Lately I have been wishing that becoming a parent required the passing of a course, kind of like getting a license. You would take the course and at the end, some subject matter expert would either pass you or fail you. How do you know when you are officially ready?
The pregnancy ticker on my IPhone App seems to have picked up its pace. While the first two trimesters simply dragged this one is flying! I look at the pile of boxes amassed in my basement that I have fondly nicknamed “Baby Mountain”, and wonder just how much money I will need to drop on batteries? You name it, we have it, bassinettes that lull, bouncers that play Mozart, swings that sing and more. Oh, but multiply each of those items by two. Today I am 32 weeks and 5 days pregnant with twins.
When my husband and I first found out about having twins we were elated, getting our family done in one shot sounded GREAT to us! All in all it’s been a pretty great pregnancy considering I have been lugging two constant companions for the past 8 months. I think I had morning sickness for all of two days and the twins are growing right on track. What all the books say is totally true; you’ll be pooped the first trimester but by the second you will feel like a million bucks! Well, then came the third trimester and the back pain, & pregnancy “rhinitis” hit, oftentimes sending my poor hubby to the single bed in our spare room – for now I snore and clearly not very delicately either. Varicose veins have sent me to the Foot Care Specialist and I am now rocking $160 thigh high compression stockings along with my pregnancy support band (which I lovingly refer to as my “gut bra”). Looking back, I should have bought stock in Palmer’s Cocoa Butter as I use a bottle a week trying to ward off stretch marks (I recommend this product, so far no marks!).
All gross symptoms aside my latest issue has been my crippling fear of the unknown. How on earth will I be capable of keeping TWO tiny humans alive? Will they like me? Will we ever sleep again? What will my boobs and tummy look like after this? What will laboring with TWO feel like? Do I breast or bottle feed? When my husband came home from work the other day proclaiming that he had dropped and cracked his phone (I’m not going to lie) I thought, “Maybe it would better if he didn’t carry or the hold the twins if he’s so clumsy”. With each piece of mommy-know-how that I manage to glean from prenatal class or the all-knowing Google, I seem to find ten other arguments countering said info. Do I buy one crib or two? Do I line the cribs with those fashionable little bumpers or not? Do I wash all of those little onesies and sleepers in Ivory Snow before I put them away? What on EARTH is nipple confusion?
My husband tells me to take things one thing at a time because I admit, I get flustered when I have a lot on the go. So that’s what I am doing. I am slowly checking things off my to – do list while adding more things to the bottom of that same darn list! I’m doing all that I can, taking my prenatal vitamins and ten other different supplements, eating according to the Canada Food Guide and trying to stay relatively fit and active. Early in my pregnancy I joined a Due Date Buddies Forum so that I can talk to other women and trade parenting tips and ideas and a high school friend and fellow twin mommy has created a FB group that I often turn to for advice from other mom’s of multiples.
As my due date fast approaches I am working on putting the finishing touches on our boy/girl nursery, continuing my future mommy-to- be research and anxiously awaiting my constant baby related purchases via Purolator, today my diaper bag should be arriving, so should the Snoogle pillow, okay and the fifty or so irresistible little outfits for my future fashionistas!
Kristyn is a soon to be mom of fraternal boy/girl twins! Born and raised in Ottawa, ON, she has been married to her husband since 2011 and now lives in Pembroke, ON. Kristyn works at AECL as an administrative assistant but her first love is writing and one day she hopes to make a career of it. She also has a passion for interior decorating and cooking.
Kristyn Armolavicius can be found on a Facebook group: Canadian Parents of Twins, Triplets, and Higher Order Multiples - . (Group created by: Andrea Bedard)
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