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Supporting employees pregnant with twins, triplets or more

team member who is expecting twins

Author: Sarah Lavis

Is your colleague expecting twins, triplets or more? How can employers best support employees bringing multiple babies into the world?

Being pregnant with multiples is such an exciting time, but there are a few things employers should be aware of during the pregnancy, maternity leave period and the ultimate return to work. It’s quite different to expecting one baby and comes with a unique set of challenges. Being informed of what a multiple birth pregnancy entails, knowing how to support an expectant multiple birth parent and ultimately being their advocate will set your employee up for success in the workplace.

Note: This article is written about mothers welcoming twins, but much of it applies to those expecting triplets or more as well as partners.

employee expecting twins
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Single Mother by Choice to Twins.  My journey to motherhood

Author: Kelly Poole

When I was a little girl, or even a teenager, I didn’t dream that I’d be a single mother. I had a plan for university, getting a job teaching, marriage, travel, house and then kids. By the time I was in my thirties, the job, travel and house had all fallen into place- but I was no closer to marriage and kids than I was when I finished high school. One by one, my friends, family and siblings all found their love, bought their homes, married and settled down to family life.

Deciding to become a Single Mother By Choice (SMBC)

Make no mistake, my life was great. I travelled the world, I took on higher duties at work, I studied things that interested me, I bought my own house. However, it made me sad to think that I was going to miss out on having a family. The deeper I looked at my life and myself, I realised that I wasn’t sad that I didn’t have that special someone, I was sad that I’d miss out on kids. With that revelation, I did what I do, and I started my research. This is what is called the “thinking phase” of becoming a Single Mother By Choice (SMBC).

First, let’s be clear, there are lots of ways to be a single Mum, you probably know at least one Mum doing it all on her own. A SMBC is someone who has intentionally taken action to become a parent on their own, via donor conception (sperm, sperm and egg, embryo) foster care, adoption or foster care or any combination of these. The mother takes this action knowing that they will be the sole parent of their child – at least at the outset.

Single Mother by Choice to Twins Australia
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Toilet Training Triplets – Tips and tricks from a triplet Mum

toilet training triplets separately

Author: Belinda Smith

I remember thinking early on in our multiple birth journey that there would be two milestones the babies were going to achieve that would be the most taxing on us as their parents – that being toilet training and learning to drive.  Now my trio have only just turned 7 so stay tuned for the learning to drive blog. However, true to form, toilet training triplets did not disappoint.

I will preface this blog by saying that my boys are my first (and last!) children so I had absolutely no experience in teaching another human being how to listen to their body and use a toilet. Let alone toilet training triplets! Also, I am sure that you have seen the advertisements for apps or stories on Facebook that claim “Potty train your child in 3 days!”  That might be all well and good if you are talking about training a singleton. I hate to break it to you, but for twins, triplets or more that is not going to be your reality.

toilet training triplets together
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Along for the ride: A confession about the guilt of having twins after singletons. 

guilt my twins dont get enough attention

Author: Stacey Spanos

“I am just so tired…” is the constant statement pumping through my veins. I try and try not to be, but I just am. This is who I am now – a mum of four, two of the four being the twins who unapologetically entered our lives like the bundles of perfection but little whirlwinds that they are. 

My days are what I would describe as bittersweet. I enjoy the little moments, the cuddles and the laughter. But on the flip side, I have never been so exhausted in my life. 

large family including twins
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MCMA twins: My monochorionic monoamniotic twin pregnancy and birth story

mcma twins birth story

Author: Anonymous

After 3 miserable rounds of IVF my husband and I implemented protocols from a great book called “It Starts with the Egg”, we had a break for four months then commenced our fourth round using ICSI. With much better results we transferred a fresh Embryo which stuck and with no complications our little boy arrived safely. From this fourth round we were beyond excited that one little embryo made it be PGD tested and to freeze as a day 5 blastocyst. Little did we know what it had in store for us.

