Panicked and overwhelmed

I used to be on here constantly but my youngest is 7 so haven't been on here regularly for a long time. After years of trying to get pregnant again we are pregnant with twins. It has been a very difficult pregnancy filled with many complications. I've been so scared about losing one or both babies that I put off doing any research or buying things. I'm now 21.5 weeks pregnant and we are hoping that I make it to 34 weeks. I'm the kind of person that likes to do extensive research on everything before deciding what I want. Yesterday I realized that I really don't have all that much time left and I'm on bed rest and will be for the rest of my pregnancy so I can't go try anything out in person. Plus I have to travel an hour away to get to a large enough city that has stores with baby gear. We live in a small town of 4,000. I know the furniture needs to be ordered asap. To top it all off I'm sleeping terribly (about 3-4 hours in 24) so my ability to concentrate and think rationally is severely compromised most days. It's been so long since I had a baby and I certainly have not had the experience of multiples before so I'm really feeling overwhelmed. I'm sure I will have some specific questions once I start doing some research but I would really appreciate suggestions on what to get. Here are the things that we do have.

One crib (need to order a matching one)
One Ocean aquarium swing
One Rainforest jumperoo
one graco snug ride that expires in Dec 2013
One dresser with changing pad
a good selection of baby carriers (I saved them all from my girls)
Some burp clothes, blankets, and bibs
A handful of preemie and newborn onesies, sleepers and outfits.
baby bedding
diaper pail and wetbag for cloth diapers
2 boppies
purely yours breast pump but I expect to rent a hospital grade pump at least while they are in the NICU

I'm pretty sure that's it and it's a pretty pathetic list. We didn't have much worth saving from the girls. We can afford to get whatever we need but I want to get the most for my money and I hate overpaying for things or buying things that we don't need. Oh, one more thing. I expect these babies to be quite small and not grow quickly. My two girls who were full term (one was a week late!) were 6 pounders and grew very slowly. My youngest wore preemie clothes for almost 4 months. They are both still quite petite for their age.

congratulations on your double blessing!!!

and big hugs for a rough pregnancy.

i can make some recommendations of things but more than anything, i would say it's all just stuff and not worth getting stressed out about.

my girls slept in their swings at first - not saying that was a great idea - but it was what we did to get by. so we definitely needed 2 swings.

they also used the boppies a lot for feeding and other stuff so we needed 2 boppies.

i didn't have sophie the giraffe but in retrospect, i would have bought 2 of them.

one of my twins could use a podee (the other was born with cleft lip and palate) and the podee was a huge lifesaver - http://www.podee.com/

these were also a lifesaver - http://www.bottlesnugglers.com/

are you sensing a NEED AN EXTRA HAND theme!!

for bath time - i bathed the girls in this - http://www.amazon.com/The-First-Year.../dp/B000067EH7 - in the kitchen sink for a long time - it was much easier to manage than dealing with the two of them in a tub.

this is my pinterest board with some other things i really liked (not just for newborns though) - http://pinterest.com/hko/kid-products-that-i-love/

i got a nice stroller (baby jogger city classic double) when the kids were probably about 9 months old and it was a fantastic purchase - really really improved my mobility and ability to go shopping at target solo.

loved the miracle blankets as well.

hope this is helpful!!

Thanks for responding! I recognize your user name from before when I was on here all the time. It's nice to "see" a familiar name. :)

Both our girls slept in a swing at some point. Linnea slept in a swing until around 18 months I think because she had such horrible acid reflux. She stayed super tiny so size was not an issue. I'm thinking we will need several since we live in a large two story home and I don't want to be lugging things up and down or having to go upstairs any time they need to be set down.

We also used miracle blankets for her and they were a HUGE lifesaver. Don't know how we ever survived before we got them. I'll definitely check out the other things you suggested. Even though I'm planning on exclusively breastfeeding if possible (I have great milk supply and we always joked that I had enough for twins. Guess we'll find out now. :rotflmao:) I'm expecting we will need to use bottles in the NICU and sometimes at home so my husband or daughters can give me a hand. Are there any bottles that are better for preemies?

I'm still trying to figure out the whole car seat/stroller thing. The keyfit seems to be suggested most often for preemies but I've also read that it's not compatible with a lot of strollers. That's going to take some thought and research I'm sure.

No advice on the twins, but saw your username and had to pop in to say Congratulations!! I remember you from the CD boards back when my DD1 was a baby. :) Praying that the rest of your pregnancy is uneventful and peaceful.

It's so fun to reconnect with people I know! Yay and thanks for the congratulations. I wasn't sure if anyone would actually recognize me so this is a pleasant surprise.

