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Bumping for you! I'm sure you need all the advice you can get right now!

I think all the twin mammas are too busy to respond!! I guess typing while holding a child in each arm must be pretty impossible!

Congrats again! We were lent a swing and bouncer but the kids hated it. So luckily, we didn't spend money on it.

Is someone going to help u? What I found most helpful above all was staying w my mom and she stayed home w me and pretty much took care of only me and the kids (and my dad) around the clock. Not everyone is lucky enough to have that.

In the beginning, my son stayed in the play pen that had an infant sleeping section and my daughter stayed in the bassinet, both borrowed. I think the rock n play would have been great and affordable, but since we didn't need it, I didn't get it. But I was eying it! Lol.

When we got home, the kids shared a crib and did so for a few months. When they started getting too tall to lay horizontally and rolled around, we put them in separate cribs, same room. They still share a room at 15 months. It's true, for the most parts, the other tunes out the crying and doesn't wake up. U will definitely need 2 cribs, but not right away.

We got 2 nap nannies, which I still use to this day. To feed them lol. I'll go more into if u r interested, but it works for us!

A must if u r going to be breastfeeding, especially together is the twin Brest friend pillow. I breastfed them together until around 13.5 months, when I finally weaned them. I have always supplemented with formula. A lot in the beginning until my milk really came in around a few weeks to a month later? Took a while for more than an ounce or two. We did trim it down to once a day.

For the kick and play, I don't think the kids were too interested until 2-3 months? We did start putting them under it around a month to get them visually stimulated. They shared one for a long time. They loved it once they figured out how to kick it and make some music.

It's expensive, but convenient to have those disposable bottles from playtex. We've used a whole bunch in the beginning. We got an electric bottle sterilizer. Bottle holders/drying rack are pretty essential.

Stroller, we only have one. We got the baby jogger city select. We bought the Chico adapter and used the car seats with the stroller until around 6 months. It's definitely bulky but it worked fine for us. Easy to load and unload and we didn't take them out so much in the beginning anyway.

You will definitely need 2 car seats. We got 2 infants and 2 convertibles. I liked being able to takeout the car seats with the kids in it, especially if they fall asleep. Now that they are using the convertible, they ALWAYS wake up when I take them out ugh.

I don't think I would have survived without a monitor. We got the Motorola, which works fine but I don't think it's that durable. Had to get 2 from them within the year....mostly my fault cuz I keep tripping over the wires and dropping it, lol.

Will write more as I think about it. I used to write things down on paper and now switched to baby connect app. Wish I did that earlier. I like that they have a graph so u can see patterns. I'm more visual so I can write the heck out of it down and not see a pattern lol. I think that helps make a schedule.

I think ultimately, the thing we lack the most is sleep. So when the kids nap, u nap!! Cliche? Cuz it's true!! Especially in the early days, they wake up so much! And try to sychronize. Not so easy, but try is the key word. When one woke up for a feeding, I woke the other up. my mil stayed with us for a few months so she would take one kid and I'd take the other. (We changed diapers, swaddled them, etc. she'd put them to my breast and take one when they were done)... But if that's not possible, you can do one and then the other. Or u can try to feed them at the same time by first putting them on the nap nanny and then transferring them to the nursing pillow.

Hindsight is definitely 20/20.

Definitely suscribing to this! Thanks @sugar.biscuit for asking the great question

@tequiero21 & @merryc thank you so much for all the tips...definitely great to get advice from those who have already been through it!

@Sugar.Biscuit: We had a double snap n go and used it almost exclusively until they grew out of it around 6 months. We had graco snugride 35s that worked nicely with it. And with twins, I think starting with infant bucket seats is worth the money for sure, for the easy transfer, sleeping or not.

Now we have a BOB duallie for walks and runs, and a Combi twin for shopping. We also heavily use our ergos. I would buy them all again. Our kids love the ergos so much, we have a set in each car. A good strategy for shopping can be one in the cart and one in the ergo. It means you can use a cart for more items. With a double stroller, I just use a basket and clip it on to a mommy hook or carry it. Most stores are cool with loading up the bottom of your stroller with purchases too

If you are tight on space for sleeping, we used these Brica travel bassinets on the floor for the first month. The kids outgrew them quickly, but they were perfect for that first month. We just made a little nest for the kids in them with rolled blankets and it was cozy.

And ask for multiples discounts everywhere! Most places will give you 10% off identical items. I know BRU and PBK for sure.

