Hi i'm 23 weeks pregnant with twins and this is ny first my first! As you can imagine its amazing but at the same time very scary.

If anyone has any useful advise on multiple births I would be grateful to hear from you.

I have read the books and the magazines but they only tend to cater for single births.

Cheers

Hi Rachael - congratulations! I guess if my calculations are right you are now about 31 weeks gone - hope its all going fine. I have boy/girl twins who are now 31 months old, pregnancy and birth seem a long time ago... The most important thing when they arrive is that you feel comfortable where you are and have, if at all feasible, all the possible support you can get - that is, people with your interests first. If anyone offers - accept! Try to tactfully make it clear you want practical help with boring things like cooking, laundry etc as you will be needing every ounce of energy to take care of your babies and your own health. This will also leave you with time to get to know the babies. I bottle and breast fed, very helpful if you can get someone to bottle feed alternate babies each night so you can get some rest. Although it does make for a lot of sterilising and bottle-making in the early days (this is where your heplers come in...). Or express milk if you want them purely breast-fed. I worried a bit about this handing over of my babies in the early days - would they bond if I wasn't being The Mummy at all times - no need to have, there's a lot more to parenting twins than that, and wearing yourself out doen't help anyone. My major mission throughout the naptime years was to get them to sleep at the same time - it really helps if you can get an hour or two when everyone is asleep together.

Something I read described having twins as like being hit by a hurricane - it did take me about 6 to 9 months to start thinking at all straight again. Do listen to advice, but don't feel obliged to follow any of (even mine!), you need to do what feels right to you with your children. Don't feel you have to try to keep up with the mums of single babies - I did and found it incredibly hard work, still don't socialise that much as a mum as most conversation is impossible. Instead, get some good babysitting set up when you feel confident to leave them and make sure you get out and spend non-baby time with your partner and friends - very healthy to escape baby land every so often. Reading over this, it must sound a bit bleak - it's not! And, it does get easier in some ways as they get older.

In terms of equipment, don't overload yourself - Moses baskets not necessary, ours shared one cot until they met in the middle. Go to twins club sales if you have one near you - lots of stuff is barely used before it it outgrown.

Hope this is helpful, do let me know how you get on and if you have more specific questions, do ask.
Good luck!
Shelley

Hi Shelley

Thank you for your reply and I would've been 32 weeks pregnant if they hadn't decided to arrive 11 weeks early!! Yes I gave birth to 2 wonderful girls 3 weeks ago today. Emily 2lb6oz & Elizabeth 2lb4oz. Both are doing really well considering and they are going to be in hospital for a few more weeks yet. I visit every day and the staff allow me to do as much as I can for them including giving them their daily cuddle :o)

The only good thing about it is I'm having excellent training from the nurses and its giving me a bit more time to prepare myself.

Hope you don't mind me asking but how far did you go in your pregnancy?

And thank you again for your advise its great to hear of another mom with twins. Most of friends have children but they had theirs one at a time! I will sure to ask you more questions as time goes on if you dont mind.

Thanks again
Rachael

Wow, that's wonderful, but tough at the same time - can't imagine how you are dealing with it but I guess you have to carry on and cope with whatever happens, and it sounds like you are... I was lucky in twin terms, carried to 38 weeks (both were breech so had c-section, was offered birth at 37 weeks but decided - why?? - to do the extra week). Your situation makes all my advice seem quite irrelevant, hoping it all goes well from now and your girls will be home soon tp give you more everyday troubles.
And, congratulations!!
Shelley

Hi there
Congratulations Rachel, there I was just reading your first post and thinking I'd get back to you (not having read the date of it properly!) and now you're a mum!
So glad you're getting good suport from the nurses. Where are you in the UK?

My friend had twins 1 day after I had my son whos 12wks old. I often go round to help her as she finds it quite difficult. She has a boy whos coming 4 and she is only 20 with a non-identical twins. The girl cries more than the boy. Gave birth at 32 wks naturally. Both weighing in the region of 4lb.

My other friend is 22 with 1 boy and non identical twin girls. They were brilliant but she had alot of help from her partner.

The advice from her is to not constantly pick them up, and even if others feel the need to; if they are constantly held then they will always want to be. You can also put them in the cot together while there small it helps them to settle better. As they were together in the womb. Some of this advice was given by my mother who has 5 children (including me) andd shes also a midwife> I

Oh and good look but you wont need it motherhood comes naturally its not a skill you learner even with twins. And there a blessing even when you lose sleep remember what you have been blessed with.

Oh and once more I talk alot. lol. My friends girls were natural birth 6lb 6oz and 6lb 3oz. 39wks