Jess Nall says that hiding one of her kids from view is the only way to stop other people derailing her day.
There’s something about twins that fascinates people. Think you get stopped by strangers a lot with one baby in tow? Double that and you’ll have some idea what it’s like for a mum with twins.
And not only does Jess Nall have nine-week-old twins Gracie and Harry on her hands, she’s got two other kids too! We can only imagine the logistical demands involved in making it through your average day of mum admin with Evie, five, and Spencer, three, to deal with as well as Gracie and Harry.
‘The effort of getting myself and four kids to and from a doctor’s appointment can take me all morning,’ she told Australian website Mamamia. After all, once she’s dealt with nappies and toilet visits, there’s the car to load and unload, not to mention a parking space to find!
Surprisingly though, it’s not the logistics that present the biggest challenge: it’s other people.
‘I just want to get from A to B as quickly as possible,’ she admitted. ‘But when random strangers see the twins they want to stop and chat, touch them or offer “advice”!’
And while most of it is harmless, some of it is downright intrusive. ‘I’ve had it all from the “double trouble” comments to personal questions about how I breastfeed,’ Jess revealed. ‘I get asked which twin is “the good one” and I am constantly asked if they are identical, even when I have told them one is a girl and one is a boy!’
But she’s come up with an ingenious solution to minimise the interruptions. She layers the capsules in her pram so that one twin is hidden underneath the other. And if the twins are asleep, she uses a muslin cloth to cover the pram, creating a breathable ‘roof’ for her babies.
‘This way one of the babies is hidden from view and I can essentially get what I need to get done done before one wakes up for a feed!’ she explained. Genius.
