What No One Told Me About Having Irish Twins

Two smiling children with their arms around each other standing next to a pond.

I remember the day like it was yesterday. The birth of my third child, Deacon, was a scary one. He was premature at 35 weeks and spent almost two weeks in the NICU {12 days to be exact}. When he was finally discharged to go home, my life was chaotic. I already had two other children waiting for me {ages 3 and 1 1/2}. It was busy, to say the least. Deacon had a hard time breastfeeding, but he was a great sleeper {thank God}. At my 6 week postpartum checkup, I was cleared for ‘physical activity.’ I never thought I could get pregnant so quickly after giving birth {we’ve all heard the “breastfeeding as birth control” thing, right??}, but obviously the Lord had other plans for me.

Four photographs of a boy labeled 2012, a girl labeled 2013, a baby labeled 2014 and baby shoes labeled coming July 2015.

What Exactly Are Irish Twins?

Irish twins are siblings born within the same calendar year. In my case, my third and fourth children are 10 months apart from each other. Let that sink in for a bit… for 8 weeks out the of the year, my Irish twins are the same age. I couldn’t believe it when my husband suggested to me many years ago to take a pregnancy test because I was ‘acting strange.’ I didn’t expect it to come out positive. I mean, I had JUST had a baby. However, there were two blue lines present on the test stick and I cried.

I cried because I was happy.

I cried because I was scared.

I cried because my crazy hormones hadn’t had time to properly align back to reality.

I cried just to cry.

So, there I was again, pregnant. Many emotions flooded my brain {as you can imagine}. So if you are in the situation I was in, allow me the opportunity to share with you what I have learned from this experience.

A toddler playing with a baby.

Congratulations {or Not?} and Unsolicited Remarks

One of the things I was worried about was how people would react to this news. We waited a long time before announcing our wonderful surprise, and when we did, I was shocked on what people said to us. Even after baby #4 was born, the remarks just kept coming. Let me share a few.

“Congratulations! What a Blessing!!”yes, people were actually happy for us!

“Wait, what? Sweetie, what are you doing to yourself?”yes, someone did tell me this.

“You guys DO KNOW how babies are made, right?”well, obviously! 😉

“Did you plan this?”does it matter??!!

“Looks like you got your hands full.”but so is my heart. 

“I don’t know how you do it.”the SAME WAY every other mom does.

While all of these statements were very true {and some were hurtful}, one thing that stood out to me the most were the people who were overjoyed for us and walked alongside us during the pregnancy. These individuals prayed with us, brought us food when I wasn’t feeling well {darn morning sickness}, babysat our children so we could have some date nights, and after our fourth child was born, were the first people to come and visit us in the hospital. While there were some negative comments made, the positive ones are what got me through those tough times.

A smiling mother holding two young children.

What Can I Expect with Irish Twins?

  • Diapers. Lots and lots of diapers. Unless you are one of those wonder parents who can potty train a baby, expect to be changing a lot of diapers. My advice… opt out of baby showers and have a Diaper Shower! Heck, include baby wipes on that list. OR, cloth diaper your children. You’ll save a ton of money, but will be washing a lot of diapers. Either way, it’s an endless diaper party!
  • Forget going out in public. Don’t get me wrong, there WILL come a time when you CAN go out in public, but those first months, you’ll be home. Someone will always be crying or sleeping. While this can certainly be extremely lonely, this is a perfect opportunity to reach out to those positive people who were so excited about your news and invite them over for a coffee date. I am so thankful I had my ‘mom tribe‘ those first few months I brought Jubilee home from the hospital. Friends came over and just sat with me on the couch and let me talk {or nap}.
  • Double Stroller. Seriously, invest in a good quality double stroller. I used a Chicco Echo Twin Stroller, but if you like to run/jog, then going with a BOB is good too. I recommend going to an actual store and checking them out before purchasing online.
  • Lack of Sleep. Unless you have really good sleeping babes, you will be exhausted the first few months while you adjust to a new routine. Don’t beat yourself up over this and keep calm. Like I said before, utilize your mom tribe and see if someone can come over so you can take a nap and rest while they sit with the babies.
  • Never Enough Attention. Irish twins will spend their whole lives trying to get as much attention from you as they can. Mine are 3 and 4 years old and still fight over who gets to sit in my lap or go run an errand with me. There are two of them and only one of you. While you love them both, remind them that you love them equally and nothing can change that.

Would I encourage someone to have Irish twins? Probably not. However, the perks definetly outweigh the hardships. I know that they will be the best of friends and share many experiences with one another. What they have is precious and will last a lifetime.

Two young children climbing a wall at a playground.

 


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Two smiling children with their arms around each other standing in front of a pond. Text states: What no one told me about having Irish twins. Logo: Houston moms blog.

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Angelica C
Angelica, also lovingly referred to as Angel, is a wife to her high school sweetheart, Oscar, and the young couple finally tied the knot in June of 2004. After struggling with infertility for seven years, they welcomed their first child, Gideon {January 2012}, and in three short years they welcomed Annabelle {2013}, Deacon {2014} and Jubilee {2015}. In the summer of 2016, Angel’s oldest child was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which she continues to educate herself about by reading books, listening to podcasts and attending local classes and training events. When Angel isn’t busy tackling home duties and juggling her children’s activities, she enjoys taking self-defense classes at Krav Maga Houston, which she has been attending since moving to Houston in November 2016. She also loves coffee, reading, and meeting new people. Angel strives to live out 1 John 3:16 daily and loves talking and teaching others about what that means.

