Amanda’s Great Idea – Featured Twin Blogger

This week we welcome Amanda, mom to twin girls and blogger over at Amanda’s Great Idea. Enjoy her story as she shares how she announced her twin pregnancy to her family!!

Finding out we are having Twins!

My husband and I are only children, so imagine our surprise when we found out we were having twins! When discussing our family planning hopes and dreams, my husband was pretty set on just having one child. We both had great only children experiences; we grew up in loving households and we were provided for in every sense of our lives. My husband went to private high school and college without any student loans. I was fortunate to not have any loans from undergraduate. He wanted to be able to do this for our future (only) child. I, on the other hand, definitely wanted more than one child! I grew up longing for siblings and obsessed with the marvels of sibling relationships and birth order.

Fast forward to our first dating ultrasound, after we tried for 2 years to conceive. Being in the medical field, I prepped my husband as to what to look for on the ultrasound. The night before, I had a dream that we were expecting triplets, so I jokingly gave him a crash course in how to read a sonogram. The doctor placed the probe, and sure enough, there was one big sac with an obvious pregnancy inside. My husband said, “look, just one!” The doctor fanned the ultrasound probe, and a second sac came into view on the screen. We were both in shock. The doctor asked if I was okay, and all I could reply was, “keep looking! Make sure there aren’t any more!” I don’t remember the rest of the appointment. We both left with dumb smiles and glassy eyes. Two babies? After we had waited so long and tried so hard for just one? It was a blessing, and a shock.

Twin Announcements

My mom had announced to my grandparents that she was expecting by wrapping up a gift of Fisher Price play keys on a key ring back in 1986. I decided to take one from her book and do the same. We made a surprise visit (traveling 6 hours by car) to visit, so she knew some big news was coming. I had not yet even told her we were pregnant. I didn’t even wrap them; I just gave her the keys after we sat down on her couch. She was overcome with emotion! 2 minutes later, I handed her a second set of keys. I would say she was speechless, but honestly she had plenty of swear-laden exclamations! Don’t get me wrong, she was thrilled! We told my dad later that day by showing him the ultrasound. I thought he would notice that there were two babies, but he didn’t. I had to explain it to him, which was a bit anti-climactic. He had similar swear-laden exclamations. It was so great.

We had much more fun revealing to the grandparents that we were expecting two girls! We told my in-laws in a very memorable way. We had sent girl-colored bouquets to all the grandparents, but unfortunately there was a mix up with theirs and they didn’t get them by the end of the business day. I knew we could not have my parents know and not my husband’s, so we had to think fast. My husband called their local pizza place and had two cheese pizzas delivered. Inside the lids of the boxes was written, “Two Twin Girls, No Meatballs!” While a bit crude, it went over with much hilarity and hysterics.

Twin Pregnancy

I had an absolutely uneventful and pleasant pregnancy up until I went into premature labor just after 31 weeks. The girls were born naturally (one breech), which was a goal of mine. While not the ideal or traditional birth in any way, much of my experience was positive. We live near (and I work at) a hospital with a level IV NICU so the girls were in fantastic care from the very start. They spent 30 and 45 days in the NICU, mostly weaning off oxygen and gaining weight. While our time in the NICU had its ups and downs, in hindsight it was very uncomplicated and an ideal course given their gestational age.

On April 23rd, my girls turned 1 year old! In anticipation of their birthday, I began working on writing their birth story a few months back. I had always wanted to write a blog, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I recently launched their blog by featuring their birth story. I am posting twice weekly, and my posts are a mix of personal experiences as well as tips/tricks for moms and moms of multiples, especially working moms (as I continue to work full time).

Advice to other Multiple Parents

When speaking with new moms of multiples, or those expecting multiples, my number one piece of advice is that motherly instinct is greater than any baby book! While I tend to gather information from multiple sources when making decisions for my children, I ultimately do what feels right, and that has not steered my wrong. Some of my more practical pieces of advice are 1–try to keep your kids on a schedule, 2–consider and decide your plans for childcare early in your pregnancy, 3–don’t try and do everything yourself, and 4–document special moments as they happen and remember that no phase of your children’s lives will last forever! While it can be so daunting to be in a certain phase, one day you will look back on that phase with nostalgia (only if you document your memories, otherwise it may just be a blur! Ha!).