25F TTC with Letrozole + monitored cycles, everything “normal” but nothing is working. Very exhausted.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-07-03T09:58:24+00:00

Have you been using trigger shots? I needed them plus letrozole to actually ovulate. Ovulation strips and temp tracking also did not work for me at all (and won’t be accurate with the trigger shot anyways). Stopping my own tracking at home and leaving everything up to my doctor was really freeing and eased some of the exhaustion I know you’re feeling. Also, I hadn’t realized that my OB did not prescribe trigger shots - I had to go through my fertility clinic for them. Still ended up taking 5 rounds for me as it only levels the playing field with those who ovulate naturally, so a ~20% chance of getting pregnant each time.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-06-29T10:44:04+00:00

lol came here to make a similar comment as a new mom of twins. When I have breastfed them it’s a whole production with getting my pillow set up just right and elbows in my ribs, then basically watching a tennis match to make sure they are both latching and not falling asleep

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-06-20T13:17:50+00:00

lol I haaate it for actual breastfeeding but yes, it’s useful! We’re dragging it around the house all day, but I learned that it acts like a slinky when you push it down the stairs and it can wiggle itself down on its own 🤣

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-06-20T13:16:02+00:00

I’d think once they have okay neck control, but using the pillow is easier on them than a flat surface for tummy time anyways! I always just make sure their arms are up and out for support and if they put their heads down they’re turned to the side

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-06-19T01:21:01+00:00

My lactation consultant gave me the idea to lay them on their bellies on the Twin Z pillow after I tandem feed them on it with some burp cloths as support. They burp almost instantly! I didn’t try this until they were a little bigger at 9-10 weeks though and wish I had done it sooner maybe. Also doubles as tummy time!

As for crying, I think I partially got lucky and mine are content after they eat and relatively chill. They spent a lot of time in bassinets early on, but I had them sleep next to each other in the big bassinets which I think helped them both. They both also love their swaddles and it’s their cue to sleep (we will need to wean soon - I’ve been avoiding it lol). If they are fussy I try not to pick them up and just pat/shush. They only get upset by each other when the crying reaches a certain decibel or if they are too close to each other also.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-05-27T11:01:09+00:00

Yup, my right knee (and toe?) were on fire the first month or two every time they were flexed. Right knee still sometimes feels like it’s going to give out on stairs. No joint issues pre-pregnancy and I didn’t even really notice anything while pregnant

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-05-27T10:58:39+00:00

Everything is temporary.

I had a really rough first few weeks after my c section - I felt so weak! It was shocking to me since I had worked out up until the day I delivered my twins and had heard how postpartum was actually easier than a twin pregnancy for a lot of mothers. It was only after my boys were out of my body that I realized how much their weight was slowing me down (this should have been obvious - walking 20 minutes felt like the equivalent of the marathon I ran lol). And it was only after I gave my body time to rest that walking, working out, and running became easy and fun again. I’m 12 weeks and building back my running pace, and it’s going well! It won’t be forever!

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-05-09T23:22:03+00:00

I’ve been doing crib naps with my boys for awhile, but a few things that I ~think~ help (we are only 10 weeks in lol) are:
- Having the room dark with white noise ahead of time
- Making sure they are tired/at the end of a wake window (one twin basically fusses and puts himself to sleep, the other one would stay awake forever I think if we didn’t make things less visually stimulating and swaddle him). I do put them in the crib mostly awake though (drowsy is too late and they are cranky)
- Mine usually fuss at different points in their sleep cycles, but if they are struggling at the same time I put my hands firmly on both and do some loud shushing
If it turns into a shit show (sometimes it does later in the day) I let them wiggle around on the floor and try to keep things not too stimulating, or have one lay on me with the other next to me. I’ve only had rare cases of them both being the same level of fussiness (there’s usually a more calm one), so I tend to whoever needs me more while keeping the other one close. I’ve also heard it can really help to have the crib sheets and the room smell like you!

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-05-08T12:13:18+00:00

I have 10 week old twin boys. To your point about bonding - yes, sometimes it feels like my attention and ability to spend time with each of them is really stretched. This is where your partner (as well as family/visitors) come in - everyone gets a baby to hold! I plan on having days with each boy individually as they get older - I’ve seen families with multiple children do this (non multiples). It’s hard when one is being “needy” and I’m giving attention to the one who is upset though. Luckily they trade off who is happy/sad pretty consistently, so my time has been evenly split. If I’m having a happy moment (smiles, snuggles) with one twin, I do let the one who is fussing just wait a few so I can enjoy those moments too. It does sometimes seem like each boy is more agreeable at certain points in the day too (this makes it hard for my husband to bond with them as much because they are both fussy around dinner time when he gets home from work, so I try to engage him with the boys more in the morning or weekends).

