Getting Ready for Twins: the Stuff

This pregnancy is so different from my pregnancy with Victoria for so many reasons, one being how quickly it is going by! I feel like I just found out I was pregnant, and really I am about half-way to giving birth!

One of the things I was looking forward to about our second child is that I already have everything ready! I didn't need to buy anything except maybe some clothes if we had a boy.

Well, now with twins, I figured there would probably be 10 or so more things I'd need. But then the logistics started coming together, and I realized there are so many more things that I may need in order to keep my sanity with a 2 year old and two newborns.

I need doubles of some things we already have, like our Chicco 360 Hook-on Chair, which Victoria is still using at 30 lbs (she will move to a booster seat soon). I've loved this chair for so many reasons, namely that it doesn't take up much space, has a detachable tray, and allows children to sit right at the table with us at meal time.

We also need doubles or more of car seats, cloth diapers, burp cloths, bibs, sippy cups, clothes, etc.

This is our cloth diaper stash as of right now. Most of the diapers on the floor are newborn diapers, which will fit the babies after they are born until 15lbs or so. I am just about done collecting those, and then will work on collecting more one-size cloth diapers.

On top of all that are the things that will make life much easier on a logistical level, such as a  changing station downstairs so I don't have to cart 3 kids up and down the stairs for a dirty diaper. This will require another cloth diaper pail and diaper sprayer for the downstairs bathroom.

I also need a larger diaper bag, as carting around cloth diapers and wet bags takes more space than most normal bags hold, especially for 2 babies. Add a 2 year old to that and the few things I usually throw in my purse for her (sippy cup, wipes and a pull-up), and we are talking about one large bag!

I also plan to get a twin breastfeeding pillow to make tandem feeding a possibility. I've heard from other twin mom's that this pillow helps a lot because you can keep a hand free to help with re-latching and whatnot while feeding two at once. I just can't imagine how difficult it will be to manage breastfeeding time-wise if I have to feed each baby one after the other.

I had the My Brest Friend single nursing pillow with Victoria, and I used it regularly for the first few months. Victoria was such an inefficient nurser that one nursing session would take 45 minutes, and she had to nurse every 2 hours until she finally figured out how to nurse better. That nursing pillow essentially saved my back! If the twin pillow can help save time with tandem feeding (and who knows, I may end up with another tongue-tied baby who struggles with nursing), then I'm all for it!

Also on the logistics side is something I never thought I would actually spend money on: noise machines. Our upstairs is quite compact and Victoria has been a lighter sleeper since she was in the womb (Oh yes, I've tried to train her out of it. She is better, but still....)Newborn cries can be loud in the night, especially when there are 2 of them. Not only that, I want to make sure the babies aren't waking each other up, which was something my in-laws struggled with when their twins were tiny. It will be winter and too cold to run fans to help drown out noise. So sound machines it is!

There is quite a bit more on the list, but you can already see, there is a lot more to get ready than I ever dreamed. Mostly because having 3 such young children will be hard enough, so I plan to do what I can to make it as easy as possible on myself.

My family is being super sweet and plan to hold a small "sprinkle" shower for me at the end of June. Since we will know the genders by then, I imagine they will be excitedly buying clothes for the new babies. For the most part I am planning to get as many things used as I can. We already purchased a 2nd crib off of Craigslist, and a few other items, including this mamas and papas chair

We had a bumbo with Victoria that was given to use but we didn't really use it much. Mostly because cloth diapered baby bottoms didn't fit into it for long! But my good friend had this chair, and it was so useful in so many ways and fit her baby for much longer than the bumbo seat did. Not only that, the green insert can come out and a toddler can fit just fine in the seat. This was definitely not a necessity, but something I think will be useful for confining a baby while I get a few things done.

Victoria insisted on enjoying a snack in the chair the other day.

In the end, we will manage just fine if we don't get all of the items on our list. They are babies for such a short time, after all :)