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So twins due in the next few weeks, the house is ready and I think we've bought everything we need but I doubt that we're ready mentally. I know it's going to be tough, how many of you have twins and did it ruin your life?
SLEEP
Nothing we can say will prepare you but trust me you will cope
Make sure you have some family about to help
No twins but a friend had triplets!
Ride your bike.
[quote=scunny ] I think we've bought everything we need
Congrats
You've probably bought way too much stuff, we did when our 1st come home much of it was sold/given away unused.
what are your bikes that you'll be selling? 😉
only one thing for it, PANIC Like ****! 😆
One thing they never told me about having twins was that it is a good idea to select the control baby as early as possible. This will increase the quality of any experimental results.
Ride your bike.
and don't look back... 😀
good luck.
Mine twins are now 7 and life is much easier.
The first few years were tough!
My advice is sleep in the spare room during the week, so you can at least get some sleep. Sleep deprivation is used in torture for a reason!
Yep mine are 15 now - twin girls - first two years were hard - because they didnt sleep much - after that they have been a delight - along with their older sister. Try to find some space for yourself.
and when they are up and walking practice 10 metre sprints ! one in one direction one in another !!!
Double blessing - enjoy.
(But yes, ride and sleep now)
Get them on the same routine. Once one wakes for a feed, wake the other one up for a feed. Otherwise you'll be back and forth all night.
Your partner is a LOT more accomdating than mine, "sleep in the spare room" what and leave her to fend for herself all night!!!!!!! Nope I did 6 months of working full time on 2hrs a night, by the end I was looking forward to the warm embrace of death when I eventually drove the car off a cliff or simply dropped dead from exhaustion. She claimed she was too busy to nap during the day when baby did.
Oh as for the OP, you need to work out which is the evil one ASAP, yeah I know everyone will tell you there's no such thing as "the evil twin" but they're just a bunch of pussies who can't accept the inconvenient truth that there's is ALWAYS an evil twin, it's just that some are more cunning than others.
Stay up the dry end.
Fully expecting to be running on a couple of hours sleep for months at best, years at worse. My partner has already suggested that I sleep in the spare room now and then if the lack of sleep is getting too much.
I must be a sucker for punishment as I've just accepted a new job. If all goes to plan I'll hand in my 4 week notice, have 2 weeks at work and then 2 on paternity leave. I met with my new boss on Friday and explained that if I look like a zombie for the first few months then I'd rather this not be taken into consideration when reviewing my probationary period!
You get this moment when you arrive home with two small, sleeping creatures, look at each other and think: WTF do we do now? Then you have an easy(ish) week or so when they sleep most of the time.
Then all hell breaks loose. Tag-team vomiting for all four of us was my favourite moment in the first year. Whoever wasn't actually chucking up got to look after everyone else.
Someone told me it gets easier. I suppose it does. We got to go out for a meal on our own after about two years. We just sat there in silence and stared at each other's hollowed out eyes.
Have fun. 😀
Twins here. They are 9, so we have almost recovered from the shock of the scan...
I don't think there is a lot you can do now - but try and relax. Twins are hard work but not a huge amount more than a single baby IME. Also our boys entertain each other more than my daughter did herself - so it can be easier when they even get to toddler stage.
We could never do it successfully but if you could slightly stagger feeds that would be good. Not by a huge amount - just enough to feed, wind and settle twin 1 ready for twin 2.
Best of luck - it can be tough but I would not change a thing. Ours were touch and go through pregnancy, delivery and post-delivery for a number of weeks, so no effort was too much, this probably helped us cope!
Some friends of mine have twins, they're generally kept busy...
ROUTINE ROUTINE ROUTINE!!I
I have 3yr old twins and all i can say is you will get used to a working day on 2-3 hrs of broken sleep. The early months were twins waking up every 1.5 hrs which generally means you will sleep in one hour sessions at the most. Adrenalin is good for the first week but after that you just grind out the tiredness until at some point you will start going to bed at 8pm when hopefully they have had a big feed and might let you sleep for 3 continuous hours which will feel like a full nights sleep. sorry to say this but unless you cycle to work then forget about cycling for the first 6 months. You will be too tired and your wife might need a break before you, twins are mentally exhausting rather than physical so she may require some time to herself.
did it ruin your life?
If by ruin you mean change, then yes.
Keep riding and doing the things you enjoy wherever possible. Even if the duration and frequency is reduced it will still help.
(this advice is after witnessing friends keep/lose it)
From a different perspective - I don't have twins but I am that DNA rarity an identical twin - and we both ride bikes...
Just reflect on your good fortunate and look forward to many years of fulfillment, happiness and joy. Yes it can be tough but the good times are ineffable. I'm rather hoping one of my kids will have twins... I think our mum found the 2 of us difficult - she was only 21. One of my earliest memories is elocution lessons for the both of us. We'd developed our own language that only we understood - apparently not that unusual in identical twins. Best of luck.
Identical twin girls here who are now 14. My overriding memories are:
0-1 yo: life is a bit pants. No sleep and promises of help from others disappears. We got a nanny "just for the first 3 months".
1-4: Nanny finishes after 3 years. Girls are really cute.
5-10: Two sets of packed lunches for school, twice as much homework, double the cuddles when you pick them up (well for a couple of years at least)
11-14: Two phones, two contracts, two bedrooms that they spend A LOT of time in!
Twins are ace, they get along great 90% of the time and fight for the other 10%. They love athletics and there's plenty of rivalry which is good.
My top tips:
As mentioned before, sleep as much as you can
Don't expect to get out much on the bike for the first 12 months.
Accept any and all help that is offered
Always get two of the same toys - getting different stuff will lead to fighting
Save as much as you can - things are going to get expensive.
Enjoy the ride, I still am doing 🙂
p.s. we also have another daughter who's two years older than the twins - she tolerates them.