions, gestational age, how they’re tolerating labor, your own health, and your provider’s experience and hospital protocols can all play a role.
Your body needs more recovery time after birth
Carrying twins asks a lot of your body, and recovery can be more challenging. Pregnancy and birth can affect your pelvic floor and core strength. Experiencing abdominal muscle separation (diastasis recti) is also more common after a pregnancy with multiples.
Consider checking in with a pelvic floor physical therapist after giving birth - especially if you experience pelvic pressure or pain, leaking, painful intercourse, abdominal weakness, noticeable abdominal separation, or just don't feel "right".
Your babies might not come home on the same day
Many expecting twin parents don’t consider this as a possibility before giving birth. If one baby needs additional hospital or NICU care and the other is ready for discharge, you could find yourself bringing one baby home while their twin stays behind.
Emotionally and logistically, that can be hard. You may be recovering from birth, caring for a newborn at home, traveling back and forth to the hospital, pumping or managing feeding, and trying to spend time with both babies.
If this happens, lean heavily on your support system. Your postpartum doula can care for you and the baby who is home, help with meals, laundry, bottles and pump parts, protect time for you to rest, and help your family prepare for the day your other baby comes home.
A few expert doula tips on life with newborn multiples:
Nobody tells you that some days, you will not get out of pajamas. The dirty dishes will pile up in the sink. You find yourself crying over little things. You can't remember the last time you slept more than 2-hours in a row. Here are simple tips we find make a big difference for parents of multiples:
Tampa Bay Hospitals & NICU Care for Multiples
When you’re expecting twins, triplets, or higher-order multiples, the level of newborn care available at your hospital should be considered as part of your birth planning. Not every Tampa Bay hospital offers the same level of neonatal care. By choosing a hospital with a higher-level NICU you can reduce the chance that one or more of your babies would need to be transferred to another hospital if specialized care was needed.
NICUs are designated by levels based on the complexity of care they can provide. Level II NICUs care for babies who need additional monitoring or support, while Level III and IV NICUs are equipped to care for more premature or medically complex newborns. Level IV offers the highest level of neonatal care.
Tampa Bay Hospitals with Level III or IV NICUs
St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital | Tampa, FL
Level IV NICU. St. Joseph’s Women’s offers the highest level of neonatal care, with care for premature and medically complex newborns and immediate access to pediatric medical and surgical specialists.
Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital Center for Women and Babies / Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital | St. Petersburg, FL
Level IV NICU access. The Center for Women and Babies is located within Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital. It also has a maternal-fetal medicine program experienced in caring for twins and higher-order multiples.
Tampa General Hospital | Tampa Florida
Level III NICU. Tampa General’s Jennifer Leigh Muma Neonatal Intensive Care Unit provides specialized care for premature and high-risk newborns. TGH is also one of Florida’s designated Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Centers (RPICC).
AdventHealth Tampa | Tampa, Florida
Level III NICU. AdventHealth Tampa has a 28-room NICU staffed by neonatology specialists and provides care for premature babies and newborns who need additional medical support.
Mease Countryside Hospital | Safety Harbor, FL
Level III NICU. Mease Countryside provides specialized newborn care with neonatologists, maternal-fetal medicine physicians, pediatric hospitalists, and specially trained nurses. Babies who need an even higher level of care can be transferred to St. Joseph’s Women’s Level IV NICU.
HCA Florida Brandon Hospital | Brandon, FL
Level III NICU. Brandon Hospital provides high-risk maternity care and specialized neonatal care for premature and medically fragile newborns.
Other Tampa Bay Hospitals with NICU Care
Several other area maternity hospitals have Level II NICUs, including Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in Lutz, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South in Riverview, South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City, and HCA Florida Trinity Hospital in Trinity.
These hospitals can care for many babies who need additional support after birth and have systems in place to transfer babies to a higher-level NICU when more specialized care is needed.
Where you deliver will also depend on your OB or MFM, your individual pregnancy, and where your provider has hospital privileges.
How a Doula Can Help With Your Twin Pregnancy and Birth: You deserve (and need) skilled help.
Caring for two newborns is a lot, and this is not the time to feel like you should be able to do everything yourself. It's normal to wonder about scenarios when you simply won't have enough hands to manage both babies' needs at once!
