Gabby Logan: Double Trouble!

The last 20 years have seen an upward trend in the number of multiple births. Having twins though is more than just two bundles of joy. Flying Start spoke to celebrity mum of twins Gabby Logan, and the Twin and Multiple Birth Association, about what advice they have to offer on multitasking and keeping your sanity intact

 

Approximately one in every 67 pregnancies results in a multiple birth in the UK. The recent increase is attributed to the use of fertility treatments as well as the increased survival rates of premature babies and women starting their families later. Sport television presenter Gabby Logan discovered she was pregnant with twins after her and husband, former Scotland international rugby player Kenny Logan, received IVF treatment. They knew there was a higher chance that they might have a multiple birth so they weren’t too surprised when the news was delivered. She says: “We were just thrilled to be pregnant, absolutely delighted.”

It is a sad fact, however, that more twins are conceived than are actually delivered. This is known as the vanishing twin syndrome, where one of the developing embryos is lost during early pregnancy. There are, of course, higher risks associated with multiple pregnancies and birth. Rates of still births are low but there continues to be an increased risk for multiple births from 0.57 per cent for singletons to 1.3 per cent for twins, 5.1 per cent for triplets and ten per cent for quads. Several studies have also shown the incidence of cerebral palsy to be higher in multiple births, which is mainly attributable to the higher levels of prematurity and lower birth weights in multiple births.

Gabby gave birth to her twins, Reuben and Lois, in July 2005. During the first few weeks she hired a maternity nurse who helped around the house and with feeding the babies. Gabby says: “I have no shame at all in getting as much help as you can, you’ve got to keep you’re sanity when you have a multiple birth.”

She is the first to admit that it was difficult at the beginning. She says: “Having a baby is 24/7 so having two babies is at times impossible. If you’re on your own with two of them and one of them is being demanding you bite the fish and have to just leave the other one. It is occasionally an impossible task that you sometimes just have to deal with.”

To help overcome any problems, Gabby made sure that she always had people around her. She says: “Most of the time I made sure that there was at least another pair of hands, whether it was my husband or my Mum, because I wanted to feel that neither one of the twins was going to get left out.”

Despite the surge in multiple births, Gabby feels that some people still don’t realise the full extent of what having twins entails. She says: “Some shops still don’t fit double buggies through the door and you always feel slightly awkward with a double buggy because you’re taking up that much more room on the pavement and trying to maneuver around restaurants.”

Gabby advises new or expectant mums of twins to get as much help as they possibly can, in whatever way that they can. She also recommends asking friends to book a day in the diary and help out rather than buying teddies or baby-gros, especially if you can’t afford to fork out for a nanny or a nurse. She says: “At the beginning you just want as much help as you can get.”

The A-Z of Twins

• Monozygotic (MZ) twins are also known as identical or uniovular. They occur when one fertilised egg splits early in the pregnancy (within 13 days of fertilization). There are no known causal factors for conceiving MZ twins and rates are constant worldwide, 3.5 per 1,000 births.
• Monozygotic twins are always the same sex, because division of the fertilised ovum produces two genetically identical individuals. Except in rare circumstances MZ twinning is not an inherited trait. Conjoined twins are MZ twins which are the result of an incomplete split about 13-16 days after conception.
• Dizygotic (DZ) twins are also known as fraternal, non-identical or binovular. DZ twins are conceived when the mother produces two or more eggs in the same menstrual cycle which are then fertilized separately.

Help is at hand

The twin and Multiple Birth Association (Tamba) is a parent support organisation that also offers information and training for health and education professionals. Tamba also has a team of Honorary Consultants from a wide range of professions, who are involved with research into multiple birth issues and who offer a referral service to multiple birth families with specific problems.

Tamba offers a free phone helpline called Twinline, a confidential, support, listening and information service, which is open every day between 10am–1pm and 7-10pm. 

Call 0800 138 0509 or visit www.tamba.org.uk for more information.

Statistics courtesy of Tamba

 

Gabby supported the launch of Huggies Little Walkers, available in supermarkets nationwide. For your free Huggies Little Walkers Guide to that whole walking business, send an A5 SAE to P.O.BOX 426, Hayes UB4 0WX.  For further information visit www.huggiesclub.com/uk