When my twin boys were growing in my belly, I knew that I loved them more than they will ever know. I spent morning, noon and night with my hand resting on my growing stomach (which never returned to my pre-baby size, despite the claims of breastfeeding advocates), talking softly to them about the life I couldn’t wait to share with them, the love I was already sharing—and, of course, the plans for the next milkshake we would share together as I nourished their tiny systems.
My wife, Maria, worked day and night to ready our nest for them, painting the most adorable owls on the nursery wall and fencing in our backyard, while I folded onesies, rested my hands (I had the darndest carpal tunnel), saw oodles of doctors and dreamed big dreams for the lives our sons were going to enjoy.
We caught little glimpses of them during routine ultrasounds with my OB/GYN and their specialist—a maternal fetal medicine doctor we saw because a multiples pregnancy automatically advances you into the high-risk category. Once, when we had to see some random doc because mine wasn’t there, he was a bit of a jerk and didn’t have time to search for gender signs—which we were anxious to find out.
So we headed over to a place that specializes in 4D imaging, and found out we were having two boys, much to my surprise. Despite the fact that when I was 11, I had a vision of myself having twin boys (blonde, blue eyed, named Sailor and Sawyer), I felt certain that I was carrying one boy and one girl.
But the universe had laid it out exactly as I saw it the first time—except these boys would be blessed with Italian names to carry on their mama’s heritage. And they definitely showed Italian characteristics during their hibernation inside my body. Baby A—the thoughtful observer closest to my cervix—peered out from large peepers on our 4-D imaging visit, while Baby B—a gregarious, friendly and animated guy—gave us a big thumbs up sign. So what if they looked like little skeletons in there at 17 weeks? We were in love with them and wondered what kind of good time they were having in their amniotic fluid pool party. Marco? Polo!
I came across a video today posted on TODAY, which originally was put on YouTube, that may give some insight into twin life in the womb. Granted, my fraternal sons were in separate sacs, but they have been unquestionably close since birth—they feel like they are one person in numerous ways: They answer for each other, they don’t question their right to sit on one another’s head (did I mention they’re in the terrible twos?) and they constantly need to be wearing/eating/playing with what the other one has. I wonder if this video, so precious and sweet, really does show how in love twins are with each other from the instant they begin to grow inside the womb.
Annabel Roberts writes for NBC’s TODAY.com that the bathing technique, called the Thalasso Baby Bath, was invented by Sonia Rochel, a maternity nurse in Paris, France. “The twins in the video, a boy and a girl, were just a few days old when they experienced the bath, she told TODAY Moms. […]
“The video, which has had more than 3 million views on YouTube, was shot in the last month at the maternity clinic where Rochel works. In an interview posted online last year, Rochel—a grandmother of six—said she came up with the unique bathing method after taking a shower and realizing it felt great to have the water running on her face. So she decided to try the technique with the newborns and noticed it made them move, just as they do in the womb. She believes babies need to still have a recollection of their life before birth.”
My sons had an instant connection from the moment they were born. And we had an instant connection to them, as well.
The picture on the left is one I snapped with my iPhone when they were in my arms on their very first Saturday. Holy canoli, I was—and remain—madly in love with these boys.
As they have grown from babies to toddlers, it’s been fascinating to watch their development. Even when it felt like they didn’t notice one another, their arms or legs usually found each other so that part of them was touching.
We let them sleep in the same crib until 6 weeks, when baby B somehow managed to work his way counterclockwise around the crib, even though he was securely swaddled into a perfect burrito per the wisdom of Harvey Karp, M.D., acclaimed author of Happiest Baby on the Block. (The man is a genius. Our boys were snoozing through the night at 8-and-a-half weeks.)
So off to their separate side-by-side cribs they went, but they’ve always been close enough to touch if they want to—and they do so often. It makes me well up with happy tears when I see this, because I want them to be best friends forever, even when they’re getting on each other’s nerves, I want them to always be close and take care of each other and to just simply love their brother like no one else. And I believe that they will.
Who else has twins? Did you experience anything like this?
Photos: top: Maria Palladino, middle: Adam Bouska, bottom: Kirsten Palladino
