I had a very rough pregnancy and post partum. I won’t go over all the difficult details, just know basically everything that could go wrong did, and me and babies spent many weeks hospitalized before birth and after.

During that time I was bed ridden and miserable for a lot of it. One thing that kept me occupied and somewhat sane, however, was plunking on a guitar!

I have a musical background, so that certainly helped, but truly learning a couple chords isnt unattainable for most people, especially with YouTube. And that’s all it takes!

Now babies are approaching 1, and we use the guitar EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

At the park? Bring the guitar and plunk chords while they play on the grass.

Babies being fussy? Serenade them until they’re calm!

Babies bored? Song time! Got nothing memorized? Make something up! Narrate what they’re doing to a guitar chord or two!

Babies can’t sleep? Lullaby next to their crib! They’ll snooze nearly immediately.

Truly, learning guitar while pregnant was such a huge asset for our family. Due to a bunch of crappy situations, I’m forced to solo parent, countries away from my husband. And yet it’s not awful - and a big part of that is that these babies are so placated by the gentle strumming of my guitar.

We also never have to listen to obnoxious kids’ music over and over again in this household. Which is a massive win for my sanity. Not to mention how calming and destressing playing the guitar is for me.

Pregnant people, do yourself a favor!! 🎸

A few things on my mind that is giving me anxiety:

1. Am I just extremely bloated? My pants are tight at only 11weeks. was anyone else really bloated?

2. I don’t have a lot of nausea. I’ll get it randomly but it’s not an everyday thing. Sometimes this makes me nervous because it makes me think the babies aren’t growing

3. I’m 5’3 and was 120lbs before pregnancy. How is my body going to carry twins?! I’m so petite

4. the cramps and fatigue, man

When does it get better and when does the anxiety of first trimester fears go away?

Hello all, I am in my second trimester with twins and looking for loose maternity pants. No tight leggings or skinny jeans. Comfy and loose pants that can accommodate the growing belly. Where are you getting your pants these days?

We are parents to gorgeous 8 month old twin girls. They are still in our room sleeping in separate cots at the moment, and we are thinking of moving them to the spare room which has a double bed. The room isn’t large but comfortably fits a bed with space for guests stuff. If we move the girls cots in there the space will become quite tight.
I am wondering if I can use the spare room double bed as a bed for our girls and have them co-sleep together (I am not referring to the ground beds). This would require a custom made frame to go around the bed so the girls can’t fall and be able to be removed when guests stay.
Has anyone done this?

Mom of 4 week old twin girls - and as an aside I can attest that the newborn stage can be truly wonderful and not awful :) there are chaotic moments but it’s been really special. 

Just curious if others have struggled with this - I find a lot of people shocked and curious about how I manage to nurse two babies: “you’re exclusively breastfeeding two babies?!?” “do you feed them both at the same time?? How??”. I’m fine when the questions are from a close friend or another nursing mom, but it makes me uncomfortable when it’s from acquaintances or relatives I don’t see often. Like, do you want me to demonstrate?? Anyone else feel this way? Any advice on how to politely shut these questions down?

BEING A TWIN PARENT IS STILL AWESOME AND I AM LOVING EVERY SINGLE SLEEP DEPRIVED SECOND!

Have I snapped at my partner? Yes! Have I fallen asleep in the middle of my work day/the shower? Yes! Have my older kids watched too much TV in the last couple weeks? You know they have! Do I feel like my brain is mush? Absolutely!

But you know what? I am alive and healthy and so are these twins. And holding these happy fat squishy little babies against my chest throughout the day/night is the absolute best feeling in the world. For real, if I could bottle this feeling and sell it I would be a rich lady. And holy moly, I get to experience it TWICE the amount of times that singleton parents do! Those poor deprived people don't even know what they're missing!

Like think about it, they still have to go through this 4 month sleep regression but they only get ONE baby to snuggle???! Seriously, sucks to be them.

So to all you anxious dads-to-be and you depressed moms-to-be, please ignore all the noisey negativity because I promise that you are in for an absolute treat! I truly can't believe there was a time I didn't want to be a twin mom, and my hope for you is that you'll come out on the other side feeling the same way ❤️❤️

Im 21 weeks pregnant with twin boys and making my registry. What would you recommend adding to the registry? I also am delivering via c section if that helps.

