Life With 2 Sets of Twins

My second set of twins turned 2 months old today and my older twins turned 21 months old today, and life is…..different. Being a mom of multiples is different right from the beginning. From the time the doctor announces that there are two (or more) tiny lives inside your womb, you and your life are different. The whole pregnancy is unlike any of your friend’s. You will struggle to find information in pregnancy books or online about your growing dynamic duo. One of the most frustrating things to me was trying to find illustrations of the babies in utero at different stages of development. And no one could tell me what fruit or vegetable my babies were comparable too!

          Of course life is different once those multiple babies are born. When you bring them home you go through “sink or swim” trying to figure out how to feed the two hungry humans chirping like baby birds in your nest. Oh, and how to feed yourself. And good luck breastfeeding. You have to eat well, sleep well and drink a lot of water to keep up a good supply. It’s like your breast have never met you. How in the world does a new mother eat, drink and sleep well? Hmmmm?

          Okay, so it has been over a year now and you finally figured out how to bathe yourself and the kids, how to feed 4 people, how to shop with 2 carts, etc. Just for fun let’s throw in 2 more helpless humans and see how it goes. Comedian Jim Gaffigan describes adding a 4^th child like this, “Imagine that you are drowning, and then someone hands you a baby.” I guess in our case someone hands you 2 babies.

          It has only been 2 months, and so far things are going pretty well I think. Strangely, some days I actually feel like I have more time on my hands. Other days go by in such a blur that I am not really sure what happened. Believe it or not, most days I get to lay down for a nap, and all 4 of my kids sleep at the same time. (I will post more about that in the future) When we told people we were having twins 2 years ago some actually said things like, “Oh no”, “I’m sorry”, “glad it’s not me.” When they found out we were having another set of twins 19 months apart, the comments became, “are you crazy!”, “I would kill myself!”, “what were you thinking?!”, “it is going to be so hard,” “are you scared?”

          You know, some days of this 2^nd pregnancy I was scared. I was scared of how hard it would be to have 4 under the age of 2. I was worried about how I would do it all for that many children.  Most of all I was scared that I wouldn’t be a good enough mother to handle this. Thankfully, by the grace of God, (and a helpful husband) I get through each day. I get to nap, I am able to make dinners, laundry gets washed, etc. Turns out that all of those people were wrong. This multiples thing is fun. It is a joy. It is an honor to be entrusted with the lives of 4 children. I do a little crying, but I also do a lot of laughing, rejoicing, and yes, a lot of dancing.

Remember to slow down and enjoy the fruits of your labor and love on a daily basis and you will start to see life as a Mama on the Bright Side.