2020-06-01_Mother_&_Baby

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‘Having twins is

twice as nice’

I sometimeslookat my girls andthink“How

onearthdidI makeyou?”It’s alwaysbeen my

dreamto bea mumbut,duetoa complex

auto-immunecondition,it seemedunlikely.

So,whenI foundoutI wascarryingnot

onebuttwobabies, I wepttears ofhappiness.

Mypartner, Darren,wasn’t quiteas

ecstatic!“How are we goingto cope?”he

asked,terrified.Butthe shocksoonworeoff

andhebecomeasexcitedasI was. People

warnedusit wasgoingto behard,and

I rememberlookingat thegirls’tiny bodies

inthecarontheway homefromhospital,

petrifiedeachtimewe droveovera bump.

At home,I wentstraightinto survival mode;

it wasallaboutfollowingmy instincts.

At first,thegirls wouldn’tdrop off unless

theywerelyingonme. I hadto makeit work

becausethealternativewasextremesleep

deprivation,whichwouldn’thave been good

foranyone!Withthegirls positionedcarefully

onmychest,I wasable tosleeplightlyfor

fourhours at a time. What helpedmassively

wasweaningthemontodummies. Initially,

theyspat themoutbut,with thehelpof

somere versepsychology(gentlypulling

themfromtheirmouthssotheysucked

harder!),theysoonsettled.

AlthoughDarren andI love beingtwin

parents,it hasdefinitelyputa strainon our

relationship.Intheearlydayswe were

stressedandover-tired,andsaidsomeawful

thingstoeach other, whichofcoursewe

didn’tmean!But,eightweeksin, life’s already

somuch easier. Swaddlinghashelped,too,

andI swear by Love to Dreambags, which

makethegirls feelsafe, secureandcalm.

Those,combinedwith playingwhitenoise

deoson YouTube,have helpedus get into

bedtimeroutine.Ofcourse,if oneof them

a bitundertheweatherit allgoesoutof

e window! Buttheysoonslotbackin.

The most empoweringthingI’ve been able

dowiththegirls is breastfeedthemat the

metime. It’s been tricky, andI’ve worked

rdat proppingthemupintheright

sition.There wasno faffingaroundwith

versor specialvests I lostall inhibitions

nd wasnakedfromthewaistup. Being

bleto dothat formy girls hasmademe

el likeSuperwoman!

Holly Stile, 31, a

stay-at-home mum,

lives in Brentwood

with partner Darren

and twin daughters

Heidi and Lottie,

eight weeks

WORDS RACHEL TOAL

Holly with her

tiny girls, Heidi

and Lottie

Enjoying sleepy

snuggles

‘Breastfeeding two at once is so empowering’

Meet the mums whose lives have been turned upside

down and inside out, and are all the richer for it!