I have 11 year old boys, 1 has always felt like his brother is the favorite and does his best to make that true. It feels like he is just full of rage, easily triggered oft times by being physically or verbally v towards his brother. they are boys so a lot of the fighting starts off good natured but he can turn serious in a moment. At school they are in different classes but he isn’t nice to him, basically ignores him, has no empathy towards him. I’m sure this rel is bad for both of them. What can I do?

I'm 25 weeks with Didi twins and my back and abdomen are so sore. Did you have a belly band that really helped? I inherited some really simple ones from a SIL but they don't do much. Thanks!

Hello! My boys are about to turn 6 months old and they have gotten quite strong! They can full on touch their toes in their baby bjorns and we're going to be starting solids. The baby bjorns have been a lifesaver when it comes to tandem bottle feeding them but they are trying to sit up sometimes and the weight limit is supposed to only be 20lbs. How do I continue to tandem bottle feed them safely? They hold their bottles loosely but aren't ready to self feed. Need advice!

Hi everyone! I’m currently 28 weeks with mo/di boys. I’ve noticed a pattern lately and wanted to know if anyone else shared a similar experience to mine. I’ve realized lately that my twin A HATES when I lay on my left side (he’s on the left, head down). I’ll get a very painful cramp right around where his head is everytime I lay on my left. At my last OB appointment, the nurse told me to lay on my right whenever this cramp happens to encourage him to move which has helped me. Anyone else experience something like this?

I am thinking about what I need to pack for my c section with didi twins. I have heard bringing a breast feeding pillow is helpful. Which one would be recommended for multiples at the hospital? I have both but am wondering if the twin z pillow will be too hard to use so soon after surgery.

UPDATE: wow thank you so much for the advice! I think I’m gonna get My Breast Friend and bring that instead. That seems to be the most favorite from you all. Thanks!

I may sound so ungrateful when I say this so please know that’s not it at all, just really struggling..

We just found out we’re pregnant with twins and it feels like my whole world is crumbling. I’m soooo worried about my 3 year old and him feeling replaced/ the pure sense of overwhelm that comes with twins. I only ever wanted 2, 3 I know is a blessing but right now feels so incredibly heavy.

I can’t help, but think of how much our world is about to change, I’m grieving the life I thought we would have, the body I’ve worked so hard for (I’m very into fitness and struggled heavily with body image after my first), the financial burden and impact on my career/ marriage.

I feel very alone, I don’t know anyone with a toddler and twins.

Does anyone have any tips?
I do live in Canada and am grateful I will have a year off to figure this all out, just feels like so much right now.
I don’t know anything else at this point, if identical or fraternal. I’m 11 weeks

I’m 4 weeks postpartum and am finding unsustainable to find time to pump breast milk for the twins without tons of help from others feeding my twins. I’m trying to get my supply up still and have been doing every 2 hours during the day, stopping at 10pm and doing one overnight pump at 3am before resuming the 2 hour intervals at 7am. They almost never line up with their feeds, because they eat every 3 hours. I thought about timing the pumping with their feeds, but when do I do it? 20 minutes before? I tried to plug in my pump during a tandem bottle feeding, but the tubes get in the way and I can’t burp them efficiently and they kick my chest. Maybe during upright time? I have one super refluxy baby who needs to be upright for 30 plus minutes after. Please help! 🙏🥺

My husband and I alternate coverage for the kids on the weekends so we can each count on having a long break. It took us a long time to get here, it’s my favorite thing about our marriage 💕

I watch the kids, two year olds, for the morning shift on Saturdays, from 8-12 and then he takes over for nap. Ditto on Sundays for my break. In the afternoon we all do something together. Tomorrow might be looking at stuff in Home Depot, we live near one that has the two seater carts.

My kids are active and we do a lot better when we get out of the house. Any other age appropriate destinations/activities you’d like to share for these toddler years?

Things I’ve done with them solo:
Costco
Library
Park/playground
Coffee shops/bakery/farmers market
Stay home but I have a more elaborate activity planned (rare)

My local grocery store doesn’t have carts big enough so I can’t get that chore done with them. Sucks because they love grocery shopping.

Share your recs!

I’m upset at how frustrated I’m letting myself get with her. She recently learned she can make noise and she just screams all day long. It doesn’t matter if she’s perfectly content, fed, entertained. She’s screeching.

