Introducing this Board

[Wendi]

My name is Wendi, and I am the mother of the two greatest boys in the whole world. After five years of infertility, we were blessed to be able to adopt a little boy from a family friend. When I. was six weeks old, we discovered that we were eight weeks pregnant. As of today, I. is 20 months and E. is nearly a year.

I have observed that parenting these "Irish twins" can have its own unique set of challenges. I therefore thought a Discussion Board would be a helpful place to share ideas, concerns, and questions.

I am not sure how well this Board will be received. I thought I would try it out and see. It may dissolve away, but if it is useful, it may stick around.

If you have children right around or less than 1 year apart, please join us in sharing your encouragements, frustrations, and ideas.

[amy]

I'm so tired.

[jesspond]

I'm game...I hope it sticks around! I find I get scoffed at by all sides...Twin parents seem to think "well, you don't have twins, how hard can it be!?" and parents of kids spaced "close" but normally (2y ish) don't see why it might be any harder than anyone else with kids!

My quick story is--after 2 years of fertility treatments (unexplained), we decided to do one more IVF (had done 1 fresh, one fet) at a post-consult visit with our RE. We happened to get matched DURING that cycle by surprise (matched AT interview) and found out that and that we were pg pretty much simultaneously. Birthfamily still wanted us to parent and I was 9w when we went to the hospital to see our daughter's birth. When she was 6.5m, our son was born. We have an open adoption with our daughter and see her bio family about every other month and have contact much more often. God has been good to us!

[Lisa B :)]

LOVE IT! Thanks for doing this Wendi. We "planned" our first child. Unlike many of you ladies I am FERTILE MYRTLE (sorry). We conceived in less than a month. We were shocked. We "planned" to wait 2 years. God laughed and had other plans! Our children had the SAME due date 1 year apart. We LOVED our surprise. It was all God, as we could never "Plan" anything like that. I look forward to tossing out ideas that have helped with my children in the earlier years. I hope to encourage you. My days are somewhat easier now that my 2 are older. I also hope to share the things I would have done differently. Looking forward to the board. I totally agree that we are a "strange breed" in the middle. No TWINS but a rare blessing. Thanks Wendi for starting this up. Jer. 29:11 "I know the PLANS I have for you..."

[sarah]

Well, I am not quite there yet, but I am due to have my son in a month. My daughter turns one tomorrow so they may be 13 months apart, we shall see. My daughter came 2 weeks early, so I am hoping the same this time around, because I am ready for my body to go back to some kind of normalcy! I hope it is ok, if I join you ladies!

My husband and I found out we were pregnant with our daughter after 2 1/2 years of trying and drs appointments. I honestly didn't think we would be able to get pregnant again without the help of a dr but obviously I thought wrong.

We are very excited, but also realize things are about to change pretty drastically when this little boy makes his appearance!

[amy]

I've been "single parenting" my two boys ages 2 and 3 for the past week, and that's why I was so tired. I think you do that all the time, Wendi, so I thought I could do it for one week! We survived!

After 3.5 years of IF we adopted our oldest at birth. When he was 4 months old we found out we were pregnant. Wild. Ours are 12 mo. 4 days apart.

This ought to be fun, Wendi, let's see what develops!

[Wendi]

I can't believe it!!!! We have members!!!! I am so excited!!! Hoping this takes off a bit. How amazingly fun!!!

[mercuriomomma]

Hey I'm Jennifer (from Ohio) My daughter is 2 and my son is 1. They were born 10 days less than a year apart. It has been interesting and busy being a parent of Irish Twins but I wouldn't change it for the world. I am a SAHM and it's winter right now so I am over this snow! We tried to do sledding but it didnt go over too well. Anyways, Hello everyone!

[jesspond]

LOL....I hear you Mercuriomomma....we are in ohio too and I'm tired of the cold too! We did get outside some yesterday and the kids seemed to enjoy it, but my son was over it faster than my daughter so it was only a semi success!!

[Wendi]

I hear you too! We are in northern Florida but yesterday it was 1pm before we got above freezing! What is what that? I might as well go back to Minnesota. I never realized how important getting outside was until I had the two little guys.

[jesspond]

It's not getting outside that's such a big thing for me, it's just going into places from the car! lol

[amy]

OK, so WE went outside yesterday and ended up with a feral kitten with a smashed arm in our downstairs bathroom! Great.

[jesspond]

Poor kitty! Are you going to keep him/her??

[amy]

No, we really can't keep her. We have two grown cats, one with health problems, and this cat is pretty rough around the edges! If she can't be tamed we'll have her spayed and release her (if she can function, of course). Yes, poor kitty.

[kellyb]

This is a GREAT idea, I wish it was around earlier! I had always had a lot of female issues and even before we started "trying" my OBGYN told me that I was had post-menopasul levels of progesterone and woulnd't be able to get pregnant on our own or at all. I didn't want to endure through the physical hardships of fertility treatments so we began the adoption process. In the meantime, I did a lot of natural approches to "fix" my body i.e. chiropracter care, supplements, and organic eating. Finally, we found out that we had been picked to be adoptive parents of a baby due in two weeks. We agreed, paid our dues and started getting ready. That night before painting the nursery I decided to take another pregnancy test, I was late (which was very common!) and sure enough, I was pregnant! We had no idea how far along, and it wasn't until our little son J. came into our home that we knew if it was a viable pregnancy. (Dr. thought it was tubal) a little over 7 months later we welcomed our daughter A. into the world. They are 8 months apart!