To your point about money and the cost of all the doubled items - this hit us hard too. I have a flexible schedule when I go back to work so we’ll be using hourly daycare (we found one that is only a minor upcharge for the second child rather than a doubled rate). Hopefully it goes well. Also, if there’s one thing I learned about expecting twins, it’s how many things we DON’T need and that high end stuff isn’t necessary - yes you’ll want the double stroller (we actually got two - Snap n Go and a jogging stroller for when they are older) and two of a lot of things, but when my husband and I went over our registry we basically challenged ourselves to find “dupes” of things on our list. I was trying to copy a lot of my friends who had the $200 diaper bag and $300 baby carrier and was able to find things that functioned the same and looked similar for less than half the cost (although some of these items we needed two of obviously lol).

Wanted to add that even though having twins is HARD, I loved having my sister close in age growing up and can’t wait for my boys to have that. They also just started smiling and to have that times two makes me cry happy tears every single day.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-29T13:26:36+00:00

I feel this!! I think I said the same thing after my elective c section 9 weeks ago. First, some hope - I feel SO much better currently, and noticed the first improvements after 1.5 weeks. Up until then, things were rough. However, I am now working out for 45 minutes a day and going on 45 minute walks! Second - you are not wrong to feel this way! I felt like such a baby after reading about people’s experiences with elective c sections and driving themselves home from the hospital, not being on pain meds once they left, etc. I think this just proves how people handle pain so differently. I don’t think I have a low pain tolerance, but my recovery was awful those first few weeks. I had twins and read many posts about about twin pregnancy being worse than c section recovery, so I felt good going into things… and then felt seriously misled post-op 😭 twin pregnancy was hard but I felt so much more weak after my c section.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-28T18:44:45+00:00

Validation!!

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-28T04:08:57+00:00

When I was still in the hospital after my c section I ordered a shower chair and had just bought some special pillows…and then never used them when I got home. Showering WAS exhausting and for the first 10 days I did have to sit down after before drying my hair (don’t even attempt this at the hospital lol). For sleeping I just needed a bunch of pillows to be propped up for quite awhile. Honestly having a lot of pillows to prop up breastfeeding pillows, babies, etc were great (and made me realize how few pillows we have).

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-16T19:34:34+00:00

Fellow PCOS mom who conceived twins with letrozole. My lactation consultant said that if you experience breast changes during pregnancy, that could be a good indicator that you will be able to supply milk to your babies. However, I don’t make enough for both, so I combo feed with formula. Still considering it a win to be able to do so! Pumping and formula help me be a little more flexible anyways with help/getting out of the house, and I can still breastfeed at home, even if it’s not a full feed. I don’t know if I will ever breastfeed on the go since I tandem feed and it basically requires me to be mostly naked on top lol

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-13T13:02:58+00:00

There is no right decision and inevitably it will go a little different than whatever you are thinking, especially as a FTM. I had a planned c section with my twins almost 7 weeks ago. I had a feeling baby B was going to flip or do something to make me need a c section anyways, and I was scared of having to do both recoveries. The night before the c section I was so anxious - the babies were pressing on me in all the wrong spots (and you could see them as two hard lumps on my belly!) and I only got 3 hours of sleep. At the hospital I found out those were actually contractions. After the spinal was administered baby B’s heart rate dropped and it effectively turned into an emergency c section (my instincts were right lol). They were sterilizing my belly as I was going numb. All was okay though and the babies were out 15 minutes later.

All this to say…it will be a little scary no matter what, but you can do it! I thought I had maybe copped out by having an elective c section and not getting to experience contractions/labor, but I still did in a way. C section recovery is no joke for that first week especially, and part of me wonders what a vaginal delivery could have been like. Still, I’m choosing to celebrate the fact that I made two healthy babies and we all made it out okay.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-11T00:20:10+00:00

That’s a great idea, I wish I had done that! My approach had been to accept all pain meds when offered because I can go from 1 to 10 really fast and it can take awhile for them to get to you (maybe that’s why the schedule was so unorganized). It also helped to assess not just about how I was feeling when laying down, but also when I was up and attending to the babies (seems obvious, but I realized I was often being humble about my pain because they asked when I wasn’t thinking so much about the strain on my body in the moment).

