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Interview with a mom of twins

Have you ever wondered what it’s like having twins? I have. As soon as I had Hannah, I thought oh my gosh, how could someone take care of TWO babies at the same time!

Or maybe you haven’t thought about it. Either way, I interviewed a mom of twin girls, Brooke Bigger.

When you went in for your first ultrasound, did you have any idea you were expecting twins?
When I took my first pregnancy test, and it was positive, I made my first appointment with an OB and got in when I was 10 weeks along. We didn’t have any idea we were in for such a ‘treat’!

How did the doctor/sonographer/(whoever told you) tell you?
The OB did a quick ultrasound when I went in for my first appointment at 10 weeks. She says, “Well I have a surprise for you guys, I’m picking up two heartbeats!”…..If I wasn’t already lying down, I think I would have fallen down! I did start crying, and my husband almost fell down. We were barely ready for one, and we get two thrown at us right off the bat!

Are your twins identical?
Yes they are identical

How do you tell them apart?
Right off the bat we put Presley in pink so that we wouldn’t get them mixed up. Presley got a pink hat and Darynn got any other hat to wear. And we always tried to put Presley in a more solid color pink onsie or swaddle blanket. We then found that Darynn had very prominent veins on each side of her head, and Presley did not. So once we figured that out, we quit dressing Presley in all pink. Now that they are 2, their personalities are totally different which makes it easy.

Did you get to eat heaps of extra food when you were pregnant, or is that whole eating for three thing a myth?
The doctors actually put me on a “175 grams of protein per day” diet right off the bat, so yes, I was pretty much eating for 3 LOL. They gave me examples of what I would be eating for each meal and snack….and I thought “How in the world am I going to eat this much food!?” I just ate a lot of cottage cheese, protein bars, yogurt, beans and beef !

After you pushed out the first one, were you like “oh f@#k, I have to do that AGAIN?! Or did you have a cesarian?
I had a c-section at 37 weeks. When you have identicals, they can develop TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome), which is when one twin can get more blood/nutrients then the other, and the other can become weaker. So I had to go in for ultrasounds every 2 weeks so that they could keep an eye out for the TTTS. It can also develop all the way up through delivery….so to decrease the chances of them developing the TTTS, the doctor just scheduled my c-section for 37 weeks. But no….we are not planning on having anymore kids! There is a chance that we would have twins again! LOL

Did you breastfeed, and if so, how did that work with 2?
The doctors syringe fed the girls right from the get go. When it was time to feed at the hospital, I would start out nursing them, and then the nurses would slip a tiny tube into their mouths and get formula in on top of the breast milk. My body didn’t produce enough milk for them, I don’t know if its because I never went into labor, but I couldn’t even produce enough for one. I tried, but it just couldn’t happen. So they were pretty much bottle fed from the beginning.

Did they both bottle feed at the same time? How did that work if you didn’t have anyone else to help?
We bottle fed them at the same time. If my husband wasn’t there to help me, I would set them up in their Fischer Price Rock N Play rocker chairs, and I would sit in a chair and hold the bottle for them. Once they ate more, I tucked a blanket under each side of the rocker to make a little sling for the bottles so I didn’t have to sit there and hold the bottles up for them! I had to get creative in how I fed them, or else my back would get really sore for bending over all the time! LOL

Did they both wake up at the same time in the night for a feed?
If one woke up, we would just wake the other up to keep them on the same schedule. That is the most important thing I think as a parent of twins, getting them on the same schedule right off the bat! It saved me in the sleep and sanity department!

Did you/Do you dress them the same? Do you prefer dressing them the same, or different?
I dress them similar. I usually buy the same/similar shirt in different colors or designs. Occasionally I will dress the same.

What is the best thing about having twins?
We get twice as many kisses and hugs, and twice as many cuddles. I love that they have a built in playmate and best friend….they will always have each other!

What is the worst thing?
The fighting between them, and the tantrums! Oh, and double the dirty diapers! I think I changed 9 poopy diapers in one day before!!

Do they eat the same things, or do you have to make 2 separate meals for them (because that would suck!)?
They eat the same thing….I will refuse to make them different meals!

Do they fight for lap space and time with you?
Occasionally….but I end up just putting one on each side of me, they typically don’t fight over me or their dad.

How do you go grocery shopping? Do they have twin carts/trolleys over there?
If I have to take them with me, I just put them in their stroller and hang a basket off the stroller. But if I have to get a lot of items, I wait to go until after my husband gets home, or I have my mom come watch them.

Do they all share a room?
Yep!

Did they reach milestones at the same time?
Usually within about a week or two of each other. Presley took her first steps first, then Darynn was two weeks behind her.

How did you take them out when they were babies? Did you carry one and put the other in a sling? Double stroller?
Double stroller, or my husband and I would each carry one.

Do they like playing together or do they mostly fight?
For the most part they play really well together, there are daily fights over toys, but we have been teaching them to share ever since they could start taking toys from each other. And we try to buy toys in twos so they can each have the same toy.

What is your most embarrassing story involving the twins?
Honestly….my husband and I can’t think of an embarrassing story!! The girls have always been really good, and we were always good about changing their diapers after every meal and as needed (so no horrible blowout stories).

