I didn’t have too many “symptoms” when I was pregnant with my girls. I had a little bloating in the beginning but that went away in a couple of weeks. I never had any morning sickness and my blood pressure was always good.
However, one thing that started very early on….probably around the beginning of my second trimester, was swelling. It was mainly in my legs and feet and would get worse later in the day. Swelling is normal in twin (multiples) pregnancies because you have so much blood volume and fluid flowing through your body to accommodate TWO or more growing babies. My doctor assured me it was very normal for a multiple pregnancy and to just put my feet up as much as I could. In some instances swelling is an indication of high blood pressure but this was not the case for me. In fact, I had pretty low blood pressure during my pregnancy.
Toward the end of my pregnancy the swelling got so bad I could barely wear shoes. Even if I would have my feet up most of the day the swelling wouldn’t go down.
So my advice on swelling…get your feet up as much as possible and be sure to have regular blood pressure checks and just know that swelling is very normal.
Another “symptom” I had during my pregnancy was numbness in my hands. It started out pretty mild but about a month after it started, I could barely write. This is also normal because the babies are putting so much pressure on your body that they’re bound to be pressing on nerves. My doctor suggested wrist braces but they didn’t really help. Just another annoyance to deal with but is also totally normal. I will say though that they numbness didn’t go away until a few weeks after the girls were born.
Be sure to check in on Monday when Amanda gives you her take on her twin pregnancy.
Also, if you have any questions about twin pregnancy that we don’t cover, feel free to email us!
When I found out we were having twins I was excited about have two to entertain each other and looked forward to seeing the twin relationship develop. When I found out we were having two girls I was even more excited about watching the relationship that would develop between sisters.
Once I started to feel them move, I started to realize that their relationship wasn’t going to be all sunny and roses. They often kicked each other, fighting for room I suppose. Tensley was the one who usually kicked first. In fact, we have video of an ultrasound where it looked like she was kicking Tillie in the head. I knew from that moment that having these two girls was going to be a wild ride.
Little did I know how much this was going to go both ways.
One night this week as the girls were winding down for bed I watched as they were walking around the living room (they should have been laying in their bean bags). Tillie was following Tensley with her hand on Tensley’s back. She followed Tensley to the TV console where they often stand to watch if they are deeply involved in the cartoon that is on at that moment. My husband and I watched and thought how sweet it was to see them getting along.
When they got to the TV console, Tillie then put her hand on Tensley’s shoulder and then tried to hold her hand. SO sweet!
Ten seconds later, she tried to snatch Tensley’s paci right out of her mouth.
Oh these girls. They are definitely going to give their momma some grief through the years.
It’s time for our monthly link up! This is open to anyone with kids and/or a play room. Don’t have a dedicated room, that’s ok, link up your kiddos favorite place to play!
We have a play area in our living room for the girls but I have been looking for inspiration to get it a little more organized and a little more fun for the girls. I can’t wait to see everyone else’s play space!
Source: bungalowinsanity.com via Heather on Pinterest
From around 2 months until around 8 months, the girls would not go to sleep in their cribs. They napped in their bouncers during the day and at night, we would fight to get them to sleep. We would bounce them in their bouncers, watch cartoons and try sound machine apps on our phones until they finally fell asleep around 10 or 11pm then move them to their cribs. This was not working for us. We were both tired and I was tired of waking up to a messy house that I would have otherwise picked up the night before.
I’m not against co-sleeping but it just wasn’t/isn’t an option for me. The girls were/are so wiggly and I couldn’t sleep in fear that they would shimmy or crawl off the bed (even though they were in between us). Also, two babies in bed with us? We’d never sleep!
Our problem wasn’t really getting them to sleep through the night. In fact, once they were asleep, the slept (and still do) for 12 or more hours. The issue was getting them to go to sleep. We were already doing a bed time routine and naps were finished before a certain hour, and even though they were VERY sleepy, they would fight it and not go to sleep at a decent hour.
