Littering

This post is in honor of the planned delivery of my sweet friend Shannon's twin boys today. She probably won't ever read it, because starting today her free time is going to be spoken for. Permanently. Any time those little cherubs are sleeping peacefully, she will be frantically trying to do things like take a shower or sit down while eating. Or perhaps she will do what I often did when our girls were little: decide that sleep is much more important than food. You can't tell it now, but I often decided that when given a choice, I would rather sleep. Her precious Corgi doesn't know it yet, but it's about to be nudged over into second place. Her adorable husband is about to be pressed into service, ready or not! Someone once commented on how comfortable my husband seemed taking care of our newborns, to which he replied, "What choice did I have? It was either listen to one of them cry until Courtney could get to her or jump in there and help!" Double the diapers and double the bottles produces a need for teamwork like none other. Hopefully it will bring Shannon and her husband together like it did for my family. Some days it definitely felt and looked like a war zone in our home, but at least we were on the same team!
Shannon, if you do ever read this, here is my best "mom of twins" advice: enjoy every minute of them being little. A lot of times, motherhood when our girls were babies was about survival. I often let myself fall into the trap of, "If I can just keep everyone alive until tomorrow, I will be OK." I didn't spend every moment that I could have just enjoying the miracles that were my babies. Sit and stare at them. Take in that sweet baby smell (you know, the one that comes before the poopy diapers!) Spend a lot of time with them curled up on your chest. That's the stuff I wish I could do over. Clean laundry and clean houses are way overrated. OK, maybe not the laundry part. But the clean house part for sure. Best of luck to you guys. Having those babies will be the best thing you ever did.
Now, for the gist of this rambling thought parade. "Littering" (and by that I mean giving birth to multiples) is way too common among veterinarians. Out of my 49 vet school classmates, three of us have had twins. I know at least two other people in the class just ahead of ours who are the parents of triplets. It seems like every single time our quarterly newsletter comes, at least one more person has had multiples. Is it because we are so used to delivering litters in our profession that we think we are supposed to do the same thing? I can't say for sure, but my OB informed me on the day we found out we were having twins that every veterinarian she'd ever had as a patient had given birth to multiples. Coincidence? I think not. And perhaps something that she could have SHARED with us when I told her I was thinking of getting pregnant! Then just maybe I wouldn't have ended up sobbing uncontrollably on the ultrasound table just from the shock. I am however, compelled to remind everyone that I totally blame my husband for our set of twins. The moment I told him I was pregnant, he said, "Oh, I hope it's two!" At which point I informed him that my body didn't have room for one extra person, let alone two. Add stretch marks here.
OK, fine. I know there's probably some detailed, scientific explanation for the herds of veterinarian children out there. Something along the lines of, women wait until they are older to have kids, then they go off of birth control after being on it for years, they have a double ovulation, and voila - a litter of babies! But I prefer to go with the "we are used to working with litters" theory. It's just more fun. So, to my colleagues who are thinking of having "a" baby...be afraid. Be very afraid. You just might find out that you are about to be a MOM...a mother of multiples. Or as my husband likes to say, "We're one double ovulation away from being one of those families who drives a bus and goes to church at home." LOL.