For those about to have their hands full.

This one's for the mums to be out there. Especially the ones expecting twins.
And even more so for those expecting twins when they weren't expecting to be expecting twins.
Sorry, got carried away there.

As I was sat at the dinner table tonight, watching my children eat, I had a little flashback to when I first found out I was expecting twins.

That first week was one hell of a ride. Let me set the scene for you.
We had planned our second pregnancy when our firstborn was around 1 years old so when we found out I was pregnant, a few months later, we were over the moon.

I started to think about the different combinations of sibling relationships with our firstborn this baby could have and tried to guess what would be my gender preference in relation to my eldest - a girl. Two girls? Lovely sisterly bond, easy to pass on clothes and toys, play together well (or fight once teenagers...) but two of a kind, less likely to like football and beer once older (kidding) and no little boy to cuddle. A girl and boy? Provide some cute boy roughness and tomboy play for the girl, all new clothes to buy, two different genders to raise and experience. You get the idea. I was blissfully unaware that I would get both.

Skip ahead (or waddle in my very pregnant case) to the moment I found out I was expecting twins: TOTAL.TWIN.SHOCK.

Here are some of the thoughts which occurred to me over the first few days:

Day 1

• Are you sure? We don't have twins in the family.
• This must be a joke.
• How exciting!
• Best call my husband and tell him (long story, he wasn't there when I found out!)
• No it's not a joke (me to my husband)!
• Can't wait to tell everyone this - how fun!

Day 2-7

• WHAT THE HELL?
• How on earth am I going to cope with three under 2!
• F@CK!!!!
• I won't be able to re-use my lovely baby pram.
• In fact, how on earth will I go for a walk alongside my friends with a double pram and fit next to their pram? Oh shit, I will have to walk by myself forever... I will have no friends (lol).
• Wait a minute, how on earth will I fit three children in a pram without having to get a massive triple buggy?? That's it, I'll look like the circus parade when walking down the path - talking up the WHOLE path - with my massive contraption.
• Who am I kidding, there is no way I'll even make it out of the house with three kids - under 2!
• Shit.
• Why me? All I wanted was a simple second pregnancy.
• I am going to get massive, aren't I. I'll never look the same again (who was I kidding, as if I looked the same after one single pregnancy anyway!)
• Oh no, if they are identical they will be like the parent trap kids ganging up on us.
• They will be a little duo and my oldest baby will be so left out, when all I wanted was for her to have a sibling/playmate.
• Argh! They won't all fit in my car! Now I have to buy a new car as well.
• How will I even pay for nursery fees? I will basically have to go to work at a loss or don't go back to work at all! (Mostly true for a short while)
• Ok. This is not for me. Someone start this over for me please and make it a simple easy pregnancy?
• My. Life. Is. Over.

Those were all very real fears which totally consumed me for about a week after I found out about my little twin surprise. I sometimes feel ashamed that I thought that way. But I was assured by a lovely midwife that this was very normal and that this so called Twin Shock does go after a few days. I didn't believe her of course, but she was totally right (luckily).

I can't say what made the black cloud lift and let the sun shine in, but somehow it did.

It's possible that making some plans of how to deal with the practicalities and thinking of all the lovely things the new babies would bring could have helped. I think all I needed was some time to process the news and let go of the vision I had dreamt up in my mind of the two children relationship. Once I'd let go of how I had planned our family would look, I made space for the new (and improved) version to take its place.

Fast forward to the birth of my lovely boy and girl - a 2nd birthday present to my eldest (Yes, they really share a birthday, all three of them).

There is no way I could imagine my life any other way than with these three crazy, fun kids and the twin baby thing is nowhere near as hard as I had pictured it. It's made me superb at multitasking and finding the most efficient way of doing anything. At the end of the day, it's only brought positives and yes, some of the thoughts listed above were totally ridiculous, some very valid (it's expensive) but mostly the list was totally incomplete as it missed out some cracking truths:

• Double the fun. Who on earth invented double trouble. How effing rude.
• Two cute babies are better than one cute baby.
• You will manage. Somehow. 
• How lucky for the eldest child, two new siblings to love and play with.
• There are ways: double prams, triple prams, customise a pram, buy a scooter/buggyboard. Again, you will manage.
• You will get big. So what. You can get back to "normal" if you want afterwards. 
• It's not double the work. When you pour a glass of wine or two glasses, the work is in walking to the fridge; walking to the cupboard; getting the glass(es) out; unscrewing the cap (or popping the cork if you're treating yourself with a particularly nice bottle); pouring (see it only takes a few seconds to pour the second glass) then putting everything away. You see the work is already there with one (baby) and not so much worse with two (babies). 
• You will deserve a nice glass of wine at the end of the day after looking after all these kids.
• Marvel at your magnificence in creating these little wonders.
• Holy shit, three kids. We're outnumbered.

Back to tonights' dinner. 

I just thought how different I feel about our family unit now compared to those twin shock days.

And how much better the unexpected truth is than the imagined picture I had created in my head.

Finally, to answer the questions I encountered (usually from some random passers by:

• No, there is not a nice one and a naughty one (they were about a week old...)
• They are not identical, one being a boy and the other a girl. Yes, I am sure.
• Yes they are lovely, but so is this cute 2 year old you keep ignoring.
• No they are not double trouble. Just because it rhymes does not make it any less rude.
• Yes, I have my hands full. Although, I'm pretty good at feeding two babies with one hand (try it: you put them side by side on a pillow, hold the bottles with one hand). It's a neat party trick.
• No, there are no twins in my family.
• Yes, it was a surprise (although we did plan to get pregnant but surely is not what you're asking. Or is it?)
• No, I'm not planning to have more (they either double every time or it's 1 then 2 then 3 babies? Imagine?!)

In short, you'll be fine, whatever happens.