FYI Twin FAQ’s-Stuff I want people to know or know I am
going to have to answer a zillion times
1. Were you surprised to find out you were
having twins or were they “planned”? Yes, we were surprised, shocked, in
disbelief, to find out I was pregnant with twins. We were excited to add
another family member and completely blown away to find out that we would be
getting two. Technically twins “run
in our family”, as in, a great great grandmother on Drew’s father’s side was a
twin, then Drew’s aunt had twins and one of those twins who is our age had
twins recently. And some great great great grandmother on my mother’s side had
two sets of twins (but also 17 kids…wow). So no direct line of twins ran in our
family… until now J
2. Can I touch your belly? No, you may not rub my belly. I
know of no person, pregnant or otherwise, who likes belly rubs. And even if you
do, I don’t. It makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable. There are approximately
two people in the entire world who are permitted to rub my belly and that is
only because I grew the both of them inside of it.
3. How do you plan on feeding your babies? I do have every intention of exclusively
breastfeeding both babies... or at least doing my best to succeed in
breastfeeding as long as I can. And I have no intention of covering up when
I do. While I know this is an incredibly controversial thing, after dealing
with nursing every 90 minutes around the clock for six months with little A the
last time around, keeping covered got old really fast. Even if this pregnancy
was a singleton pregnancy I was still planning on not bothering “covering up”
the feeding of my child, since I sincerely felt like this was part of the
reason I struggled with breastfeeding my other two kids initially. Doing the
song and dance under a cover while trying to keep everything and everyone where
it was supposed to be was more of a stressor to me than I will ever admit to. And
now that I will be doing it x2 (AKA All The Time), it gives me more of a reason
to not worry about doing so. That being said, the amount of times I will be
able to leave the house with all four
children in tow on my own will be few and far between for the first few
months, and having to simultaneously worry about feeding newborns and running
after big kids is something I hope to avoid at all costs. Therefore, most
feedings will take place in my home. So if this happens to offend you, I would
recommend skipping all playdates and visits with my family until 2016, and I
completely understand, no hard feelings. But a momma’s gotta do what a momma’s
gotta do and for that I am not, nor will I ever be, sorry.
4. Due date and delivery? Sometime late
April or first week in May is our projected due date. Considering I carried
both singleton pregnancies until 40+ weeks, I have no doubt in my mind that I
will carry full term with twins. Although I was able to VBAC with little A,
because of my c-section with little d, I am by law in the state of Ohio obligated
to have a c-section with the twins, which is fine by me. Delivery is one less
thing I have to worry about.
5. Genders? We are planning on finding out
the genders of our babies as soon as we are allowed… probably sometime mid
December.
6. Big Family Changes? As most of you
already know, I binky weaned little A a few weeks ago in preparation for some
big girl changes. She will be moving into her brother’s room around Christmas,
when she will take over his toddler bed and he will get a new twin bed. I am
hoping to master the “stay in your room” business by the time the twins come.
The twins will have their own room, and depending on the genders, if they are
split gender then we will move around all kids into rooms with their same
gender in a year or so. Only having three bedrooms seriously limits our
options, and also means that having people stay over at our house will be
extremely limited…please don’t get me started on how I’ve been feeling a bit
clausterphobic about housing four children 4 and under under our small roof… I
love our house dearly and I am so very grateful for it but adjusting to double
the amount of children is still something I am coming to terms with. We are
also in the market for a double stroller (Baby Jogger City Select with
rollerboard for little A) and new car for myself (some sort of SUV with a third
row), both probably to be decided on when we find out the babies’ genders. And
little A will not be potty trained till roughly 2016. At least.
