I read with a mixture of amusement and nostalgia Mariah's heart-felt reasons for painting clouds and stars on her nursery ceiling.
Warm words and wishes for babies who will dream big and love large. The thing is J Lo and I know something Mariah doesn't. We know that in a few weeks when the big day of twin birth occurs she won't even remember what colour she has painted the nursery ceiling. Mariah, like J-Lo and I before her, has set the stage and is waiting for the two new cast members to arrive. She knows the character she will play for the rest of her life is called Mum, but she doesn't know her lines. For the first time in her life Mariah will have to boldly take centre stage with no rehearsals.
I remember being sat the other side of the start line, fussing over whether I should sort two sets of clothes according to size or style, whether I should leave the hospital bag by the door or my bed, whether the bunting should hang around the cot or across the room,.
And then a few weeks later I remember being shaken awake when it was time for me to feed someone and trying to remember if it was day or night, if I had breast fed Noah or Bailey last, on the right breast or the left, who had a wet nappy, had I taken the washing out of the machine so the next lot could go on,?
In the early days and weeks New Twin Mum (aka Mariah) will no doubt be subjected to all manner of well meaning advice, along the lines of 'make the most of this stage, it goes so fast' or 'enjoy, this is the easy bit'. Well, Mariah, my advice to you is to ignore it. All of it. When you are blearily munching on a bagel in the kitchen at 3am so that your body has some fuel to make some more milk the last thing you will be thinking is either a) how much fun you are having or b) how you wish this stage could last forever.
I suggest that you shuffle into your walk in wardrobe occasionally and remind yourself that you are still Mariah as well as Mum. Go and cuddle a Jimmy Choo and take comfort in the fact that you will dust them off and go dancing again some day.
I'm not saying you won't enjoy any of the teeny tiny twin days, and I don't mean to sound like a been-there-done-that-spoil-sport, I just wish some one had told me that for the first three months you will enter a different time zone. A Twilight Twin Zone. When you emerge from the fourth trimester you can proudly wear your Multiple Mum badge. Mariah, welcome to the club.
Katy Hymas - Mum to twin boys Bailey and Noah
April 2011
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The 'Other' in Mother
