Joking about the possibility of twins or triplets is one of those silly things we do.
Your friend might find out that she is pregnant for the third or fourth time and is swearing that ‘this is the last time I’m doing this!’, and you of course have to get a little nudge in about how she ‘never knows’ how many babies might be coming this time round!
Recently, I took care of my nephew for an hour, and he is the same age as my one-and-a-half year old daughter so that’s as close as I got to having more than one child of the exact same age, on the exact same level of devilment.
And can I just say – total. chaos.
So it’s hats off from me to all of you who are raising twins, triplets and more – you are amazing!
Karl Barry and his wife Donna are from Co. Kildare and had a twelve year old and a two year old when they found out that Donna was expecting again;
“We found out 9 weeks into the pregnancy that Donna was pregnant. A week later we were on our way to a christening and someone flew into the back of our car. We rushed to the Combe to make sure that everything was OK. We had our other children with us so I had to leave my wife there and bring he kids home. I was very worried.
Eventually I got a call. Donna asked if I was sitting down and my heart sank, I really thought that this was more bad news.
She said ‘They are after finding two heart beats’.
I was so focused on something being wrong that at first I was confused as to what she meant but then the penny dropped!
“Karl, we are having twins!” It was a good job I was sitting down! The excitement was just too much. We rang both our mothers straight away as we could not hold it in.
Odin and Fionn are identical and were 6’7 and 6’2 when they were born. The only way we could tell the difference is that one had jaundice and his head was bigger but it’s getting more and more difficult to tell them apart as time goes by!”
Barbara from Co. Kerry had three children aged 10, 7 and 4 and had no plans for more children when she discovered a big surprise was in store for her;
“We discovered we were pregnant and it honestly took me a couple of weeks to get used to the idea. When my husband and I went to the hospital for our twelve-week scan we chatted about how I had finally accepted that we were given this fourth child for a reason and that everything would be ok.
At the scan, I noticed that Michael’s face had gone a funny shade of grey and the nurse was smiling away.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked my husband but the man could not form a single word other than ‘Eh, eh, eh’ while pointing at the screen.
The nurse turned the screen around and there as plain as the nose on my face is the dividing membrane and two heads. I was absolutely gobsmacked.
Eva and Katherine are not identical, were 6lb 3.5 and 5lb 2 oz at birth and will be two in June. The house is crazy, the laundry is endless but I wouldn’t change it for all the tea in China.
Angela and her partner Jim from Carlow say they have had to make some major life changes to incorporate twins but have loved every single minute of it!
“I was already two months pregnant before I found out I was expecting at all. My partner and I got a further shock at the 12 weeks scan when two little bubbles popped up and the Doctor announced it was twins. After experiencing the whole spectrum of emotions we got excited but major life changes had to be made: move house, change car, live closer to family for support.
Everything fell into place so smoothly and we were very lucky with a healthy active pregnancy. We didn’t find out their sex until they were born and when two little 6.2lb (each) screaming girls came into this world.
Once we realised we were not only capable of keeping two little babies alive but also capable of making them very happy, we started to thrive as a new ready-made family of four.
Today, the Áine and Mia are 18 months old and it’s been the best stage so far. They are funny, goofy, curious and delighted with life and we look forward to so many adventures with them in the future!”
What would you do Mamas?