Awww CONGRATS Jessica and welcome back to the board!

I would probably buy another cradle swing

you might consider getting a couple of these ... people these days seem to really love them (especially for reflux babies).

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-N...ce+rock+n+play

You will need at least one new infant car seat ... and I know a lot of twin parents say that the double snap n go stroller was one of the most helpful items for twins in the very beginning.

Aden and Anais muslin blankets are well liked ... great for swaddling cause they are thin and stretchy but super soft.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...products%2C210

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mommyoftwo

I'm still trying to figure out the whole car seat/stroller thing. The keyfit seems to be suggested most often for preemies but I've also read that it's not compatible with a lot of strollers. That's going to take some thought and research I'm sure.

---

I'm not sure which SnugRide you have now, but it looks like the SnugRide 30 is good for babies 4 pounds up to 30 pounds: http://www.amazon.com/Graco-SnugRide...dp/B005DQ569Q/. I was also going to suggest a double Snap n Go: http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Trend-Dou...dp/B000LEI82W/

I don't know if you're a gadget-type person, but it might be helpful to have an Itzbeen for each girl, to help you keep track of their feedings: http://www.amazon.com/Itzbeen-Baby-C...dp/B000MEB3GE/. And I don't know if you're interested in getting a white noise machine, but we really liked the Sleep Sheep: http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Travel-M...dp/B000J6CDY6/.

Personally, I loved the Bjorn Babysitter and Leachco Podster as extra sets of hands. (I didn't want to take a chance on a swing, when I've heard not all babies like them.)

And kind of random, but I did like this bottle brush with stand from Oxo: http://www.amazon.com/Bottle-Brush-N...dp/B0038JDVCE/. Along the same lines, I really liked the Medela microwave bags for sanitizing bottles and pump parts: http://www.amazon.com/Medela-Quick-C...dp/B000096QQ5/

Hope that helps! Congrats!!

Honestly you sound like you're in very good shape, except that you need car seats for sure. When I was pregnant, I put off the car seat purchase until I was almost 30 weeks, so I totally get that feeling of not wanting to "commit" with baby purchases.

You will probably want some more burp clothes, and another wet bag if you plan to cloth diaper (and of course cloth diapers/wipes - I did prefolds and covers with my twins and it was easy and prefolds are SO easy to wash).

Even if you plan to cloth diaper, I'd get 2 weeks worth of disposables to start you off. That really helped me (though I realize I'm coming from the perspective that my twins were my first so I knew NOTHING! Since you have older kids, you will probably adjust more easily).

You will probably want more basic clothing (will you have a baby shower? If so then I'd say just buy a few basic onesies in preemie/smaller sizes)

I'd get a basic set of bottles even if you plan to breastfeed. Get breastmilk storage bags. And cloth or disposable breast pads for leakage. Nursing tank optional but I really found the Bravado ones to be great to have because they're nice enough to wear out. I still wear mine to sleep in :bag LANOLIN!!!! You will need lanolin if you breastfeed, and even if you don't you can always use the lanolin on diaper rashes or chapped lips.

Have a supply of diaper rash cream and clotrimazole (for yeast diaper rashes) on hand. Aveeno diaper rash cream worked great for us and I appreciated that there was no scent.

Mild baby shampoo for when you start baths (we use ours in a foam pump because it makes it so much easier to rinse clean)

Lotion. Esp since it'll be winter! You can use whatever works on babies' skin. we use Cerave since ours had eczema. We still use it after every bath.

Swaddles (either the Aden & Anais blankets if you're willing to swaddle "manually" - we had these and adore them), or get a swaddle system.

Somethiing for tummy time. It doesn't have to be a playmat, can just be a good thick blanket to throw on the floor.

Something for reflux. Even if they don't have bad reflux - don't all babies by definition have reflux? - a wedge or nap nanny to set them in after feeding goes a long way to preventing lots of spit-up.

I wouldn't even worry about things like high chair at this point - you've got a few months to work out what you like and then get them.

Having 2 bouncers was essential for us but this is totally dependent on the babies. You can get away with just one for now, esp since you already have a swing.

Do you have a 2-story house? If so, a safe place to put baby (for triage purposes) both downstairs and upstairs would be super helpful (for example, if cribs are upstairs, keep a pack n play or something similar downstairs)

Good luck:)

For being on bed rest I had a really crazy day and very little time to look at the computer. Thank you for all of the helpful suggestions and keep them coming. I'm going to look through everything and post a response tomorrow when I can think straight. I'm exhausted tonight. Again, I don't know how I get so tired when all I do is sit here although to be fair I did have two doctor's appts today so I was out of the house. Still I'm constantly amazed that just sitting here growing two babies can be so darn exhausting.