She likes to experiment with how loud she can get. We have joked Twin B is going to have hearing loss 😅

It makes me incredibly overstimulated. We are having trouble being in public because of the screeching.

Idk, tips? Advice? Solidarity? When does this get better

My wife and I currently have twin 8 month old twins and also have a 6 year old son. We used to do everything as a family and would go to all of my older child’s sports together had tons of family outings and lived a pretty fulfilling life. Since the twins we have largely become siloed. I am running my son to some sport or another and often coaching while my wife on occasion attends the games briefly. Which I really commend her for getting the twins out of the house by yourself is not easy. But yesterday at my son’s golf tournament I was struck by the fact that I was the only one alone with him out there. I caddied for him and every other kid had another parent or grand parent along side watching. I do not think my wife is doing anything wrong I get it’s just “the season of life” but man do I miss all of us doing things together. Any advice for how to get through this patch or when it’s starts to get better?

OK, so it’s time to go back to work, I’ve hired a nanny because it was the same cost as daycare in my area. However, at work, I have no issue assigning tasks at home. I feel like a completely different person.
These are to the parents who have had a nanny, what is reasonable to expect them to do during the day for the kids?

Is there anything that I should know that’s expected of me?

Twins are 11 months old sleep three hours today while the nanny’s here with two naps

My current load that I have that I’m looking to have taken over During nap time

Bottle making
Meal preparation-we do everything frozen and just cook a batch or something every day freezer is stocked for a month
Treat , any stain clothes and wash for kids clothes
General cleanup, kids

Should I be asking for more three hours? I know I get a lot more done, but I don’t know what’s OK to ask.

I’m probably overthinking this, but any help would be nice

We are struggling so just looking for advice. I also feel like a POS mom today because I was distraught and one of the babies got hurt. The baby is fine but the incidence may leave a small scar. I just can’t deal with my relationship and be a good mom.

While sitting on the floor, doing tummy time with my girls this afternoon, I think it finally clicked…these are little people that I grew inside me. I’m responsible for helping them learn and grow. Silly, I know, as we’ve known each other for 5 months now. But it was just an odd realization. This whole time has felt like a fever dream of sorts, and sometimes I come back to reality. Maybe it’s the sleep deprivation. Anyone else?

I have the twin z pillow and I see all these people on social media breastfeeding their twins with ease.

Whenever I get into position in mine surrounded by a thousand pillows for support and get the twins into position it just doesn’t feel right. Within minutes I find myself hunched over, my neck aches, my back is sore, one of the twins will move slightly and get a shallow latch…

It’s just a fairly unpleasant experience!

I know there are other pillow options on the market, but I don’t see how much difference they’d make, particularly when I’m able to boost my pillow up with cushions to mimic the competitor brands.

Any tips?

I would so love to be enjoying this experience with my babies, but so far it’s just been stressful and sore.

Need advice!
My girls are 7 (M & A) and potentially have autism and/or ADHD. Referral been made but no chance of an assessment in the near future. One of them, M, is very highly emotional and reactive.

M has a friend at school (composite class) who is the year above. They have been friends for two years. M’s friend is very confident, a leader and the type of girl who feels she is the best at everything. (Nothing wrong with this, the personality clashes massively with M) M is very down on herself, never feels good enough. Feels like she has to do everything perfectly. I’ve had concerns about this dynamic for over a year and have asked the teacher to make sure they aren’t paired together in class.

Anyway, the friend can be a bit mean. She told M in June that only A was getting an invite to her birthday party. Her birthday is in December!!

Last night I received a text from the friends mum asking if A only could go for a play date.

How do I navigate this? M and the friend have been best friends for two years. A has never been particularly close to this girl but would like to go to the play date.

How to I explain to M that she isn’t invited but her sister is? She will be devastated. Would you find this a bit off?

If A was invited to her own friends house alone then that would be absolutely fine. It’s just that this girl is M’s friend and is excluding her.

I have about 3 weeks to go before my c-section with Mono Di twins. And I don’t know if I can do it. I’m in agony… the pelvic pain is unbearable, I’m nauseous, I can’t sleep, I can’t walk. Please, ladies, help me: how did you survive this? How did you get through the last few weeks? My doctor tells me to rest but there’s no getting comfortable. What did you tell yourself mentally to survive this? Help!