What is the best advice you could give to someone about to have twins?
Getting them on the same schedule right off the bat! If you let them have their own schedules, you will never get sleep!

Anything you want to add?
I would say the one item that saved me, was the Fischer Price Rock N Play rocker. My girls spent a lot of time in theirs, they slept in them, they ate in them, they played in them. They keep your baby at a 45 degree angle, which really saved us on the spit up! It made it easy to push them from room to room, and I didn’t have to worry about them getting into anything while I was taking a shower or getting some chores done…. We really got our monies worth out of those things, and they were only like $30 a piece! I think we used them up until the girls were a year old!

How much weight did you gain when you were pregnant?
About 65 pounds (29.4kg)! 😦

How did you lose all that weight?
I didn’t do much, it just started coming off when I got back on my normal diet. I did start going on nightly walks down our road, but it was nothing that really got my blood pumping! LOL

Did the skin on your stomach get all…how do I put it…saggy? You know, that look when you stretch something out a lot and then put it back to shape, but it looks all funny?
I heard about a body wrap that helps to tighten, tone, and firm your skin by ItWorks, from a friend on Facebook, so I decided to give it a try. It totally worked for me! My stretch marks weren’t as noticeable, and my belly button looked normal again for the first time since I got pregnant…. and all this happened in a matter of 3 days! My “sag” wasn’t as saggy and I knew I had to get the word out about this wrap, so I decided to sign up and spread the word!

So you are a distributor for ItWorks. Tell us a little bit about the wraps.
The wraps are all natural, and they can be cut to target anywhere on the body that needs a little tightening up. You wear the wrap for 45 minutes, and you can start seeing results in that amount of time! The wrap ingredients continue to work for 72 hours after removing the wrap. All you have to do is drink water, about 1/2 your body weight in water ounces a day for those 3 days. Some people don’t see results after the first wrap, since everyone’s bodies are different. Some people may need to use 2-3 wraps before seeing results. Results can be as subtle as changing the texture of the skin in that wrapped area, to reducing the appearance of stretch marks and cellulite. Results can last anywhere from 2 months up to 6 months depending on the persons lifestyle and eating habits.

Of course, I had to try one of these wraps. I saw lots of posts on Facebook about them by Brooke (we went to high school together, just FYI…), but hadn’t heard of them before that.

She sent me one ages ago, but you’re not supposed to use them when breastfeeding, so it just sat there, waiting. Sigh.

I know, Daniel has been weaned for a few weeks now, but I also wanted to wait until I had a kid free 45 minutes so I didn’t have anyone wanting to be picked up, messing up the wrap, or worse, pulling on it in delight. You know how cheeky my kids are!

I opened the packet and unfolded the wrap, applying the lotion side on my stomach. The skin on my stomach has been stretched to the limit twice now, then shrunk back to size. Unfortunately, it has that stretched-then-shrunk look to it as well. Sigh. Especially around my belly button. My measurements before the wrap were: 26 inches (66.04cm) around the smallest part of my waist, and 28″ (71.12 cm) around my waist at belly button height.

Wrap is on, with cling wrap over it to keep it in place

It felt quite cold. I thought it was just because that’s how lotion always is when you first put it on (unless it’s hot outside of course). But it stayed cold the whole time. At least it felt cold. And tingly. It was nice. I felt like I was getting some sort of swish spa body treatment done. Except that I was doing the dishes while wearing the wrap. Gotta multi task when you have 2 kids! It would have been much nicer to sit on the couch and watch a cheesy chick flick while I waited the 45 minutes. Or maybe laying down and reading a book. Oh well.

When I took the wrap off, I rubbed the excess lotion into my skin, took some photos and measured myself again. I wasn’t actually expecting to lose anything. 26 inches around the smallest part of my waist. 27.5 inches around my belly button (69.85 cm). What?! I’m not complaining though.

My skin felt really smooth and soft and lovely. Less stretched looking? I’m not sure.

Over the next 3 days, I continued to measure and take photos. My measurements went back to what they were before wrapping. Until today, 72 hours after wrapping. Now, the smallest part of my waist is 25.5 inches, and around my belly button is 27.5. My stomach feels less poochy at the bottom, and I feel less bloated. The skin around my belly button is still saggy/stretched looking, but the skin below my belly button feels firmer.

Progressive shots. Not sure what happened to my day 2 photos. I think the camera ate them. Sigh.

Progressive, from the side. If you’re wondering about that scar on my hip, it’s where they took a chunk of bone to stick in my leg. But that’s another story for another day. No, I’m not trying to make the scar less obvious with the wrap, I like my scar.

Over all, I really liked the wrap experience. I think with regular wrapping my belly button skin would probably improve a lot.

If you would like to buy your own wraps, supplements, etc. or have a wrap party (you can even have online wrap parties!), contact Brooke. She can ship the wraps to you anywhere in the world:

Brooke’s It Works website

Phone number (USA) 425-328-7627. We offer a Loyal Customer program where Loyals get products at wholesale cost (they pay what I pay), saving 20-50% on their orders. Only 3 monthly orders is required for the first 3 months, after that they can order when they want and get the Loyal Customer price for life. There is no minimum purchase amount, and the Loyal Customer can change what is sent to them each month so they don’t always have to get the same thing. They start saving on their very first order.

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