Once the initial shock of finding out you are carrying twins begins to wear off, it's time to do some serious planning. If you weren't organized before, now is a great time to develop new habits! Once those babies arrive, most of your time will revolve around seeing to their needs. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't stop in the meantime!

Sit down with pencil and paper and list all the things you normally are involved in. Think about your outside commitments like work, school, church, community meetings, etc. What kind of family commitments do you have? Are there other children, or elderly parents/grandparents you normally take care of? What kinds of things do you normally do in a week -- grocery shopping, laundry, meal planning and preparation, time with your partner and family? What about your hobbies?

Once you've made that list, go back through it and assign each activity a number:

1. These are top priority items that MUST be done, and can ONLY be done by you.

2. These are high priority items, but someone else CAN do them -- maybe not as well as you can, but someone else could get the job done.

3. These are mid-priority items that are high on your "I WANT to do these things" but not so high on "I HAVE to do these things." This is the category for those "time for myself" items.

4. These are low priority items that someone else can do.

5. These are low priority items that ONLY you can do.

6. Why are these even on that list?

Now, go back and look at the items you gave a number 1 to. Imagine doing those while caring for not one, but two babies. See how many of those items suddenly become 2s, 3s, or even 4s, 5s and 6s! Next, take a red pen and dramatically cross off every number 6 on that list. Keep in mind that you are not necessarily crossing them off forever, but just for those early weeks and months while those babies are small and have such a great need for mama. See how many of those 5s could be 4s or 6s.

Look at your list of 3s. Which ones of those are most important to you? Which ones have the greatest potential for making you feel like you still matter? For now, cross the others off the list.

Look at your 2s and 4s. For each of those items, think about someone who might be more than willing to help you out. Generally, friends and relatives are happy to help you in any way they can once those babies arrive. Often, however, their idea of how to help means taking care of the babies while you do other stuff. If you can give them a concrete list of items that they could do for you, that will help. If a friend or relative can come to stay with you for a week or two, this is especially helpful.

Hopefully, your list of items that YOU are responsible for has shrunk considerably. The major items on this list need to be taking care of your babies -- and yourself. And, breastfeeding can be the easiest way to take care of both those priorities. You can lay in bed and nurse your babies, sleep when you can, and hopefully be pampered by those around you!