To think I shouldn't be this exhausted?

[Seline]

Baby twins who don't sleep well. We take it in turns. Last two nights DH has let me have five hour stretches while he's done the nights yet I still feel exhausted. Can barely keep my eyes open exhausted. This isn't normal surely. I'd understand it if I'd been up with them all night but I haven't been. It's the sort if exhaustion that even moving my arm to drink a glass of water would have me flat out.

I will go to the gp when I get time, but wtf is this?! These aren't my first babies and it wasn't like this begore.

Make the time to see your gp NOW. You need a full blood work-up and examination. How is your weight? Are you getting enough vitamin D? Is your thyroid function on? How are your iron levels? These are all questions you need the answers to. Please don't brush your needs aside.

I'm about 140lbs at 5"6. I did have a PPH that needed blood transfusions so wondered if this was iron related, but the supplements aren't making any difference. Thyroid was fine when it was last checked

There is s reason sleep deprivation is used as a torture method. Unfortunately a couple of five hour stretches isn't going to get you back on track. My ds woke up to a dozen times a night so I remember this well.

Can someone cover the whole night for you?

Unfortunately not, but I can get people over in the day. My parents are coming today so hopefully I can get a few more hours.

The twins sleep at different times which makes it hard. One twin insists on sleeping on me, if my husband has her she'll go down but if I'm holding her or she knows I'm there she won't

I was similar after my son was born. Just assumed it was normal to feel so exhausted with newborn. It hadn't clicked that I was also struggling to breathe. Went to the GP for something and a day later got a call telling me I had to start taking tablets straight away as i was severely anaemic. (Lost 1.5L blood during c section, but no transfusion). Could easily be something gone a bit wonky with blood/hormones so best to see your GP.

feejee how long did it take to feel better?

the big thing here is to get sleep.
I feel your pain. I 've twins and in the beginning they were slow feeders and it was every 3 hours so if they went according to routine then I got 1 he between feeds. I got a friend in at 8 pm and she stayed with dh till the midnight feed..so I got sleep from 8 to 2 about 3 times a week.
now on paper that's not too bad but word dorm the wise....at 1 yr I fell apart and had a massive axienty attack sure to lack of sleep. my doc basically sedated me for a week..my body started to recover...it's tell and you feel like your on a relentless treadmill.
I did get an au pair for first 7 months they were home as I'd older children too...not enough hands. she held one while I held the other...they d multiple appointments so she was amazing ...just another pair of hands. she was a young girl wanting to do ped nursing so it was great experience as I let her go to the actual appointment and she got to hold the babies for x rays etc.
even with her I was a mess at 1 yr.
mine were v v v sick and we almost lost one more than once and blue lighting to hospital wasn't unusual so maybe the terror of losing them added to my state.
I will say it's so important to get rest...

I only have one baby (6 month old) and she generally only gets up once a night, sometimes two. But I am exhausted.

I think it's the broken sleep and the early mornings. I go to sleep around 8-9 (because I simply can't stay up any longer!) wake at 10 to dream feed, then up when she is in the night (general between 2&4) and then she's up at 6/6.30 for the day. She only naps 30-40 mins at a time so I only really get to lay down or lightly cat nap then.

Kudos to you for coping with two. I hope it gets better soon - GP sounds a good start.

Erm, two five hour stretches are not going to compensate for many broken nights. No wonder you are exhausted - you are sleep deprived! You might also be low in iron, vit d, etc on top.

They've been in hospital for a while due to prematurity so we haven't had loads of broken nights until the last couple of weeks, so this exhaustion seems extreme.

What can I do about it? I'm scared ill fall asleep while holding a baby!

I felt the same when my twins were babies. I think it's just normal for twin mums!

Purple when did it get better? I'm feeling a bit fed up today. Miserable January weather meaning I daren't take them out as it's so cold and I'm bloody shattered. I've been so excited for them coming out of nicu and I just feel a bit upset I'm too tired to do anything with them

There is a particular thyroid issue that can kick in post birth so definitely worth having a blood test to rule that out (together with any iron issues).

In the meantime I would focus on trying to get as much sleep as you possibly can. Have a couple of weekends where you just stay at home and try to catch up, call in favours from friends/family to get some rest in the day. Can you afford to buy in some support? Do you have a spare room so whoever is off duty can sleep undisturbed? Perhaps with ear plugs?

I got through the worst (only one not two!) by going to bed early and having my DH take over early in the morning so I got a bit extra. Weekends I would stay in bed until 9 or so to try and catch up.

At the moment the twins sleep downstairs so whoever is on baby duty is in the lounge and the other person gets to sleep upstairs. That's because at the moment they scream in the upstairs cot which would mean no one would sleep.

How old are the babies?

I know they can be a bit controversial (so look into it yourself and be sure you are happy) but I found a sleepyhead to be an absolute life saver with DS. I think he found being in a cot a bit exposed and the sleepyhead cocooned him a bit, meant he went for slightly longer stretches.

Is there anything like reflux at play maybe? If they have reflux it can be painful for them to lie flat due to the acid. Might just be them of course (DS has never been a good sleeper - no medical issues it's just him!) but worth ruling out just in case.

12 weeks. One has reflux but funnily enough he is okay at sleeping, it's his sister who is difficult. She was very unwell at birth though so don't know if that affects it.

You sound like I did with b12 deficiency. Please get to the doctor. They gave me 5 injections over 2 weeks, by injection 3 I was starting to feel more like “me” again

I had low b12 during pregnancy but was told it would repair itself after birth. Bet it hasn't.