I was on bed rest for about 2 1/2 months with DD (a singelton!), and I slept A LOT. It is amazing how tired we get just "sitting around."

Congratulations to you! I don't really have any advice except: Don't assume these babies will be anything like your first two. They might, and then again they might not. They might grow like weeds. My DS was born at 32 weeks but started out a relatively large 4 1/2 lbs. He grew really fast and hardly wore preemie clothes at all. My DD was a 36-weeker and weighed almost 6 lbs at birth. She grew more slowly at first, but overall she is just "built bigger" than DS. He is now 8 and weighs only about 52 lbs. She is 4 1/2 and weighs nearly 40 lbs. So they are 3 1/2 years but only 15 lbs apart! That doesn't seem so strange seeing it in writing, but trust me, they are totally different. You can tell by looking at them.

Do you have and port-a-cribs? If so, don't worry about furniture right now. My DS slept in his Pack'n'Play for nearly 4 months. He showed up 8 weeks early, and his room just was not ready. It was still an office when he was born! DD slept in that PnP for a couple of months, too. My SIL had her twins in bassinets for the first couple of months (one was a gift and the other was borrowed--the bassinets, not the babies:tongue5:). I think they spent a bit of time together in one full-size crib, too, but I'm not sure about that.

As a PP said, it's all just stuff. You will need the car seats, but almost everything else can wait if necessary. And if you anticipate a stay in the NICU, you will have even more time to get "stuff" before the babies come home.

Good luck!

Congratulations!! How exciting :)

I think twowhats list is great. Its all the basic things you will need right away. All the other items can wait...if you have time and are bored while on bedrest, then sure, do research and figure it all out now. But if its stressful to you, then there's really no need. You can research and buy (aka order online) those items as the need arises (highchairs, bedding, jumparoos...all things that you won't need for a few months)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jam224

I don't know if you're a gadget-type person, but it might be helpful to have an Itzbeen for each girl, to help you keep track of their feedings: http://www.amazon.com/Itzbeen-Baby-C...dp/B000MEB3GE/.

---

I only have one but had to chime in - I was given the Itzbeen but actually use an app called Total Baby. It is fab, has settings for multiples and I love that it's on my phone.

I also used a friends' Rock 'n' Play sleeper and Miss Mopey LOVED it. I will probably get it for the next; I could see two little ones being very happy in those for a good while.

Congrats Mama!! You'll be great (again!). :)

Congrats on the twins! You can do it, even if it sometimes seems impossible.:)

There have been some good threads on this in the past, I will see if I can find some. I think most of my "must haves" have been mentioned. FP Rock 'n Play Sleeper FOR SURE. I wish I had had that thing with my twins! Primo Eurotub, Leachco Keep it Up bottle prop if you bottlefeed when they are older. A sense of humor. Very important.:love-retry: I will look for more.

Some good stuff here:http://windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/sho...d.php?t=427038

It helps me feel more in control to figure at least some of this stuff out. Yesterday I sorted out my newborn diaper stash for the most part. I spent today researching strollers and car seats. I think we will probably be getting the valco baby spark duo stroller and the chicco keyfit 30 car seats. Also, I found an identical crib to the one we have on craig's list for a steal so that made me happy. Tomorrow I'm going to start thinking about some of the smaller things. Thank you for all your help and encouragement.

Your big girls will be such a help to you too. sometimes just having someone to hold a baby makes all the difference.

Congrats on your pregnancy! Take good care of yourself and hugs for all the rough parts of your pregnancy. :grouphug:

BTW, I recognize your girls' names but not yours. :)

Have you been in contact with your local mother of twins club? They can be an awesome resource. I just came back from our twice-a-year tag sale and even though my twins ~ my babies! ~ are almost 9 years old, and I still can't get over how much support and help these clubs provide members. Some clubs have those infant car beds that preemies need that you can borrow; members in general can provide you tons of advice on items to get, etc. Hearing from others who are on bed rest like you or have been through it can really help you through it!

I just read that you mentioned how tired you are and can't understand why ~ well, you are building two babies! That takes a huge amount of energy.