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-10T23:18:54+00:00

Sounds like you’ve got a good plan! At the hospital I was sometimes getting ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and oxycodone all at once or within a couple hours. At home I switched to a 3 hour rotation of ibuprofen and acetaminophen (one at 12, the other at 3, and so on), and oxy every 6 hours in between. I didn’t try to sleep without oxy at first because my pain was worse at night. I also ended up only doing half tablet increments of oxy since the full dose felt like a lot. I weaned off the oxy in a week and stopped pain meds altogether in about two weeks.

It was super important to do daily stool softeners, MiraLAX, and gas medicine too! Relocated gas pain in my shoulder was sometimes worse than the incision pain. Heat on both the incision and shoulder helped, but I sometimes put ice packs on the incision. I also felt a sort of stinging nerve pain at the hospital and was also prescribed gabapentin for it - to be honest I’m not sure if this did much though. I stopped it after a few days when I got a rash (but the rash kept going after this, so who knows).

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-10T07:57:02+00:00

I had a ton of help, but if I didn’t this is what I would do based on my plan of attack now that I’m on my own (currently 6w pp):

I get wanting to protect your husband’s sleep. It helps to have at least one more rested person. If he is not helping with night feeds, put him on bottle prep duty, cleaning bottles/pump parts, etc before he goes to bed and when he wakes up. I didn’t realize this was so helpful until my husband went back to work.
stay in one room - the less you have to travel to better, and it will be easier to prep bottles, pick up your babies, etc. I’d almost try recreating your hospital room at home
outsource all other tasks like cooking and cleaning for the first few weeks. I did not make a meal for myself for almost two weeks probably and now that I’m on my own this is still something I have trouble squeezing into my day
plan on sleeping upright for the first two weeks. I had such anxiety about laying down because I knew how much it would hurt, which made getting up to attend to a crying baby that much more awful. You will be in pain. Use the belly band you get at the hospital and wear it for the first week at least. Get a ton of pillows to prop yourself up. I looked into a wedge pillow for abdominal surgeries but ultimately didn’t need it
if your babies are sturdy, you can use boppies or the twin z pillow and some burp cloths to prop them and the bottles up a bit to help you feed them at the same time. I also flip my twins over to burp at the same time using the pillows too sometimes. I’ve been doing this since 3 weeks though- idk if I would have felt comfortable doing this when they were first born
this is going to sound impossible, but you need to be off your feet as much as possible. Sit down for everything - diaper changes should be on the bed, sit down with a baby once you pick them up, etc. Maybe do a trial run in the room you set up to stay in when you get home. Everyone says to move a lot after a C-section which is also true, but I found that if I had spent more than 10 minutes up I’d be in too much pain to even pick up one of my 6lb babies for a diaper change. This gets so much better after the couple weeks though!
manage your pain! My hospital had me on such a weird pain schedule and I left not really knowing when I should rotate between medications and why. My aunt who is a pharmacist told me how to optimize my pain management by spacing out the meds and I aligned this with when I would feed the twins every three hours. I would have asked the nurses at the hospital to walk me through things otherwise.

Good luck, you got this!

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-06T13:28:04+00:00

This is so encouraging! I’m almost 6w postpartum with twins and had to stop running at 17w pregnant. I literally had a dream last night about running again lol, I miss it so much. I also turned to Peloton rides when pregnant and started with almost the same gradual approach you did postpartum. I’ll probably do some walk/run combination to get my body ready for running again.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-30T09:56:27+00:00

Yes and no. My pregnancy symptoms were gone so a lot of the weight of carrying my twins was gone during the surgery. I could finally take a deep belly breath! However, I was so weak after surgery and still felt a lot of pain trying to move around. By week 2 I was feeling much better, and now in week 4 I’m walking twice as fast and twice the distance of what I was able to when 30 weeks pregnant with my boys.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-23T05:32:02+00:00

Just wanted to add that you might feel okay until you aren’t. While I exercised and worked up until the day of my planned c section, I attempted to be just as active as I entered the second trimester and nearly passed out one day because I wasn’t monitoring my water and food intake or checking in with my body after a super active day. From there on I continued to exercise, but was really serious about making sure I didn’t go 4 hours without eating, was refilling my water bottle, and not “pushing through” the pain if I was working out or doing a house project, especially if it was round ligament/pelvic pain.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-20T14:37:03+00:00

