Having a baby is an exciting time. Having two or more babies at the same time is truly spectacular!
Your life has now changed. There are different things that are now a priority. A new routine that you need to work out. And then work out again because it didn’t work the first time. There are things to learn, milestones to reach and lots of love to give. But there are also a few official things that you need to do after the birth of your babies. And I am not taking about the official Facebook post announcing their birth. While this official Facebook status seems to be OK for relationships, the various government departments won’t accept that! When you have a baby – or two or three- your word for it isn’t quite enough!
There is only one negative about having twins or triplets as far as I am concerned. And you are about to learn this rapidly when undertaking the the official things to do after having twins or higher order multiples. It is the duplicate paper work!! Filling out the same form time after time again, then (in your sleep deprived state!) having to go back and double check you have one filled out with each name etc.
To help you, here is a list of the official things to do after having twins or higher order multiples
Register the birth
Once you have named your babies and are settled at home, you need to officially register their births. Before you leave the hospital you will be given a little pack with different information and booklets inside of it. A lot of this is just information for you to read over, but there is one important little booklet in there (well two given you have twins!)
This booklet will have a page in it that is the official registration page. This will be signed by your midwife or doctor that helped to deliver your babies. It will have the information about their date of birth, time and where they were born. This page needs to be used to officially register the birth of your babies.
You can register by taking this to your local Centrelink office or by uploading it through the Centrelink app.
Find out about all things Centrelink here: Centrelink for twins and multiples explained
Registering for Medicare
In order for your babies to receive healthcare through the Medicare system they will need to be registered. You can go into your local Medicare office and provide them with a copy of the birth registration document and they can provide you with a temporary card that has their new Medicare number on it.
When you register the birth through Centrelink, this should now be enough to also register them on Medicare, meaning you may not need to go out of your way to contact them yourself. However it is always a good idea to check, in case it has not all synced up correctly. Many families have had mix ups with getting multiples registered, so its definitely best to check.
If you need to visit a doctor before the registration is complete or you have not yet received their card details, you may need to pay for the visit. However you can then claim this back once you receive your details.
Getting a birth certificate
Once the birth is officially registered, it does not mean that you will automatically receive a birth certificate for your babies. You need to apply for a birth certificate separately and purchase it. There is a cost involved with getting a standard certificate or you can pay a little extra and purchase a commemorative certificate that is prettier and can be framed and put on show.
Updating your will
It may not be something that you want to think about once you are bringing your new little one’s home, but it is an important task that you will need to look into. Your life has now changed dramatically and there are more people that you now need to consider. You should put the time aside to sit down with your partner and talk about your will and the things that you need to update. Now that you have children (or more children) in the picture you need to look into what will happen in the event that you and your partner are unable to look after your children. It is not something that you want to think about, but it is an important thing to consider.
Once you have made these decisions, it needs to be updated in your will. If you have a home, investments or other items that you will be leaving in your will, you need to look at how you will divide these up and update your will to show the changes.
Official things to do after having twins or triplets
While there are many official things to do after having twins or triplets, most do need to be done within a certain amount of time. So it is important to make sure that you are organised and get them done as soon as you can.
Take it one step at a time and focus on one before moving onto the next. It will make it easier and less stressful for you.
And don’t forget….they are only this little once. Take the time to soak them up and enjoy them.
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