As your postpartum team, we help you recover & adjust in those early weeks: feeding two babies, finding space for sleep and naps, making sure you get some rest, and remembering to eat lunch yourself. Little by little, what initially feels overwhelming starts to feel more manageable, and you’ll begin to find your own confidence as a family.
PREGNANCY
Carrying twins gets uncomfortable, especially in the third trimester. Our doulas can suggest stretches and relaxation techniques, belly support tools, and creative positions for sleep. We'll also remind you it’s okay to cancel plans and put your feet up.
VAGINAL BIRTH
Having someone in your corner, encouraging you and understanding what you need, is even more important when you are pregnant with multiples. Your doula is the person helping you stay hydrated between contractions, reading the room when your partner needs a break, and telling you exactly what’s happening when Baby A is out and everyone’s attention shifts to Baby B.
CESAREAN BIRTH
We are fortunate here in Tampa in that Tampa General Hospital welcomes OR-trained doulas into the operating room during cesarean births. If your partner needs to stay with the babies for newborn exams or they need to be transferred to NICU, your doula can stay with you through the end of surgery and recovery, so you never have to be alone.
POSTPARTUM
A postpartum doula works around your schedule, day or overnight, and can help with:
- Infant care and newborn expertise
- Breastfeeding support
- Helping babies to sleep
- Making space for you to sleep(!)
- Household management
- Shopping and cooking
Once the twins arrived, we had two weeks of 24-hour care so my husband and I could get much-needed sleep. But what was probably the most beneficial was having someone taking care of me as well.
"When I found out I was pregnant with twins, already having a toddler at home, I was as terrified as I was excited. From the initial communication with Amy, I knew I was in good hands. It's so easy to forget to take care of yourself when your newborn arrives. Having someone making sure I rested, was drinking water, and had time to decompress was amazing. I can't begin to explain how important that was to my mental well-being. Marisa has such an amazing calmness about her that as soon as she walks into a room, things just don't seem as stressful. I tell people my secret is Buddha Belly Doulas. They have helped me feel confident making the best decisions for my family."
Contact Buddha Belly Doulas to get the support you need as an expectant or new family with twins or multiples.
The Reality of Feeding Two Newborns
There are plenty of options for feeding your twins. You may breastfeed, pump and bottle-feed, supplement with formula, or use a combination that changes over time. The goal is well-fed babies and a feeding plan that works for your family.
However you plan to feed your babies, having a knowledgeable postpartum doula by your side can make those first feeds much less overwhelming. Your doula can help you get babies positioned and latched, set up pillows and feeding supplies, burp and settle one baby while you feed the other, and help with pumping or bottle-feeding if those become part of your plan.
One of the biggest logistical challenges of life with twins is that newborns need to eat frequently. With two babies, that means a lot of time and effort! Keeping your babies on a similar feeding schedule can make life much more manageable. If one of your babies arrived early, keeping them on exactly the same schedule may not be appropriate. Follow your pediatrician’s guidance about when each baby needs to eat and whether they should be woken for feeds.
Safe Sleep for Twins
Twins may have shared a womb, but when it comes to safe sleep, they each need their own space. Two bassinets or other approved sleep spaces beside your bed can make nighttime care easier during those early months.
Current safe-sleep recommendations apply to twins just as they do to single babies. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping babies in the parents’ room, but on their own separate sleep surfaces, for at least the first six months.
Each baby should have their own separate sleep surface. Place each baby on their back in their own safety-approved crib, bassinet, portable crib, or play yard with a firm, flat mattress and fitted sheet. There shouldn't be any pillows, blankets, bumpers, positioners, toys, or other soft items in the sleep space.
Home Hacks for Welcoming 2 (or more!) Babies
You don’t need two full nurseries for twins. Most families start with both babies in the same room, and one shared changing station, dresser, and storage system can work perfectly well.
Keep diapers, wipes, burp cloths, extra clothes, and other everyday supplies where you’ll actually use them. Many new families we work with find it helpful to create a supply nook in more than one area of the house, especially if you have two or more floors.
Choose a comfortable spot to be your primary feeding station. Keep your nursing or bottle-feeding supplies, burp cloths, pump supplies if you’re using them, snacks, a big water bottle, and your phone charger within reach. Realizing your water is six feet away while you’re trapped under two newborns gets old very quickly.
