Welcome to All At Once

Welcome to the very first episode of All At Once — the podcast all about life with multiples.

Before we dive into conversations with experts, advocates and other parents of twins, triplets and more, we thought it only made sense to start at the beginning and introduce ourselves.

In this episode, Gabi and Sinead share their own stories of becoming mums of multiples — how their journeys unfolded, what life really looks like raising twins, and the conversation that sparked the idea for this podcast.

Because the truth is, All At Once started with a simple realisation: there wasn’t really a dedicated space for the honest, messy, funny and emotional stories of raising multiples. So we decided to create one.

This episode is all about who we are, how we ended up on this wild ride, and why we’re so passionate about building a community for parents navigating life with multiples.

If you’re a twin parent, expecting multiples, or simply curious about what life looks like when everything happens all at once, you’re in the right place.

Welcome — we’re so glad you’re here. 🎙️

Follow along for the raw, unfiltered reality of raising multiples.

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Thanks for being here.

If this resonated, sharing, rating or leaving a comment helps more parents of multiples find us.

Transcript

Sinead Finn (00:04)
Welcome to All at Once, a podcast dedicated to raising multiples because life with multiples deserves its own space.

Gabi (00:10)
Whether you're expecting twins, already deep in the chaos, or simply curious about life with multiples, you're in the right place.

Sinead Finn (00:16)
We're Sinead and Gabby, two moms with five kids between us, including two sets of twins.

Gabi (00:21)
sharing honest, unfiltered stories about the highs, the lows, and everything in between.

Sinead Finn (00:25)
This is a safe space to laugh, cry and feel understood all at

Gabi (00:30)
Let's jump in.

Gabi (00:32)
We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which this podcast is recorded and listened to across the Country.

Gabi (00:38)
Hello and welcome to All at Once, the podcast all about life with multiples.

Sinead Finn (00:43)
We're so excited to finally be here and even more excited that you're finally listening to our very first episode.

Gabi (00:48)
if you found us right at the beginning, thank you so much for being here and supporting this little idea from day one.

Sinead Finn (00:53)
before we dive into conversations with our guests and other parents of multiples.

We thought it only made sense to start by sharing a bit about us.

Gabi (01:01)
Who we are, how we ended up on this wild ride of becoming parents of multiples and how this podcast came to life.

Sinead Finn (01:07)
because the truth is, this whole thing started with the conversation and the realization that there wasn't really a space dedicated to the stories of raising multiples.

Gabi (01:15)
So we decided to make one.

Sinead Finn (01:16)
but let's go back to the beginning.

Gabi (01:18)
Hey, Sinead.

Sinead Finn (01:19)
Hi Gabi, welcome to All at Once. I can't believe we're here, our very first episode.

Gabi (01:24)
So exciting to finally be here after a long time coming. I thought a really good way to kick off our first episode would be to introduce ourselves and I guess a little bit about us and our families. So I'll start. I'm Gabi. I have got a four year old daughter, Billy, and two and a half year old twins, Hunter, a boy, and Darcy, a girl. And what about you, Sinead, who's in your family?

Sinead Finn (01:34)
I love that. Go, go for it.

Yes,

I've got my very tall, very English husband Andy. I also have, well almost three year old twins, girl, boy twins, Harper and Declan and our beautiful dog Alfie.

Gabi (02:02)
beautiful. I always forget to mention my husband. I also have a husband. And he's tall and dark-haired and beautiful too. 

Sinead Finn (02:09)

Gabi, before kids, what did your life look like?

Gabi (02:14)
Yeah. So it feels like a lifetime ago, but life before kids was much more fast paced and had a lot more time on my hands. Didn't do anything with it. So we now live in Geelong, but we used to live in Melbourne. So, you know, bit more fast paced and not regional Victoria. I worked in marketing and PR. I was like quite career driven.

Sinead Finn (02:24)
Didn't we all?

Gabi (02:38)
You know, my husband was a chippy, now he's a builder. Um, and we just did normal 20 year old stuff and, we got married, I think when I was 25, been together since we were in high school. And, um, then like, we sort of knew we were ready to start the journey towards having a family. But before we, did that, we wanted to have one last adventure. So we planned to travel Australia with our three dogs in a caravan.

