Okay, I have had it. When I was pregnant with each of my singletons, all I heard was happy storeis of pregnancy. I notice as soon as people hear I am having twins, they come up with horror stories about twin pregnancies. These are some of the comments I have had so far.

"My sister-in-law was pregnant with twins but lost them at 21 weeks."

"I was carrying twins, but, lost one, my girl at 18 weeks".
(I have heard many stories concerning loss of one twin.)

"I had a friend who bled to death after delivering her twins".

And while sitting in the Dr's office my last visit 2 ladies sat there rambling on and on and on about awful losses of a twin/both twins from people they knew.....

I mean, this is just the start. Sometimes, particularly when it is gossip ( a friend of a friend stuff) I just want to smack sense into these people. I can kinda understand some grieving and just wanting to talk about it (the mothers whom lost a twin/twins) but, gosh, it is really scary hearing all this stuff. I just don't understand, this NEVER happened when I was carrying one baby. I am afraid enough these 2 will be way too early because of my pre-term history.

Maybe my hormones are serging, I don't know, but, it seems like people just do not THINK when they talk. Do I need to say something politely, like "I am sorry, you know I am carrying twins, and this is just not what I need to hear", or do I ignore them? I am just wondering, am I the only Mom who has went through this with twins?

Gosh, I would just look at them curiously and say "You are telling me this, why?", and wait for an answer.

On a fun note, my grandmother was telling me that with her next-to-last pregnancy, she didn't find out she was having twins until she was something like 8.5 months along! I asked her what her reaction was (because I would be a wee bit stressed, given that she already had 3 small children at home), and she said it was a happy "Oh boy!" :D She's so cute and sweet!

Anyway, good luck, congratulations, and don't let the rude ones get you down :)

Lisa

Well, believe me it doesn't stop after they're born. People will stop you all the time and babble and ask the most silly things or most personal things about them. It does get annoying, but every once in a while, it's actually nice. I find that it tends to ease up when the twins get alittle older, like around 3 ,4 or 5 years old. People tend to notice babies, but not older kids so much.

I enjoy the people that have something to say, like usually it'll be someone who is a twin that will stop you, or someone (older people are the best!) who raised twins themselves. They are so heartwarming and while they may say that you have your hands full, they also always add how special and precious they are.

Ignore it as much as you can. Take the positive and don't worry - you'll do what you have do.

D.

Ditto to what has been said.

If you are interested I have a set of questions specific to twin pregnancy and labour & birth you can ask your care-giver as well as a twin birth plan. I also have a pretty good twin birth story. Full-term (38 weeks & 2 days) vaginal, unmedicated birth with Twin B born footling breech. We all went home the same day they were born. Exclusively breastfed, etc.

Let me know.

People don't notice the twins as much as they used to. We have 9 kids so they just tend to notice there are a LOT of kids. When the twins were younger we went to a busker festival & my other kids were so mad. We were stopped so often with people asking about the twins that we ended up missing some of the shows. I felt like making up a "stat" sheet & handing it out instead of having to repeat all the same stuff.

Also most were "shocked" that they were full-term (5lb, 13oz & 7lb, 15oz) and breastfeeding and in slings and I was so tiny...etc., etc.

Just try to read as many good stories as you can, but still be prepared for all the possibilities.

Mothering Multiples by Karen Kerkhoff-Gromada is a great book as well as "Expecting Twins, Triplets or More" by Dr. Barbara Luke.