One night, with a little push from my mom, we tried CIO (I don’t really consider what we did CIO but some might...and probably do). I’m not a fan of it but nothing else was working and I was willing to try anything. We put the very sleepy girls in their beds. Typically, one of them would be fine and the other would stand up and cry…and cry. It seemed like it lasted quite a while but in reality it was no more than 5 minutes and then sudden silence. She/they would lay down and go to sleep! The second night, the crying lasted less than 2 minutes and by the 5th night, we would put the girls in their bed and they would assume their preferred positions and go right to sleep. Even from the first night they never cried consistently, they would cry and then stop. I knew they were waiting to see if we were coming so we didn’t go in there.
This is our current routine:
We don’t really have a set bed time for them but when we take the girls to bed, we prepare ahead and turn on their noise machine and lamp. When we take them to bed we tell them it’s time to go night night and when we get to their room we do night night kisses and put them in bed. Then we turn out the lamp and walk out of the room.
I really believe having the lamp on for my girls is key. It allows them to see where they are and that it’s a safe place.
We still have nights where one or both girls still won’t go to sleep and will cry (here lately it’s been because of teething). After a certain amount of time we will go get them and bring them back to the living room with lights out and the play area gated off. We lay them in their bean bags (replacement for the bouncers) and will sometimes let them watch another cartoon. Usually, once they calm back down, we can take them to bed and they will go to sleep.
And that’s my version of CIO. It may not work for all but it works for us.
How do you get your babies/toddlers to sleep? Do you have a routine?
Happy Friday!!
I had a post all ready to go for today…oh, who am I kidding, I had nothing. Haha!
Thankfully, Jennifer saved the day with her big news!
Did/have you had the same experience? Are you a multi-momma plus one, or two…or three?! I’m sure Jenn would love some advice and encouragement on how to raise multiples plus more so leave a comment and show her some love!
Unfortunately, there will be no link up this week. However, we do have some linky business we’d like to share with our readers….
We have had some readers request that we keep the link ups open a little longer. As fellow moms of twins, we totally understand how time can get away from you (the fact that this is being posted so late is a prime example). Therefore, so that those of you who wanted to post but didn’t get a chance before the link up expired, we have re-opened all of the link-ups from this blog and will keep them open through the end of the month.
Also, we are starting to struggle with link up topics so we are going to switch things up a bit and do one link up per month leaving each link up open for the entire month. If you have any suggestions for link up topics, feel free to leave a comment or email us!
Once we come up with a new list of topics, we will post the dates and the topics in the sidebar so you can prepare for your posts ahead of time.
Other business:
We are still looking for bloggers who would like to do a guest post. If you’re interested, shoot us an email with your desired topic.
Hello! Sorry we’re a little late posting this week’s topic. We all had doctor’s appointments and sick and/or fussy babies so the days just got away from us. I’m sure you know how that is. ;)
This week is Show us your top 5 pictures of your twins or multiples. Here’s a sneak peek of my top 5.
Can’t wait to see all the other adorable twins and multiples so link up and share!
Next week’s topic will be announced first of next week so be sure to check back with us!
*Please say that you are linking up with the "Multi-mommas" or grab our button for your post so anyone who wants to join in on the link-up can! While we love to have anybody link up we ask that you link to a post that is on topic for the current week.
A couple of weeks before the girls were born I set out to wash the girls clothes so I could have them put away before they arrived. I was completely overwhelmed by the amount since there were two of everything so I called my mom for help. I was excited about how quickly we were able to get it sorted, washed and put away. However, there are a couple of things I might do different if I am blessed with more children. So here are a couple of tips:
Now that the girls are older, I have a new issue with laundering their clothes….FOOD. I don’t know about you but I have the messiest baby toddlers when it comes to eating. Food is evil when it comes to clothes. It stains and if you just throw their clothes in the hamper and forget about them until laundry day, it can start to mold. I try to be good about treating their clothes when I take them off but my dear hubby doesn’t always remember to do this when he is doing a clothing change. So here’s what I do:
Keeping a stain remover near their laundry basket is sure to remind us that we need to treat those stains right away (of course if your little ones are mobile and have access to their laundry basket, you’ll want to put the stain remover out of their reach). I also keep a bottle in their bathroom so when hubby does baths, he’ll remember to treat the stains as well.
I have a few items that I have run through the wash twice and still cannot get the stains out. Got any suggestions?
Also, how do you handle your child(ren)’s laundry? We’d love to hear all about it!