So we bought like a vintage old school caravan. We moved down to the surf coast in Aries Inlet with my husband's grandma. We started renovating the caravan. rented out our house in Melbourne and then COVID happened. So we never got to go, but everything happens for a reason, I think. And we spent COVID down on the surf coast in Victoria, which...

can't complain about that. And, you know, we then really realized that we didn't like the busy lifestyle of Melbourne and the hustle and bustle. so yeah, it settled in Geelong at the end of 2020. And not long after that, I fell pregnant with Billy. So yeah, everything happens for a reason and it's all worked out perfectly. And it's a perfect place to raise a family. So it's really nice. Yeah. What about you before you were mom, Sinead?

Sinead Finn (03:50)
That's lovely, Gabi.

Yeah, very much like you, I was very career driven, very much about climbing that corporate ladder. I was a fashion designer for just shy of 15 years, I believe, before the twins came along. So there was a lot of travel, which was amazing, Andy and I, his life looked very different to now.

Sinead Finn (04:14)
Yeah, we were in our 20s, I guess, as well back then. And we were just both focused on our careers working and then, you know, we'd have a very healthy social life. Could do whatever we want whenever we wanted. We thought we were so busy, but little did we know. We got married in 2020. So it was, yes, the year of COVID.

Gabi (04:27)

COVID!

Sinead Finn (04:38)
as it did for everybody, it shook up our lives. had my 30th that year. We had a trip planned to Bali. We had our wedding planned, our honeymoon, like our hens our bucks, all those things. Yeah, so there was a span of throwing in the works for nearly all of those. It was very last minute. We decided to go ahead with our wedding. But we did choose to go ahead, a big reason being that we were ready to start a family. And we did want to be, we're not old school, but we just...

we did want to be married first. So we did end up going ahead. Unfortunately, I've got family in Melbourne, Andy's got family from England and a lot of our loved ones couldn't make it because of the border closures. But we had them all zoom in. that was lovely, but we do wish they were able to make it,

Gabi (05:05)
Yeah.

Sinead Finn (05:22)
Yeah, not long after that, we started trying and I'm sure I'll jump into our journey, but a few years later, we were blessed with beautiful twins.

Gabi (05:32)
Oh, beautiful.

Sinead Finn (05:34)
So was motherhood something you always envisioned for yourself?

Gabi (05:37)
I would say yes and no. Like I wouldn't call myself a maternal person, but I wanted a family, particularly with Zio and my husband. Like that was something I wanted to create with him. And when I met him, that was something I envisaged. Like, so I'm an only child. So I, well, I'm an only child until I was 18. I now have half siblings, but like, you know, so for most of my childhood life, I was an only child. So I just played by myself and that's really quite sad.

So I really like, I wished so much for a big family. Um, Zio is one of two, but like, you know, he also wanted a big family. And so when I met him, it was like that, that's when I started thinking, yeah, I really want a family, but I wouldn't say from the start, I was really maternal. Um, but no, now we've got a big family and you know, couldn't love it anymore, but yeah. And what about, yeah, what about you? Do you, were you always wanting to be a mom?

Sinead Finn (06:25)
Aww, that's beautiful.

I always wanted to be a mum for sure. I didn't know when I didn't have like a timeline. Like you, I was never very confident or maternal holding other people's babies. But like at the same time, it's not. And I think I was scared to like, I'm like, how do I hold their hands? Like, I don't wanna drop the baby. But I did get clucky, especially in my late 20s, early 30s. Like I did know it was something I wanted. It was just a matter of when.

Gabi (06:40)
It's not the same, is it?

Sinead Finn (06:58)
was a perfect time, but is it ever a perfect time? And if it is, does everything even go to plan? Yeah.

Gabi (07:02)
No, never.

Sinead Finn (07:05)
So Gabi, can you take us back because I haven't actually heard your journey to becoming a family of five.

Gabi (07:11)
Yeah, sure. So gosh, Billy's four now. So if we go all the way back to the beginning of Billy, well, actually, no, there's a story before Billy. So yeah, I fell pregnant. We'd like so obviously, we had thought, you know, we're going to start to try for a family. And that's when we sort of settled in Geelong. And so we actively started trying and I was lucky enough to fall pregnant quite easily. I think it was maybe the first month of trying.

And unfortunately I lost that baby like quite early on, like just before Christmas, which was just a shitty time to, you know, have a miscarriage. It's never a good time, but you know, just like at that very happy time of year and it's everyone's happy and just like, this is shit. I was lucky that, you know, it was early. I didn't have to go to the scan. There's so many things that are positive about my experience and

Sinead Finn (07:47)
I'm so sorry.

