Product Description

"Practical advice and a healthy dose of humor—this book has exactly what parents need to help them survive and thrive with multiples. Recommended reading for all mothers of twins."
Deborah Platek, MD, Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates

The best twin-tested tips used by real moms

The stresses that come with raising two babies are numerous - but they are predictable and manageable. From a mom who's been there, Juggling Twins is a funny, realistic, and reassuring guide for every new mom of twins who may be asking herself, "Can I really pull this off?"

From pregnancy to health issues, to eating, sleeping, bathing, and leaving the house, Juggling Twins is packed with the detailed, authoritative information that parents of multiples crave. Author and mother of twin boys Meghan Regan-Loomis offers an indispensable toolkit of solutions and techniques, designed to create order out of the chaos and help you catch your breath during this daunting and exhilarating time.

You'll learn how to:

• Nurse two babies at the same time, comfortably and efficiently
• Get exactly the help you need from family and friends in those first few weeks
• Safely transport two babies at once when it's just you and them
• Survive the nights by breaking them into shifts (that include you sleeping)
• Stockpile the right food and supplies in advance of their arrival
• Maintain your identity and your marriage through the madness

Get prepared, stay calm, and count your blessings (two!)—raising twins can be a wonderful, intense challenge that draws on the best in you.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14215 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781402214059
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author

When Meghan Regan-Loomis discovered that she was pregnant with twins, she searched fruitlessly for the book that would explain how to manage the logistics and challenges of caring for two babies at once. Discovering that it didn't yet exist, she vowed that she would figure out the answers and one day write the book herself. A veteran high school English teacher, she specializes in American literature, Shakespeare, Milton, and, more recently, How to Burp Two Babies at Once. A competitive tennis player who received her undergraduate degree from Kenyon College, she lives near Boston with her family.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from Chapter 1: Getting Them Close to Term

In my twin travels since having our boys, I have met so many families with multiples who have moving, sometimes tragic, sometimes nearly heroic stories about childbirth: the setting is usually the NICU, and the protagonists, two or three tiny babies who come much too early. Neonatal care has become astoundingly effective, and many of these stories now end happily after a frightening start and much arduous effort. But even when all seems well after the crisis period of weeks or months in the hospital, the lingering
tragedy of the hidden harm produced by an early birth remains, and the eventual emergence of these problems is a slow drip of agonized worry and coping over years, whether the problems are as mild as slight learning differences or as severe as cerebral palsy.

It is a difficult project for a woman's body, be it twenty-four years old or forty-three years old, to grow more than one baby at once and take them to term. Actually, it's a pretty tall order to do so with one baby. As common as having multiples is becoming, it is tempting for us to think that because everyone seems to be doing it, it must be a reasonable proposition. But in spite of the numbers of us having twins or more, it remains a daunting task right from the first trimester. While it obviously can be done, it is worthwhile to bear in mind that we weren't truly designed to make two at a time. We cannot simply assume that our bodies will figure out what needs to be done and obligingly provide, regardless of the level of our more conscious efforts.

Dr. Barbara Luke's book, When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads (coauthored with Tamara Eberlein, published by Harper Collins, 1999), is a great resource for helping to ensure a healthy multiple pregnancy and delivery. When I was pregnant, we read it, re-read it, highlighted it, re-re-read, and marked important passages with stickies. It was completely dog-eared by the end of my pregnancy. In a nutshell, the author, who is a prominent researcher in prenatal nutritional issues, argues for the importance of substantial maternal weight gain in order to bring multiples to term. But please don't be
contented with the nutshell version. Go get the book.

Eat More and Slow Down
The truth is that you can do a lot to increase your chances of getting your babies to term. Ironically, the most important elements to success are two ideas that have become completely counterintuitive for the modern western woman: to eat more and to slow down. Very quickly, you need to reorient your thinking so that you can see weight gain and rest as good things, even if they have been your tacit enemies since adolescence. The concept of needing more rest when gestating two babies would seem self-evident at some level, and yet most of us are so accustomed to catapulting ourselves through hectic, overscheduled days and into evenings of re-grouping, bill paying, housecleaning, and scheduling tomorrow's madness that "rest" or "slowing down" means doing all that except, perhaps, the dishes. It's difficult for us to imagine how life would proceed if we truly eliminated or lessened the activities that fill our days. The dry cleaning can't get itself. That disgusting bathtub won't self-clean. One ought to pay one's bills. Right? Sort of.

