Life With Twins: Maureen Downey's Story
Life With Twins: Maureen Downey's Story
I was not a rookie. When we came home that first night from the hospital, we had thought we had laid in supplies of everything we needed -- clean clothes that were washed in the drawers.
They went through so many little outfits that first night that they would wet through or they would nurse and spit up that we were pulling tags off things... that were still in the boxes. We were simply unprepared for that.
It was a surprise to me. I had to ratchet up my expectation of how much work they were going to be.
That first year was a complete blur.. in part because [we] didn't have any help. It was such a shock to my system in terms of the physical aftermath of having lost that blood and having to rebuild ... and because of ... nursing."
I like chaos. If you are the kind of person that, in the ideal family, would only have one child, twins, I think, are going to be an adjustment, because they are a little traveling circus unto themselves.
They are loud and they are boisterous and everything is complicated. With babies in particular -- going to the grocery store, and strapping two in their car seats, keeping two in the car -- that can be hard.
My husband and I are both sort of accustomed to noise. But I do notice when I have friends over who only have one child, I often see them flinching. And I think it's the fact that we have four in our house, although most of the noise comes from the twins.
Life With Twins: Maureen Downey's Story
I was not a rookie. When we came home that first night from the hospital, we had thought we had laid in supplies of everything we needed -- clean clothes that were washed in the drawers.
They went through so many little outfits that first night that they would wet through or they would nurse and spit up that we were pulling tags off things... that were still in the boxes. We were simply unprepared for that.
It was a surprise to me. I had to ratchet up my expectation of how much work they were going to be.
That first year was a complete blur.. in part because [we] didn't have any help. It was such a shock to my system in terms of the physical aftermath of having lost that blood and having to rebuild ... and because of ... nursing."
I like chaos. If you are the kind of person that, in the ideal family, would only have one child, twins, I think, are going to be an adjustment, because they are a little traveling circus unto themselves.
They are loud and they are boisterous and everything is complicated. With babies in particular -- going to the grocery store, and strapping two in their car seats, keeping two in the car -- that can be hard.
My husband and I are both sort of accustomed to noise. But I do notice when I have friends over who only have one child, I often see them flinching. And I think it's the fact that we have four in our house, although most of the noise comes from the twins.