When we made our third and last attempt to become pregnant by way of in vitro fertilization, twins were a possibility only in a vague way, the way you know it’s a possibility that you’ll win the lottery. When the first four-week ultrasound revealed our two little kidney beans, we responded to our jackpot by wandering in a blur of numb shock for several weeks, followed by a period of sheer panic—how do we do this pregnancy??? I’d already had a baby, but for this, I assumed there would be information out there to help me manage a double.

            A lifelong friend of mine, who had 3-month-old identical twin girls, handed me the four books she read during her twin pregnancy with the comment, “Here. They didn’t do me much good.” I read the books anyway, and discovered that she was absolutely right. The books assume this is your first pregnancy, and the only advice they managed on the twin front was, “Whatever you do for a singleton pregnancy, double it.” I could have figured that one out on my own, thanks.

            But I wonder if they were afraid to tell the truth—that a twin pregnancy overwhelms your body and your resources and that the amount of effort needed to keep you and your babies healthy is just enormous. I’ve read Dr. Brewer’s philosophy that it’s all about nutrition (particularly protein) when it comes to full-term babies, and I’ve no doubt many premature twins are a direct result of an insufficient diet. And I can see where women wouldn’t realize that their diet was inadequate, because what you do need to eat is mind-boggling. Couple that with the amount of necessary sleep and plain sitting-around, and you’ve got yourself a full-time job.

            Yes, every pregnancy is different. But let me just tell you about my twin pregnancy. I knew I was in for something special during a two-hour community band rehearsal:  I had to eat a peanut butter sandwich at the halfway mark. During the entire pregnancy, I literally ate every 1-1/2 to two hours, and not just a few crackers or a couple carrot sticks. There was breakfast, second breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, snack-while-preparing-dinner, dinner, evening snack, pre-bed snack, and the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I had by my bed when I woke up hungry at 2 or 3 a.m. I am not indulging in hyperbole—just ask my husband, who half-jokingly considered taking on a part-time job to cover our grocery bills.

            And sleep! The first trimester is blurry because so much of it was spent unconscious. Every day I would lay down on the couch in the early afternoon and sleep while my three-year-old son drove trucks over me. I’m sure I provided quite the topography for the trucks to maneuver, but I was too tired to care. Most nights I fell asleep putting my son to bed at 8 p.m., and that lasted throughout the pregnancy. That was probably one of the more irritating aspects of a twin pregnancy—there was no second trimester breather. I was just as tired and almost as hungry throughout that trimester as the others, I just wasn’t as fat.

            And boy, did I get big. My belly defied description. People would actually stop and stare in grocery stores and restaurants (we ate out lot: no cooking and huge portions). My belly was so big it seemed almost separate from me, pushing forward so aggressively that I often knocked things over with it. One restaurant admitted (after the babies were born) that they hated to see us come in, because they assumed I was about to birth at any moment. And that was during my 7^th month.

            By the last month, things were pretty rough. The babies were so big that I had a very hard time eating, and I was so tired that I began to not care. And it was then, when my nutrition lagged, that I ran into trouble. In week 39 (no, they weren’t born yet!) I got what everyone assumed was the flu, and within two days I was toxemic. The midwives broke my water, and less than two hours later (!) my babies were born. My son and daughter were in great shape, but it took me months to recover from just that last month of pregnancy.

            So if you or anyone you know is having a twin pregnancy, my unsolicited advice is Eat! Eat! and then Eat! The one book I do recommend you read is Mothering Multiples by Karen Kerkhoff Gromada and published by the La Leche League. Its overview of twin pregnancy is pretty good, but it is particularly helpful in getting started breastfeeding multiple babies, particularly if they do have to have some NICU time. The book focuses on when the real fun starts—AFTER the twins are born!

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