Yeah, yeah.

Gabi (08:04)
Yeah, but it's still, it's just shit no matter how you experience it. but yeah, so I had a miscarriage, around Christmas in 2020. but I am very lucky that the, think like, I'm not even sure that I got my period back and the following month I had fallen pregnant with Billy. So in January I was pregnant with Billy, which was like so surreal because I just didn't think that could even happen. So I was like,

things feel weird, it feels weird, but like I couldn't be, but you know, I did the test and I was still in like a really like emotional state, like grieving this miscarriage and I took it really hard. But yeah, I was lucky enough to fall pregnant again and I was, and I went into it with a lot of anxiety because you just didn't believe it was gonna, you know, yeah, eventuate.

Sinead Finn (08:48)
I can imagine.

Gabi (08:56)
⁓ and so, yeah, but so it did eventuate and Billie was born nine months later in September, which apparently is the busiest month to have babies. know why. Actually fun fact, all my family is born in September. So, well, the twins are born late August, but they came early. they were due in September. there's the twins, me, Zio and Billie were all in September. So it's a very busy month.

Sinead Finn (09:06)
Fun fact!

No way!

Right.

So if you know you want to go for a fourth, you know when to try.

Gabi (09:27)
I don't, but so that was Billie and gosh life with one child. It just, feels like a lifetime ago. really does. But gosh, it was so easy and I don't take this away from any parents of one child, but upon reflection, I sometimes love to just have a day back there. Billie was the best.

Sinead Finn (09:38)
I would not know what that's like.

Gabi (09:52)
just so easy. she was almost like the handbag baby. Like you could just take her with us wherever we went. Like we were very not into like routines or anything with her because with one you actually like you don't have to be as much like and also in fairness Billy was a good sleeper. So but like yeah life is very different honestly.

Sinead Finn (10:07)
Yeah. Just out there living your best life. what it sounds like the, it's like sounds like the, you know, the child that you envision before you ever have kids. Like you're out there having your coffee dates and whatnot.

Gabi (10:24)
Yeah, like I think Zio and I reflect on this and I think I had maybe she was five days old and we were like at a cafe having breakfast and she was just like in little carrier and we were having poached eggs and salmon because I was missing my salmon. But I like it was just yeah it was very different and then yeah like loves life with Billy. I went back to work I think when Billy was one and then we were kind of like you're in the you're in the

Sinead Finn (10:36)
Love that for you.

Gabi (10:51)
thick of the, you know, not baby stage, she was one, but you're still like in the new like toddler stage. And we were like, ⁓ let's just try again. And like, let's just do it all at once. And then, yeah, again, I was very lucky to fall pregnant quite easily. Again, it was in January, I think it was on January the second that we found out I was pregnant with the twins at the time we didn't know.

They were twins, just found out I was pregnant. And yeah, then, yeah, then we went to the scan at six weeks, found out there was two of them and the rest is history, I guess.

Sinead Finn (11:28)
Do you have twins in your family? Okay.

Gabi (11:30)
Yeah, so my dad is a twin. Well, my dad and my auntie are twins. But like, you know that, but you don't think that... I'd never, I honestly had never thought about it. Like, and now, obviously after you have twins, you actually learn about what it actually means. And it isn't just like a saying, like it does run in family. It annoys me that it won't for my twins, I believe. I think it will skip them.

Sinead Finn (11:36)
So you just, you truly didn't think it. Like you were like, that's not gonna happen to me.

Gabi (11:56)
and then their kids might have twins. So they won't have to experience what I've had to experience with them. Never say never, you never know. But yeah, that's how I guess I became to a family of five. ⁓ Yeah, but Sinead, I know your experience looks a little bit different. Can you talk us through your journey?

Sinead Finn (11:58)
Right, right. Never say never. I love that.

Sure, I'm gonna try to give you the short version because the long version could definitely take up an entire episode. our journey to becoming a family of four was definitely not straightforward. As I mentioned earlier, we got married in 2020. The night of our wedding, we had decided that was going to be the night we officially start trying. Little fun fact about me is that

I've always been in like quite long term relationships and I was all about safety. I was one of those people that I'm not having like a teen pregnancy. I'm not having a pregnancy in my twenties. I'm not taking the risk. don't, I don't care if that limits your enjoyment. Like I was so safe. Little did I know. Gosh, I could have, yeah. Anyway, we'll jump in. So yeah, we start trying and you know, of course everybody hopes they're one of those people that

Gabi (12:50)

Safety first.

