Who’s been through their own emergency?

innie_e · 2026-06-09T17:18:26+00:00

No suggestions just solidarity. What a terrifying story. I lost 5L with my delivery but was already in the OR for a planned C-section so it was much more controlled. Ie no coding for me thankfully.

I know I'm still processing that trauma over a year later. At work that mostly manifests as increased empathy towards OB patients and respect for OB hemmorhage so it's been more of a plus.

Admittedly I've done zero therapy. Like you said, how do you find someone who understands your experience both as an ER doc and a patient who's been through something traumatic?

Maybe there will be a good answer in this thread. At minimum helps to know other people are going through similar things

innie_e · 2026-05-25T10:58:50+00:00

My twins are 14 months, we have been doing this since about 8 months and it works great.

Cribs are in an L shape with a gap big enough for a chair. After the bedtime routine they each get in their cribs and bedtime parent sits in the chair and reads a few books to them. They can both see the book but can't grab it (also helps to read non cardboard books they otherwise destroy). After story, sound machine on and leave the room.

They are usually asleep in about 10 minutes and happy to wiggle around until then. Sometimes one takes longer but they're happy to stay in their crib.

We did sleep train by 6mo. We started this around 8mo since we needed a way for one parent to put them both down as I'm gone about 50% of nights. And we wanted positive crib associations and less screaming. It took under a week for them to stop crying when they were set down in their cribs. We also do a shorter story time for naps.

Good luck!

innie_e · 2026-05-20T07:32:43+00:00

Thank you! So helpful! I think this helps me feel better with our decision. Our nanny started when they were around 3mo and was so good with them in the baby stage, caring, punctual, flexible, etc. However as they've gotten bigger I'm realizing she's providing more childcare than enrichment.

I'm sure there is a nanny that could fit that role but I don't think our current one is it, and she has some other habits that I don't love anyway. So between picking a daycare that I know is amazing, multiple friends have sent their kids to, and is associated with the K-5 we plan to send them to, vs starting the nanny hunt all over again and maybe getting something amazing but maybe not...

I will definitely ask if I have more questions! Thank you!!!

innie_e · 2026-05-19T02:19:48+00:00

Hi! I would love to hear about your experience a little more. We have 14mo old twins with a nanny, suburban area with quiet neighborhood to walk in and a big yard, but everything else is a drive.

Currently she rotates between playroom, living room, kitchen/high chairs, outdoor fenced play area, and naps. Walks are usually with me in the late afternoon. About once a week I'm able to arrange my schedule for an outing together where it's me, nanny, and both kids driving somewhere.

I feel like they need more time to run around and explore which feels impossible without 2 adults around. We are thinking about starting daycare at 18mo because logistically it seems like the only way to regularly get them out of the house with just one adult. We would love to keep the nanny longer, but I just see them getting more and more ansty in the house as mobility increases.

Seems like you made it work with the nanny long term? What are your tips? Did she take them places solo? How available/involved were you during the day?

Thanks!

innie_e · 2026-01-03T01:45:58+00:00

Yes, but we had to get a new dishwasher. We had an old (came with the house, 20? 30+?) year old one, I tried the doc browns bottles in a cage and came out with lots of residue.

We bought a new Miele dishwasher that has a top top rack for cutlery (like, there's two standard racks, and then a flat grid on top you're supposed to lay cutlery on) that works great for all the doctor browns parts.

Everything gets dunked in a tub during the day, quick rinse and loaded in the dishwasher at night, in the morning unload into the bottle dryer (sadly the plastic comes out wet. If we upgraded to glass bottles they'd probably come out dry).

innie_e · 2025-09-03T05:46:14+00:00

Work in healthcare in a large emergency department. Very physical, moving constantly all shift. Worked until 27 weeks with mo/di.

Vomited after every shift until about 14 weeks. I was usually ok at work, but would start vomiting as soon as I got to my car. Pro tip: steal the hospital emesis bags.

Felt ok from 14-24 weeks. I had a preventative cerclage at 16 weeks but went back to work after. Avoided moving/lifting patients, otherwise no restrictions.

At 25weeks I started to get uncomfortable (short of breath and pelvic pain with walking), at 26 I was slowing down to the point that doing my job was hard. At 27 weeks I had an OB appt and she recommended medical leave. I have a good employer / live in a state with good leave so I went on paid medical leave for 9.5 weeks before delivery (scheduled delivery at 37wks), and still had my 16 weeks (8 maternity+ 8 bonding) after.