I think you're in good starting shape as far as equipment and supplies go. I fretted about the second crib but it turned out I kept the twins for the first three months in bed with me for easier nursing, pretty much what I did with my eldest. Now that I work the infant equipment room of our club tag sales on a regular basis, I can tell you that some of the most-sought-after items for those with infant twins are:

swaddle-me wraps/Miracle blankets
bundle mes for those winter babies!
a couple of activity mats like the Tiny Love ones, one for each floor of the house
that second baby swing ~ this and the above is because you will need places to park those babies as you can't juggle/hold them all the time
twin nursing pillow (two is nice, one for each floor of the house ~ I had a regular one and an inflatable one that I also used for travel) ~ the My Brest Friend brand seems to be the main one out there now



It sounds like you need some more infant clothes ~ just get some more basics as a PP mentioned ~ onesies, sleep sacks, those terry cloth (or regular cotton) footed sleepers. Don't forget lots of burp cloths (cloth diapers are awesome for this).

Strollers are a whole 'nother ball game ~ I'm sure you know you can go nuts researching and trying to figure out what best fits your needs, and of course there's no one stroller that will ever do it all for you.

Good luck!

We live in a very small town and the nearest moms of multiples group is an hour away. It also happens to be where my doctors and the hospital are so I do get there fairly often but I'm not able to go to meetings. They have a facebook page but no one seems to post on it. Maybe if I do a little more digging I can get connected somehow.

My mom is going to come columbus day weekend and get the baby stuff we do have down from the attic so we can go through it and see what we need. I definitely need some side snap shirts, onesies, sleepers etc. DH and I had already picked out the chair we wanted for the nursery so he can order that for us. I've been super exhausted the last few days (I have unbelievable insomnia and restless leg syndrome when I'm pregnant) so I haven't done much of anything for several days now. Hopefully my brain function will come back at some point and I can start thinking about things again. I've had multiple cycles of being completely unable to concentrate on anything followed by my body getting so exhausted that I finally get some rest followed by being lucid for a few days before the cycle starts again.

Thank you for all the help and suggestions. I'm sure I will be back with many more questions but if you don't hear from me for a while, it just means I'm exhausted and can't think straight at the moment.

Hang in there!! :)

Congratulations!!! This is very exciting news. We have 5 kids, with 2 being twins. After reading the posts, I can see that you are very anxious. Right now the only thing you need to be doing is relaxing. Your body needs to take care of those babies and the anxiety isn't good for them or you. Don't over think it. Honestly. Like the poster said, all babies are different and these guys might not be anything like your other babies. I had two before we had our twins. IT is an interesting position to be in. On the one hand, you are a not a "new" mom. So you won't have as much of that new mom nervousness we all had with our first. On the other hand, you have to be careful to have the same expectations on your multiples as your singles. All children are different. This was advice given to me by another mom of multiples when I joined a local twin organization. I think it is really true.

You sound like you have the gear part down. Eventually you will need another crib. But not even immediately. My twins were NICU babies and there is some strange comfort in knowing that they are in there. They get round the clock medical care that is top notch. Every twitch your baby makes is noted and followed up. I have seen miracles in that place. I had my first lesson to the NICU with our second son so going in their with the twins was scary but I had to rely on knowing these extremely trained people know what they are doing. I would suggest getting a second swing though. My twins also lived in their swings. In fact I went through several swings! Those stupid arm swings are terrible. My babies loved them but we have gone through 3! The arms break and it is a constant complaint among users. Really they are intended for small kids but kids grow. So if someone can look for one second hand, let them get it that way. Having the twins in swings helped them to sleep and they didn't have some of the more typical reflux/gas issues you can have.

When you have older children you need to make sure they above the others can be taken care of in your absence. I had parents and friends who wanted to do stuff for us, take the older kids out, help them to school etc. That was such a blessing. That way I could concentrate on my little babies. The week after the twins came home from the NICU, DH decided we it was time to move (we needed a basement which was obvious now), we needed a backyard (it was super small and our front yard was huge) and he wanted DS#1 in the best school in the county as he entered K in the fall. So we went looking for homes. My mom was our realtor. We found a house a week later and put in an offer. It was accepted after much negotiating a week later. Then we started to pack, get our house ready to be on the market and left for a vacation (yes, DH had planned a family vacation with 5 of his buddies and their families from college). I didn't have time to be tired, frustrated or anything else. Looking back that was a good thing. I tell you this only to help you hopefully see that you never know what to expect and life changes on a dime. Go with the flow and relax a little more. It was a good thing my babies decided to come early as if they had come on time we would have gone on vacation with them 2-3 weeks after they were born. (I still don't know what he was thinking!!!) MEN!! :)

