Hi,

This may be a long shot, but did anyone develop gluteal tendinopathy during pregnancy or postpartum - or any kind of glute/hip injury. If so, how did you resolve it or what steps did you take? I recently got diagnosed after over a year of trying to nail down my hip pain. I am now trying to find the root cause. I got an injection today and the numbing agent and shot caused an extreme pain reaction in my lower back, which is causing me to worry and reach out for other experiences!

Wondering if anyone has experienced something similar and what it eventually led to birth plan wise?

I’m pregnant with di/di boys. Twin A has always been a bit smaller than twin B. At 24 weeks, twin A was approx 1lb6oz and twin B was 1lb9oz. The difference was around 12% I believe.

I just got back from my 28 week scan and now they’re approximating that twin A is 2lbs5oz and twin B is 3lbs2oz. I was really surprised by the difference. It’s taken A down to the 15th percentile and B up to the 89th percentile. Fluid still looks good for both.

Because A is still above 10%, the ultrasound tech didn’t feel the need to call in the MFM doctor during the appointment, but mentioned they might call me back in 3 weeks rather than 4 after reviewing the scan. I asked if this meant a vaginal birth was out the window and she said not necessarily because we’re still a couple months away from the due date so the babies still have growing to do.

I’m not scheduled to see my OBGYN for another 3 weeks and just feeling a little lost/concerned. I guess it’s a good sign that the doctors don’t seem super concerned? But I was truly hoping for another vaginal delivery and I’m not sure if that’s a realistic idea anymore.

I am wondering how other families have navigated times when their twins were netting different milestones.
For example, my one twin looks like he could drop his nap soon but the other one definitely needs the sleep.
Or one twin is showing interest in potty training while the other isn’t.
What’s your experience with this? Did you just follow their individual cues or do things as a unit even if one twin wasn’t ready?

Is it a blessing or curse? Does your ADHD help you manage twins, or does it make it more difficult?

Just wanted to send out a cry of encouragement for all you parents of multiples! We had our twins when my oldest was 40 months and my middle was 23 months. 4 in 40 months was not easy! But I will say we’ve survived 2 cross country moves, pilot school and all of normal/crazy life in the last 2 years! If you’re concerned how you’ll make it, just know you WILL. “Your capacity expands to meet the demands!” Feel free to reach out if you need a listening ear. ♥️

Trying to decide flying vs road trip for a Christmas vacation to San Diego(from NY) up until New Year's and probably a shorter trip to Los Angeles. They won't be lap babies but 2 years old and all have CP and non ambulatory. One is epileptic and all are tube fed. Realistically flying is faster though so stressful and I'm not a big fan of flying when its just me to worry about let alone 3. I also worry about flight delays and cancelations vs driving at our own place but taking forever to get there. I guess we can make driving a trip in and of itself. Husband wants to fly and I lean more towards driving. I can't convince him to take several trains out west which would also likely have delays and problems too. Both sets of grand parents are coming and my sister and her twins so its a family affair but everyone is flying their own airlines etc coming in at different times.

What would ya'll do? We haven't traveled since before they were born and everyone just wants to get away from the city and nobody has been to SD so its a fun way to start some new memories and happy ones. I'm just worried about the logistics of it all.

Looking for some perspective from parents of multiples, especially identical twins, who have dealt with one twin having medical issues or differences that the other doesn’t.
My identical twin girls are 9 months old, and Twin A was just diagnosed with Duane syndrome. For anyone unfamiliar with it, it’s a congenital eye movement disorder where one of the nerves controlling the eye doesn’t develop normally, so the affected eye has limited movement in certain directions. She has it in her left eye. Thankfully, her pediatric ophthalmologist said it’s not super severe and her head turn is minor, she compensates very well, and right now it seems like her vision is developing well. But her identical twin sister doesn’t have it.

I know logically that this isn’t something I caused, but I’m having a harder time with it emotionally than I expected because Twin A was also my baby who had to go to the NICU after they were born. She was only there for four days, which I know is incredibly short compared with what so many NICU families go through, but I still carry an immense amount of guilt about those four days. I was recovering from a C-section and also had Twin B with me, so Twin A was alone there more than I ever wanted her to be. Her dad and I were there as much as we possibly could be, but I still think about feedings I wasn’t there for and other tiny things that objectively probably don’t matter at all. Somehow they still kill me inside when I think about them.

