Frequently Asked Questions

I took this idea from another twin mom's blog (thanks, Megan!). Thought it would be fun to answer some frequently asked questions that we often get. Here we go:

Are you getting sleep?
Lets be honest, this is a silly question. We have infant twins……what is sleep?

Do they wake each other up?
Thankfully, no!  When one is fussy, it rarely seems to bother the other and/or wake them up.

It is July and hot outside, why are they always dressed in long sleeves and pants? (this is for you Lora!)
With newborn babies, you typically dress a layer warmer than what you would wear. Also, they spent a lot of their first week in the house and we keep the AC going and the temperature pretty cool (otherwise Chop complains!). Both of them were also born with lower weights, so they have a harder time regulating their temperatures and staying warm because it takes a lot of energy.

Are you breastfeeding/nursing?
I debated posting this question because it is a very personal decision and a topic that many have very strong opinions on. But, I actually get this question asked all the time so here we go……

The short answer: No.

The long answer (warning: this is long so skip if you aren’t interested!): It has been a struggle. From the start, I wanted to breastfeed. We got off to a not so great start when both O & S had to head to the Special Care Nursery while we were at the hospital. Because they weren’t able to “room in” with us, I wasn’t able to constantly try to breastfeed them when they were hungry and to get my supply going. I pumped right away and also visited them in Special Care and attempted breastfeeding at each visit. But, neither of them latched and little Stella just wasn’t quite strong enough to get a start. My choice was to either allow them to get a bottle and formula supplement or starve them. Of course I chose the obvious and gave them bottles. We also gave them syringes with the small amounts of breastmilk that I was pumping.

Upon coming home, I continued to pump and give them the expressed milk in a bottle. We also continued to supplement with formula. Each feeding session I tried breastfeeding with each of them. However, we continued to have little success. I met several times with a lactation consultant and tried different things without much success.

For those of you who have breastfed or tried to breastfeed, you know that it isn’t easy and doesn’t always come naturally. However, those aren’t always the stories you hear. You hear about all of the wonderful benefits and how great breastfeeding is. I agree that breastfeeding is a beautiful thing, but it is a very individual experience and so many struggle with it.

And so after a few weeks of spending countless hours making attempts with each baby, then bottle feeding them, then pumping, cleaning bottles/pump parts, over and over every three hours. I just can’t keep up. And that is when I have help…..once I am on my own, it is even more unrealistic.

Do I have mom guilt? Yes.
Am I disappointed in myself? Yes.

But at the end of the day, I have finally decided that spending time loving my babies and being physically/mentally healthy is more important than spending time stressing about how we are going to make breastfeeding work or sitting in a chair pumping. There is no guarantee down the road I will have enough supply or that both of them will latch and have success. And I don’t want to look back at the first 2 months of their lives and have the memories be of frustrating breastfeeding experiences.

And, there are plenty of people out there that were formula babies who turned out just fine!

Are they identical?
Yes, we’ve been asked this. Considering one is a boy and one is a girl, no they are not!

How did you pick the names? Are they family names? What were the other names?
Coming up with four (actually 5 by the time we figured it all out) names seemed like a daunting task once we found out we were having twins and decided that we were going to keep the genders a surprise.  Fairly early on in the process (around April I think), we agreed upon one boy and one girl name.  Stella and Griffin were our first two choices.  At that point, we also decided it would be our boy/girl name combo as well. 
Coming up with the first two names took some of the pressure off, so we stopped actively coming up with names for a couple of months.  Around June, we realized we had to get serious and after some searching, and many vetos by dad, Charlotte and Sawyer were chosen as our second set of names.  At this point, Dad thought we were done, but mom had different ideas.  About 6 weeks before the twins arrived, mom said, I’m not sure I like Stella and Griffin together, maybe we should do Stella/Sawyer.  That just didn’t have the right feel to it either, so I talked her back into Stella/Griffin for the time being.  On the 4th of July weekend, Kendra again said, “I’m still not sure I think Stella and Griffin go together well.”  After being told for the second time, dad finally realized we weren’t quite through picking names!
So, the hunt began anew that evening.  Within an hour, we realized we both liked Graham, and were discussing that name when Kendra said, “What about Oliver?”  Looking at her in disbelief, I replied, “You shot that name down months ago when I brought it up.”  She said, “No, you did!”  Within minutes, we had agreed upon Oliver Graham.  We really liked that the boy/girl combo names of Stella and Oliver had a more traditional feel.  One last thing, none of the names were chose were family names.
The final combos were as follows:
Girl/Girl:  Charlotte Claire, Stella Grace
Boy/Boy:  Griffin Maxwell, Sawyer Jackson
Girl/Boy:  Stella Claire, Oliver Graham

Who do they look like?
Oliver is definitely his dad. He tends to sleep with his mouth hanging open and is perfectly content eating, sleeping, and well, that is about it. We think that Stella is still growing into her looks and the verdict is still out on who she looks like. She does have mom’s big feet though!

Did we miss anything? Leave it as a comment and we'll answer! 

And because every blog post needs a picture. This is a favorite of mine from just today when we took a stroll through the neighborhood. A big thanks to Farrell for letting us borrow this wonderful bassinet attachment for our stroller!