The important thing for me was getting my older two kids watched and loved on. Babies sleep a lot so during the time they were sleeping I would be cleaning the house we were moving into. Sometimes with a breast pump attached to my back with the baby carrier so I could have my hands free to vacuum the blinds etc.. The neighbors probably thought I was strange but survival mode it was for us. We lived in a perpetual moving state for 6 months with furniture at both houses. (we eventually had to rent out the other house- thanks market for falling apart). But I made it! you will will too. Things will fall between the cracks. Like bills. We switched to an on line billing service so I didn't have to worry about that while I was dealing with all of this and even switched my work to receiving orders by fax or email only so I wasn't at the mercy of a telephone call all day long. Do things like this that you can now to make the future easier. I run my own business so there is no maternity leave. I just had to do the best I could. I even worked in between the NICU nursing visits while I lived at the hospital. IT was probably crazy looking back but that was life. My babies were small when they were born but grew fast and strong. They are ironically the largest kids for their ages that I have had. My 1st is still small for his age!

After having 2 then having twins I think the hardest part if just not having enough hands. Your older kids can help a lot! We made DS#1 a "runner" he loved it. He ran around and would get things we needed. We praised him endlessly and he now is great at it. He of course was much younger than yours so you should be in good shape. We scheduled people to come over and see the twins not until they were over 3 months old. The NIUC tells you that. Even when we went on vacation with them, they were pretty secluded to their bedroom and what did they want to do anyway? Sleep and eat :) My sister went along on the trip too and she helped a lot with some of the small things so I could enjoy a little of the trip. Keeping people away (DS's were in school and preschool) was a smart thing to do. The twins qualified for the RSV shot and that is one they did get. We held off on other shots and did them one at a time and very slowly over time. With the exception of needing ear tubes they were really healthy. DS#3 (the oldest twin) was born with torticollis and needed therapy for that but again in retrospect, the twins have been super healthy. Torticollis is very common in twin pregnancies. I think getting and keeping their weights up was really important, I breast feed but also had to supplement some as I couldn't make enough for two. that is a whole nother topic! and they got vitamin supplements starting young too as recommended by the NICU. Now, your babies might not ever end up in the NICU. I am now the NEW/Expt moms coordinator for our local twins organization and have seen plenty of moms with babies born at 34 weeks like mine without a day in the nicu. That all depends on your babies. Babies are pretty resilient. It is truly amazing.

As you are sitting there reading this where I have gone on and on, feel some comfort in knowing many before you have gone through it and made it. Not always gracefully but we did survive those first few months. This is such a precious time. Take each day and watch your babies. They are so amazing. You are also for having them. Heck, we even had a 5th! That by the way was so easy after having two! MY body is the on;y thing that hasn't fully recovered. Give yourself lots of time for that! I have 3 hernias to eventually take care of thanks to the twins but also I thank them for helping me let go of my Type A personality. I was so tight before they were born. When I got pregnant with them I physically couldn't do things and by week 28 couldn't get off the floor or even the couch without help. It became a comedy routine. :)
anyway, I hope the info I am passing on helps you in some way. I understand the rational behind waiting to get baby items. After multiple miscarriages I was the same way. Unfortunately for us we had a pattern then... miscarriage, baby, miscarriage, baby so when we got pg with the twins I did expect to loose them. IT was just the pattern. But they had other ideas!!! We didn't even tell most people we had twins on the way until I was 18 weeks when it was more than obvious, I was huge! Our twins were totally unexpected. We had always hoped for just one more to have 3. We got the twin and then a 5th. IT was meant to be. My house is always a mess and I still have 20 pounds to loose, 3 hernias to have fixed and my poor boobs look like wet teabags after nursing 5. I have sure stretch marks like tattoos and that belly ring of fat I just can't seem to loose. but I wouldn't have it any other way. I watch my boys all interacting and see how precious it all is. Even when they are fighting and arguing and the house is awash in noise. Right now my 2 oldest are in school and today I have to find a way to work on school stuff and work stuff around having the twins and our toddler home. See I am secretly putting it off it all off and on the computer! As I was typing, twin #2 came in covered in yogurt. HE snuck a yogurt drink and managed to pour it all over himself and the sofa. Thank God for leather. It wiped right off. For him, I am going to go put him in the shower :) Good luck to you and please keep us posted on how you are doing. You and your babies will be fine. Enjoy feeling them move and get to know each other in the womb. I do miss that a lot! Have a good day!