Sinead Finn (13:08)
you know, gets pregnant in the first month of trying and that wasn't the case for us. And it wasn't the case for us after a couple of months. And it wasn't the case for us a year later. So I started getting quite worried very early on, even after a few months had passed and I booked into a fertility doctor. I have Hashimoto's disease, which is an autoimmune disease. one of the,

symptoms can be in fertility. So there was always like that fear in the back of my head that that could be at play. And when we visited the fertility doctor, we were just, he was just asking me about my situation. And he just said to me, I suspect that you have endometriosis. And it kind of took me off guard because you hear about endometriosis and

people usually have severe cramps and things like that. And I didn't really, I just felt like everything was quite regular. I didn't really have much pain during my menstrual cycles. So I was kind of like, I don't think so. Yeah. And he was like, but unfortunately the only way we can truly diagnose this is by you having surgery. So I agreed to have the surgery because at that stage, nothing was happening. I had nothing to lose. So

Gabi (14:04)
I don't think so, yeah.

Sinead Finn (14:17)
had the surgery and it's like a discovery surgery to check if you actually have it. And if you do in the same surgery, they remove it.

Gabi (14:25)
See, I've actually had the surgery because I had all the pain, but they didn't find endometriosis. So it's interesting. yeah, but yeah.

Sinead Finn (14:28)
⁓ interesting. There you go. There you go. Supposedly don't quote me on my stats here, but supposedly he's, I think he said something like 40 % of women don't have any like physical, like they don't have any symptoms like pain. So my sister has endometriosis and her situation is completely opposite to me. Like she has the pain, but funnily enough.

Sinead Finn (14:55)
when I come out of surgery, I find out that I had stage four endo, which I believe is the worst, stage and I was absolutely riddled in it. believe me, could feel that once it was removed and they kind of told, no, I felt like the pain after that. So like, was in bed for like a week. I actually feel like, you know, that was worse than my C-section to be honest. it was, I think the removal, yeah, was just so much. Yeah.

Gabi (15:06)
As in you felt better once it... wow.

Wow. Well, cause I guess it's removed. Yeah.

Sinead Finn (15:21)
I think they did a few other things as well, but cleared out a few things. Anyway, my fertility doctor told me, so in the next three months is probably your best shot of falling pregnant naturally. And so we got at it straight away as you do once I recover.

Gabi (15:35)
It's like the wedding night all over again.

Sinead Finn (15:38)
Absolutely.

Yes. And so we actually fell pregnant on the first cycle and I could not believe it. And I was over the moon. I was like, okay, we've got our answer. It was endometriosis. Like we're all good now. And we graduated from the fertility doctor. We got ourselves an OB. We went in and had, I think like two like ultrasounds in the chair at the OB's clinic.

And we ended up doing a NIP test, I think about 10 and a half weeks. And when I was coming in to get those results at about just maybe one or two days shy of 12 weeks, it was the first time I'd gone to any of my appointments without Andy. I think he just couldn't get work off that day. And we felt like we were in the all clear by that stage. yeah, when you, when you haven't experienced a loss or anything, you just kind of have that idea that you just got to get to 12 weeks and you're all good. And well, I did.

Gabi  (16:21)
Yeah, once you get to that point, yeah.

Sinead Finn (16:31)
think that and unfortunately I went to, I went and sat on the table and just to get the routine ultrasound that my OB did every time you visit. And he went quiet and he's quite chatty, quite a friendly guy. And you know, I'm an anxious person and I just knew straight away something was wrong and just the look on his face and he turned it to me and he's like, I'm so sorry. There's, there's no heartbeat.

It honestly, did take a minute. Like it took a minute to process. And then they took me into a room and they were like, you know, with, so sorry, can we call Andy? What can we do? Like they kind of talked me, talked me through the options, but my head was seriously spinning. I was just so sad. And I was like, it together, Sinead, hold it together. Like just get to your car. And I just couldn't even make it out of the room without bawling my eyes out. And like the worst part, you know, I think the part that like stays with me the most is like walking back out.

to the reception room and there's all these pregnant women sitting on the chairs and they've just, I probably scared the life out of them all, but like they were all happily pregnant and I've just lost my baby. And, you know, I just found out the sex as well and we were gonna have a little boy, which is what I wanted. And that was kind of bittersweet as well. Yeah.

Gabi (17:30)
Hmm.

Yeah.

