By Clare BruceFriday 29 Jan 2016Hope AfternoonsParentingReading Time: 4 minutes
Stop Press! Hope 103.2 is excited to announce the news that our own Afternoons announcer, Erin La Macchia, is expecting… twins!
These are the first children for Erin and her husband, Sam. They’re anticipating that their twins will arrive safely sometime in late April/early May.
We chatted with Erin to see how she’s travelling, with her TWO ‘buns in the oven’… Here’s some of her “frequently asked questions”!
How did you react when you found out that you were expecting twins?
Um, shock! But a good kind of shock. Your mind just starts rushing through so many different scenarios all at once. Everything you imagined has to change! But once it had all sunk in, it was quite a joyous surprise and was so fun telling those closest to us at the time. Particularly my mother – who, when I was a teenager, said, “I hope you have twin girls just like you”. So when I told her the news, we just laughed—her wish is closer to coming true!
Do you know the sex of the babies?
Yes, but you’ll have to wait and see…
How Do Twins Differ To Regular Pregnancies?
What are some of the differences between a single pregnancy and a multiple?
Well, the most obvious is just how much bigger I’m going to be! It’s a little daunting, I’m not going to lie, and carrying more can mean pregnancy symptoms can be a bit more intense.
I would love any prayer people are willing to give for these precious two.
All multiple births are considered to be high risk (which usually translates to being more closely monitored), and identical twins carry a few extra risks. So I would love any prayer people are willing to give for these precious two. At times when I feel overwhelmed by the unknown, I just try to remind myself, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”.
Do twins run in your family?
No, and in our case we’re having Identical twins, which is where a single embryo splits in to two. Identical twins are different to Fraternal twins. Identical twins are said to be a random occurrence and make up a third of all twins born.
Twins In The Tummy… Is It ‘Double Trouble’?
Have you experienced many pregnancy ‘symptoms’?
Yep… all of them! Okay, some of them… On the whole, things have been going well. For the first trimester I experienced unrelenting nausea. I really couldn’t eat very much, but thankfully (and hopefully this is not too much information) I wasn’t “physically sick” too often. (Although there was one time in our brand new car! I drove with a bucket from that time on.) It’s funny looking back at that time. There were a few occasions when I’d be on air, and when the mic was on I’d be my usual bubbly self, but what people didn’t know was that during the songs, I was usually hanging out quite closely to our studio bin, just in case…
It’s amazing though – once the second trimester kicked in I felt so much better. But then all the little niggling pain began as I grew – outwards. Pregnancy massage has been a blessing and I’ve started seeing a physio, which has been helpful.
What have you enjoyed most about your pregnancy so far?
So many things. Firstly, that we are pregnant! It’s been a long wait and has been made all the more special by the fact that we’re blessed with two. It’s thrilling and something I don’t take for granted. I love that for the last couple of weeks I’ve started to feel the babies move. Just little flutters at this stage (which I’m sure will become more intense kicks to my internal organs).
I think also it’s lovely to start to explore the nesting instinct and also be able to relate in a new way with many of my friends. I’ve also loved exploring the world of maternity wear. Seriously, why don’t regular clothes have elastic waist bands? I might never go back to normal clothes afterwards!
When do you think you’ll start your maternity leave, and will you return?
Maternity leave will come a little sooner than if I was just carrying one baby, so I won’t be around for too much longer – finishing up in early March. And yes, I plan to be back!