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Pregnant with twins, they tell us the news
Caroline, mother of Romain, 7 years old, Florian and Lucas, 5 and a half years old.
“At that time, I am 26 years old, I am the mother of a little one-year-old Roman. One morning, I feel tired, sensitive… A funny feeling settles in me. Questions get mixed up in my head, to the point of giving birth to an idea: I may be pregnant. A pregnancy test later, I discovered with emotion, anxiety and anguish that Romain, despite being so small, will soon have a little brother or sister. I make an appointment with my gynecologist. I am alone that day, the dad could not come with me. I explain the situation to him and tell him that I am super tired, exhausted. He suggests that I go into the next room to look. At that moment, I have no idea what will happen. I look at the ultrasound screen, I see a tiny baby appear, then a blur… A baby reappears… Then another blur… And again a baby. I am amused. “It’s funny your machine, it looks like you’re going from one screen to another,” I told him. My gynecologist looks down, looks at his feet, he stammers… He looks for his words… Then he says, stammering: “No, it’s me who goes from one baby to another.” Our eyes eventually meet. My eyes are full of worry, fear, amazement. His people are filled with compassion, with comfort. I get dressed and go out completely confused. I call the future father of these two new angels who will change our lives in a few months. He doesn’t pick up. When I finally get to hear it, I crack, I collapse, I am in tears. I finally manage to cry out to him between sobs: “They are two!” What are we going to do? ”
He doesn’t say anything, then repeats “What are we going to do?” And a little voice in my head says, “Just love them.”
But the more the days go by, the more an uneasiness takes hold of me. I’m lost, confused, I just cry. This news should make me jump for joy and yet, not in the least, because I am afraid. Afraid of not getting through it, afraid that everything will be difficult, afraid of not finding enough time to devote to these three children, afraid of not being a good enough mother for three boys. Because we learn that it will be two boys. At 26 weeks, I am hospitalized and I have to rest until the twins are born. And at 33 weeks, on a Tuesday, in the middle of the night, the pocket of water breaks. I, who had become serene again, am seized with immense fear. But my gynecologist assures me that everything will be fine. And curiously, I am reassured. Florian arrives first, followed a minute from Lucas. They are healthy, but are very small (1,5 kg and 1,3 kg). After a month’s stay in the neonatal service, we are finally going home.
The war begins… Feeding bottles every 2 hours multiplied by two children, only two hours of sleep a day and all the daily life that a woman who manages a lot of things knows. Like any mom, I become a superhero! I move forward with them, I learn to manage, and from week to week, the situation changes. We manage, we live at 100 miles an hour, but we get by. Over the weeks, Florian and Lucas learn and discover together. They play, argue, exchange their plates, each fall asleep in their bed, but wake up in the same. A bond is created. I feel, however, that they are terribly different, but I still do not understand all the immensity of this difference. Florian just falls, doesn’t stand up, doesn’t react when I call him. A doubt sets in. At 36 months, the diagnosis falls: the doctors confirm to us that Florian is suffering from profound deafness, that he cannot hear anything. Everything is linked, the recurring visits to the hospital, with the ENT, the surgeon, then the operation. Thanks to advances in medicine, Florian hears about using cochlear implants. However, everything remains difficult. The schools turn their backs on us and tell us that Florian is too hard to manage, that they no longer want to supervise him. Even in a specialized school among other deaf children, he is out of place, he remains different. Florian was then 4 years old when we discovered that he had autism.
The world collapses a third time. Today, despite the trials, the differences, we remain strong, always united, trying to make the best choices and to devote time to each of our children so that they can develop at their best, at their level. Our twins do not follow the same path. In the morning, Lucas goes to school, and Florian to the day hospital, to join other children like him. They are twins, but they are different. But despite this difference, their bond remains very strong. They love each other like brothers, like twins! »
Natacha, mother of Estéban and Enola, 6 years old.