When our son was 13 months old, we made the decision to transfer our final embryo in the hope of a sibling. 10 days later we had a positive blood test and a couple of weeks after that (7 weeks gestation) went for our heartbeat ultrasound. There it was a flickering heartbeat. My next call was to my clinic to find out the gender, being a PGD tested embryo that information was available. It was a girl, perfect! A pigeon pair, all we could have hoped for!

mcma twins IVF
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Twin worries: All the things I worried about when I was pregnant with twins

twin worries while pregnant

Author: Anonymous

My girls are only four months old and I’ve been reflecting on some of the things I worried about when I was pregnant – and what it’s actually been like since they arrived. I’m not talking about big worries like medical matters and birthing them safely, but the little things that ran through my mind during those long, uncomfortable pregnant nights.

Twin Worries: How would I tell my identical twins apart?

Our twins are identical, MCDA. I spent countless nights during my pregnancy wondering what strategies I could use to ensure I didn’t get them mixed up. Do I need to get them bracelets with their initials? Should I paint one of their toenails? Do I need to get a freckle tattooed on someone’s ear? That last one is a joke but I have read it’s an acceptable strategy when there’s a medical issue with one baby and everyone needs to have absolute certainty when administering medications!

In reality, they’re easy enough to tell apart- unless it’s the middle of the night, the lights are dim and I’m half asleep! Izy has more hair than Addi. Their face shape is slightly different. And for now, Izy has a tiny stalk mark on her brow. Maybe it will get harder as they grow, but I think we’ll be ok, and don’t think we’ll have to resort to tattooing our babies!

newborn ID twins
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Dad of Twins: My Story

large family twin dad

Author: Darryl Lehane, Our Small Footprint

I remember the day Nyssa told me she was having twins. Of course, I didn’t believe her. I had always joked that she would be having twins his time, whenever she fell pregnant before, so, I thought she was just getting her own back.

She had rung me on my mobile, because I was at work, and I said something like “Yeah, ha ha good one baby.”  Next thing I get a text message with the scan pic clearly showing two babies. 

From that point life changed drastically. We moved from Victoria where we were living at the time, back to Brisbane, so we could be closer to family. We already had the three older kids, and we knew this would be a challenge.

father of twins
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Raising Multiples to be Independent, Confident and Competent

Raising Multiples to be Independent and Confident

Author: Hannah Trenowden, Grow Shine Succeed

Being a parent to multiples can be so all-consuming that we sometimes end up in survival mode. Just making sure everyone is fed, sleeping and let’s be honest- alive- is enough work in itself. 

Now that my twins are toddlers, I’ve been exploring ways to encourage their independence and confidence as much as I did with my older singleton daughters.

Self Determination Theory tells us that humans flourish when their psychological needs of autonomy, competence and connection are met. Let’s see how this theory underpins my tips for raising multiples to be independent and confident.

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Hydronephrosis and twin pregnancy. Pregnant with twins and kidney problems.

Twins born at 37 weeks kidney problems

Author: Jackie Jones

Today I learnt that it takes 14 mins to fly direct from Port Macquarie to John Hunter Hospital in a care flight emergency, this is my journal entry dated 17/06/2017. 

The day started like any other, at 26+2 weeks pregnant with twins, I had reached a point of pain every day, pain to breathe, to walk, to rest, to sit, stand, or lay so with my 572 cushions and pillows of every shape and size, I was trying to make the most of it with a 6 year old to look after as well. Baths and swims helped, but this day I had significantly increased pain come 4pm. I went for a bath, the perfect place to be weight free with the significantly increased weight on my 53kg frame BPWT (before pregnancy with twins).

I’d put on a lot of weight compared to my singleton pregnancy. The bath didn’t seem to help, and my back was hurting tremendously, so I had a glass of water and thought if I had a shower I would surely feel better, so off to the shower I waddled. (Yep I was absolutely waddling by this point). The shower didn’t seem to relieve any pain and then I began to question the pain I was feeling, like, I did have a child already so surely I would know what labour felt like, right? 

And this was very painful, I thought my back was going to snap and break in pieces and my vagina would fall off if I sneezed, or suddenly moved the wrong way, but I was 26 weeks and 2 days, so way too early to be in labour, surely? 

kidney stent twins
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