May 18, 2018

Low sex drive after Twins or Multiples – Is it normal?

So many parents of twins or other multiples face a low sex drive after twins or multiples are born. Unfortunately, it can become almost the norm – it is probably rarer to find parents of newborn twins engaging in regular nookie!

If you are experiencing a low sex drive after twins, then I have some good news for you. It is very unlikely to be caused by anything serious, and with almost all couples who go through this, it will pass.

Just knowing that it is normal can make it a little easier to face

It can be incredibly frustrating for couples of newborns to try and get some adult time happening.

After a woman gives birth, it’s generally recommended that she not have intercourse for around six weeks to give her body time to heal. Many women, even if their lady-parts are feeling ok, will still appreciate the six weeks off from sex because they are pretty exhausted and can be overwhelmed right now.

But most of us would like to get back some intimacy with our partners at some stage, right? Many mothers of twins and multiples can still be reluctant to have sex after 6 months, a year, and even longer after their babies were born.

Some women have no desire, but still feel very much attracted to their partner, and want to ‘want it’.

For many couples, regular intimacy is a way of connecting beyond communication, that reminds you that you are still one being, one team. So, even though this mother wishes she had back her old libido and could connect with her partner on that level again, physically her body is not coming to the party.

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May 8, 2018

A Natural Monochorionic Twin Birth – A Christian Twin Birth Story

Author: Jemma Lichtendonk

I went into spontaneous labour at 36+6 and had a natural monochorionic twin birth. Our boys were both head down and arrived after only 2 hours of established labour.

My husband and I had been ‘training’ for this day

My husband and I had been ‘training’ for this day spiritually, physically and emotionally since we found out we were having twins at our 20 week scan. Twin pregnancy is so full on, especially being so ‘high risk’ with babies sharing a placenta, we prayed for a natural monochorionic twin birth.

On Sunday night we had a long prayer meeting with friends and committed all our fears to Jesus, it was hard, but we had to let go of what we were worried about, especially the timing of when I went into labour.

I feel like I spent most of my pregnancy worrying about pre term labour

Through God’s divine intervention we were able to escape induction talks twice and thankfully, Monday morning at 36+6, less than 10 hours from releasing our fears, my waters broke in bed at 6am. I was so over the moon! We had been told to call an ambulance as soon as I went into labour. My second birth had progressed quite quickly so the hospital staff weren’t interested in mucking around this time, especially not with monochorionic twins. Despite this, I felt totally at peace and knew we had enough time. I had a relaxing shower and prayed over what was about to come!

It was so bizarre being in a delivery suite and not being in active labour, I was pretty much just walking around trying to get things started! Not much was happening, I was being looked after and intermittently monitored by a beautiful midwife who kept very calm.

I had been praying that the right people would be rostered on for our birth. And this midwife was definitely hand picked by God. At 10.30am a team of doctors came in. We had a long, serious and scary talk about the need for an epidural again. It was so hard to hear. And quite exhausting trying to respectfully listen to all the risks but also not let the fear take over. The desire of our hearts was to have a natural, intervention free birth, but everywhere we turned we were told it was just too risky and just not possible.

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May 2, 2018

7 Reasons NOT to Use Capsules for Twins, Triplets or More

Should you use infant car capsules for twins or triplets or go straight into car seats? It’s always a hot topic of debate in the multiple birth community. There are definitely people who are pro capsules and then there are just as many people who think capsules are not necessary. While there is always an option to hire capsules, not all families live in an area where baby equipment hire is available, and will choose to place their multiples directly into car seats.

Here are seven reasons why you may decide not to use capsules for twins, triplets or more.

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April 30, 2018

A cervical cerclage (cervical stitch) at 21 weeks saved our twins lives

Author – Illiana Bell

Over 12 months of no periods, no ovulation and no pregnancies, my partner and I decided to consult a Gynaecologist at the Royal Woman’s hospital, Melbourne. After blood tests and ultrasounds everything was reported within normal range… still no periods and of course no ovulations. The gynaecologist was concerned that the Depo Provera shot I had in 2011/2012 had completely messed up my hormones.

I was put on medications to bring on a period and then another lot of medications to bring on ovulation. After finally getting a period I was still not ovulating. Finally, I got a period without medication, however they only occurred every 3 months. This left us with a really small window to try and conceive. After 12 months, what felt like a life time., we were going to try one last time on the medication. And if this round did not work a referral would be completed to an IVF clinic.

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April 11, 2018

Sleep tips for twins, triplets and more

One of our resident sleep experts, Tanya Greene from Sleep Right Sleep Tight shares her sleep tips for twins, triplets or more.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became a baby sleep consultant?

I have been working with children for 15 years now, and personally am a Mum to 4 gorgeous children. I worked in Childcare before having my own family, and then gained my qualifications to help other sleep deprived families get a great night sleep. My passion is helping each individual family get through those sleepless nights and bedtime struggles.

I made the decision to help other families through their sleep struggles after having problems with our daughters sleep. She was 15 months at the time and waking approx. 5 times a night. Where we were living at the time there was no help, so I turned to an online program. We had amazing success! From this, I knew my path was to help families in similar situations as ours.

