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Three of my four babies are rainbow babies, including rainbow twins.

Rainbow twins after miscarriage

Author: Mikaela Holmes

I have four beautiful, healthy children.  Three of them are rainbow babies, including rainbow twins.

My first pregnancy – daughter

I got pregnant with my first as soon as we started trying.  I had the perfect pregnancy, no morning sickness, no spotting, no other health issues at all.  Our daughter was born right on time at 39 + 3 weeks. 

My second pregnancy – miscarriage

When we decided to try for number 2, again I got pregnant straight away.  We told the family at 7 weeks, I had a missed miscarriage at 11 weeks but only found out at our first scan at 12 weeks.  I ended up having a D & C. 

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Full placenta abruption with twins. My harrowing twin birth story.

twins in different hospitals

Author: Laura Mind

I am finally, after 7 months, able to tell my twin birth story, which involved a full placenta abruption with twins.  It’s taken 7 months for me to be able to speak about this without me saying it as if I’m a 3rd person, totally removed.

premature twins reunited

The birth of my twins

On the 15/2/2019 my DCDA twin boys were born 1.26 & 1.27 pm on a Friday.   I was one week from my scheduled C sec, but I wouldn’t make it.    

At 10.35am, after feeling somewhat off and not taking my kids to school (at the time a mother of 3), I reached over to grab my then 1 year olds toy to feel bleeding.  I reached down, my hand was bright red! I knew I had to get to the hospital straight away.  Then I got my 7&1 year olds into the car and drove myself 20 mins to the local hospital.

My mum’s house is one minute from the hospital.   I drove up her driveway screaming beeping my Astra sedan horn furiously.  “Get in now I’m bleeding” I screamed at her.  She got into the driver’s seat and as I tried to move to the passenger seat the blood started leaving me at an alarming rate.  She drove to the hospital where I got out alone.   l walked the 67 steps, it took to get through the door to the women’s assessment unit.  By this time, a trail of blood was flowing from me and pooling to the ground at my feet.

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Going on holidays with twins or multiples – are they actually a “holiday”?

Port Douglas Sea Temple

Let me preface this with the fact that our twins are now seven years old, and we travel quite a bit.  What we don’t really do is “holiday” though.  As in stay in one place for more than a couple of nights.  Unless we are staying with family, we tend to move on every couple of days and find a new destination, explore a new area.  

Going on a “holiday” was quite a new concept for me, so going on holidays with twins was a huge step!!!

Travelling as opposed to holidaying – yes, there is a difference!

I remember when we went to Bali when the twins were two.  Everyone kept asking us where we were staying.  I always replied that I wasn’t really sure, but that each hotel was quite central etc.  It turns out that most people don’t go to Bali and stay in 5 different cities/towns/villages in two weeks!! Apparently most people check in once, upon arrival and then check out of their “resort” on departure. 

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NICU and SCN Acronyms. A guide for parents of twins and triplets facing a NICU or SCN stay.

NICU terminology

NICU and SCN Acronyms can be very confusing. Especially when these terms relate to your tiny babies. This list may help you navigate those early days

Please note: This glossary is not a substitute for advice from a health professional.  Terms may vary from hospital to hospital.  Please consult your health care professional for full details.

You can find our Multiple Birth Glossary HERE.

A

  • Adjusted age – Adjusted age (or corrected age), is your premature baby’s chronological age minus the number of weeks or months he was born early. For example, a one-year-old who was born three months early would have a corrected age of nine months.
  • AGA – appropriate for gestational age.
  • Apgar Score – The Apgar score is a system used by doctors and midwives to assess your newborn baby’s health at birth. It helps medical staff decide if your baby needs medical or emergency care.
  • Apnea monitors –  Detects the cessation of breathing (apnoea) in infants
  • Apnoea – A short period of time when the baby does not take a breath.
  • Aspirate – To inhale fluids, such as milk, into the windpipe or lungs. Also refers to the removal of fluid by suction (e.g. checking how much milk remains in the stomach)
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Finding out we were pregnant with identical triplets

finding out I was pregnant with identical triplets

Author:  Belinda Smith

“There’s definitely two but I think there’s three.” The sentence that changed our lives! This was how we found out we were having multiples. I was lying on the bed at the clinic for our first scan and it took the sonographer all of two minutes to say these words. The old saying ‘Your life can change in the blink of an eye’ certainly applied here. We were in complete shock, as you can imagine.  Totally floored, dumbfounded and struggling to come to terms with what our future was going to be like.

We had no idea there was more than one baby in there!

