Raising Twins, Year One – Our First Month

Our twins are one month old today. We’ve done a whole month, not very long in the life of a human being granted, but it feels like a bit of a milestone to us as new parents as so much has changed in our lives in such a short time.

My brother-in-law summed the whole ‘becoming a parent’ thing up so well when he said that you love your kids when they are born but you get to fall in love with them a little more as each day passes.

This is a real truism in my case. I’ve found my love for them totally overwhelming at times. So much so that last week I had a total meltdown and a jolly good cry. I know it doesn’t really make sense to have a meltdown over how much you love your newborn babies but I know that you Mum’s out there will understand that emotion and subsequent meltdown very well.

You see, along with that intense love for them you are also totally responsible for a human being that is absolutely helpless and I had never experienced anything like that before.

My babies were inside of me, unseen, for nine months. I didn’t know what they looked like or what they would feel like to hold. All I knew was that they were growing in my tummy and that in the later stages I could see them flinging their limbs around. Then, all of a sudden, on the tenth of June 2010 I was cut open, they were lifted out and immediately placed into our care.

Of course I’m simplifying the whole thing as my instinct as a mother kicked in immediately also but when I stop to think about this whole adventure it is quite extraordinary. Which is how I came to find myself sitting on the sofa with a baby each side of me, crying to my parents in my living room while waiting for Robert to get home from his first day back at work.

“What can I offer them?” I wailed as my parents smiled a knowing smile and then urged me to realise that these feelings were totally normal for a mother who has just had two babies.

“But I love them so much, I don’t know what to do” *waaaahhhhhh* *sob* *hic*

” Of course you do, Chel. Give it a few weeks, let your hormones and your body settle and you’ll feel so much better”

That evening Robert came in and was very poorly for the next five days or so which totally distracted me and in actual fact got me out of my funk and now, a week later, we have made some real progress.

A month isn’t old but it is a long time in the life of brand new parents. We have gone from checking on them every time we hear a breath being uttered to bathing them and putting them down for a nap at the same time each evening, giving Robert and I a chance to have an evening meal of sorts. THAT is progress, I can’t tell you!!!

The babies themselves have changed so much in the first month too. They are now awake much more during the day and make a great deal more eye contact. They try to look around when they hear mine or Robert’s voice. They have different sounds for different needs and we know what they are now. We know when to leave them to fall asleep and when to give them a cuddle. We know when they are about to kick off and have a fit and when they simply trying to do a huge fart. We know when they have some trapped wind and when they are really happy.