i don't know how to answer your first question about twins.  however, my daughter is currently 10wks pregnant and was asked at 6wks if there were any twins in the families, as she has already put on a lot of weight.  she was told she can't have a scan until 3mths because they can't tell anything before then.

as for your second question, i would tell your partner to get off his butt and help out a bit more.  he sounds very selfish especially still smoking in the house.  i would tell him to either smoke outside only or leave if he is not going to help you.

Did you know that the heart rate increases four to five beats a minute every day up until about 9 weeks??? Might do that even longer in twins!   You are early still so I bet everything is going great!  If you are having twins you need to get a lot straightened out Sweety!  Do you belong to a church or some place where you can turn for councelling???  If your partner will not go you need to go. You need to arrange to get him to participate in the family life and not to be in the position you are now.  If you feel your family needs better than that is a good way to start.  I think you know you deserve better. Best of luck.

 I fainted a lot during the first trimester, I don't think its uncommon, especially as you are so stressed and your partner is depriving you of oxygen... Your babies are really small and sometimes one can be hidden behind another one, so hold on until the next ultrasound and hopefully you'll be able to tell then.

And your partner... I'm sorry to say that I don't think that you should bother with him, kick him out- you'll be better off as a single mum. He sounds awful.

Hi, hope you are doing better real soon.

I am sorry to say, I think you need to get a really big friend to give your partner a drop kick out the front door!

Then, take a breath and get some friends on the phone to help organise some things for you. Is there someone going to you daughter's school who could pick them up, like car pooling. Maybe you can barter if you have anything to swap with them. Do you cook really good cake or something, do their ironing, look after their kids. Only when (if) you feel up to it and have the doc ok.

If you approach St Vincent De Paul or another charity they may be able to help with food, cleaning, pay the phone bill. It may be just a little or a lot but there are people out there willing to help.

Hope you are ok.

firstly, take a deeeep breath.  OK.  In the early weeks things can be really hard to see. The best way for the dr to know is by doing a vaginal/internal ultrasound, rather than and external/abdominal ultrasound.  Also by comparing your HCG levels to how far along you think you are- if the levels are high for how many weeks you are then this may indicate twins.  I didn't know i was having twins until my first u/s at 12 weeks.  Sometimes a pregnancy may be a multiple at first, but one baby may be reabsorbed without any hint of a miscarriage occuring.  With my most recent pregnancy, it wasn't until I had delivered that I found out I was probably carrying 3 at one stage due to extra lobes on my placenta, and had no idea. 

Babies heart rate can drop at times of distress.  Its possible that the stress on your body that caused you to faint also affected the baby as well.  It may have just been a temporary problem and hopefully you will know more on tuesday.

As for the smoking issue, I wrote an article about smoking in pregnancy based on some research of internet and evidence articles I found.  This goes for passive smoking too.  Passive smoking is actually worse, because you still inhale the same chemicals but they are not filtered.  I will add a link for you and you OH to have a read.  perhaps your dr needs to have a word directly to your partner about both smoking and allowing you to rest....sometimes this info coming from a professional is more easily accepted.

www.minti.com/parenting-advice/10771/The-Effects-of-Smoking-on-Fertility-and-the-Unborn-Child/

I wish you all the best with both your partner and pregnancy.