B

DS 03, 06, twins 09 and 7/11 PS- The one baby gear item I wish I could still have?? A second washer and dryer!!!!! :)

Congratulations! Hope you're feeling better and hanging in there. I've never had twins, but just wanted to add that, in addition to baby supplies, you might stock up on some easy snacks for you as you get closer to your due date. Cheese sticks, yogurt squeeze tubes, granola bars...things you can grab and eat one-handed while you're holding a baby and starving (nursing can make you soooo hungry, and it's hard enough to find time to eat with just one new baby!). Also, not sure whether someone else has already mentioned this, but we swear by our white noise machine. It helped calm and soothe both our kids when they were babies, and we still rely on it to help tune out noises when the kids are asleep in our small house. Oh, and don't forget to stock up on batteries for whatever battery-operated baby gear you have (swing, mobile, etc.).

congratulations! I recognize your name as well. Never had twins but my belief is that God only sends them to very special moms so know that you'll be great.

I might research stuff then put them in the saved section of my amazon cart. so you can have done the thinking/research part in advance and buy as needed so you're not overwhelmed with "stuff".

Also, think about how people can help you. So when someone says "let me know if I can do anything" you can say, actually, I'd love xyz. And dont forget, your good friends wont mind loading the dishwasher or running the vaccume.

or, even better, look into some cleaning help.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by doberbrat

congratulations! I recognize your name as well. Never had twins but my belief is that God only sends them to very special moms so know that you'll be great.

I might research stuff then put them in the saved section of my amazon cart. so you can have done the thinking/research part in advance and buy as needed so you're not overwhelmed with "stuff".

Also, think about how people can help you. So when someone says "let me know if I can do anything" you can say, actually, I'd love xyz. And dont forget, your good friends wont mind loading the dishwasher or running the vaccume.

or, even better, look into some cleaning help.

---

I do have cleaning help three days a week. DH simply does not have any time to do more than the bare minimum because he is taking care of everything in addition to being a general surgeon and being on call 24/7 for two different hospitals, one 30 mins away. Thankfully the one in town is literally blocks away. Between soccer and gymnastics the girls have stuff he has to take them to 4 days a week. He simply isn't in the house long enough to do much. Plus I'm stuck upstairs which means the girls have free reign downstairs when they get home from school. They aren't trying to cause trouble but they have a terrible habit of just dropping things willy nilly and I'm not there to remind them they can't do that. I have a little more control over the upstairs because I can see it more easily. Once I can move around again I can better direct the cleaning lady because she was really thrown into this with very little direction but it's still much better than it was. It's not her fault that she doesn't know my routines or where I store certain things. At the moment there isn't much I can do about it because I'm not allowed to go up and down the stairs and if I walk around, I start having contractions.

I did just order several things from amazon and my mom is coming this weekend to help me go through what we have and see what else we need. Sadly my BFF's father died yesterday so I'll be busy with funeral stuff this weekend but of course she is far more important than baby stuff right now. I recently got a large package of stuff from another preemie mom that had a bunch of sleepers and stuff as well as preemie cloth diapers so that helped a lot. I think we are getting there slowly and I'm feeling less panicked than I was.

Congratulations! I remember that feeling of being overwhelmed when we first found out we were having twins. I posted about it like crazy here. And next month they'll be 5yo. We all survived! And you will too.

I haven't read all the other responses so I'm not sure if these have been said. But if you plan to breast feed, I HIGHLY suggest a twin-sizes bfing pillow and nursing them tandomly. If not, you will spend all your time either nursing, burping, & diapering. Instead, if one gets hungry, offer the breast to both. It will save you some time.

I also want to suggest you get a double snap and go. They really do make life easier for the first few months.

I think the best advice I received was to lower my expectations for the first 6 months and accept all offers of help. Let well-meaning friends organize meals for you, fold a load of laundry, pick up some groceries for you, change some sheets, or babysit the twins while you get in a hour nap. And go easy on yourself. Eat off paper plates, order take-out a lot, have your DH take your laundry to a service that will wash and fold. The first 6 months are exhausting. Go easy on yourself.


As for your pregnancy, I remember well a mom here offering some excellent advice. Drink an obscene amount of water. Your main goal now is to drink water and rest as much as possible to keep those babies in utero for as long as possible. The longer they stay in there, the healthier they will be.

:hug: you sound like you are on the right track. You can do this.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gatorsmom

I haven't read all the other responses so I'm not sure if these have been said. But if you plan to breast feed, I HIGHLY suggest a twin-sizes bfing pillow and nursing them tandomly. If not, you will spend all your time either nursing, burping, & diapering. Instead, if one gets hungry, offer the breast to both. It will save you some time.

---

:yeahthat::yeahthat: And this totally applies if you bottle feed as well. I went so far as to ALWAYS wake a sleeping baby to nurse:) If one cried to eat, I'd wake the other and make them both eat. Waking the sleeping baby often took a solid 10 min. But I did it. Because the couple of times I tried to feed only one baby on demand, I paid dearly for it:) Get them on THE SAME schedule. It doesn't matter how you decide to schedule them (feeding every 2 hours on the dot, or whatever) - the important thing is to make sure it's the SAME for both babies. They will naturally then fall into the same rhythm and you'll be rewarded witih sleep, blessed sleep!