That's, yeah, that's, I'm so sorry.

And that's so hard to, to know. Like that's just like this, this juxtaposition of like, I'm so happy and then it's torn away and yeah, it's just, it's just horrible.

Sinead Finn (17:55)
Yeah.

Yeah, especially,

especially when like people that, you know, struggling with infertility, they know that every month feels like a year, like you're just, you know, when you're tracking your ovulation, you're waiting for your period, like just, it just felt so long and have that stripped away was really, really painful. Yeah. And then, um, my doctor, my OB was like, um, we'll do a DNC. And so I was booked in for a DNC.

Gabi (18:10)
Mm.

I can't even imagine, yeah.

Sinead Finn (18:29)
And that was, yeah, that was kind of traumatic in itself, but the team was beautiful. ⁓ and then my OB said to me like, after your DNC, there should be a little bit of spotting, but that's it. And if you have any issues, call me. And because I had what, sorry, I shouldn't have this earlier, but I had what's called a miscarriage. So there was no sign of like loss, There, ⁓ there was no blood or anything like that.

Gabi (18:54)
Yeah, like I had the bleeding,

whereas you've... Yeah.

Sinead Finn (18:55)
Right. I didn't have it, not even a spot,

Gabi (18:58)
Which I think is like even, I can't say, but I can imagine even harder because you actually don't know and you're going to this appointment with hope.

Sinead Finn (19:07)
I know, I know. I will say to you, like, I did have this gut feeling that morning. I was like, I just woke up and I felt different. Yeah. I feel like I'm quite intuitive like that, but I was just being like, you know, but I was so anxious at the same time. I was like, you're just in your head, Sinead. But basically my OB also gave me the option. It was like, you could pass the baby naturally or have the DNC. And I just thought,

Gabi (19:16)
something was different, yeah.

Sinead Finn (19:34)
passing it naturally and that could take weeks. Like it was too traumatic. I was also in this mindset. I just need to try again. Like I need to grieve and try. I was just in this go, go, go mode. I like in hindsight, I look back and I go, should have taken longer to process. Like each thing that to me on my journeyy

Gabi (19:41)
Yeah, probably delays you further if you're waiting.

Sinead Finn (19:52)
so basically I, I stopped bleeding and I mean, it was scary, you know, without being too graphic, like what was coming out of me. And so I rang my OB and he's like, okay, I'll, I'll come back to you. And he comes back to me and he's like, cause he was like, that's not, that shouldn't be happening. And he just happened to get my test results back that day. and then,

Gabi (19:59)
Hmm.

Mm.

Sinead Finn (20:13)
He rings me back and he's like, Sinead, I've got some more bad news. And I'm like, what else could, like, I don't understand what else could happen. He goes, you've had something happen to you that happens in less than 1 % of pregnancies. And I was like, of course I have, knowing my luck. And he's like, you've had what's called a partial molar pregnancy.

Gabi (20:19)
What could it be?

Sinead Finn (20:34)
So basically a partial molar pregnancy is when two sperms fertilize one egg, that egg has too many chromosomes and there's abnormal placental tissue growing alongside the baby, so there was a baby, there was a heartbeat, but the pregnancy was unfortunately not viable.

Gabi (20:51)
Mm.

Sinead Finn (20:51)
So from there, I had to do weekly HCG tests. So I had to go to OB's clinic every single week. And the whole point of that was they had to wait till my HCG got down to zero before I could start trying again, because,

Gabi (21:09)
Is that because like it's still like sort of living inside of you or like not living? Yeah.

Sinead Finn (21:14)
I get, well, yes and no, guess they're checking to make sure they got rid of all the placental tissue.

because if they didn't, and if my HCG levels either increased or plateaued, I would actually have to start on chemo. And that was horrific to hear. you don't kind of put pregnancy and chemo in the same sentence. And what was going on is that placental tissue.

can become something called gestational tri-triblastic, I think it's pronounced disease. And that is a form of cancer. So this tissue is cancer causing. So for about six months, I believe I had to do these H C G tests every week until they went to zero. And there was a few times where like, it wasn't decreasing as much as it did the week before. my anxiety was through the roof, but eventually it

Gabi (22:07)
I imagine. Was there any indication of like from like how long it could take or it was just like it takes as long as it takes sort of.