Your real goal is a home setup that makes sure caring for two babies takes as few extra steps as possible (not the picture perfect twin nursery you've been dreaming of.)
How to Prepare Older Children for Their New Siblings
If your twins aren’t your first babies, you have two big transitions to plan for! Be sure to help your older child prepare for the reality of suddenly having two new babies in the family and their new role as an older sibling. They may not understand why Mom is in the hospital, why the babies need so much attention, or why familiar routines have changed.
Before the babies arrive, make a plan for who will care for your older child while you’re in the hospital, as well as who can help keep their normal routines going once you’re home. Finding small ways to involve your older child with the babies, while still making sure they get plenty of individual attention and time with you, can help make the transition easier for everyone.
What baby gear is essential if you are having multiples?
Preparing for two babies doesn’t necessarily mean buying two of everything. Some things you’ll absolutely want multiples of, while others are worth trying with your babies before investing in a second one.
Tampa Bay Support for New Parents with Multiples
Nobody understands life with twins quite like another twin parent. It can be a real lifeline for practical tips, reassurance, hand-me-down gear, and remembering that the overwhelm is normal.
Fortunately, there are communities where Tampa Bay parents of multiples can connect, swap advice, share resources, and meet other families who understand what it’s like to have two (or more!) babies at once. Online twin and multiples communities can also be a great resource, especially in those early newborn weeks when it's hard to leave home.
Tampa Bay Area Mothers of Multiples (tBAMoMs)
Tampa Bay Area Mothers of Multiples(opens in new tab) offers support for expectant and experienced parents of multiples, including new-parent groups, playgroups, breastfeeding and NICU support, mentor moms, social events, a preemie clothing closet, and a private online community. They also have a buy/sell/trade group where you can find the gear you need for free or low cost.
Multiples of Florida
Multiples of Florida(opens in new tab) is a statewide organization connecting families of twins, triplets, and higher-order multiples with local clubs, education, resources, and other families throughout Florida.
Questions about having twins or multiples?
Life With Twins or Multiples in the First Year
The newborn stage is its own kind of whirlwind, but life with twins keeps changing throughout that first year. Just when you think you’ve figured out your routine, somebody starts rolling, teething, dropping a nap, or all of the above.
Your Relationship as Partners - and Parents of Twins
Twins put pressure on a partnership in a way that’s hard to explain until you’re in the depths of it. There’s hardly a moment goes by when a baby doesn't need something, and often two at once. Some couples split shifts entirely (one parent on until 2am, the other from 2am on); others tag-team as needed. Either way, it helps to talk about how you’ll divide the load before the babies arrive, rather than figuring it out at 3am for the first time.
Their difficult phases may - or may not - overlap.
Teething, growth spurts, developmental leaps, illnesses, and disrupted sleep can happen simultaneously or at completely different times. There may be stretches when it feels like you’ve finally gotten one baby settled just as the other needs you. Having help and maintaining flexible routines can make those especially demanding periods much easier to manage. With triplets, that's three overlapping needs instead of two, so extra hands matter even more.
They will start solid foods!
Starting solid foods usually happens around six months, depending on each baby’s developmental readiness, and it turns mealtime into its own kind of chaos. One twin may be eager to try everything while the other needs a little more time. Expect plenty of mess, mismatched appetites, food on the floor (and probably in someone’s hair), and very little dignity for anyone involved. It’s all part of the fun of watching each baby discover food in their own way.
They will get sick...
When illness hits, it’s worth knowing that if one baby catches something, the other often isn’t far behind. Some families try to keep a sick baby separated to protect the other; others find that with two babies sharing the same home, caregivers, toys, and daily routines, keeping them apart just isn’t realistic. Sometimes it’s okay to accept that you can only control so much and focus your energy on getting everyone through the illness.
Watching your twins interact is magical.
As they become more socially aware, you may start noticing them looking at each other, smiling, reaching for one another, babbling back and forth, and eventually playing together. One of the special parts of raising twins is getting a front-row seat to a relationship that begins before either of them can even say the other’s name.
And somewhere along the way, you’ll realize you’re no longer constantly thinking about how to manage two (or more) babies. They’re simply your babies, and you’ve found your family’s own way of doing things.