Having Twins
I would be delighted to have twins. How many times have I heard that? The reality of having twins is far different from the sweeping statement of how much you want to have twins. Don't misunderstand me being a twin mum is the best and I have two sets of twins - how greedy am I! I honestly can't imagine not having twins but what does having twins mean in fact; let me tell you.
It means initially you are exhausted and affected by sleep deprivation and would like to get your twins sleeping throughout the night. It means you frequently forego private luxuries such as shaving or waxing your legs, styling your hair or applying your make up. A shower is a requirement but don't even think about having time for a chilled bubble bath "it just doesn't occur! You forget to feed yourself and possibly survive on bars of chocolate unless some nice family member or friend stop by and make you a mug of tea and a sandwich.
Night feeds have rolled in to one huge blur and you forget who you fed, when and which crib you placed which twin especially if you have monochorionic twins. Monochorionic twins who look different to each other in the daytime to their parents look the same at night when you're just about functioning.
You consistently monitor the chiller checking to see you have enough bottles of milk prepared. The steriliser and kettle become the most used items in the kitchen and you get seriously annoyed if somebody comes and re-boils the kettle for a mug of tea when you required that cooling boiling water for more baby feeds! At that point you realise that a second kettle would be very handy.
You relax instantly your man walks through the door so just so you can pass him one baby to hold; similarly when visitors call you do the same. Having a break means only having one baby to feed or one baby to change while your willing assistant takes care of the other; remembering you'll always be attached to at least one baby.
You are probably going to wish you had become a professional in Yoga as you struggle to hug or feed 2 babies at the same time. You frequently find yourselves using both legs and arms to juggle your babies and feeling rather like an Octopus or wishing you were!
As a twin parent you will become really used to the attention that twins get when out and you will understand that strangers like to ask the most private questions about how you gave birth and worse you actually answer them. Then there'll be the questions where you really have to bite your tongue and be polite like "are they identical?" when obviously they're one boy and one girl.
You find yourself pre-occupied by the shops which have double doors and the facilities provided for those with wide load buggies,, lackof double supermarket trolleys and will curse those that are not courteous when they see you struggling. You may also feel intensely about parent and kid parking bays and curse under your breath at fat, lazy men in white trucks who choose to utilize them purely because they're ignorant.
You understand that you will need a loan simply to purchase the diapers, formula, clothing, safety gates and other stuff for your twins. Unless you are Mariah Carey, Angelina Jolie, Celine Dion or J-Lo you will be looking for methods to save on this sort of spending.
As your twins grow older you'll as well accept that play parks with climbing equipment or indeed soft play areas are not a place you can go single handed with your twins. You can be sure it's an exercise session full of sweat, your sweat when you do go whilst other mums are sitting back chill axing with a coffee and a gossip you on the other hand will be doing a headless chicken routine helping 2 toddlers climb here and there in different directions.
Most of all, you will find that unless you talk to another parent of twins the majority will not truly understand what you're talking about and they will still say "I would love to have twins". At this point you understand you are not simply a parent you are a parent of twins!
Mother of Two Sets of Twins shares her very own experiences of twin pregnancy and twin parenting on her internet site twinstips.com
categories: Having Twins,having baby twins,raising twins,parents of twins,twin pregnancy,managing twins
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