20 COMMENTS

  1. This is so encouraging. I’m pregnant and have a 5 month old. It’s. Very hard to find information on Irish twins. I can’t believe the things that come out of people’s mouths 😂.

    • Hi Leah. Thank you for your comment. I didn’t hear about Irish Twins until AFTER I had our fourth child, and even then, you are correct in saying that there is not a ton of info about them. I hope that you found some of the tips in the post helpful and congrats on your pregnancy! Take one day at a time, girl. Extend grace and understanding to those around you who don’t understand. Blessings to you and your family. <3

  2. I’m in the same boat as you Leah. Currently pregnant and my little one isn’t even 4 months yet! Are you on Instagram? Let’s stay in touch! I could def use the online support.

    And thanks for writing this Angelica. So happy for you and your beautiful family. God bless!

    • Hi Lucie,
      Thank you for commenting. It is always a pleasure to write about experiences to share with our audience. Are you ladies on our FB community page? Just search ‘Houston Moms Blog Community and Conversations’ and it’ll pop up. Also, make sure you are following us on IG @houstonmomsblog .

    • Hi Lucie and Leah! I am also pregnant and my baby is now 4 months old. Thank you so much, Angelica, for your support and encouragement! God bless you and your precious family. I am not from Houston (from NJ).

  3. Currently 6 weeks pregnant w/ a 3month old (today) words cant describe how easily I connected to your story. I’m glad you made a Way Queen, thanks for sharing ! I appreciated it !

  4. Hi. I’m currently 6 weeks pregnant, and my daughter will be 7 months tomorrow. When I found out I was pregnant I was devastated and still am. I feel horrible for feeling like this but I just feel like it isn’t fair to my daughter since she’s so young. I am not going to lie, I have scheduled an abortion bc I don’t feel like im ready.. im only 24 years old and my husband and I were planning to buy a new home and so many other things.. please dpnt judge.. I just need to speak to someone about it bc im to the point where I don’t know what to do.

    • Hey Liz, I’m in the same boat. So overwhelmed with this pregnancy and although I’m married as well, I’m a SAHM with virtually no support besides financial from my partner. I don’t feel like I can tackle a toddler and a newborn.

  5. Hi i am 36 weeks pregnant and my baby is almost 10 month old. I had the same issue. Lots of tears. But glad that i made it so far. Just trust in the lord. He is never made a mistake. That what kept me going day after day.
    These post reminded me what i felt.
    Thanks for sharing. My god bless each and everyone who is going thru it. Its a bleesing even if you dont understand it in the beginning.

  6. Hi Ladies! I too am in the same situation. I have 3 boys: age 10, 4, and 8 months old and am having a girl in the next 5 months. The biggest thing I’m searching for is a tribe/community before number 4 comes. Does anyone have any suggestions???

  7. Do you have any recommendations on room situations? Should they have separate rooms? Did you have them share a room? (We do not co-sleep) But I really do not want to spend money on two cribs, two dressers, two changing tables, two sound machines, etc… but my husband thinks we should. Sleep is very important to us so we sleep train early on…. any recommendations will be helpful!

  8. I have three kids born June 29 1987, June 24 1988, and June 30 1989. That’s 24 months and 1 day. All by the time I was 20. Always wondered if that was a record.

  9. Be thankful you’re not writing articles about miscarriages, infertility, and utter heartbreak. Complaining about having kids too easy, unreal.

    • While all those experiences are heartbreaking, there’s no way to know she hasn’t experienced those as well. This article is helpful, it’s scary for some women to become pregnant when they haven’t fully healed. She states how blessed she feels, but also there’s a lot of unknowns on how back to back pregnancy will be experienced. Personally I came looking for info after knowing this is a possibility I could be facing after an incredibly high risk pregnancy that has me so fearful. Sharing her story can help other moms. We all have hardships and heartbreaks, it’s not fair to shame someone because theirs might be different.

  10. I am currently 8 weeks pregnant and have a four month old. I never thought I would be in this situation. I am leaning into trust. Mainly worried about my breastfeeding relationship. If anyone happened to breastfeed throughout their entire pregnancy please contact me! Thanks in advance.

    • I BF my baby throughout the entire pregnancy when I had my almost Irish twins (12mo 2 days) baby. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to since I had cramping during my other pregnancies when trying to BF. I think eating a lot and drinking a lot of water was key. To avoid cramping, I wouldn’t let him fully drain me. We just did frequent and smaller feedings. I just couldn’t limit calories the same way I normally would but I didn’t gain much more weight than usual. My son was instant weaned when I went to the hospital for delivery which I wouldn’t recommend. I think it made things harder on him than they had to be. Good luck. I hope you’re able to BF throughout if that’s your goal but talk to your doctor if you have any cramping.

  11. Thank you for sharing! I have three kids. The first two are less than 13 months apart and the youngest is only 10 months younger than her older sister. I’ve done the math I’ve been pregnant for 27 months with a non consecutive 4 month period in between. It was very helpful

  12. I’m currently 4 weeks (approx) and have a 4.5 month old so im pretty nervous. Thanks for sharing your story! So nice you didn’t sugarcoat.

  13. Hello! As an Irish twin I have to say I never got along with my “twin” growing up, we fought constantly from a young age, and we aren’t very close as adults now. I cannot share the sentiment of becoming friends for life. I always had the impression we both didn’t get enough attention and bonding with our caregivers, esp. mother.

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