"I kept saying to my husband, ‘There were two,’" said Gabriella Creery, a Montgomery Street resident and mother of two sets of twins. She is referring to the two images on a sonogram taken a quarter of the way into her second pregnancy.
According to Creery, her husband Spenser, a computer consultant, didn’t immediately grasp the word "two."
"I said ‘Sweetie, its twins,’" added Creery. "Then he understood. ‘Oh, it’s two!’ he finally said."
Creery is a member of a growing Jersey City organization for the mothers of twins and triplets called Jersey City Parents of Multiples Support Group. The group includes Creery’s friend Erika Goldbaum, the mother of twin boys born last year, and two other mothers from the Van Vorst Park area.
"Whenever we see a woman with twins, we tell them about our support group," said Creery. The group meets weekly at Grace Van Vorst Episcopal Church, where parents use the church’s day care center. They also meet once a month at the house of a member.
"We tell twin-babies horror stories," Creery explained. "But we also discuss things we have learned trying to raise two children at once."
Creery has been able to share her experience with raising twins, since she has two sets. Devin and Mia were born in 1989, while their younger siblings Sienna and Caitlin are four months old.
"The older kids adore their sisters," Creery said. "They even picked out middle names for them before they were born."
According to Goldbaum, logistics is the major problem with raising twins. In the case of her 15-month-old sons, Sam and Ilan, getting out the door can be a tremendous hassle.
"In the first year, you learn how to get a stroller out the door," Goldbaum explained, adding that moving one baby at a time to the stroller meant leaving the other at the door unattended for a very brief amount of time.
"I’ve had people yell at me when I was trying to move the children outside," said Goldbaum, who since learned to carry her sons one on each hip.
Baby deployment became even more stressful for Creery when disaster struck the three-floor York Street walk-up her family lived in a few years ago.
"A fire broke out in the apartment above us and we were in the middle of potty training," said Creery. "Windows were exploding and I grabbed the kids and ran."
Creery praised the nearby park workers who watched the babies, allowing Creery to retrieve the diaper bags.
"We were living in the car for a few hours until my husband got home," said Creery.
Both Creery and Goldbaum experienced health problems during their pregnancies. Worst hit was Creery when she was carrying Sienna and Caitlin.
"I caught a stomach virus from Devlin and Mia, it was the 17-hour flu," Creery said. "They were sick and my husband had to take Mia to the doctor and he got sick, too."
Creery said the situation was hectic for awhile, but everyone turned out healthy.
"You learn you can get through it," Creery said.
‘Twin skin’
Another result of carrying twins is a condition that Goldbaum calls "twin skin."
"Your body gets stretched when you have twins," Goldbaum stated. "You gain more weight. It’s like having a backpack loaded with bricks."
Sleep patterns were disturbed for both mothers. Goldbaum takes the "crying through" approach.
"When they were first born, they cried all night," Goldbaum explained. "A few weeks later, the crying time decreased." Now, Goldbaum said, Sam and Ilan barely cry at all when put to bed.
"I’m a firm believer in letting them cry through the night," said Goldbaum.
"I’m nursing Sienna and Caitlin, so they wake up in the night," Creery stated. "Babies that are bottle-fed tend to sleep through the night, while nursing babies wake up now and then. We live with it.”
Goldbaum credits the support group with helping to keep her feet on the ground amid the strains of being a mother.
"It’s just a relief sometimes to hear a polysyllabic word now and then," Goldbaum said.
Another diversion Goldbaum has passed on to the group members is fish.
Yes, fish.
"Babies love to look at fish," Goldbaum elaborated. "We went to the aquarium on Coney Island and took a video of fish swimming around. I have it on a loop on video and the kids just love to stare at it."
Goldbaum also mentioned a trick the parents of multiple children use to tell their kids apart.
"A lot of parents paint the toes of the babies to tell which one is which," said Goldbaum.
Creery’s advice to the parents of multiples is straightforward.
"Learn how to take deep breathes," Creery said. "See the kids as children and not as twins."
The next meeting of the Jersey City Parents of Multiples Support Group will be Sept. 4. Call (201) 963-6622 or (201) 222-3406 for more information.