Double trouble

Nothing really prepares you for parenthood. And although parenthood does prepare you for grandparenthood it's still a surprise when you hold a little bundle of person for the first time and that love bomb goes off leaving you as totally besotted as you were first time around. And doubly so when it's twins.

But, going back a year or so, the standard response that came out every time you told a friend that your son and wife were expecting twins: "Double trouble!", turns out to be 110% true.

Not that the boys are any more trouble than anyone else's baby; it's just that there are two of them. Having one new baby in the house is major, but believe me it's a piece of piss compared with having two.

I remember a friend commenting that, after a difficult day his wife would be waiting for him to get home from work and thrust the baby at him ("Your turn now") as if he'd been on a nice holiday rather than struggling with a difficult job all day. I don't recall experiencing this, but I'm sure it happened a few times ...but am not sure how it could work with twins.

With one baby at least you know there will be a break now and again when it sleeps... not so with twins.

If one sleeps through the night, the other one doesn't. Most often neither does. During the day you try to keep them synchronised for feeds, play, baths etc. But if their daytime naps overlap by even 20 minutes it's a wonderful bonus ...except that's the only time you can prepare the next meal, sort out the washing, tidy up, wash up, get something to eat yourself ...and that's if you managed to get enough sleep the previous night that you don't automatically doze off when not immediately in demand. Jeez, if one baby needs 2 parents, twins need 4!

I recently went to help, when the whole family were poorly with norovirus sickness, and took charge of the baby monitor two nights running.

A, bless him, was barely over the worst but still appeared each of the many times I was summoned by cries throughout each night. Even so, they were long nights and when I came home the next day I was thoroughly worn out, enough to think I was going down with the same, or at least with full-blown flu. I wasn't, but it took a day and a night to recover from the sheer physical exhaustion. Unless you're (a) young (b) healthy and (c) have special powers I don't know how anyone could keep that up 24/7.

But somehow they do, and also provide a nurturing, stimulating world for the boys to enjoy and grow into.And when they're not poorly F and O are an absolute joy.