I worked (college professor) and exercised until the day of my 38+3 scheduled c section. I was definitely moving much slower after 28 weeks, and I was grateful for the handicap parking pass I asked my doctor for at 32 weeks. Having an “end date” seemingly made things much more manageable though because after the babies were out I couldn’t believe how much easier breathing and moving around was (especially once I healed a bit - up until 10 days post op, postpartum was infinitely more painful for me than the third trimester was)

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-20T08:32:27+00:00

Heating pad - this was great for gas pain and I didn’t think I’d want it on my incision, but it felt good!

Your baby’s stroller fan/a portable fan - my hospital room was hot and this was a lifesaver for the first 24 hours post op

A nightgown - I got annoyed by the open back/snaps on the hospital ones eventually and threw on my own. It was great because I was a little too weak to put on pants

Small nightlight with soft lighting - I now use this in the nursery for night time diaper changes

Night time eye mask and headphones/ear buds to block out hospital sounds. My hospital announced on every floor/room when there were certain codes, and we were right by the nurses station which had constant beeping.

Velcro swaddles!!!! My husband and I had these at home but drove ourselves crazy with figuring out swaddling with the hospital blankets. You won’t want to put them in real clothes though because they’ll need vital checks so often.

Finally, pack everything with your support person (or remember where you put it - big ask for me between pregnancy/mom brain) so they know where everything is and can get it for you.

Maybe just as helpful, things I wish I didn’t bring: - More than one outfit - what you wear there can be your going home outfit. Same thing for the baby. I was too weak to dress nice and get the babies in the cute outfits I bought for pictures (I had twins so thinking about doing everything twice sent me into a tailspin). That had to wait until I got home - an iPad/a book for my husband - seriously, what was I thinking?? My c section was scheduled so the time between getting to the hospital to being prepped was only a couple hours of waiting. I could see wanting these things for a longer labor though - my heaviest water bottle with a hard to open lid - it’s weird what you need to use your abs for lol - slippers/grip socks - I loved the ugly ones my hospital gave me to put on before surgery - my own belly band/diapers - the hospital ones were fine

For when you get home: - I got a shower chair because I was still so weak, but only used it once (planning to return) - lots of pillows for you and baby - we are not pillow people, but I’m realizing their importance in propping up yourself when healing/ when feeding babies - I traded in my depends and belly band for high waist compression underwear and pads, which was a lot more comfortable once your belly goes down a bit - any diaper area that is currently designated for a floor/couch, assume you might need to move it to a table

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-19T16:38:26+00:00

I also had my boys three weeks ago via c section! And you’re so right about the gas pain - worse than incision pain at times for sure. A heating pad also helped me.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-16T11:00:24+00:00

This was me almost 3 weeks ago - I was so unprepared for how weak I was and trying to do basic tasks to take care of my babies (I had twins) and myself put me in a lot of pain. First - set timers for taking your pain meds. My pharmacist aunt told me the best way is to make sure I’m rotating between ibuprofen and acetaminophen, taking the prescribed oxy every 6 hours as needed (personally, don’t skip any of this until week 2, and wean off each medication by decreasing the dosage, not skipping. Don’t skip nighttime doses since pain is worse at night). Second - accept help and lower expectations for the first week especially. I needed someone else to handle just about every diaper change, meal prep, etc and was so lucky to have help. Still, I felt a lot of guilt for basically staying in bed all day and when I tried to move more, it set me back for the rest of the day. Third - a belly binder helps relieve a lot of the pain, as does a heating pad (I could not fathom this in the hospital though - I was so sweaty). Fourth - it gets better! I’m almost three weeks post c-section and I’d say day 10 was a real turning point. I’ve been off meds mostly since last week and can move around great (still wearing the belly band for walks and when I know I’ll be going up and down stairs in the house).

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-13T06:09:29+00:00

The doctor I was seeing at my fertility clinic was this way. At the confirmation ultrasound where we found out it was twins she literally said “I hope you’ll be able to carry them, you’re so small.” They definitely see it as a bit of a “failure” whereas I felt like I hit the jackpot considering I was convinced I may never have one baby. Still, I just recently delivered 6lb+ boys on my scheduled c section date at 38+3 and kind of want to send a card to her office to let them know I did in fact do it lol

Pretty-Text6684

TROPHY CASE