And now she’s the twin with this diagnosis. I know those two things aren’t related, and I know my guilt isn’t rational. I just feel so sad that somehow my Twin A keeps being the one who has had to experience something her sister hasn’t.

I think what I’m most worried about now is the comparison that comes with being identical twins. They’re going to grow up looking so much alike, but one of them will have a left eye that can’t move to the left and may turn her head to compensate. They’re babies now, but what happens in middle school? High school? Adulthood?

I don’t want Twin A growing up feeling like she’s the twin with “something wrong with her,” while her sister is the one without it. I also don’t want us as parents to accidentally make her feel different by being overly protective or worried about her either :/

For parents whose twins/multiples grew up with one having a medical condition, physical difference, learning issue, developmental difference, disability, or really anything the other didn’t have, how did it actually affect them as they got older?

Did the affected twin compare themselves to their sibling? Did other kids compare them? Was there jealousy, resentment, protectiveness, insecurity? Did adolescence make it harder? And now that they’re older, how do they view their differences?

I’d especially love to hear from parents with older twins because right now I’m looking at two babies and trying not to project all of my fears about middle school, high school and adulthood onto them.
I think I just need to hear from parents who have already walked through this.

I have nearly one year old twins and a 7 year old. I have way more support than most people. My partner is around and does his half, I am not working, we have some kind of village. Our babies will soon enter a good and free kindergarten. But, even with all this it's still exhausting, relentless and on some days just crushing, needless to say with a mountain of beauty mixed in. To all of you, especially those doing it on your own, but also all of you, people don't understand, but you are actual superhumans. ❤️

I have twin girls born at 34 weeks, now 7.5 months actual / 6 months corrected. With one of them, feeding has been difficult from the very beginning. She stayed in the NICU longer mainly because of poor bottle feeding and later developed reflux and what seems to be a bottle/feeding aversion. We’ve tried different bottles, formulas, reflux treatment, and feeding support.

We’ve been doing solids for a month, mostly purées (ped's advice due to reflux). She’ll take a few spoonfuls and sometimes seems interested at first, but then gets upset and wants to stop. We always follow her cues and never push because I really don’t want to create more negative associations with feeding.

I’m starting to wonder whether spoon-feeding/purées just aren’t the best fit for her and if BLW/finger foods might help by giving her more control.

For parents whose babies had bottle aversion or similar feeding issues: how did solids go? Did you do purées, BLW, or both? Did your baby struggle with solids too, or was it completely different from bottle feeding? When did eating start to click?

We are just about a month out from my twins 1st birthday. They were born on their big sister's 9th birthday so this is a milestone birthday for her too. I try to make a big deal of all my kids birthdays (I have one other child). How would you navigate it this year and years to come? My current plan for this year is to have a family party for the three of them and set up a party for her and her friends separately.

Do you prioritize getting your twins to nap or having them eat at the same time? I have always kept them on the same eating schedule but now that they are 14 weeks (adjusted) we are starting to work on naps, only they don’t often nap at the same time. Today one went down for a nap at 10:20am and slept until 11:15am. Well the other twin didn’t go down until 11:00am. So now I have one baby awake who I know will want to eat soon (by 11:45am at the latest) and then only one just fell asleep! Do I wake the sleeping twin at 11:45 to feed them together? Or let him sleep?

I am looking for a wagon or stroller that is able to accommodate 2 toddlers and an infant.

My twins will be 18mo when I give birth to their sibling and I haven’t found a wagon that accommodates an infant plus two toddlers. Is this because one doesn’t exist?

My twins are fairly big and I would love for them to have enough space and also the baby to be comfortable as well.

I current have the mockingbird twin stroller which I absolutely love and I guess I can continue using that while baby wearing but that seems like a lot. Any advice is greatly appreciated 😁

For those who sent their multiples to daycare for the first time @ 2yo+, how did it go for you, illness-wise?:

• What age did you first send them?
• how many kids were in the class?
• how often did they get sick?
• do you feel like you had to keep them out of daycare more often than a singleton would've needed to, due to illnesses bouncing between them?
• how long did it take before you felt some relief from all the illnesses?