At no point leading up to this day was there even an inkling that we were having more than one baby.  This was my first pregnancy so I had no experience to draw from.  However, I was not violently ill or showing really early which are symptoms you would normally expect when carrying multiples.  I was exceedingly tired for the first six or seven weeks and then had intense headaches during week eleven and twelve.  By the time the thirteen week scan came around I was feeling really great. Even commented to my husband on the way to the scan that I was feeling so good they might not even find a baby in there!

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FIFO life with twins and more

Helping twins cope with a FIFO father

Author: Jenni Swain

The FIFO/DIDO (Fly in Fly Out/ Drive In Drive Out) life is an interesting one and not everyone understands it, most people tell us they would never cope and how do we manage etc, especially me being the one at home with 3 young kids, but this is our normal. The funny thing this year, is that hubby has taken on a Manager’s role, now time away is a lot less and we are actually finding it hard to adjust to this change!

Our situation may also be a little different, but like a lot of FIFO/DIDO families my husband is in the mining industry. He is an exploration geologist though so he does not have a set roster, the time away varies greatly and we are not always given much notice. When we found out I was pregnant with the twins he was made redundant and started his own business contracting so things became even more unpredictable for a while. 

twin pregnancy announcement
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Budgeting tips when you have twins, triplets or and more

Budgeting tips with twins

Author: Amber Swayn

To understand my financial outlook, I’ll first disclose three facts:

  1. I am a payer-offerer, not a saver
  2. I have an ultimate financial goal of being debt free ASAP
  3. I’m preparing for my husband and I to be self-funded retirees

To achieve our ultimate financial goals of becoming debt free and self-funded retirees, I had to get control of our family finances. We weren’t in a bad financial position at all but knowing our exact financial situation has saved a lot of stress and ensured that we can make decisions that work for our family.

Here are my top tips for keeping your finances in check:

Budgeting tips when you have twins, triplets or and more

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Raising a family, including twins, and FIFO life

Raising twins while husband is away

Author: Jacqueline Waters

My husband is qualified as a Mining Engineer, meaning we’re a career FIFO family and we will be doing this for many years to come.  He works a 9/5/5/2/4/3 roster… which, yes, is very hard to keep track of.  We’re lucky he’s home 3 weekends out of 4, but short rosters also mean short R&R, which can be hard to catch our breath. 

Finding out we were expecting twins

Our older son had just turned 2 when we found out we were having twins. I spent many sleepless nights wondering how on earth I’d cope.  We have no family in Australia and I seriously doubted my ability to manage twins and FIFO life.  As it turned out, that anxiety and stress was wasted energy.  It is hard, but I cope fine – most days!

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My life as a FIFO partner while raising twins and more

FIFO life twins

Author: Shay Baynton

I fell pregnant with my multiples just before Xmas 2013, we were both so excited to be adding to our little family, at the time we had a nearly 2 yr old, Luna. My husband Andrew has worked FIFO or DIDO for nearly as long as we have known each other, first as a driller all over QLD and the NT then with Rio Tinto in QLD. At the time I fell pregnant with our twins we lived in a tiny mining town 3 hrs from the nearest big hospitals Mackay. 

My first inkling that this pregnancy was any different from my first began very early in the first few weeks; the all day sickness was relentless. Eventually on Xmas Eve, after 3 days of keeping nothing down, I ended up in hospital. It was early days and after the usual treatment I refused to stay not wanting to miss Xmas morning with my toddler at home. Andrew had just finished his dayshift swing and managed to make it to town to take me home from hospital.  And so began the juggle of managing a twin pregnancy plus toddler at home with a partner working a rotating roster 3 hours from home. 

Raising twins in a FIFO family
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Returning to work after twins or multiples

going back to work after twins

Author: Tiffany Visser

If you are anything like me, when I was younger and I thought about having kids the picture was beautiful – I would stay at home with my babies making cookies and playing with playdough while my husband went off to work. He would then come home to a perfectly cooked meal and be able to spend his time cuddling our new buddle of joy and enjoying a cold beer. I know right even the movie makers couldn’t paint a more perfect situation.

Cue surprise twin pregnancy!

As many of you know receiving the news that you have more than 1 growing in there is the type of news that can change the entire course of your life in a matter of seconds. Those changes include but are not limited to:

  • A new found appreciation for the meaning of
    tiredness
  • Possible fear/anxiety around a possible high
    risk pregnancy/birth
  • The realization that it is possible to love
    something unconditionally without actually physically touching it
  • A new found love for your partner (depending on
    the day, multi pregnancy hormones are HECTIC)
  • A new car/mode of transport
  • A change in direction for your career
returning back to work after having twins
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