TWINS: Double trouble or Blessed finesse????

Being blessed with motherhood is the best thing a women can achieve and the hardest thing she can endevour. Nothing else could be a better way of seeing your childhood in your own tiny tot. The pre delivery problems , the labor pain , the post delivery symptoms are like a nightmare before you see your baby in your arms smiling or sleeping devoid of all worldly tensions. And then everything seems to me worth it!!! Nurturing a child isn't really easy as it seems to be. Ask a mother who hasn't slept quite for a while because the baby is allergic to diapers,or blinks his eyes just with a mere sneeze of yours. She already goes cartwheels on her head while changing the babies pants throughout the night and hoping that to be the last time. She ends up hoping till she sees the first beam of light penetrating the window glass. Now it would be practically impossible to take out time to think about herself the whole day; and the worst part is knowing that the same series of events has to Recycle back to her in the night too!! Still the baby sleeps when he/she wishes too!! Its like giving your 100 percent input to hope for a fractional output.Now imagine a woman to whom God calls for double the effort..?? I think you must have guessed it right. Yes, I am talking about the mother of Twins. I admit it is double fun and blessing, but it can sometimes be a double trouble too!! Now what are those troubles and how are they dealt will be discussed in the later section of this page but let us first know some biology behind the birth of twins.

Twins can be referred to two offspring produced in the same pregnancy.It ca either be of two types:

1)Monozygotic ("identical")Twins: These twins develop from one zygote that splits and forms two embryos. Since the zygote is one and the sperm fertilizing the eggs is also one ,the twins share physical similarity.

2)Dizygotic ("fraternal") Twins: These twins develop from two separate eggs that are fertilized by two separate sperm. These twins are not identical because their development start with two different eggs and sperms giving rise to two different zygote. Dizygotic twins, like any other siblings, have an extremely small chance of having the same chromosome profile. Like any other siblings, dizygotic twins may look similar, particularly given that they are the same age. However, dizygotic twins may also look very different from each other. They may be of different sexes or the same sex.

Apart from these several other cases of twinning occur out of which siamese twins are the most common.these twins share a common body part like the head or the shoulders.

Having known about how do the twins arise let us now focus on the benefits of having twin babies:

1)TWO FOR ONE: Despite of double the challenge,you only have to go through a single pregnancy, but you end up with two children.It renders you free from all pain of gestating nine long months of pregnancy.

2)TWO AT A TIME: For many parents of twins, it is a great feeling to have one kid on each side of them at a time. Whether you are cradling them together in each arm or holding their hands in each of your hands or snuggling with them by being sandwiched between them, these moments are magical.

3)SHARING SAME BEHAVIORAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERNS: Bringing up two children of different ages can be difficult at times. When one is a toddler, the other is an infant. When one is a teenager, the other is still a child. Their needs are different at different stages and meeting both their needs can be difficult. Twins go through the same developmental stages which makes it a lot easier for the parents.

4)FEELING OF TOGETHERNESS: When you have twins, they go up together and they always have a friend, a partner and a sibling that is their same age. This makes a big difference to both twins, which is why you find that twins are usually very close to each other. While there will be sibling rivalry, they will certainly never feel alone.

5)LEARNING TO SHARE: Twins end up having to share everything, from toys to their parent’s attention. Learning to share is an important life lesson and twins get started on it very early. This is certainly one of the biggest advantages of having twins.

6)SENSE OF BEING DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS: There is no doubt that there is a sense of status involved in being a parent of twins. To begin with twins are much rarer than single children. Also, you also get a lot of respect from other parents who can understand what you must go through to bring up two children at a time.From a twins perspective ,they also they enjoy getting attention from their friends and school mates.

Having twins can be a blessing to parents if they are well aware of all the risk and difficulties involved in nurturing them.undermentioned are some problems associated with the twins:

1)PRETERM LABOR AND PREMATURE BIRTH: Perhaps the biggest risk associated with multiple birth is preterm labor, and consequently, premature birth. Mothers of Twins are twice as likely to experience preterm labor than their singleton peers. The premature baby is often susceptible to weak immune responses.

2)TWIN TO TWIN TRANSFUSION SYNDROME:Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) is a condition unique to monozygotic Twins that share a placenta. Blood vessels within the placenta become crossed, resulting in an unequal flow of blood between the babies. One baby essentially becomes a donor to the other, recipient baby. It's dangerous for both babies, but does not impact the mother's health.

3) SENSE OF INEQUALITY:Tough this might not be valid for every case but i have seen many case where one of the twin is held up as "good" twin while the other is a "bad" twin. This causes sense of superiority and inferiority complex among them and this difference grows bigger with their growing age.

4)BEING GROUPED TOGETHER:One of the main disadvantages of being a twin is that people see you as one person in many cases. Twins may have a difficult time establishing their individual identities to the outside world.

5)NO INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY:Being raised together twins develop a feeling of dependency of doing thing together. sometimes the society also treats them as a single person on a whole which sometimes droops down their confidence.

6)LACK OF PRIVACY: Privacy is a rare element in twins' lives at times.Being a twin also comes with less privacy than being an only child or having older or younger siblings. Twins may share a room, feel like they have to share their thoughts and activities with their twins and be constantly around their twins.Being a twin also comes with less privacy than being an only child or having older or younger siblings. Twins may share a room, feel like they have to share their thoughts and activities with their twins and be constantly around their twins.

Despite of all the problems concerned ,here are some suggested tips which can be of certain help to parents of twins:

1)Schedule yourself: Schedule the feeding time and sleep time of the babies or you could go insane with alternative feeding and sleep cycles of both the babies.

2)Breastfeed both the babies simultaneously: This generally takes a lot of patience but once adapted you can count on this method because then together both the babies have their tummy full and they fall asleep with not much of a problem.

3)Attention giving to the individual child: Do entertain them with separate toys and show your warmth with a timely caress. Children love to be having attention in their developing phase. So try not to make them devoid of it.

4)Separation:Children are prone to contagious diseases;so it is better to separate them if one comes down with a contagious illness right after birth. "Mobility is less of an issue early on, so if one twin has chickenpox, for example, you can separate them and let the healthy twin stay somewhere else to minimize their risk."

After having discussed the pros and cons of raising baby twins,my opinion is still the same:

"It’s double the trouble and double the grins, but double the giggles if you’re blessed with twins." :)

What is your opinion about it?? Is the double- trouble or double - delight????