Sinead Finn (22:15)
It,

it's one of those things that I was trying to research and there was not much online about this. And, uh, there was varying amounts of times, like some people said it went in a three months. Some people were like over a year. And I'm just like, again, in my head, like, Oh my God, another year, like, I'm going to have to wait another year. Like what have I done to deserve this? Um, but luckily after I got to zero, my OB gave us the all clear.

And like we were straight to trying and we decided like to try it. ⁓ three points. Yes. So we started, we started trying again. And my belief was we'll fall pregnant naturally because when you're pregnant, endometriosis doesn't grow. If you're not getting a period endometriosis doesn't grow.

Gabi (22:44)
Wedding night 2.0. Where are we at now?

Sinead Finn (23:01)
So I didn't really think there'd be much or any growth. So we started trying naturally, I think like three months went by, nothing is happening. I'm like, not back to that fertility doctor we go, I like begged for an appointment.

Gabi 23:04)
Hmm.

And every month or every week I'm sure is feeling like this is just...

Sinead Finn (23:16)
It was, it was all consuming. Like it was, it was putting pressure on relationships. was putting pressure on like work. Yeah, it was tough. And then, so we got into the fertility doctor again, and he was like, I think we need to do IVF because what you had happened to you is a chromosome issue. And if we get embryos, we can actually do further testing to ensure this doesn't happen to you again, because don't ask me, but there's a risk of this happening again. I can't remember the percentage, but,

Gabi (23:19)
Yeah.

Sinead Finn (23:46)
I was like, okay, let's just do IVF And I was kind of getting a bit naive in my beliefs going like, you just do your IVF and like, you definitely guaranteed embryos kind of thing. my gosh, little did I know again. And so we start IVF, I'm really positive about it the first round.

Gabi (23:57)
Hmm.

How is that process for you? Like I hear it can be really difficult. Yeah. I think you deserve that.

Sinead Finn (24:08)
Yeah, it was okay for me. I think I just didn't care. I was like, I've been through worse now. No,

no, and I don't wanna discount it. Like it was tough with the needles and like just the bloating and I put on a lot of weight and stuff, but mentally I was okay with it. Like I was looking at it as a positive. I'm like, this is gonna get me, this is a step closer to my baby kind of thing. And I'm like, nothing can go.

Gabi (24:26)
Yeah. This is your hoax. Yeah.

Sinead Finn (24:34)
where someone's already half in here. So I was just like, get through it, get through it. And then so when it came to the egg retrieval, I couldn't even tell you the number right now, I'd have to look it up, but I got an okay amount of eggs. And I was like, cool, it's all good. So they mix the egg with the sperm in the Petri dish and you wait like the, I think it's six days to blast this stage. And that's when you find out like if they're how many.

embryos you've got and how many like, you do a live transfer transfer, which I wasn't going to do because we had to go and send them off for genetic testing, which I won't go into it too much, but you can go for genetic testing and lose embryos from the testing. So there's a risk and I didn't love that, but I also didn't want to go through what I went through. But unfortunately for me, none of my, ⁓ embryos made it to blast. I think one did, but the quality was so poor, ⁓ that they were like, sorry, like it's no.

Sinead Finn (25:28)
And then, ⁓ heartbreaking again, was, that's when I was really devastated. And then they, they said to us, like, we have learned something from this. And they're like, you have very poor egg quality. And they're like, and I already had a very low egg count and for my age and they were like, sorry, least we can change our regime a little bit and mix it up for the next round. So.

Gabi (25:29)
Heart breaking again.

Sinead Finn (25:50)
We went into the next round and the same thing happened again. And I'm like, are you joking? What's going on? And then the fertility doctor suggested we do the lap surgery again for the endo, just in case it had grown back because I couldn't even tell you how long this has been now. It's nearly going on to the second year, I imagine. And so we do the surgery. It was, it was nowhere near as painful this time. So I knew I just didn't have that much. And he said there was, there wasn't that much, but it was just ticking another box.

Gabi (26:08)
Wow.

Hmm.

Sinead Finn (26:18)
So we go and do the third round of IVF and exactly the same result. yeah, we would, and a huge blow emotionally, physically, but also to the wallet. Like this is getting ridiculous at this point. And, you know, we've just also had a wedding not too long ago and bought a house. yeah, it was, yeah, was tight times. ⁓

Gabi (26:26)
Another blow. It's just, I can't.

Yeah, of course.

And it's not

what you think you should be, you you just want to start a family.