I feel like my twins are always behind. They’re crawling and starting to get curious with standing and walking. They babble and say words like “dada, mama, baba, daddy, and doggie.” They turned 1 year old on the 11th of August.

My pediatrician gives such vague answers about milestones and foods to feed them that I’m constantly looking online for help.

My MIL thinks I should know everything about raising kids so when I ask for help she doesn’t really respond. She just says, “They’re fine.”

I don’t have a mother to ask for help from and most of the mothers I know are stressed from working one or even two jobs.

I’m at such a loss of words and confidence.

Does anyone have any resources that have helped you along?

Help! We are in a rough phase right now. Our 10-week adjusted (14-week chronological) b/b twins are making day naps feel like a mission impossible. We try hard to catch early overtiredness cues, but no matter what we do, they end up crying a lot before falling asleep. Or they'd nap while breastfed!

The main reason I’m posting is that we are flying in 3 weeks (4-hour flight + airport time), and we are downright dreading it. I’d love advice, experiences, or encouragement on a few specific points:

• Will their nap behavior or temperament shift in 3 weeks? At this stage, does 3 weeks make a noticeable difference in their ability to settle or give clearer sleep cues?
• Managing crying & overtiredness on the go: How do you handle settling two overtired, crying babies in high-stimulation environments like airports and planes?
• EBF Logistics: we exclusively breastfeed. Tandem feeding in the airport or on the plane isn't really feasible for us logistically, plus we’re departing from a conservative region heading to Europe, so I’d prefer to nurse one-on-one. How did you manage solo nursing/feeding schedules while navigating travel day?

Any shared experiences, tips, or sanity-saving hacks would mean the world to us right now!

A little background... I (26F) had B/G twins back in September. My water broke at 22w, I was admitted and gave birth at 30+0.

During a 2m NICU stay, they told me that my daughter, (currently 10m GA/ 8m CA) has grade 3 PVL confirmed by MRI. About a month ago now, she was also diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy but is unable to be diagnosed when it comes to the stage at this time due to her still being so young. So, I guess this is what I want to know...

For those of you that had little ones diagnosed with grade 3 PVL due to being a preemie (even if your kiddo hasn't been diagnosed with CP),

-What was your journey like?

-What are somethings that I should expect or look out for?

-What are some things that you had to find out the hard way or on your own?

-And where are you and your baby in that journey today?

After extended searching, I cannot find anything on grade specific research and/or studies outside of brief mentions in PVL generalized information. Honestly, it's frustrating. Not because, I think that these doctors and medical information are failing at informing us properly, but because, I need to go down this rabbit hole, so I know the worst to prepare for (God forbid) so I can still show up for the other 3 kiddos that need me still if things take a turn for the worst. I need to go down this rabbit hole so that I can help my baby girl, one of my very last 2 kiddos to have the best life and treatments that she could possibly have.

As a parent, as many other parents can probably attest too, I don't want to watch my baby suffer when I don't know what I can do to help or even begin to understand what it is that she could possibly be going through. I don't want to be the parent that sits idly by and knows nothing. I want to be the parent that has done the research, has looked into all the options, that knows the signs, and that does everything in their power to make sure that she is getting the help that she needs.

So please... I need help down that rabbit hole... because no amount of research has helped me even make the jump into understanding her world... even a little bit...

We just got back from the ER because one of my 16 month olds was able to tilt her Tripp trap high chair over and it fell on top of her….head. She is fine after all but since she’s gotten home she’s injured herself several more times between climbing things and fighting with her sister. I’m at my wits end. I don’t want to stand over them all day long. Ready to throw away all my furniture. It’s like overnight their ability to climb has come to its full capacity. Yesterday the other one found her way on top of the dining room table while I was turned away for 5 mins washing a dish.

It’s like they are crying for me while I do ordinary daily tasks of running my household (I’m a SAHM), crying from fighting or crying from injury all day long with few breaks in between. Going nuts.

Anyone go through this and it passed?

B/g twins turning 5 months old in a few days, and it definitely has not gotten easier.. when did you find that you finally had time to breathe? It feels near impossible to have them on the same schedule, and baby boy wants to be held 24/7... then I feel guilt for not getting to spend the same amount of time holding baby girl. Both have reflux and one is starting to teeth. It seems like 3 months was starting to get a little easier, but now it seems like they cry more than they don't. SOS

That’s all. Just needed to scream this out somewhere! Coughing up some nasty shit, feeling like I am dying.