And if your area has a moms of multiples group, definitely look into that! We don't have one close enough, but they can be wonderful for providing meals, help, etc and often have multiples specific gear sales!

I just saw this thread. Sorry for the delayed response. We have mono/di boys that are now almost 4 months old (seriously, the time absolutely flies!)

Here's what comes to mind right now.

Pregnancy: I'll admit I did not love pregnancy. I worried all the time about them getting twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, going into preterm labor, etc. We had ultrasounds every other week and OB appts. much more frequently. I worried a lot about gaining enough weight after reading the Dr. Luke book, but I was already heavier than I wanted to be, so I tried to be cautious about weight gain. In the end I gained about 40 lbs., and my doctor was happy with that amount and the babies were fine (F. was a lot smaller, but that had to do with a placenta issue). Don't compare yourself to anyone who is pregnant with one baby. You will likely start showing, feel huge, have to slow down, be unable to roll over in bed without conducting a 20-point turn, etc. sooner than a singleton mama, but that's totally normal when you're growing TWO babies! By 7 months, I swear strangers were looking at me with terror that my water was going to break on their shoes! When some girl who is pregnant with one baby is talking about how she ran a 10k at 30 weeks or whatever ridiculous statement hits you wrong, just tell yourself it's way harder to grow two humans at the same time than to do ______. Try not to think about how far you need to get before it's okay if they are born. I tried to pick a "goal" of about 4 weeks away to focus on. I would just focus on getting to 24 weeks, to 28 weeks, to 32 weeks, etc. It made it less daunting. Know that things may not go like you had always envisioned, but as long as you and your babies come out healthy in the end that's all that matters.

Sleep: They slept in Rock n' Plays in our room until about 6 weeks, then we moved the RNP into the nursery. Around 8 weeks, they started sleeping together in one crib, and they are still there. Probably in the next month or so we will have to think about putting them in separate cribs (same room). I'm not looking forward to this because they definitely sleep better and are happier when they are together. We sleep trained (CIO with checks) at 14 weeks (10 weeks adjusted), and it was life changing! Before that they were still waking up at least 2-3 times a night. After a couple of rough nights, now they pretty much always go to sleep on their own and if they wake up, they can fuss for a minute and get themselves back to sleep. Their crying rarely phases the other one during the night.

Feeding: We started out BF and supplementing in the NICU. I was able to keep nursing or pumping until 3 months and then my supply completely dried up. Now, they're on formula. If you BF, I second the recommendation for the My Brest Friend Twin pillow. I would never have been able to tandem BF without it; I loved it! If you BF, be gentle with yourself. BFing isn't easy with one (so I hear) and having two adds an extra challenge. If it's your goal to BF, that's fantastic; but if it becomes too much to keep up with two, the advice another twin mama gave me when I was struggling emotionally and physically with not being able to BF as much or as long as I wanted was, "This is not the hill you die on. As long as your babies are healthy, happy, and loved, they'll be fine regardless of what they are eating." (I'm not trying to discourage BFing at all, but I really struggled with a lot of guilt about not being successful at EBF, and I just want other mamas to know it really is okay if it doesn't work out.)

Play: We only got one swing and one bouncy before they were born to see what they liked. Our boys could not have cared less about the bouncy seat, so I'm glad we didn't get two. They loved the swing, however, so we eventually bought another one. We have one playmat that they still share at 4 months.

Strollers: We have a Snap n Go that we modified to work without Chicco car seats (which we love and the first ones kept our boys safe in a car accident already, so I'm a fan). We also have a Schwinn Turismo double jogger which we love, love, love, and for a double jogging stoller it's very inexpensive. I think we'll probably also get a couple of umbrella strollers for traveling when we grow out of the snap n go because they jogging stroller takes up too much space in our car for a long trip.

Carriers: I think carriers of some kind are a must. When the boys were little, I used a Lovey Duds (off Etsy) that is similar to a moby. It was super helpful to be able to put on in the wrap and let him snooze while I did something with the other boy. Now they are just getting big enough for Ergos, and we use them a lot when we are running errands, etc. DH will wear one, and I wear the other.

Schedule: Everyone will tell you to get them on a schedule, and we found this to be life saving. We are really strict about keeping them together. So, if one baby woke up early to eat, we would wake the other one up and he had to eat, too. I honestly don't even know how you would manage to ever sleep at all if they were on different schedules, although I know some moms have pulled it off. I think @Mrs. Train said before that her boys were on different schedules for several months, so she might be able to give you tips on how to manage if you don't want to/aren't able to get them together for a while.