Sinead Finn (26:45)
Exactly. But

it is what it is. And then the doctor said like, looking it back, you have gotten pregnant once naturally. He's like, I think that maybe we need to go closer to nature. And he suggested an IUI. So most people actually do an IUI prior to IVF And we never did it because the chances are a lot lower of success than IBF. just because of, it's like the turkey paster, baster.

Gabi (27:07)
And so what is IUI? ⁓

Yeah,

Sinead Finn (27:13)
Turkey baster method,

Gabi (27:13)
beautiful.

Sinead Finn (27:14)
yeah. But you can obviously, you can do that naturally in the sense of like you take no meds to help you ovulate, but I opted to take meds to help me ovulate. This give me the best chances I've got. So yeah, Andy went into the special men's room and then yeah, it's like what you see off the movies basically. And a lot cheaper than IVF, a lot cheaper. And I honestly, at this stage, I had no hope. Like to be honest, I was completely.

Sinead Finn (27:40)
deflated, so I wasn't expecting much. First one, nothing happened. Knew it. Like just knew it. I was like, all right. They were only about a thousand or $1,100 each at that time, not including the meds. So, you know, after you've been like spending 10k plus around an IVF, you're like a thousand dollars. It's a lot of money, but it's nothing in comparison. Like we could have had 30 tries like of IUIs.

Gabi (27:41)
I bet, yeah.

No.

Yeah.

Sinead Finn (28:06)
So we went,

we went back one more time. I was like, I was ready to look into all different options if this didn't work out. and so funnily enough, we, we do the ovulation medicine and that you do an ultrasound to check how many follicles I think it is that you have. And they, and they actually cancel your cycle if you're over a certain amount because of the risk of multiples. Right. So I believe I was, I had

Gabi (28:23)
I think.

Yeah. So that's from taking the medicine?

Sinead Finn (28:33)
The medicine, yeah, they'll be like, and I

think again, this is all a bit hazy, but I believe they cancel anything over two or it could be over three. And I believe I had three and the doctor goes, if you're happy, I'm happy to go ahead because honestly, there's not much chance it's even gonna work to be honest. Like he even was like, it's probably not gonna work from you. Yeah, from like your, know, everybody, he was a realist, he was a realist. And then, yeah.

Gabi (28:55)
Thanks. because we need them.

Sinead Finn (29:02)
And I didn't really think in it, cause like they can actually split. So you could have quintuplets or more. Like I was like, nothing is going to happen. and then, ⁓ I, yeah, I had, this is a bit, I'm sorry. I'm like, all right. It has become the long episode of this, but I, ⁓ was at work and they called the clinic called me and they're like, have you taken a pregnancy test? And I'm like, no, I haven't. And they're like, well,

Gabi (29:06)
Yeah, so you could... Well, at this point...

Sinead Finn (29:30)
because they told me the next day to take the test, but then we found out it was a public holiday and they're not going be open. And I'm sitting at work like panicking and I had to get my colleague to like go to the 7-Eleven with me down the road to see if we could get a pregnancy test and they didn't have any. And I'm like, I can't work. I can't be at work.

Gabi (29:35)
Mm.

But are they asking you that because they know something that you don't know at this point or just because of the public holiday? Yeah, yeah, okay.

Sinead Finn (29:47)
No, they were calling me. Yeah, there was a courtesy call. And

I was like, well, no, but in all the paperwork, it says to test on this day, because it's very regimented, right? And I was like, oh my God, like, oh my God, like, I need to know. I can't wait. I'm like, I can't. I'm not going to surprise us. And so I called them back and I'm like, I can't find a pregnancy test. Like, they're like, come in for a blood test and you'll just have to wait a few hours and we'll tell you. And then I just sat at work. I went back to work just sitting, sweating bullets. And then they called me with the good news. And then,

Gabi (29:56)
Yeah.

No.

Sinead Finn (30:16)
They said I had a very healthy HCG and they're like, ⁓ you know, we continued testing HCG and then I went in for my dating scan. It might've been a little bit earlier because it was the fertility clinic. And then the fertility doctor, like most twin, when most parents of twins find out, we're just like, I've got a reason for why you're feeling so sick. And then he like moved the thingy bob to one side and he's like, one, two. And I'm like,

What? Like what? But, we found out we were having twins in that moment. And Andy and I, don't think I've ever been more silent in our lives. were complete shock. And it was the happiest and scariest moment of my life because I was so happy. But I was like, I know twins are high risk. And I was like, this is just another bad card that's been dealt to me. Like this is going to end in tragedy. Like I was such in a horrible, horrible mindset.