Why is it important to help your twins or triplets learn to settle on their own?

A baby’s sleep patterns are affected by what is happening throughout their bedtime. They generally look for whatever is happening at this point to be repeated throughout their night when they wake. If your twins or triplet are reliant on outside aids, dummy’s, feeds etc. in order to fall asleep, you will find that waking throughout their night, they need these to come back to get themselves back to sleep. They are what we call sleep associations.
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April 9, 2018

Stress free toilet training for twins

Our guest blogger Shannon from Project Revive and Thrive shares her experience with toilet training twins.

I’ll be the first to admit, toilet training does not excite me, not one bit.

The only thing I like about toilet training is that I won’t have to pay for nappies anymore. As far as the how and the why go, I didn’t really do any research about toilet training.

I just knew it had to be a stress-free toilet training process. Although to be honest, I was hoping daycare would sort it out for me.

Toilet training does seem to be a high traffic topic on the mummy blogs. You’ll find constant questions like how do I train my 18 months to go to the toilet, how to toilet train boys, the guide to toilet training in a day, the secrets to the 3-day toilet training program etc.

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March 21, 2018

Attachment parenting twins or multiples – what worked for me

Author: Twinfo

I couldn’t wait to be a mother. Even though I didn’t realise it was an actual term, I was really looking forward to attachment parenting. It just seemed the natural thing to do. To be honest, I didn’t realise there was really any other way to parent.

We had a fairly rough start to parenthood. When couples start thinking about having a baby, infertility never comes to mind. Unfortunately for us, it was a subject that we soon knew a lot more about than we had ever expected. Thankfully, after 8 soul destroying rounds of IVF, and one twin miscarriage along the way, we finally able to announce to the world (OK…….Facebook!) that we were having a baby! I couldn’t wait to have a water birth, delay cord clamping and respond to the beautiful newborn cry. Plus co-sleep, baby wear and breastfeed my single baby. Oh, hang on….its twins??? Really???? OK, our bedroom will only fit a queen bed, how we will all fit in there? I have three bulging discs so I won’t be able to tandem carry them, and what do I do if they are both crying??? How will I possibly breastfeed two babies at once?? Everyone is telling me I won’t be able to have a natural birth or breastfeed???

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March 16, 2018

An unexpected twin vaginal birth at 28+3 weeks

Author: Rebecca Story

Friday the 16th December 2016, I had my 28 week scan (a few days early) everything was fine. The boys were perfect, healthy and growing nicely as they should be.

That Sunday I started to feel uncomfortable.

I wasn’t worried though just thought I’d done too much around the house and needed to rest. I went to work on Monday and struggled to sit for as long as I normally could. I couldn’t get comfy in the seat. I was moody as hell and told my boss I wouldn’t be in the following day. So Tuesday I went to get a medical certificate from my GP, he wanted to give me 1 for the rest of the week but I said it would be fine as I was due to finish work that Friday. I then went and got my nails done. Walked around trying to find somewhere that sold my foundation and get my clients at work Christmas presents and it was hard. I was in so much pain. I told Shane he would have to go to the supermarket as the thought of walking around there almost bought me to tears.

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March 15, 2018

An amazing twin natural birth story (with professional birth photography)

Author: Skye Wilks

We found out we were having twins at our first ultrasound.

I’m always nervous when I go for an ultrasound due to four previous miscarriages before our daughter, so was already on edge. I had my 2 year old daughter and husband with me. As soon as the technician put the Doppler on my belly I saw something different, she jumped and said ohhh! And removed the Doppler. So as you can imagine my world for a moment went ice cold and terrifying. She then continued and said there’s two babies. Off in the dark corner I hear my husband go “what”?! And my two year old proudly say “two babies!”. I covered my mouth with both hands and sat quietly in shock. DCDA Twins which I was told was the safest twin pregnancy so we were already a head of the game. As I had been on clomid we knew there was a chance but never thought “it would happen to us”. We were excited, terrified and questioning if we would be capable of raising two babies and a toddler. 3 under 3, can it be done?

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March 13, 2018

Two mums and their amazing journey to twin parenthood.

Author: Emma King

In September 2016 my wife Stacey and I welcomed beautiful boy/girl twins into our family and it was the most wonderful day of our lives but was also a long time coming as we know so many other families have experienced. We knew it would be a long and expensive journey being a same sex couple, using donor sperm, and wanted to share our story to provide hope and encouragement to anyone in the same situation.

2 years and 4 days earlier we started our journey.

We decided Stacey would try first to conceive given we had 2 uteruses on offer. The cheapest and easiest option was to try Intra-Uterine Insemination (IUI). We went through all the tests and procedures to get started and then had to make the biggest decision of our lives – choosing a donor, well 3 to be precise – first preference, second preference & third preference. We decided to narrow our decision down by traits that resembled Stacey and I – eye colour, hair colour, skin colour. But what helped us the most were the donor letters – the letters the donors wrote to their donor children or the families that used their donation – we found they really reflected their personalities and that meant a lot to us. And with that we made our first attempt, and second attempt, and third. Each time having to review what donors were available, who would we be happy for our child to share DNA with. None of our attempts were successful.

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