Monitor: We got the Summer Infant monitor with the extra camera. We love it. You can look at either camera or put it on "scan" and it will alternate cameras every 8 seconds.

Take lots and lots of help, whether it's someone offering to bring dinner, clean your house, or watch the babies for a couple hours while you nap! I was really unsure of how long I wanted help, but my mom basically stayed with us M-F for 7 weeks. It was really nice. I was ready to start taking care of them on my own before that, but it would have meant DH would have had to wake up more on week days, so I held off as long as I could. You will figure out ways that work for you to take care of two kiddos at the same time. I became much more confident after the first few days on my own, and now I love hanging out with just the 3 of us! Twins can be really hard on or really good for your marriage. From the beginning, treat each other like part of a team; surviving those first few months is much easier if you just consider it a challenge/adventure for the two of you to face together. Be extra generous & gracious with each other. A friend told us to make a rule not to talk during night feedings because you're both exhausted and you just end up whisper fighting. We generally stuck to that rule!

I think the first 10-12 weeks are the hardest. When they start sleeping at least one longer stretch it becomes a little easier. At almost 17 weeks, I can say that we are really enjoying it now and have been for a few month or two.

Whoa, talk about a novella. Sorry, but hopefully, that covers the major things!

Also, when you get to the point where you are feeling super duper preggo and you're so sick of having people compare your twin pregnancy to what it was like when they were pregnant with one, then read this post on Babycenter. It's probably best to wait and read this when you are already in that stage to maximize the funniness of it. My favorite line is this:
"I understand you were 30 weeks pregnant w one baby and felt like a whale. And that you couldn't wait for baby to come out. Guess what, I'm pregnant at 30 weeks and measuring 42 WEEKS! And guess what I don't feel like a whale I am a whale. A whale that was shot repeatedly with harpoons . . ."

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a39048304/vent_please_dont_compare_ur_single_pregnancy_to_my_twin_pregnancy (FYI-it does contain a couple of curse words.)

Our girls are 20 weeks old, mo/di twins - we had some minor twin to twin transfusion but two healthy babies born at almost 37 weeks. We were initially told that the girls were mo/mo. I think that early experience has led us to be pretty low-key and flexible about most things throughout the pregnancy and in the early weeks and months.

I second what @Mrs. Blue: said about scheduling. That has been the most essential thing for us. If at all possible, get the nurses to help you establish a feeding schedule in the hospital because it will make things so. much. easier when you get home. That is one very positive aspect of a c-section with twins - the extra days in the hospital can be a huge help to get things running smoothly. And though of course the hope is two super healthy babies, it also gives you a cushion of time if either baby ends up spending time in the NICU, as one of our girls did. You will inevitably have to deviate from the schedule, but it gives your life at least a semblance of structure and predictability. For me, that was necessary to stay sane!

We found Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins to be helpful for teaching us how to establish good sleep habits before we started sleep training. It's repetitive, so we didn't read the whole thing, but I was extremely glad that my husband and I both got the major points in our heads before the babies arrived. I think it has made our sleep much easier, though of course the babies themselves have something to do with that too! We started a very simple bedtime routine - feeding, PJs, a specific playlist, and some snuggling - at about 2 months and it helped tremendously. After getting it established we were able to become more and more flexible with the elements, location, and order of the routine with no issues. I also *highly* recommend "Twelve Hours Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old" as a night-weaning/sleep training guide - it has a LOT of twin-specific information as the system began with the author's twins. We started implementing the system at twelve weeks, but it is designed to help you establish a schedule earlier. It is AMAZING when you can drop nighttime feeding.

It is also much easier to get some sleep if you can introduce a pacifier early, even if for nighttime use only. I am so, so glad our girls will take them now despite initial indifference. At about 2 months we started using Wubbanubs so the girls wouldn't lose their pacifiers as easily and they became their first favorite toy. And white noise is a must - without it our girls would wake each other, and they do even with it sometimes. We use two kinds - http://www.amazon.com/aden-anais-Serenity-Electronic-Feeding/dp/B0085K642A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373038746&sr=8-1&keywords=aden+and+anais+sleep+star (probably overpriced but I love it) and http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Einstein-Sea-Dreams-Soother/dp/B006YBHE6M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373038784&sr=8-1&keywords=baby+einstein+aquarium. The girls got interested in the lights and movement at around 3 months, but before that it was mostly about the ocean sounds.