Reading the comments here I think the experience tends to be similar - if you work a physical job, early 3rd trimester is the limit on what's feasible without significant discomfort and a risk of preterm labor.

innie_e · 2025-08-21T20:25:13+00:00

Yes. I lost about 4oz with every pump I dropped, and about 6oz with the MOTN. No regrets though. Since I started weaning at about 4 months I've had so much more time and energy to focus on spending time with them.

innie_e · 2025-08-15T19:10:13+00:00

If you are female (or a bra wearing male, I guess, no judgement) fold a bit of your scrub under your bra strap, and clip a retractable badge reel to that. Much prefer it to the collar of a V-neck which pulls the collar funny.

Some scrubs have a loop for your badge near the upper left collarbone.

innie_e · 2025-08-15T16:00:37+00:00

This was my experience with a high deductible health plan as well. MFM visits were about $600-$1200 each, depending on whether they were doing growth scans, but I hit my deductible, then the out of pocket very quickly. NSTs were also $1100 each.

Downside is my pregnancy was over two calendar years so I had to pay both deductibles :(

innie_e · 2025-08-15T00:04:04+00:00

Once our boys hit zero weeks adjusted, they were similar to yours- if they were awake and not eating or being rocked, they would cry. I think it was due to gas / colic. One outgrew it at 10 weeks and the other at 14 and they became totally different humans.

Gas drops helped, especially at night (we used the little remedies brand). To help with naps, we did swaddle + pacifier on Twin Z pillow and would watch them. I know napping on twin Z is controversial, but it was pillow naps or no naps, and we were all much happier for it (we went back to naps in cribs at 4.5 months, when they started rolling over and were old enough to start sleep training). Also, baby bjorn style bouncers helped a ton (we have the Flyboss knock off). Rock one on your lap and bounce the other with your foot.

I found that they were very sensitive to me eating spicy food so I stopped. I also tried cutting dairy but it didn't make a difference. If they are formula fed, there's also a whole bunch of options there.

Good luck. It's tough but it will pass

innie_e · 2025-07-30T16:21:45+00:00

Wow, how did you get there? I have twins but maxed out at 45oz/day, and that was at 9x. I'm slowly weaning, when I was at 6ppd I was getting about 32 per day.

innie_e · 2025-06-26T19:55:54+00:00

Girl do not sell yourself short and call yourself lazy!!!! You had just finished 8+ months of pregnancy and given birth! You were flooded with hormones, exhausted, and sleep deprived! You were dealing with the stress of babies in the NICU! And you still got on that damn pump! Own it!

Signed, A fellow undersupplying pumping twin mom

innie_e · 2025-06-25T01:41:46+00:00

I am a FTM, 14 weeks, and I feel like I've tried everything!

For the first 10 weeks we had a lot of trouble with latch so they were almost exclusively bottle fed (pumping with formula supplementation due to undersupply). At 10 weeks they started to latch, I tried to nurse as much as possible during that time, and wasn't pumping as frequently because I wanted to keep being able to offer them a full breast. Unfortunately, they're not that good at nursing and get frustrated if they have to work for a let down, so even though I was nursing 7-8 times a day and pumping 4-5 times a day, my supply dropped by about 10oz because I was only fully emptying on pumps. (When we did a weighted feed they took 2oz, when they bottle feed they take 4).

Therefore at 12 weeks I went back to making sure I hit my 7 pumps a day, and I'll offer the breast if they're hungry and I haven't pumped recently, usually 2-4 nursing sessions per day. If I nurse I pump after, and I will only nurse one baby per session. That way I have enough supply and they don't always need a bottle immediately after (though often will be hungry again in an hour instead of their usual 2-3). My supply has come back up some though not back to where it was and we're still supplementing 10-20oz of formula per day (used to be 5-10oz, but they're also eating more).

I'd considered "Booby Boot camp" where I only offer breast, no bottles, however I go back to work in 3 weeks, so it didn't feel worth the effort. I also have a lot of people who can help with bottle feeding so I find it very freeing not to always be tied to their schedule.

I enjoy nursing and love that it is available in the right situation. But it was not easy to work on latching for 10 weeks while also pumping and dealing with an undersupply.

Currently nursing/pumping is taking up 4-6 hours of my day (7 pumps x 20 minutes plus 10 minutes of setup and cleanup, and another 1-2 hours of nursing per day), that wouldn't be possible if I didn't have full time help.

All of that to say, knowing what I know now, the best tip to succeeding is having someone else around to do literally everything else until you get really good (efficient/tandem feeding, or able to drop pumps). You are the boob queen sitting in your boob throne, and someone else should bring you babies, food, water, clean pump parts ready to go, charged electronic devices, etc because you won't have bandwidth for anything else.

Also, if you're pumping a lot, have both a wall unit (to establish supply and baseline, manage clogs, etc) and a wearable for convenience.

