Family in full Blossom
Phew! I’ve survived my first six weeks as a Mum to two sets of twins, which is a relief given my inability to keep a pot plant alive for more than a week!
What's it like being a multiple mum? Well I've had about 70 hours sleep in total since the babies were born, which is way less than four hours a night, and certainly no more than 90minutes in any one go. I want to award myself a medal for completing the school run on my own (and on time!) with all four of my sons this morning. (Four sons! Still waiting for that to sink in!)
The plan was to leave the house at 8.20, and stroll to school in the sunshine between feeds; inevitably at 8.10 I still wasn't dressed, and one small twin was finishing a top up feed. The other small twin was throwing up the feed I'd lovingly given to him minutes earlier.
At 8.24 I was wiping sick off my neck and asking the big twins how they had time to write their names on the dining table with the letter shapes in their cereal, but not put their shoes on…I quickly ate my breakfast -the cereal names left laid out on the table (it was that or nothing) and loaded up the iCandy Peach Primrose. We left the house and arrived in the playground triumphantly before the bell went. The iCandy has been a stress free saviour for navigating the route to school; a tandem pushchair with the same footprint as a singleton. It is seriously light and manoeuvrable with a smaller turning circle than post partum me! I can manage the annoying wonky pavements and high curbs and getting onto public transportation has also been much simpler too …more on that later.
We are learning to factor in extra time whenever we leave the house to answer well-meaning strangers and their questions. Our double-double lot of offspring attracts a lot of double takes and if I don't manage to avoid eye contact and move out of the way in time we all have to stand politely and answer the standard twin-terogation;
- Do they run in your family?
No, just me…
- Did you know you were having more twins?
I had my suspicions, which were confirmed at an early scan and yes, it was still a shock.
- Were they natural?
That’s quite a personal question but if by that you mean did we have IVF, no, as it happens, we didn’t.
- What are the chances of two sets?
About one in twelve if you’ve already had a fraternal (non identical) set, about one in 70,000 for two sets of identicals.
- Will you be trying for a girl?
No. We can’t fit any more people in our car!
I try to answer politely while keeping the slightly unhinged look of fear out of my eyes that they are using up my precious in-between feeds window... which is all the time in the world I have to get stuff done.
One of the things I managed to get done last week was a trip to London to visit the Queen – well, the Queen of weaning Annabel Karmel. A ride in a Black Cab, a coffee catch up with a friend – it was almost like the old days but with two shiny new little people to cuddle all the way home, and two big brothers to kiss them good night when we got in.
Getting to London with six week old twins may sound like an impossible task but the iCandy was perfect for getting into the taxi and navigating crowded streets. It’s easy to see why it is the number one twin pushchair on the market.
We may still be in the sleepless fog of the early days – or should that be early daze – but when we all make it to the park in the sunshine and two big brothers make two daisy chains for their little brothers I think it might just be possible to live on love, and coffee and I wouldn’t change a thing… But I am looking forward to more sleep and better breakfasts in a few months time!
To be continued…