Dec 27

Dec 27 7 Confessions of a Twin Mom

Secrets, secrets, are no fun... unless you tell everyone! By the time my boy/girl twins were only 2 months old—WOW—I already had enough material to write an entire book about the “twinsanity” we faced every single day. Hands down, this has got to be one of the craziest jobs out there. I’ve worked some very high stress positions in pediatrics, but this is an entirely different beast. Every day is colored with mistakes, surprises, frustration, and laughs. Nevertheless, we twin moms manage to pull it together and fearlessly look those tigers straight in the eyes.

Here are 7 confessions that I hate to admit, but are 100% true (and 100% embarrassing):

1. I couldn’t tell my own twins apart for the first couple of days.

Sad, but so true! In the hospital, I literally had to look at the “A” and the “B” that was written on their hats to know whether I was holding my son or my daughter. They look so different now (and yes, I obviously know them apart at this point), but they sure seemed the same at first! As their mother, this is only slightly humiliating…

2. My son got his first manicure before my daughter did.

Yep. I’ll explain it to my daughter one day. “Sorry, honey. Your brother had claws for days when he came out of the womb so he was the one that got his nails done first.”

3. Secretly, I enjoy suctioning out my twins’ boogers.

Now, this one sounds weirder than it should. I am a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and I’ve spent many years working in a pulmonary unit with sick kids. Because of my background, I enjoy helping kids breathe easier by removing secretions. So, naturally, I like getting those treasures out of my own kids’ noses (with the help of a bulb suction, of course)!

4. I accidentally scrubbed my son’s hair off during bath time when he was 1 month old.

If you know anything about me and my husband, then you know we both LOVE having a good head of hair. Of all places, he and I actually met through our hair stylist. That said, I was mortified when I realized what I had done. I washed my son’s hair and scrubbed his head (maybe a bit rough, but we can’t have dirty hair!). When I put him down in his chair, I felt like he looked different. And then it hit me. I literally just scrubbed off all of my son’s hair, giving him a MAJOR receding hairline. Thank goodness that grew back quickly…

5. We misunderstood how frequently the babies were supposed to eat at first.

When we left the hospital, the doctors told us to feed every 2 hours. Sounds straight forward, right? Wrong. We were doing it all wrong. In our sleepless exhaustion, we were starting the 2-hour mark from the END of each feed instead of at the BEGINNING. As a result, our babies were screaming like their diapers were on fire the first couple of days and we couldn’t figure out why. We later realized at the pediatrician’s office we were completely misunderstanding how to time their feeds and they were really just starving. BIG oops.

6. My husband literally fed our babies with his FEET one night.

Speaking of feeds, what do you get when you have 1 phone with unread emails, 2 hungry twins, 2 hands, 2 talented feet, and the 2AM feed is due? This. You get this. Honestly, I’m not even mad. This took some major coordination. Strong work, hubs!