My husband and I recently decided to have one more child and wouldn't you believe that I conceived TWINS!! Shocked would be an understatement of how I felt. I cried not out of joy but of pure terror and fear. I already had two toddlers and was mentally prepared for one more not two. Oh, there was a time I wanted twins - before I had my first baby and that went out the window real fast. Twins don't necessarily run in my family unless you want to include a few distant cousins and an Uncle's wife. However, I did find out that women between the age of 35-39 are more likely to have twins than any other age group because the body produces higher levels of gona-dotropin hormones, which causes more eggs to mature and be released from the ovaries.
Now, a few weeks have past and although I'm still kind of dazed, I'm looking forward to it all. Oh, I still have fear and terror but I also have hope and joy.
I asked some mom's of multiples what advice to give a new mom with twins and here's some of what I got.
1. Get help, whether it's your mom, sister, nanny - just get help.
2. Dad's need to help out during the evening feedings. He doesn't get to sleep during the night b/c of work.
3. EAT as much as you can during twin pregnancy (the more food the better) REST as much as you can during twin pregnancy (be horizontal whenever possible) Once the twins are born it's a blur for the first year-embrace your chaos.
4. Keep the babies on the same schedule - sleep, eat, nap
5. Join the local Moms Of Multiples group.
Eastside Mothers of Multiples: http://www.emoms.org/default.aspx They are the largest twin group in the king county area and have many members based in Seattle as well. I think they would be a great resource to find other moms in the same situation. They also maintain an excellent online forum that is a wealth of knowledge about twins.
North Seattle Mothers of Multiples: http://www.orgsites.com/wa/nsfom/They are a much smaller group, but nice because most of the moms are close by.
The UW offers a great class on expecting multiples (sorry the link is so long!): http://uwmedicine.washington.edu/uwmed/Templates/content/uwmedicine_clinicsNoContact.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7bAEA88FEA-AFA8-4072-9D95-20C6835FAFDC%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fPatientCare%2fMedicalSpecialties%2fSpecialtyCare%2fUWMEDICALCENTER%2fMICC%2fSpecialtyServices%2fmiccclasses%2ehtm&NRCACHEHINT=Guest#6
6. Read some books.
Great books to read: http://www.amazon.com/Youre-Expecting-Twins-Triplets-Quads/dp/B000VYX8X6/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1
This book to was a godsend...and my twins are now incredible sleepers: http://www.babycoach.net/store/product_info.php/products_id/28
Posted by Sylvia
2 comments:
Congrats! I remember when I was pregnant with my third I was so much sicker than with the other 2. My husband was so nervous about it being twins. At the initial ultrasound, I just wanted to see a heartbeat - he just wanted to make sure there was only one. I'm sure we would have gone through the familiar shock..worry, then excitement phases. You got some great advice.
Congratulations! My thoughts on getting pregnant with twins are the same as your inital ones. I'd be totally shocked too! ut one things I've learned from watching parents with twins and multiples, they learn to adapt and are incredibly resilent and able. You will be too!
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