When you’ve got not one baby, but two, to bring into the world, there’s so much to do you need an Excel spreadsheet just to keep up, says Liani Maré
As soon as a blood test confirmed our twins, my partner started with an Excel spreadsheet of things we needed to do, change, plan and buy. By finding out at four weeks and hopefully getting to at least 37 weeks of pregnancy, we were left with 33 weeks. If you start counting in weekends, it didn’t sound long at all. To know that we have less than eight weeks to go, our deadlines are getting tighter.
I count myself as one of the lucky ones. I felt queasy and had no appetite the first couple of weeks. I fell asleep on the couch after work but apart from that, I’ve been continuing yoga and swimming up until the third trimester.
Being pregnant has been interesting not only physically, but emotionally as well. My comparison for the past couple of months is still that people react exactly the same way when they hear you are pregnant as when you tell someone you are going on a skiing holiday. Once I put this into perspective, I now find it amusing.
When you plan your ski trip, the first thing most people tell you about is skiing disasters. It feels to me a lot of women that are moms already relive their own pregnant horror stories through you. They tell you in detail how nauseous they were, where they threw up, how moody they were, how their feet had swollen up. If they don’t have stories that are sensational enough, they delve into their archives of family members and friends whose babies were premature and the diseases that struck. I’ve never understood this part of the human spirit where some people feel they must share the bad stories first. It really doesn’t make for the best conversations.
Back to our planning. At the house my partner has built new cupboards, planted grass and vegetables in the garden, fixed lights, put a work bench together to change nappies on, moved heavy things out of the way and is on a DIY mission. I’m reverting to packing baby clothes in the cupboards and making copious lists.
So far we have ticked off the baby shower, sorted out legal matters, attended a CPR course, an antenatal class, went for a 4D scan and even found a photographer who can do a newborn shoot for us in December. We have also hired a full time nanny which was a daunting task. In the past I was content with someone helping to clean the house and ironing clothes. Now expectations change drastically.
From a medical perspective, we did the bed booking at our hospital, phoned the medical aid to get authorisation for a caesarean section and got the reference number. We have started filling in consent forms for various specialist doctors and I have to sort out my maternity leave with my employer. When it comes to the hospital visit and you search for a list of what to pack in your hospital bag or what you need for the first months of your baby’s arrival, you will be tired before you start reading. I was so overwhelmed, I still haven’t started packing. When our parents hear these stories, they are amazed that they have managed to raise us and that we are still alive.
We are trying to have as much as we can done by 30 weeks, which is around the corner. We are winning slowly but surely. Recently I went to Makro and bought R2 500 worth of cleaning supplies, so that we can minimize potential shopping excursions closer to my due date. But, you can just do so much with the 24 hours you get given every day. I’m still working full days and weekends fly by.
Every time I feel one or both of the babies move, I can’t help but smile. And every time we see them on the sonar screen and how they’ve grown, I love them more. The administration or preparing for their arrival will never be bigger than the two people we will have to provide for. What an honour to be in the final stretch of pregnancy that will mark the beginning of the rest of our days as a family. I still have to pinch myself some days to remember it is real.
Leave a Reply