I was going to ask about the feeding. I kind of assumed that that was the way to go but it's nice to hear it from parents who've already been there. I would imagine that they sooner we get them on the same schedule the better off we will be. Did you nurse one after the other or both at the same time? Both at the same time sounds more time efficient but figuring out the logistics of getting them both on a breast at the same times sounds like it could be difficult. I suppose like with any baby, the longer you do it the easier it gets.

I was also wondering about sleeping arrangements. Did you put both babies together for a while. If so, how long did you do that? I was thinking we would start that way but I'd love to hear what you did.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mommyoftwo

I was going to ask about the feeding. I kind of assumed that that was the way to go but it's nice to hear it from parents who've already been there. I would imagine that they sooner we get them on the same schedule the better off we will be. Did you nurse one after the other or both at the same time? Both at the same time sounds more time efficient but figuring out the logistics of getting them both on a breast at the same times sounds like it could be difficult. I suppose like with any baby, the longer you do it the easier it gets.

I was also wondering about sleeping arrangements. Did you put both babies together for a while. If so, how long did you do that? I was thinking we would start that way but I'd love to hear what you did.

---

As for the feedings, I would strap my big, twin nursing pillow around my waist, pick up one baby and set it on the pillow under my arm, then pick up the other baby. Sometimes I did this in bed, but most of the time I'd sit against the sofa on our carpeted family room floor. Once both babies were on the pillow, I would latch on one baby and then latch on the other. It's a little tricky at first but it quickly becomes old hat. One of the benefits to bfing this way was that Greenbean would stimulate my milk flow with his strong suck. Sisi didn't have a strong suck but once my milk came in, she got what she needed because of Greenbean's efforts. If she had been a singleton, we would have had problems bfing her because she was just so weak in the month and just could not stimulate the milk flow like her brother.

As for sleeping arrangements, at first I had them both swaddled and sleeping in the bassinet of our packnplay next to our bed. I couldn't do that for long, though, because the weight limit was like 15lbs and with the 2 of them they quickly outgrew that. For a while Dh slept in the guest room and i coslept with them onour king size bed. But that didnt last long because its really tricky cosleeping with twins. But then Greenbean's colic really flared up so at about 10 or 12 weeks they were sleeping in their Graco Sweetpeace swings. It was the only way Greenbean could sleep for months.

Btw, I wholeheartedly agreed with everything Twowhat said about feeding. I nodded my head throughout her post. Always wake the babies to feed at the same time. Get them on the same schedule or you will never sleep. It is not mean (it might feel mean to wake a sweet, peacefully sleeping baby). It is about survival of mom and the babies.

ITA with waking and feeding. Always. For years. Well, still in fact.

We would sometimes strip the sleeping baby naked and tickle her to wake her. Yep - mean parents. But it meant sanity.

I know it'd probably be harder since you have older kids to care for, but tandem BF is the way I'd go if you can manage it. Get a twin nursing pillow and line up help with the LCs at the hospital to teach you how. My LC made the difference between success and failure for me - she was the one that got both babies latched within an hour of their being born, and she came to my room every 2 hours during my entire 4-day stay at the hospital to help me latch, watch while I did it myself, etc. And I visited her a few more times after I went home too.

The reason I say to tandem BF at first especially is because babies take SO LONG to nurse. If you feed one, and then the other right afterwards, you could be nursing for 2 hours STRAIGHT. So the extra hard work/effort in learning to feed both simultaneously really pays off. I had a BF station set up at home. A couch, an ottoman, a nursing stool, a side table with TV remote, snacks, tissues, lanolin, plenty of burp cloths. I spent many hours sitting there with 2 nursing babies, and then falling asleep there myself when they fell asleep (on the nursing pillow). We'd all just snooze together, LOL. And you'll need more than just a chair to nurse twins - a couch worked well because I could get one up on the pillow and latched while the other lay right by my opposite thigh, then it was easy to scoop up the other and get her latched. DH helped a lot with positioning at first, but I quickly got to where I was confident doing it myself.

When the babies are older and become faster, more proficient eaters, then I could see maybe feeding one right after the other. But in all honesty - I fed mine simultaneously EVERY time (I can count on one hand I tried to feed one and not the other - and most of those times were in the middle of the night as I tried to figure out if twin A was ready to STTN). Even when they got older - I was always tandem BF. They often fell asleep at the end of a BF session, so feeding them at the same time maximized my chances that their sleep patter would fall into the same schedule.

