Preparing For Twins: 7 Important Things to Consider

Sharing is caring!

Hearing the words “two heartbeats” are for sure the biggest life-changing words I’ve ever heard. Nobody ever thinks they will end up pregnant with twins! When I found out I was pregnant with twins, I was shocked and had no idea what I needed to do to start preparing for twins.

While I’m so thankful that I was chosen to be a twin mommy, there are many things to be taken into consideration with a twin pregnancy that you don’t even have to think about with a singleton pregnancy.

So. If you’re coming to my site today and you just found out you’re expecting twins, take a deep breath. You got this. I’ll walk you through the very first things you need to consider as well as other valuable information about preparing for twins.

*Post contains affiliate links.

Preparing Your Vehicle for Twins

#1: Do you need to find a different vehicle?

One of the first things to consider is your vehicle. Can it handle the number of car seats you will need?

If the twins are your first children, you are likely fine as all cars should be able to hold two car seats. If your twins aren’t going to be your only children in car seats, you could have a problem.

Our son, Theo was 15-months old when we found out we would be having twins. That meant we would have 3 in car seats.

Unfortunately, we had JUST purchased new vehicles, neither of which could comfortably fit 3 car seats. We couldn’t trade either vehicle in without losing a ton of money, which we weren’t comfortable doing.

Luckily, even though it was incredibly tight, we were able to find car seats that fit 3 across. I’ve included some resources for you if you are in the same situation.

Read –> My Twin Baby Registry Guide

More Information on Car Seat Safety

• The Best Narrow Car Seats for 2019
• The Car Seat Lady: Fitting 3 Across
• 3 Across Car Seat Guide

Preparing for Twins Financially

#2: How are you going to afford two babies?

If you were planning for one child and now are getting two, it can be a big difference financially. I have an entire post dedicated to preparing for twins on a budget, so if you’re nervous about finances, that’s a post you should read.

Important things to consider are:

• college savings plans
• planning for the possibility of bed rest
• double the cost of baby supplies
• child care for more than one baby

The first thing to do is set up a family budget and make adjustments as you need to. If you need to cut expenses, it is best to know up front and start right away, not when the twins are born.

Other Posts of Interest

Preparing for Twin Pregnancy

#3: What is your plan if you go on bed rest?

The biggest thing to consider is health complications and going on bed rest.

I know it seems extreme to PLAN and PREPARE for bed rest, but it’s not!

I had zero health complications. Zero. I delivered my first child, Theo, several days past my due date and he weighed 9 pounds. My doctor thought for sure that I would have no problem making it full term with twins.

Then boom… or a guess splash… and my water broke just before 30 weeks, and there I was, stuck in the hospital, with no plan for who was going to take care of my children!

Perhaps going on bed rest won’t affect your daily life that much.

If you work from home and don’t have other children, then you should be able to carry on fairly normally.

However, if you work full time and rely on your income, or are the sole caregiver to your children, going on bed rest can be a problem.

Look into what you have for short term insurance. If you don’t have any, it’s probably too late to get some because there’s usually a grace period. It is a good idea to start saving money aside in case of possible bedrest.

It’s also a good idea to see what is available in terms of short term daycare or friends/family who could watch your children.

Other Posts to Read

Preparing to Give Birth to Twins

#4: Be prepared to give birth on an operating table.

Twin deliveries happen on an operating table. The risk of an emergency C-section is there because once baby A comes out, baby B can shift positions and there is no telling what can happen.

Also, there will be a LOT of staff there. Not only will they have the doctors and nurses for you, but they will have them for each baby. If your delivery is premature, they will have NICU staff in there as well.

You can read my twin birth story in this post if you’re interested in the whole story.

Preparing for Twins: NICU

#5: Mentally prepare for the possibility of NICU time.

Having twins in the NICU was incredibly difficult for me emotionally while I was going through it.

But honestly? Looking back now, it did have some benefits.

I was able to go home and spend quality time with my two-year-old, whom I’d been apart from for over two weeks!

I was also able to fully recover without having to worry about carrying babies or waking up to feed them. Granted, I did wake up to pump, but once I was done, I could go right back to sleep.

The biggest benefit of the NICU is that they got my twins on the same feeding schedule.

You can read more about the benefits of a NICU stay here.

Mama’s Organized Chaos

Other NICU posts of interest…

Childcare for Twins

#6: Will both parents return to work full time?

If you were planning on returning to work and put your baby in daycare, that could change if you have two babies!

If you were planning on having family members watch your baby, they might not be comfortable watching two babies.

This post has great tips for using family as babysitters and working through any issues that may come up!

The Babywise Mom

Sleeping Arrangements

#7: Where will your twins sleep?

Does your house have enough room for twins?

Perhaps you own a smaller, two bedroom home, and the big picture plan is to move once you’re ready to have a second child. What if the second bedroom is too small to hold two cribs?

You’ll have to make a decision. Do the babies get the master bedroom? Do you try to move? Only you can decide what to do.

To expand further upon the arrangements you need to make for sleeping, do you want your twins to share a room?

You can read more about safe sleeping arrangements for twins in this post.

Team-Cartwright

Other Posts You Should Read…

Hopefully after reading this post you feel more prepared to have twins! You will love being a twin parent!

P.S. Make sure you’re following me on social media to keep up with our family and all the twin cuteness! I am on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!