My sister is pregnant again and this is wonderful news. I got even BETTER news today as she invited me to her ultrasound and we saw on the monitor not one but TWO miniature people! That's right, she's carrying twins! No wonder her pants, even her old maternity pants, aren't fitting right! After we got over the shock, the tearing up, the hugging, and jumping up and down (me only), she started thinking about more practical things like cribs and car-seats, vitamins and how many calories she should be eating now that we know she's growing two people instead of one.
If you've never been pregnant you don't know how tiring it is, how much energy you're burning literally sitting and doing nothing, or at least it looks like you're doing nothing. By the end of 12 weeks your body has been burning enough calories to get the average person up Mount Everest every day. Every. day. Some women lose weight their first few months because they're the most important; in the first 12 weeks you're literally building a complete human being who, over the next 6 months, just needs time to grow and mature. This is why when ob/gyns tell women of any size to restrict their eating so as not to put on 'extra' weight during pregnancy I get a little foamy at the mouth. Pregnant women need calories and vitamins and nutrients by the bucket, MORE, not LESS.
Pregnant women get to revel in a certain kind of freedom that non-pregnant women don't get; the freedom to be fat, to eat what they want because of 'cravings', to not worry about being a sex-symbol 24/7. These women are also, paradoxically, under an enormous amount of pressure to lose their pregnancy weight as soon as possible (hurry up and be a sex symbol again!), to let nothing past their lips that might not be 100% nutritious for the fetus, and to give up thier bodily autonomy and integrity during labour and delivery. You, dear pregnant lady, are just the house in which a potential person is growing. You must do everything you can to ensure that wee tiny potential person has the absolute best start in life so help you gods or you're a BAD MOTHER. /sarcasm.
Yeah, no. I hope my sister's pregnancy goes smoothly and quietly and her delivery (on Christmas!) is quick and easy. Has anyone got any experience with twins during or after pregnancy they can share? These are the first ones in our family so we're a bit in the dark. Thank you and have a lovely Tuesday, I know I am.
No advice to offer-- my nephews came one at a time-- but I just wanted to wish all the best to your sister! I hope she has an uneventful pregnancy and delivery.
Such exciting news for you and your sister. Congrats!
Thank you both!
Congratulations to your sister! What wonderful news!
Here's to a boring pregnancy for your sister, two beautiful chubby babies, and lots of fun and joy!
Congrats to all of you!
I am a twin, but I don't have much advice about dealing with baby twins. I expect every set is different because every kid is different.
My sister is pregnant too, and at her 5 months checkup the Dr told her that she weighed too much at 124 pounds (56.25 kg). She is barely 5 feet (1.52 m) tall and had only gained about 14 pounds compared to her pre-pregnancy weight. (Though I think it was more like gained 20 pounds compared to the weight she was after she lost weight in the beginning of her pregnancy.)
When she called me to tell me that her Dr said she was gaining too quickly/much I was filled with RAGE. What right does some jerk Dr have to recommend starving my sister and niece-to-be? Fortunately, my sister knows not to listen to that kind of thing.
Congratulations to your sister! Many wishes for healthy babies!
lowbudgetcyborg, I'm glad your sister knows better than to listen to that BS. Five feet tall and 124 is still "normal weight" and she's halfway through her pregnancy. That makes me mad too. So, if she continues at that rate, she'll be a whopping 30 pounds heavier than pre-pregnancy? Oh noes.
Congrats to both pregnant sisters! Yay for babies! :)
Thank you everyone so much. I'm determined to come back to our hometown from Nanaimo for Christmas and see the chubby buns. ^___^ Aaah, just thinking about it gets me all excited again!
lowbudgetcyborg: I'm glad your sister has a sibling like you!
I'm both mother and grandmother to twins. They run in my dad's family. I had twins and one of my daughters recently had twins. Congratulations! Twins are wonderful.
I do have some advice. After the babies are born, your sister will have few opportunities to sleep (like most moms of newborns) but it's way worse with twins. If they get out of sync with their sleep schedules, mom NEVER gets any sleep. So my first advice for your sister is to do her best to keep them on the same sleep cycle, even if she has to wake one up.
My other advice for your sister is to never turn anybody down who offers something. She will need all the help she can get. If somebody says they'd like to give a gift but don't know what to give - suggest they come over for a few hours and help. Extra hands makes taking care of multiple kids easier.
Aunties, uncles, grammies, grampas and friends can also help by taking the older child (children?) for an afternoon or evening - then all mom and dad have to take care of are the babies. And vice versa. I'm sure any and all babysitting offers will be appreciated (to give the parents a break).
Enjoy every minute with those babies; they grow up way too fast!
Great advice, QuiltLvr! I'll pass that on to her for sure. I'm sad that I'll be away most of the time after they're born.