7. How is everyone feeling? First
trimester has been terribly rough for
me and I am thrilled it is over, and hoping I can enjoy my pregnancy a little
more since it will more than likely be my last (!). Little d tells everyone he
sees about the twins (“that means TWO babies!”) in my belly, and he still remembers
my pregnancy with his sister so he is SUPER excited and little a can say “baby”
and point to my belly but also it sounds like her word of belly button, so she
is basically completely oblivious. After the near heart attack poor Drew
suffered at the ultrasound tech’s office (I could practically see the color
draining from his face, as well as hear the gears turning in his head as he
made calculations…), he seems to be taking it pretty well. I think we are both
excited and nervous because we know how difficult two children can be, and ours
are three years apart!! It will be a challenge but we feel up to it and blessed
to be able to have four children all so close in age (4 under 5!).
8. When are you guys coming to visit? HA! This
one always makes me laugh. We have so many friends in every part of the nation,
and while the past few years we have done quite a bit of traveling to Utah, Boston,
etc, I personally have ZERO travel plans for the year 2015. NONE. With a
singleton I was thinking about planning a few trips, but with two infants NO
WAY JOSE I am not that brave. Drew certainly does enough traveling for the two
of us anyway J.
Visitors are welcome!
9. Why do you
think you got pregnant with twins? Honestly, I think it is going to be a
huge learning experience for me. With my first baby, I was back working full
time at four weeks. With my second baby, I was back in the gym at two weeks
(thank you, VBAC!). Until the last few months I never really changed anything
about the way I did things (running errands, grocery shopping etc) even though
I was adding kids… I continued to do stuff during the day like I would do if I
had no kids at all. So this final pregnancy I thought I would VBAC, have a
little help from my mom or sister for a week or two like last time, and be out
on my own again, baby strapped to my front. HA! Not quite so anymore… and it is
amazing how such a small detail like having not one but TWO babies changes
that. I will have to be much more dependent on others for cleaning, childcare,
meals, etc and that doesn’t mesh well with me because I HATE ASKING FOR HELP. I
thrive on being independent and I think that is why Drew’s job has worked out
so well with us. I don’t mind as badly when he is out of town because I do the
same things with my kids as I do when he is in town. In other words, this
experience will be a big dose of humble pie on my part because as difficult as
this is to admit I KNOW I cannot do this on my own.
10. What were your first reactions at/after the
initial ultrasound when you found out? I can’t speak for Drew, but I did
wrote down a few things that night (pretty sure I didn’t sleep for a solid
week, so that coupled with binkyweaning and selling my beloved stroller made
for a crazy emotional first week, poor Drew!):
September 15 2014. Doctor’s Visit #1. Today we found out we
were expecting TWINS. TWO BABIES.i cannot properly put into words how
overwhelmed I feel...full of gratitude and happiness and terror and worry and
WOW. It feels like a dream, but I saw those two little bitty heartbeats and IT
JUST FELT RIGHT. Is that weird? I have never in a million years thought I would
get pregnant with twins, because that's something you only see 40something
celebrities do, or other people who have twins running in their family (we did
not. Now we do!)
I am baffled and my mind has not stopped racing since this
afternoon when we found out. Four kids means a new car, extra crib, extra mouth
to feed (simultaneously!?), etc. the doctor informed me about genetic testing
for special needs and of course I thought of that... But it doesn't matter. If
it will help our family prepare for our new arrivals, by all means I want to
know. Like knowing that by law I would have to have a csection. And thanks to
the wonderful vbac experience with little a, I am completely at peace with it.
Also turns out I am probably only about 7 weeks along
instead of 8...hence why the first few pregnancy tests came out negative but I
still tested positive pretty early on. This pregnancy is definitely different
than my first two. More nausea, fatigue and overall feeling blah than I
remembered. I want to tell the whole world our good news and yet no one at all,
sometimes. Fear of the unknown, I guess...but I loved the new mantra from the
new trainer on the biggest loser: do you operate from love or fear? You have to
choose one or the other. You cannot pick both ("true love casteth out all
fear?")
And I choose love.
Welcome to my womb, sweet babies.
Come what may, we are in this together as a family.
weeks left in preschool for little d: 12