For breastfeeding I found the Breast Friend double too bulky and had better luck with two boppy's - one to tandem feed on and the other to prop up one baby while I got the other latched. I nursed in a glider with arms though, so that supported the boppy for me. I did think this video was helpful even though I ultimately had to figure out my own system :

@Mrs. Blue: Oh, yes, thanks - I agree. Don't buy 16+ bottles until you know they'll work for you!

We have 2 beco geminis and used them regularly for about 8 months? I think u can start at around 8 lbs? My kids were 6 5, so we didn't use it right away, but I didn't really need it so early on anyway. We could still use them but now they walk, so we let them walk. They didn't like it in the beginning but would fall asleep after a few minutes. They definitely loved it when we were facing out, but that doesn't happen til later....

I have 2 boppies, in addition to the breast friend. I didn't like the boppies for breastfeeding at all, too floppy and couldn't keep the kids on it, they kept slipping off. With the Brest friend, u can breastfeed pretty much anywhere, on the floor, on the sofa, bed, etc with no arm support. I did use boppies to prop them up, for tummy time, etc, and now, it's a pillow for my head lol, so very useful.

We had 2 pack n plays that we got as gifts. I returned one and never really used the other. The kids always napped in the crib or on the nap nanny. Right now, it holds junk, or stuff we put away so the kids won't get into it, like paper, crayon lol. Not too useful for us, but I know some women swear by them.

We used pacifiers since the hospital. Not sure if its cuz of that but my kids are major droolers. At 15 mos, they are fully weaned off finally. My hubby thinks that's why they were drooling so much.

You should buy storage bags if u plan to pump. I got honeybee or something. Really cheap and works well. I may have extras somewhere unopened if u want to try some.

You may want a box of nursing pads and some lanolin. I used them until I stopped nursing and pumping.

Couldn't have done pumping without my double electric pump. It talks to u while u pump lol. A few times, I heard double, double, double. Over and over again, I was like, yes, I know.

Good luck! Overwhelming but I promise u sooner than later, u will be telling a pregnant twin mama about your experiences!

yikes sorry for the novel!

@Sugar.Biscuit: I only found 1 unopened bag. Not sure how many is in it, maybe 10? If u want it, pm me your address. Btw, it's honey suckle, not honey bee.

Re: high chairs, we got 2 stoke Tripp trapp, which is really nice, but expensive, so not a necessity. We did get 2 fisher price booster seat that's very cheap, considering, that we've used since 6 months til now....on the floor lol. Not on the chair, which is how it should be used. Is just nice and easy.

Re: pump, I got mine as a gift, but found out my insurance did not pay for it. This was about 15 months ago or so, so things prolly changed by now.

I bf every 2-3 hours and pumped after I put them to bed, so around 7/8 and then 10/11 or so. I fed them a bottle to bed. in the beginning, I fed them formula...until I built up a stash. I used to pump around 8oz a session - ranging from like 6 to 10, depending... If I didn't make enough, I didn't feel bad supplementing with formula. Sometimes, I had enough bm, other times I fed them bm first and supplemented with formula, other times, I just gave formula. I usually pumped in the evenings and when they woke up around 1, I'd pump after I fed them a bottle of what I pumped early. I did build a 5-day stash so I was able to keep feeding them bm, until I had to take antibiotics and was only pumping and dumping for awhile and my supply definitely took a hit. So I was able to bf on demand, but no more stash and i never really built one up after that. I think it's doable as long as u have the supply and can pump regularly. If u only pump like every 5 hours, you won't make as much as if u pump every 3 hours. If u now what I mean. Anyways, sorry for so much babbling, hopefully it makes sense.

Hey you. Just popping into this thread to give you a big smile and say Im happy things are going well for you. Can't wait to hear what you are having!!

@Sugar.Biscuit: I never bought one but it may have helped. Towards the end I was very uncomfortable.

I didn't get one - I didn't have a lot of back pain so I didn't think it would help. I never thought of it for hip and pelvis pain though - that (and being super out of breath) was what made it hard to get around at the end!

So exciting you find out the sex this week! Hope the babies cooperate and everything is going well! Can't wait to hear what you are having

I got some crazy one that looked like a Home Depot brace. If I can find it, I will seriously just send it to you if you want. I hope with all my heart I never need another one! Let me check at home, and I'll get back to you if your interested in trying it out.