Step1
Prepare several months in advance for the home coming of your newborn twins. Many twins are born prematurely, so the earlier the better in your planning. Buy newborn diapers and wipes in large quantities. Make sure that you have all the baby gear purchased and put together, such as cribs, bassinets, infant car seats, diaper pails, receiving blankets and even infant bottles and some small cans of formula. Create a baby chart for both of your babies. This should have a column for the date, time, feeding, diaper changes and notes.
Step2
Select the pediatrician that you wish to care for your new babies. Set up appointments with any doctor you are considering in your final decision. Some pediatricians have more experience with twins than others. Post that phone number in your home in several locations, code it in your cell phone and your spouse's as well.
Step3
Arrange for help to be at your home for the first few weeks and even longer if the babies are premature or if the babies have medical issues. A Grandmother can be of great help, but also close friends and even your church community can be of help. Get a list of all possible help, work out a schedule, print it off with everyone's phone numbers and availability times listed.
Step4
Check out time can be stressful, so talk with the pediatrician to see if there are any prescriptions or special needs your babies will have and ask someone take care of obtaining those items the day before. Rental of heart monitors and breathing equipment may take a day or two, so plan this as soon as possible. Let the hospital nurses help you secure your new babies properly into their infant car seats for the ride home. If your babies were in the NICU(neonatal intensive care unit) be sure to get the phone number of the nurse's station and names of nurses that were caring for your babies. There may be questions when you get home that you need to know how they handled with your infant.
Step5
Use the baby charts for each of your babies. This will make your first six weeks home so much easier. When your babies were in the hospital a recorded documentation of every ounce of milk was recorded, how much they kept down, every wet diaper, every poopy diaper, every rash and every medication given and the amount. Keep your baby charts wherever your babies are whether they are in your bedroom or the nursery. Jot down every time there is a diaper change, even how it looks, each medication given, every feeding, bottle, amount taken or thrown up along with the time and day.
Step6
Hold your newborn babies to feed them. They need to feel you next to them whether you breast feed, bottle feed or bottle feed with pumped milk. Some preemies are not able to suck, so breast milk may have to be pumped and then bottle-fed to them until they are stronger. Even if you breast feed, keep your formula samples handy as you never know if your baby may need to switch for some reason and you want to be ready should that happen.
Step7
Sleep when you can. As your twin babies will be more challenging than one, it is very important to get as much sleep as you can while you still have help. Schedule with your spouse and arranged helpers times that each person will be "on baby duty." This will allow you to get some sleep so that you can get your strength back. Instruct all the baby helpers on how you want your new twin babies to be wrapped in their receiving blankets and placed in their beds.