“When I decided with my partner to have a baby, I had just turned 25. Three months later, I found out that I was pregnant. After 20 days of pregnancy, I went to the emergency room because I was losing blood. The doctor tells me that the egg is 50% detached from the placenta, and that he cannot guarantee that it will hold. He suggests that I rest and see him again in 10 days, for a check-up. When I get dressed, he tells me that there are in fact two babies! “Sorry?” I stopped dead and sat down, annoyed. ” How do you take it? ” Asks my doctor. “I don’t know, too bad”, I stammer. “Too bad or so much the better?” He insists. “Too bad, so much the better, I don’t know.” When I got home, I didn’t know how to tell my partner. He was very happy. And it was on for nine months of a perfect pregnancy! No nausea or vomiting. My childbirth was started 15 days before the term, which is normal in the event of a twin pregnancy since the placentas age faster and do not play their role of filter until the end. The labor lasted 15 hours under epidural, unfortunately at the fateful moment, it was no longer effective. My God it hurts! My daughter Enola was born on January 28, 2010 at 23:16 pm At 23:52 pm Esteban arrived. Everything is fine. But above all, no one tells me that when the first is released, the second comes out on its own …
From there, my life changed dramatically. I did a baby-blues: the first three months were catastrophic. I was breastfeeding, I slept 30 minutes a night, it was hard. An infection in my chest left me with a fever for two days. But I stuck it out. At 3 months, they finally made their nights. But I can really say that I was only happy to have twins when I was able to get back to sleep. I remember one morning going to Enola’s room after 6 hours of consecutive sleep to see her staring at me with her eyes wide open. I said “Hello my doll” to her and I was like “This is it, I feel happy, I am happy to see her”. The beginnings are very intense, but it is a milestone to pass. I expressed my milk so that they could help me feed them. I couldn’t find the pleasure that a lot of moms get from breastfeeding, maybe because there were two of them. Fortunately, I took three years of parental leave! To this day, they are 6 years old, they are beautiful and very different. Esteban is a fellow and has the build of a rugby player. Enola is a very fine shrimp, a princess. They were separated in the middle section because Enola took herself for her mother, Esteban did not manage on his own when she was there. And the separation has been beneficial. They will soon be entering CP… Now it’s cooler, they wash and dress on their own. They are autonomous and you can go out with them without taking the whole house! They are full of tenderness and love. I am proud to be a mother of twins! But still, it must be said: at the beginning, it is hard to have twins. »
Jill, mother of Lucy, 10, Léana, 7, Maude and Zoé, 2 and a half, Élyse and Jack, born February 11, 2016.
“After our two daughters, we hesitated for a long time before deciding on a third child. Then I got pregnant: we learned that they were twins and that was a real shock for me. I was mainly thinking of the practical side … The rooms, the car, etc. The dad, he was in heaven! But in the end, it went very well. The older ones, who are 7 and 4 years older, gave us a hand with the younger ones. And then, last year, I got pregnant again, which was not planned at all! I was panicked when we heard that they were twins again! I admit that the thought of not keeping them crossed my mind, but the dad was so happy that he reassured me by telling me that it could be done! Who can say he’s been lucky enough to have twins twice in a row? Around us, people thought it was a joke. Well no ! Then we were literally bombarded with questions: “Are you sure you want to keep them?”, “How are you going to be doing?”… Elyse and Jack were born on February 11th. Everything is fine. The key to success: good organization, and everyone has their own tasks. It takes a lot of energy, and you wonder where you find it! When the binoculars arrived, we had gone from a five-seater to a six-seater, and there, we just bought an eight-seater vehicle. The only question I am asking myself at the moment, following the birth of the last two fraternal twins, is whether I will be able to continue working full-time… We will see if it is manageable when I return to work. , after my maternity leave. On the other hand, fortunately my husband and I are united, because it is not easy to find each other between all these little monsters … But we are proud of what we have accomplished in fourteen years as a couple, and by above all, we are proud of our family! “
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