This week Nix and Naomi meet Jess the courageous twin Mum who shares her story of her battle with anorexia and her miracle twins and how they changed her life.
Twins, Triplets…the ladies have chatted about both.
But what is it like to be pregnant with Quads???
Nix and Naomi talk to Natalie from Kiki and the Quads who is 30 weeks with quadruplets. From her reaction to finding there are four to having to upgrade the car, and how do you choose names?
Natalie reveals all in Ep 11.
Author: Anonymous
I gave birth to twins during the enforced lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also gave birth to my singleton in a pre-covid world.
In 2020, during the birth of my twins, I was unable to have any physical contact with my singleton for the duration of my hospital stay. That was the most difficult part of giving birth during COVID-19.
Needless to say, there were numerous video calls which helped my singleton connect with me and his newborn twin siblings. It was also easy for my singleton to reach me because I was able to make myself available as much as I could whilst in hospital.
Postnatal depression in fathers of twins and triplets is a topic that many people shy away from talking about. You have just brought home several newborn babies, whom everyone wants to see. The pressure is already there for this to be the most exciting time in your life!! What people don’t realise, is that it can also be extremely overwhelming and emotional.
People tend not to talk about it if they are the one suffering from it and others also shy away from raising the topic if it is someone close to them that is suffering from it.
It is a topic that does need to be spoken about and awareness needs to be raised around it.
Generally when people think about postnatal depression they assume that it is the mother that is suffering, however post natal depression in fathers of twins or triplets is just as important to consider.
One in ten new dads will also suffer from PND.
Queensland Health
New dads are prone to developing postnatal depression after their babies are born and those who are new dads to twins and triplets may be more at risk.
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Whether it is because the weather is getting colder, its been raining a lot or you simply just want to stay home and indoors – you are bound to need ideas on how to entertain your toddlers.
There is no need to rush out and buy the latest gadgets and devices, sometimes simple is best! Let them loose in the “plastics draw”, rotate your existing toys so you can bring out “new” ones each fortnight (this helps keep the house tidier as well!) or even just blow bubbles inside the house rather than the back garden.
Toddlerhood is an exciting time for your twins or triplets. They may be beginning to take those first few unassisted steps, they are probably getting a little bit stubborn and independent with different tasks and they are getting bored VERY quickly. They want stimulation and lots of it.
We have put together a quick list of SIMPLE indoor activities for toddler twins and triplets to keep them happy and entertained.
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Naomi and Nix discuss the importance of ‘self-care’ what does it mean and how do you balance it while raising multiples
Author: Kath Doyle
When parents find out that they are expecting multiples, on top of the inevitable shock they are faced with a whole new language. Terms like chorionicity, amnionicity and zygosity along with acronyms like MCDA and DCDA start to be thrown around very early and it can be confusing and overwhelming. For the sake of simplicity we will just refer to twins in this article.
So, here is a quick breakdown of these terms.
Note from Twinfo: You can read our “Dictionary for Common Multiple Birth Terms HERE.
Zygosity in the context of multiples refers to how genetically similar or different they are. While there are uncommon cases which do not fit neatly into these two categories, the vast majority of twins are either monozygotic (identical) or dizygotic (fraternal).
In the first part of this article, we looked at how long it takes to look after newborn twins.
If you haven’t read the first part of our article, check it out:
Looking after twins takes approximately 19 hours a day.
As you’ve probably worked out, when you are caring for newborn twins or triplets, your schedule leaves A LOT of things out of your life. Most days you will be lucky to do anything non-baby related or move beyond a basic animal need just to keep yourself functioning.
Things, like looking after your house, spending quality time with your partner or friends, or doing something just for yourself like reading, watching tv or exercising, will rarely happen in the first few months of your babies lives.
It is reasonable to expect that taking care of twins will take up to 19 hours a day for one carer. But it is possible to improve on this, especially as you get into some sort of rhythm.
To find extra time in your day, check our handy tips below.
Looking after twins can take up most of the day. With changing nappies, feeding and settling your babies to sleep, plus all of the washing of baby bits and bobs, we estimate it can take up to 19 hours a day.
The quick answer is – all of them! This sounds like the start of a bad joke, or a very scary story. But seriously, if you are facing the birth of twins or multiples you might really want to know how much time it can take up.
You can probably imagine that it does take many hours of the day and night to look after even one newborn, let alone two (or more). You need to consider fitting in the following tasks:
Your priorities will probably be in that order, and you will only get down to spending time on yourself and with your partner when everything else is done first (which many days it won’t be).
But how much time does this all actually take?
And how can you manage your time better to magically find a little more of it up your sleeve?
Author: Paige Bell-Male
I started expressing for my twins less than six hours after they were born.
Both were in the NICU at the time and neither were really up to nursing (although they could both suck feed). While I reduced output at work I didn’t take a break there and was back working two days after they were born while still in the hospital.
I purchased the Spectra S2 shortly before hospital discharge. It ended up arriving on the day I was discharged (with Twin A who was readmitted the next day) but I didn’t know that at the time. So I’d organized to hire a pump for a fortnight so I had time for my pump to arrive.
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