June 1st was my due date for a full term pregnancy, my csection was scheduled for May 18th (38 weeks), which I fully expected to make it too. But no way, my twins wanted to be born in April the day after my birthday. It was a non-eventful month, just lots of heartburn & odd sleep patterns, went to the dentist & tried to get my hospital pictures all set up. I woke up to pain & lots of liquid; my water had broke. I called my doctor at 7:00am expecting to be able to stay home (naive FTM), but I was told to go to the hospital.

Upon checking in I saw my doctor & tried to negotiate a vaginal birth but he wouldn’t do it. Twin A was transverse breech, therefore there was no way he would deliver any way but csection. During prep I was given an antacid to help with heartburn, but I had a premonition this was not going to go well. As I laid down to begin the procedure I started to feel nauseous all over AGAIN. I held myself together long enough to get the babies out, then the true adventure began.

After the twins were out I lay there crying tears of joy while I suppressed the vomit trying to come out. It was another 24 hours of feeling nauseous & vomiting again before I felt better. The nurses kept trying to give me medications to stop it by it needed to take its course just like when I was pregnant.

Twin A was born at 10:58am & Twin B 10:59am. Both were screaming & healthy. It was the most amazing moment of my life to see this pregnancy come to an end, resulting in my beautiful little boy & girl.

At 7 months pregnant I had my baby shower, it was a beautiful day with lots of food, amazing 5 tier cake & my big belly. Like I mentioned in a prior post my baby registry was a big stress, I had been compiling items for 3 months. Putting things on & off the registry; deciding where to register. It was more work than I actually thought it could be (much more than a wedding registry) But do I really need 2 of everything? I kept hearing wow twins, “bogo.”

I registered for 2 of all the major items-swings, cribs, car seats, jumperoos, travel cribs & highchairs. Finding space for all this wasn’t exactly easy either. At one point we barely had any room in our family room to move with all of the babies things. I used 2 of everything except the travel crib. That was something I used for the first month or two & that was it. It’s been at the grandparents house since the twins were 2 months. My babies didn’t sleep well in the travel crib, so we ended up just putting them in their cribs instead.

Try to keep things simple on the registry, babies don’t truly need as much as the parents may. Feeding is a hard thing to predict with twins, before getting pregnant I only thought of a vaginal birth & breastfeeding; having twins definitely opened my mind. I ended up mainly registering on Amazon & PBK for just a few items. Try to only register for items the twins will need for the first 6 months, unless you have endless storage. Gift cards are an amazing option, especially for food delivery services. Those first few months can be hard.

Don’t feel the need to register for everything, Amazon is a lifesaver, I think we had boxes at our house every 2-3 days with something we needed the first few weeks.

The recovery from feeling perpetually nauseous was finally over & things were supposed to be more predictable. Yeah, not for me…I got my first ever flu in my life with a cough that lasted weeks. It was more throwing up but now from uncontrollable coughing. I swear my babies were being thrown around but somehow they seemed to not be phased by it. I failed two 1 hour glucose tests & had to do the 3 hour test. (Not a joyous experience as my nausea started to came back) But I passed, phew.

The illnesses were part of my 2nd trimester unknowns but it was the stress of the registry weighing on me. The cribs I had selected were on backorder until after my due date. Stroller options were limited & prices varied widely. Best car seats for premies. Did I register for enough clothes, burp cloths, diapers? Do I need pacifiers or bottles? The endless hours I put into researching & compiling were crazy. Some things I bought were perfect, others I never used & then I always had to buy more. My baby shower was just around the corner, I was approaching my 3rd trimester & I was still having a hard time decorating for the twins room.

As excited as we were to be pregnant, I didn’t expect being diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum. I started to feel the symptoms of morning sickness a few days after I got my BFP (5 weeks pregnant) & the following week I had in home health care giving me IV’s while training my mom & husband how to change the IV bags & the dangers of getting air into my veins. This was scary for all of us, but we did it!

It was 4 months of being on a medication pump to help keep the nausea at bay. Every other day I had to be poked with a small needle to pump the medicine into my body. It definitely helped keep me alive as without it I was barely able to eat & would’ve lost more than the 15 pounds that I already lost. There was about a month that I ate less than 300 calories & drank minimal amounts of liquids.  It was a part of pregnancy that I never thought I would be experiencing.

None of this was what we had planned, I was not able to work or even get out of bed for that matter. I lost a good amount of my hair & started to get very depressed. Needless to say, I was not an advocate of taking medication while pregnant, but I felt it was my only choice. It was a very difficult time for us, but fortunately around 18 weeks I was able to be medicine free. Most of the rest of my pregnancy was without issue, although the morning sickness always stuck around.

Btw, we didn’t find out it was twins until 8 weeks pregnant at our first doctor appointment.

The doctors says it’s TWINS?  How did this happen? I don’t have twins that run in my immediate family or have any medical treatments that could possibly provide this. I was in shock when I found out I was having twins, but so incredibly sick to even really be excited. Still having another 7 months left in my pregnancy to figure out how this fits into our plans of having a baby.  I was extremely grateful to be “one & done” but still I had so many questions pop into my head as I went through my pregnancy. How do I grocery shop? What happens when they both start wailing in public & I am all alone? How do I fit their HUGE stroller into a bathroom to go myself? And am I ever going to sleep? And how big will I actually get? 

After 2 1/2 years of being a twin mom I have learned a few things about young twins & I want to share these experiences with other twin moms. I know I have lots of years ahead with my toddlers, but I think we have survived some challenges so far.