Yes, life goes on. But your contributions to operations of the household must, must, must be diminished, and this is true even if you love being pregnant and have never felt better in your life. This is not simply a remedy for the suffering. It is a preemptive measure that will help ensure the babies' health. You need to rest every day, and at times of the day that would normally embarrass you as indulgences. This means a nap after lunch, or as soon as you get home from work, and an early—as in right after dinner—bedtime, even if you lie in bed and read for hours before sleeping. Even if you feel capable of pushing harder and getting more done, don't. If you wait until you are totally beat and aching to rest, you have waited too long. It's like getting an oil change for the car: if you can feel a difference in your drive afterward, you waited too long. This is preventative rest, not restorative rest. And someone else will simply have to pick up the slack on everything else from bathtub scrubbing to board meetings. You will probably be surprised to see how much more adaptable others are to your new status as a slug, compared to you yourself. Give yourself permission to give these babies the best chance they can have, knowing that it involves some sacrifices.

Reality Check
Research points repeatedly to rest and nutrition as crucial in determining the health of twin babies. Yet as convinced as I was by the logic of this research, I still struggled with the notion of pursuing a substantial weight gain. That is, at the same time that I was willingly and healthfully gaining seventy pounds over thirty-nine weeks, I was simultaneously sickened by the thought that perhaps I would only lose, say, eleven pounds of it. I had a hard time believing faithfully in my being able to lose that much, having struggled with my weight in the past. This was a strange emotional position to
occupy: half of my brain saying, "Eat. Eat!" and the other half saying, "Oh Lord, will I weigh over two hundred pounds for the rest of my life?" The answer for me was no; in fact, I weigh less now than I have since high school. (My high school friends will tell you that this isn't terribly impressive, which is just one of the many reasons I no longer hang out with them…but you see my point, right?) Gaining more weight than your entire body weighed in fourth grade needs to become a goal, not a dread.

Eat as much healthful, protein-filled, vitamin-packed food as you can manage. And then eat more. And then take a nap. There are all sorts of reasons that multiples sometimes come early, so it is simply incorrect and unfair to surmise that a mother of preemies didn't do everything she could to get those babies to term. At the same time, eating and sleeping are two behaviors that you can control that will help to give your babies the best possible chance they have to stay where they belong until they are fully cooked. As we used to say during my third trimester: in spite of the aching back and sleep disturbances, they are much, much easier to take care of while they're still inside you.

Customer Reviews

A truly enjoyable MUST read!!!!
I have now read three of the books that are out there on handling twin babies, and I have to say this one is absolutely the best. First of all, it is hilarious, which really makes it fun to read. But more importantly, it gave me meaningful, specific ways to cope. Not just "get help" but "here's how, exactly". I just felt like, reading it, I had a best friend or sister guiding me through the whole way, reassuring me that I could do this and telling me HOW. I feel so much better prepared for twins than I did before I read it, even though I had already read "Here They Come" and "Twinspiration." It wasn't until I got this book that I started to feel like I can handle these babies. This one is definitely going to become the go-to book for expecting twin moms. As my due date nears, I am actually now RE-reading some parts.

The instruction booklet that should come with every set of twins!
As a mom of twins,I have found Juggling Twins to be an invaluable reference source. Regan-Loomis' approach to expecting and parenting twins is realistic and undaunting. With great wit Reghan-Loomis explores all facets of having twins. She touches on relationship issues that may arise due to lack of sleep, additional financial stress, who should do the midnight feedings (and two o'clock feedings), and needing individual personal time when you barely have time to fit in a shower. Included in this book are also GREAT tips for how to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks such as feeding both babies at the same time, getting laundry and dishes done (accept offers of help from ANYONE who offers), getting the babies on a schedule for sleep as well as feeding, trying to find time to get to know each baby as an individual, how to let your babies explore and grow while keeping them safe and not losing your mind trying to keep track of where each is (picture crawling and toddling phases of developement), and potty-training twins.

This book has helped me to realize that I'm not the only mom who has sat in my twins' room at two o'clock in the morning wondering which child I am holding and whether that child will forever be known by the other's name because I accidentally switched cribs at the last feeding. This book is the instruction booklet that should come with every set of twins!

Highly recommend this book!! Great read.
I love the author's combination of humor and practical advice. I wish I had had her wisdom when our little ones were born. I have already given this book to friends as a gift and it was a huge hit! Thank you!