This isn’t the fun part
A friend of mine with twins four months older than mine has been a really great resource through the end of my pregnancy and beginning of motherhood. She’s new, too, so it’s not like she’s some old, wizened sage. But it’s nice to witness someone just a little bit ahead of you. It gives you hope that the rough times will pass, and excitement over the new skills that will develop. She always said 6-12 weeks was a particularly rough time for her. I’m starting to see what she means.
The twins are 7.5 weeks old, and while some things are growing and getting better, others are not. As they get older and bigger, they are spending more time awake. Unfortunately, that is not always happy time. More and more of it, it seems, is unsettled and fussy. Sleep is brief and restless. Daniel will be asleep in the swing when he suddenly lets out a wail. Rebecca will seem hungry, but attempts to feed her only make her scream more. It’s a blast.
Thankfully, it’s not all-day every-day. There are times when they sleep peacefully, and times when they’re awake and alert and seemingly enjoying their activity mat on the floor. We’re even getting a few honest-to-goodness (though fleeting) smiles. Nighttime sleep is sometimes improving. But the pattern seems to be that, from about 1pm to 5pm, we have near constant fussing or crying from one or both of them.
Four to six weeks doesn’t seem like a lot of time in the grand scheme of things. But at about 4:30 in the afternoon, I’m sometimes not sure I can make it. Alas, I know I will, and then I’ll be all the more grateful for the smiling 3-4 month olds… right?
Tags: witching hour
September 26th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I totally resonate with you on this post… My B/G twins are at 6 weeks and the fussiness has started. They are still feeding every 2-3 hours, and their time awake hasn’t always been pleasant. Being new at this, my husband and I wonder from time to time “is this normal?” Your blog has been a blessing and I so can relate to many of your experiences during pregnancy and post partum.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
I know that our experience was that our b/g twins started having a lot more happy awake time around 2 months. Prior to that, if they weren’t sleeping or eating they were crying. It has gotten better and better for us, and now that they are 4 months old the screaming has subsided quite a bit, and we are enjoying them more and more. Before, it felt like and endurace test that I was failing. Now the crying is still annoying at times, but it isn’t mind-melting anymore. Hang in there!
September 27th, 2007 at 3:38 am
I agree. I think (as I try to remember through the haze of those first few months) that around month 2, things were definitely at a low point with our b/g twins. And when we reached 3 months, we were on the upswing. So yes, it’s just a couple more weeks, and then the benefits of the experience will very obviously be outweighing the costs!
– Aina B.