Prepare for Twins: Tips for Money, Family, Mind and Home

The moment you find out you’re pregnant with twins can be both exciting and daunting. While you will be getting two babies for a single pregnancy, you will also have two little humans to feed, put to bed, change diapers for and snuggle with.

Prepare for twins by exercising to keep your body in shape, informing your family, working closely with your doctor during the pregnancy and updating your budget to include higher spend for two additional family members.

This article breaks down 9 steps to organize your finances, mental health support system and home to prepare for your twins before, during and after the pregnancy.

Understand a twin pregnancy can be difficult

Having an idea of the complications that can arise in the beginning of your pregnancy can help set your expectations, allows you to ask better questions and better prepares you for what to expect so you’re not too surprised during your doctor’s visits.

Women pregnancy with twins experience higher rates of preterm labor, anemia, low birth weight, caesarean section, according to a 2-year study by the National Institute of Health.

While every woman’s twin pregnancy experience will be different, the pregnancy itself can increase the risk of hypertension, anemia and miscarriages for mom. Johns Hopkins has a detailed list of the pregnancy complications here.

In the case where your twins share a placenta, the twins are also at higher risk for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). TTTS is a rare pregnancy condition where one twin received more blood than the other leading to downstream complications for both babies.

Since our identical twins shared a placenta, we personally had to get sonograms every two weeks to monitor our twins for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome in additional all of our regular doctor’s visits. These visits became especially difficult during the final months of my pregnancy since I gained more than half my body weight to to carry my babies.

Have an idea of what ideal can look like when baby arrives

The knowledge that you’ll soon ben welcoming twins can be quite overwhelming so taking a moment to decide what the best-case-scenario looks like will help you ask the right questions, recruit the right help and purchase only the necessities for your family.

A few questions to talk over with your partner or think about on your own are:

• Will you move in with family? If so, which family members would you like to move in with?
• What room will your child stay in for the first few months of life? After 6 months?
• How will you care for yourself after delivery?
• What would you like your parenthood experience to look like?
• How will you make time for fun, dates and personal time?
• How will you feed your twins?
• How can your family and friends support you in this experience?
• When will you go back to work? What babysitting, nannying or other childcare services will you need to support parents’ careers, if any?

Your idea of perfect can help drive who you ask for support, what kind of support you request, what you plan to purchase for your pregnancy and post-pregnancy care and what you add to the baby shower gift list.

Prepare older siblings

If you have older children, you’ll have to let them know that they’ll soon be a big brother or sister and your family will be inviting two babies into the world at the same time. Some children will be excited about the idea of twins and others may be less so.

Our teen worried about the idea of two babies crying all day and night, but she is always happy to cuddle a little baby these days.

Many parents find that having a strong support system makes balancing parenting and personal growth easier. If you’re planning to continue your education or work towards a certification after your twins arrive, having access to study materials and learning resources can be invaluable.

Talk to your support system

Without a doubt, twins parents will need some type of support with caring for two babies – especially if you don’t want to drive yourself crazy. If you’d like to stay with family, begin asking those family members for exactly what you want and see what’s possible.

You may want to ask friends and family with older children to hold onto their hand-me-downs. There may be people in your life that you plan on asking for babysitting or to be god parents for your twins.

The earlier you can have these questions, the more prepared you’ll be along your new twin-parent journey.

Update your family budget

Adding one baby to your family is already expensive if you consider adding the diapers, wipes, formula and potentially daycare costs. While you won’t have to buy two of everything, some baby costs will certainly double when you add twins to the family.

Update your budget assumptions to include additional spending on the following:

• Diapers (if you do not plan to use cloth diapers)
• Formula (if you do not plan or are not able to to breastfeed)
• Childcare costs (unless you plan to live with or get childcare support from family)

These are ongoing costs that should be added into your weekly and monthly budget.

Ask for baby items you need

You can cut down on many of the one-time purchases for your twins by asking for hand-me-downs from friends and family with older children or adding the items to your baby gift registry.

Babies grow very fast the first year of life and new parents will go through their babies favorite items very fast, making them available for new parents to use with very little wear and tear. We received clothes from newborn size to 24 months that were never worn, two high chairs, two ergonomic baby carriers, two baby swings, one infant car set, two toddler car seats and lots more by asking for hand me downs.

If you’re not comfortable asking for hand-me-downs (or you’re the first of your friend group to have a baby), then add everything you believe you’ll need to your baby shower gift list.

Prepare the babies living space

Whether you decide to set up the babies bassinets in your room for the first few months or plan to have a full nursery set up for your twins on day 1, knowing what space you want to use is a great start to preparing your twins living area.

The basic necessities for your twin living area are cribs or bassinets, changing table and diaper bin. If you have more space, you can add an organization system like drawers, cubes or shelves to organize clothes, bibs, blankets, hats and burp cloths. For a larger nursery, you can add a rocking chair and dirty clothes hamper to complete the space.

Prepare for the birthing process

Your doctor will guide you every step of the way for preparing your delivery. Follow the doctor’s provided directions leading up to your delivery.

If your doctor has already told you that you’re having a C-section, take a few days to prepare your home in advance to accommodate a longer recovery period.

Determine working situation after baby arrives

If you work for a company that offers paid maternal or paternal leave, you may not have to worry about where your paycheck will come from for 8-16 weeks after welcoming your children into the world. If you do not receive paid parental leave, you’ll have to determine what you need to do to support your family after the twins arrive. Many parents choose to save up during the pregnancy to take an unpaid leave from work during the first few weeks or months post pregnancy.

Next, decide what your work life will look like after the first few weeks.

• Will one or both parents return to work full-time?
• Will you need to purchase childcare? If so, research child care facilities in your area.
• Are you able to ask family for daytime childcare support while you work?
• Are you able to work from home and manage childcare on your own throughout the workday?
• If you’re breastfeeding, how will you manage the breastfeeding/pumping schedule?

These are all important questions to consider and think through for when the twins arrive.