Parents of multiples have choices regarding what happens on delivery day. Make sure you talk with your Doctor to make sure that he or she, along with the hospital you will be delivering at, will be able to accommodate your requests.
But first, sit down and talk with your partner about your wishes. Plan for different scenarios (e.g. natural birth or C-Section) so as to have an idea of what you would like to happen in each scenario. Remember to keep your birth plan simple and be flexible!!! Sometimes there are circumstances out of everyone’s control. You can’t plan for everything, and if you don’t know that now, the twins will surely teach you soon enough.
Some things to consider is if you want music playing in the room or the lights dimmed. Decide if you want to abstain from medications or would like for them to be readily available. Decide if you would rather risk a tear than have an episiotomy. Do you prefer your babies to room with you 24 hours a day or to be taken to the nursery while you sleep? Do you wish to have the birth filmed? (Some hospital policies do no allow this.) These are just a few things to ponder and discuss.
To find the Twiniversity Birth Plan worksheet, log into bigTent, click on the “files” tab at the top of the page and download the “Birth plan workbook” to print for your personal use.
We wish you a happy delivery day!! Send us picture of your twinnies!!
Coral felt her twins sister Ruby’s labor pain! It’s not the first time they have felt each others pain.
Identical twin sisters, Shaakira White and Zaakira Mitchell, gave birth just an hour apart on July 24, 2012. Zaakira gave birth to Kadin and an hour later, Shaakira delivered b/g twins Landon and London. The same Doctor delivered all three babies.
My husband and I went through an extremely traumatic and horrible undiagnosed five year infertility struggle. I was finally diagnosed with Celiac disease (we figured it out from a Dr. Oz show!) and decided to use a gestational carrier because I was too traumatized to be pregnant again after all the miscarriages (including one at 20 weeks on our 8th IVF cycle) and 11 failed IVF cycles,
Surrogacy is illegal in New York so we had to look elsewhere for a carrier. An agency matched us with most wonderful woman down in Dallas, TX. Once she became pregnant with the twins I decided to fly down and stay with her the last six weeks of the pregnancy to help out as much as I could. It was December 2010 and the weatherman was calling for a pretty bad snowstorm in New York, so at the last minute I switched my flight to one a few hours earlier to try and beat the storm. I made it to Texas safely before the storm.
Then the unexpected happened. Just 12 hours after I landed, our surrogate went into labor! She woke me up with a light shake on my shoulder and whispered “Marisa, Marisa, I think we need to go to the hospital.” I was completely taken aback. My husband was back in New York, it was 3AM, she wasn’t due for another six weeks, I had just arrived in Texas…what was happening!? More
“I thought he was kidding. No, really, I thought he was kidding,” I repeated in the car as we left our first ultrasound. “You keep saying it as though it will change something,” my husband said. “But I thought he was kidding.” This went on for quite a while.
My husband and I got married in June 2009 and began trying to get pregnant right away. We figured it may take a while considering I was 38. Nope! Our pregnancy was confirmed in July with spontaneous twins! The doctor pointed to the screen and said, “Everything looks good. Here’s the heartbeat.” Whew. “And see this other one over here?” he continued. “The other what?” I asked. “The other heartbeat,” he replied. “For what?” I asked in disbelief. “For the other baby.” I got that tingly feeling all over my body and stared at the screen. Needless to say, I was freaked out. My husband, on the other hand, literally jumped for joy and cried when we got the news.
Jump to my week 20 ultrasound. All was going along just fine so I thought. I felt good and was starting to look pregnant. The tech said we were having two boys, and they looked great. A couple days later, I went in for my next routine visit and my doctor reiterated what the tech said; everything was fine.
I admit it, I let the kids watch a show before bed.
We all usually huddle on the couch and watch something that we all agree on. As you can imagine, this is a challenge. My son wants some type of Power Ranger show, my daughter wants Powerpuff Girls (oldie but goodie), I want a show that is similar to Classical Baby (one of my FAVS when they were younger), and usually we end up fighting and just watching SpongeBob which I DESPISE! (why is Squidward so mean?)
NOW, I think Disney has created a happy medium. Disney Jr. Nightlight.
My soon to be second graders (where does the time go) still love these Disney shows and I do too! Tomorrow launches this new series which falls perfectly for our eve before school starting. I’ll be watching with my twins, will you?
Twins come in identical sets, and twins come in fraternal sets … this is a well-known fact! What is unexpected by most is for one twin to be very different from the other. What if one twin has special needs?
DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD? …. I do.
My son Brandon
We first suspected that our then five year old son Brandon (first born of our second set) was learning challenged when he couldn’t seem to grasp and recognize the sight words that his sister was easily memorizing in first grade. In addition, he was impulsive and excessively fidgety when required to sit still and focus on a class assignment. He didn’t exhibit intentionally disruptive behavior, but clearly was unable to control how easily distracted he would become. Although his teacher assured us that he was just wired differently and was less mature than his twin sister (as boys usually are), I felt instinctively that learning to read shouldn’t be this difficult. When second grade began, I was on bed rest with my 3rd twin pregnancy, and spent every afternoon doing homework with both of my younger twins, followed by an extra hour reading with Brandon. He found this activity almost painful. Before Christmas that year, just after my newborn twin boys came home from the hospital after arriving at 31 weeks, I received a message from Brandon and Erin’s teacher requesting a conference with me. We had begun to notice Brandon’s grades dropping despite our efforts with him. I, of course, was expecting this parent/teacher meeting to be called, and had intended to request it myself as soon as I was just a little more settled with our new arrivals.
The following is an excerpt from my book, TWINS x 3: More
Have you seen this adorable video? 11 month old identical twin girls dance in unisin to their daddy playing the guitar! How adorable!!
You can send your videos to be featured on our website to Community@Twiniversity.com – YouTube links are preferred but not required. Have a great weekend!
How would you finish the sentence above? Put your answer in the comments section and enjoy reading what other parents have said.
When you buy everything in bulk, diapers, wipes, baby bottles, etc…
No one can ride in your car because the car seats take up all the room
You only go to stores that your double stroller/pram will fit into
You chastise (or at least think about chastizing) stores that do not follow the proper aisle width for wheel chair accessibility, because if they did you would be able to get in too
You shop on-line just to avoid taking the twins to the store
You buy a new mattress since you know you will end up on bed rest there for some time so it better be comfortable
You know what a double football hold is
When you get hand-me-downs of “special” outfits or shoes, they end up being unused since you can’t have one twin wear the special outfit and not the other.
Taking a 5 minute shower is the only “you time” you have and shaving your legs is a luxury More
There is nothing sweeter than when your babies start sleeping though the night. A whole new world seems to open up as you start getting consecutive hours of sleep at a time! On average babies start sleeping though the night between 6-8 weeks but can take much longer in some instances. No worries though- here are some tips to encourage your babies to sleep through the night. And until they do, just roll with it and remember that one day they will be teenagers and you will have payback when they want to sleep till noon….lol
Routine- You‘ve probably heard this tip from other parents a million times! Why is routine so universally important? Following a predictable pattern before bedtime helps your babies know what is coming next and so they are relaxed and not surprised about bedtime. Ashlee T. says: “My #1 tip is routine, combined with knowing your babies’ signals. Adjust your expectations around how long it’s likely to take, it will all fall into place.” Yes, it will take some time to establish a routine. The key is to have quiet activities prior to bed time. So dim the lights and turn off the TV about an hour before it’s time for bed. Try reading a story, singing a song or talk about all the good things of the day. Your voice will not only sooth your babies but it will also help you relax to think of all the reasons you have to be thankful for your sweet bundles. Why not try to include some of the following your bedtime routine as well? More
Summer is in full swing and many of us will be spending these lazy days outside swimming, hiking, and soaking up the suns rays. The following are the top tips for protecting your skin this summer.
According to Dr. Howard Murad you should, “Always look for a broad spectrum sunscreen that contains UVA and UVB protection. For each application, apply one ounce of sunscreen to the entire body and face daily, and reapply when out in the sun for long periods of time. If you plan on being in water, apply water resistant sunscreen every 40 minutes for optimal protection.”
The ears, calves, back, and scalp are some of the highest risk areas where we forget to apply sunscreen. What many people don’t realize is that light reflects off surfaces, comes through building and car windows and penetrates through clothing. To protect the scalp, apply sunscreen just as you would everywhere else. For your hair, look for hair products that contain a broad spectrum SPF, like a leave-in spray conditioner. Hats and head scarves are also a stylish and smart way to shield your head, face and ears from the sun. More
Parents of multiples have choices regarding what happens on delivery day. Make sure you talk with your Doctor to make sure that he or she, along with the hospital you will be delivering at, will be able to accommodate your requests.
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