As for sleeping, we let ours sleep in the same bassinet in our room for the first 2 months, then moved them into separate pack n plays in our room when they outgrew the weight limit for the bassinet, then into their own room at 4-5 months in separate but adjacent cribs. At first they did seem to do better sleeping side by side. But I will admit that we allll slept better once we moved them into their own room to their own separate cribs:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Melaine

ITA with waking and feeding. Always. For years. Well, still in fact.

---

And :yeahthat: :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by twowhat?

We would sometimes strip the sleeping baby naked and tickle her to wake her. Yep - mean parents. But it meant sanity.

.

---

:yeahthat: I went as far as to strip them naked and if they still would not wake up (not uncommon for sleepy preemies), I'd use a wet wash cloth on them. I'd have to continue to do this once they latched on because they'd often fall asleep nursing after the first few sips and I wanted them to tank up. They were much more likely to sleep for a long time with a full belly. "Snacking" meant I never got to sleep. So keeping them awake for the full feeding was essential.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gatorsmom

:yeahthat: I went as far as to strip them naked and if they still would not wake up (not uncommon for sleepy preemies), I'd use a wet wash cloth on them. I'd have to continue to do this once they latched on because they'd often fall asleep nursing after the first few sips and I wanted them to tank up. They were much more likely to sleep for a long time with a full belly. "Snacking" meant I never got to sleep. So keeping them awake for the full feeding was essential.

---

LOL yes we continued tickling during nursing until I felt the sleepy one had eaten a whole meal! And your post reminds me that one time (just once), DH got some ice to wake up the sleeping baby by putting it on her feet:) LOLOL!!!

You guys are awesome. You've given such great suggestions and advice. My mom has been helping me this weekend and we got a ton of stuff done. DH cleaned out the closet in what will be their room and put up Ikea closet organizers today. My mom dug everything out of the attic that we had yesterday and we sorted through all of it.

Some things I ended up having a ton of and some things I discovered we had almost none because they got stained or worn out and tossed. (I have a gazillion blankets apparently but remembered having none so I have been buying some. Now I have enough for quadruplets I think, lol.) I found one bath towel so obviously I need more of those. Any favorites for those? I still need a few onesies, snap snap shirts and gowns but should have plenty of sleepers now. I dug out my cloth diaper stash and discovered that I had save a lot more than I remembered but almost all of them were mediums and larges so I'm really glad that I had ordered all the preemie and newborn size. I'll still need to get some smalls but I'm completely set for now. All of our bottles have bpa in them so I will need to sort that out. Hopefully we will only need a few.

In the evening my mom took me to a baby store in the city an hour away. It was awesome. They set me up in a glider with a cold bottle of water and proceeded to bring everything to me. Plus they stayed open an extra hour just for me so I get try to get everything done in one stop. I got a twin breastfeeding pillow, video monitor with two cameras (a necessity in our large house), car seats (chicco keyfit 30's in foxy which was really pretty in person), one snugabunny swing and bouncer (discounted floor model), one rock n play (also discounted floor model), four of the medela breastfeeding bottles, car seat covers, a few decorative things for the nursery that matches their bedding, ordered the glider recliner we wanted, and ordered the stroller. I had planned on getting the valco spark duo (which they don't keep in stock so I couldn't see it in person) but I was totally impressed with the baby jogger city select. It even works as just a stroller frame for the car seats and although it will be a little heavier than the snap n go, it seems like people hate pushing the snap n go so I think this was a good option. DH even let me get the dark purple color which is gorgeous and not at all something he would pick. I really liked that you can switch the stroller from a single to a double and can put the seats/car seats/bassinets in either direction in a gazillion combinations. I know there is no one stroller that does it all but I think this will be more than adequate for now. We'll probably want to get a lightweight side by side at some point but I won't worry about it until we need it. I left feeling like I had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders because even if they came today (They better not! I'm only 24 weeks.) we have enough to get by since we only need a few odds and ends. We may end up needing duplicates of things like the rock n play but this way we can see what the babies prefer and go from there.

Then we went out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and even though there was a 40 min wait I suddenly had a "reservation" and they seated us immediately. I haven't gone out for anything other than doctor's appts in over 3 months so it was tons of fun. I didn't do much walking and didn't get any contractions so I think my body did just fine. I have to admit that I was super excited to be getting all of the baby stuff. It's been such a stressful pregnancy that it was the first time I let myself forget about the worries completely and just have fun looking forward to their arrival. I think it did me a world of good.