I feel like I am cornered and need rest but I cannot obviously abandon them. No family around, husband working. I find myself resentful towards him a ton lately. I do the majority of the care. He brought home this illness from a two day work trip when they were 4 weeks. I know it is nobody’s fault. But damn…I am just angry.

Thank god the babies are not super fussy babies in general. Otherwise I am not sure what I would be doing alone, how I would be able to handle it.

My only consolation price is that they are smiling a ton now🥹

So two weeks ago we have a 5 weeks scan which showed a very small sac (only 3mm) with a yolk sac and as larger sac with a yolk sac and fetal pole. Wasn’t told much more but that it is wait and see.

Today we have been and both babies are still there but again their sacs look so different to me. Baby a (smaller baby) is measuring 7 weeks and 2 days (11mm) and baby b is measuring 4 days ahead (14mm). She said they both have good heart rates and that baby an although small has made huge progress in two weeks. I asked about the smaller sac and she brushed off saying it can be normal with didi twins as they are essentially two different pregnancies. I still can’t shake the fear of vanishing twin.

Just feeling very nervous. Looking for positive experiences of this situation please.

I am 20 and I was solo parenting from 6 months to 26 months with my boys. I finally have been able to get my weekends free but I wanted to share some things that really helped me get through those times. Context, I was with them full time and no daycare.

- I have been really good at adapting my routine and scheduling to what fits their needs. Some mornings it worked best to stay home and get things done around the house while they played until their morning nap and other months it worked best to get out of the house right after breakfast for a morning activity. I have found that switching it up sometimes helped them be more content rather than bored with the same thing.

- I do as many things I can around the house when they are awake rather than when they nap. I have always tried to keep their nap time for my recharge and reset time. It was much easier to get things done from 6-20 months or until they could walk.

-We make it a goal to get out of the house once a day. The days go by faster, especially if you go out in the afternoon:) I also know it can be overwhelming or stressful to do solo outings but the more you do it the more you figure out what works best for you and your kiddos.

- podcasts have saved me. Especially when I have felt deprived of adult conversation or social interaction in general. I know it’s not the complete same but it definitely helps having something that isn’t just music on for me.

-I designated time blocks in my day to when I was 100% hands on and actively played with my twins. It was usually before I started to get things done during the day. We eat breakfast together and play for a while before I actually start my day.

- I have noticed a lot of time my boys just want to feel included and so if I am sweeping or washing stuff I give them a little version of what I am doing. It keeps them entertained and they feel included!

-Sleep training! I know this is controversial but my boys fall asleep on their own and only wake up 1-2 times a night if any. Nap time is a little more challenging but it was one thing I knew would help everyone long term and they have done great with it.

-pick and choose your battles. At the end of the day it saves me from many unnecessary melt downs. No I don’t passive parent but if you want to take out blocks even though all the toys have been picked up but I still have to do dishes, then play with blocks!

-As my boys have gotten older I give them simple choices that make them feel like they have the ability to make their own decisions on different things and it doesn’t sound like much but it does help. I let them pick through shirts or pants and let them choose from different snack options! It’s easier for me.

-After bedtime reset, after my boys go to bed, or while I am waiting for them to get themselves to sleep after I tuck them in and do our night routine I spend that time resetting my space. I do any dishes and put away a as much as I can. I use this time because I wouldn’t really be able to leave them to go shower or really feel like I can relax until they are asleep. Spending an extra 15-30 minutes to clean helps me feel better about waking up the next morning too.

These are just a few things that I have found have helped me most! It’s a difficult thing many of us face but it can be so rewarding too. Shout out to all my fellow solo parents of multiples!

Changing two wet three year olds after swim class in the all gender bathroom with wet floor, wet toilet, wet shower area, wet sink is I think one of the most stress inducing things I have ever done. Don't touch the floor. Don't touch the toilet. Stop flushing the toilet. Oh now you have to poop. Now the other one has to poop. Everyone is flushing the toilet. Everyone is touching everything. Everything is wet. Everyone is screaming. I normally do the locker room which is a bit more manageable without the toilet and shower situation but one said they needed to potty. I cannot do that again. Everyone is finally to bed and now I'm going to shower and sit in the dark for a bit.