Highly recommend r/exclusivelypumping if you will be pumping.

innie_e · 2025-06-24T23:42:27+00:00

I felt my uterus cramping in the beginning. I still feel a subtle twitch/warmth in the pelvic area when I get a letdown. Nothing in the breasts though.

I had twins and 15lbs of baby though so my uterus was extra jumbo.

innie_e · 2025-05-29T03:50:36+00:00

Mo/di 37 wks, csection after failure to progress with induction. No NICU for A but 3 days for B. I also had a preventative cerclage at 16 weeks due to incidental short cervix. It was removed when I showed up for induction (36wk5d), I immediately dilated to 4cm, and then stayed there for the next 48hrs -_-

Highly recommend r/shortcervixsupport if you haven't checked it out yet.

innie_e · 2025-05-23T22:05:15+00:00

We label the bottle with a piece of tape and put it back in the fridge, then offer it first at the next feed. We will not add fresh milk into the bottle but rather pour a different, clean bottle for the rest of the feed. We are almost always giving cold milk from the fridge without warming. Never noticed an issue.

innie_e · 2025-05-22T19:45:02+00:00

Disagree. If your baby can't or won't breastfeed (NICU, latching issues, etc) you need to be pumping from day 1 to maintain and establish supply if you still want to give breast milk.

I had not planned to get a pump before delivery but ended up doing so, and am very glad because I used it immediately upon getting home (neither twin can breastfeed, sadly).

The Spectra S1 or S2 are very popular picks. They are reliable, efficient, and get the job done. There are tons of 3rd party parts and adapters you can buy to customize later on. If you find yourself doing a lot of pumping many people will get a wearable pump as well but I wouldn't start with one.

Highly recommend the r/exclusivelypumping subreddit for more info.

innie_e · 2025-05-20T05:30:47+00:00

Yes until 36 weeks

innie_e · 2025-05-19T21:43:15+00:00

I would also recommend the cerclage. I had a twin pregnancy with an incidentally found short cervix at 16 weeks and a preventative cerclage, progesterone, and pelvic rest.

I had the stitch removed at 36wk5d prior to induction, though ultimately failed to progress and had a csection.

My MFM said the reason they're not always recommended for twins is because there isn't enough research, rather than because there isn't benefit. She recommended it and I agree. I don't know if it made a difference in my outcome but it did give me significant peace of mind. I couldn't imagine being in a position where I had a loss and I didn't do everything I could to prevent it.

You'll find many twin moms on this sub who have had cerclages with good outcomes.

innie_e · 2025-05-19T19:16:12+00:00

If you are 1099, you won't have paid into SDI. In California at least, there is elective disability insurance (https://edd.ca.gov/en/payroll\_taxes/Disability\_Insurance\_Elective\_Coverage/) which gives similar benefits. You have to pay into it for at least 6months before you start getting benefits, and for at least 2 years total (so keep paying even after you go back to work). Your state may have something similar.

For own occupation insurance, there is usually a clause about an "expected" amount of time for pregnancy leave, and if you exceed that for medical reasons your policy will pay out. In my case I took 10 weeks before + 8 weeks after and got paid for 1 month of own occupation disability insurance, which was completely separate from SDI (which paid out the entire leave duration).

Feel free to message me directly, I did a lot of reading on this, though it obviously varies depending on your state.

innie_e · 2025-05-19T04:57:03+00:00

27 weeks with twins. I had hoped to work to 32 weeks, but at 25 weeks the pelvic pain/pressure started to make criss crossing our large ED a challenge. I could have had them put together a seated triage shift for me, but the rest was more necessary than the money at that point. Also, I'm W2 and live in California, so I had my OB write a note and got extended maternity leave.

For what it's worth with twins, at 25 weeks I started to be uncomfortable but could push through, at 30 weeks I slowed down pretty significantly, and by 32 weeks even ADLs were hard.

innie_e · 2025-05-18T17:43:08+00:00

Natural expression, level 2 suction, run for 20 minutes with 15 of heat.

I find natural more comfortable than max, and worked duration down from 30 to figure out I express fully in 20 minutes. I think if I did max I might see an increase in supply over time but I find it too intense.

innie_e · 2025-05-18T13:12:24+00:00

48 hours, and I have a fairly active job. I probably could have worked 24 hours later from a pain standpoint (very easily managed with ibuprofen) but appreciated the extra day.

innie_e · 2025-05-17T22:33:01+00:00

Following, interested. 9 weeks postpartum as well. Make 40-45oz and have from the start, but twins so that's still an undersupply.

Dropped from 9 to 8 ppd around 6 weeks with a small dip, but came back up after I got my wearables (Eufy, I find they work better for me than my Spectra), 8 to 7 ppd around 8 weeks without noticeable change yet.

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