Gabi (30:53)
Hahaha

Yes.

Hmm.

Yeah, it all worked out. ⁓ it's amazing, but like, gosh, what a journey, but you know, I guess worth it in the end, but I can't imagine that journey, but I'm so grateful that they're here.

Sinead Finn (31:11)
But it all worked out and that yeah, and that was Harper and Declan.
Absolutely.

thank you. I am too. And honestly, in the time, like when you're going through that, it feels extremely long and it feels like it's never going to end, but it's worth all of that emotional physical trauma and every dollar. So I don't regret a minute of it.

Gabi (31:39)
Yeah.

Is there something that you wish people understood more about this kind of path to motherhood?

Sinead Finn (31:47)
you know, I wish people really understood how all consuming it can be if you're experiencing infertility or you're going through fertility treatments. Like it's sometimes hard to show up as a good wife, a good friend, a good family member, because it's all you think about. And I think it's really important to give your friend or family member a lot of grace in that time, because they, they just can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Gabi (32:15)
I totally understand. even when like, and this is on the minute scale, but even in that month when I had had a miscarriage, it does, it consumes you. think what, what's wrong with me? And like, I'm not even speaking to understanding your journey, but just that, that tiny feeling I had, I cannot even imagine going through that for years. And I think it's, you know, incredible that you've done that and to be out the other side, but yeah, I really can't understand.

Sinead Finn (32:24)
Yes.

Yeah. Yeah.

No, and it's like, do you know a good way to put it? When you, know how you meet other twin mums and they just get it? It's like meeting other women that are going through that or going through infertility or treatments. Like that is all I felt, the only people I felt like I could relate to and talk to at that time. So yeah, yeah. But to turn it on a positive note, Gabi, I forgot to ask earlier, what was it like when you guys, like when you and Zio found out you were having twins?

Gabi (32:49)
Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And like, yeah.

Sinead Finn (33:12)
What was your reaction like?

Gabi (33:14)
say it was weird because I had these like weird signs before, like I really felt something I felt like I was having twins. like I was so... and I guess also it's different because I've had a pregnancy before.

Sinead Finn (33:21)
Really?

Gabi (33:28)
but with the twins, I was so hungry. Like this whole other level, like I remember sitting down and I ate like a whole plate of food, like a huge dinner plate of food. And I was like, this has not touched the side of my stomach. Like I am ravenous right now. And of course I started Googling and like the first thing that came up was like, you're having twins. And I was like, no, not. Even though I've like got twins in the family, I was still like, no. And then the next morning.

Sinead Finn (33:43)
Hahaha

Yeah.

Right.

Gabi (33:56)
We were driving to our dating scan and this ad came on the radio like, so you're having twins, like just like weird. And I was like, this is just weird zero something's weird. And then we went into our scan and, ⁓ like, cause you can see the screen up there and I didn't even click that it looked different because like, I don't know. I think probably I've also been very anxious in my pregnancy. So I'm probably there thinking.

Sinead Finn (34:11)
Yeah.

Right. Just want to see a heartbeat. Yeah.

Gabi(34:22)
Not even looking at that. Like, yeah.

And then she was like, ⁓ so there's two. And I think I was like, I was happy, but shocked kind of like how you said, like, you're so happy, but you're shocked. ⁓ you're processing all at once, but I was reflecting on this and I think it was, ⁓ like I went into the pregnancy, like, like it was a Singleton pregnancy because that was all I kind of knew. So I didn't freak out. I was like, I've.

Sinead Finn (34:33)
Yeah

You're processing it all at once too.

Gabi (34:51)
had one child, I've done this, like, I wasn't scared of actually having two more children. That didn't scare me. Like the anxiety around pregnancy and the high risk pregnancy, that scared me. But actually parenting two more children, I didn't really think about. I was like, can't be that hard.

Sinead Finn (34:52)

Okay.

Especially if you have like an angel child, Billie. You're like, give me two more of her. I'm good.

Gabi (35:14)
That was very naive upon reflection, but a nice way to go through the pregnancy. then in the pregnancy, all I had to worry about was my anxiety of being pregnant in a high risk pregnancy. but yeah, no, like I don't think it hit me until they were here. Like, gosh, this is a different ball game than having one baby. But I guess that's kind of like a ignorance is bliss. Like this is all I know. I know one baby I've grown one baby and I've raised one baby. So yeah.

Sinead Finn (35:16)

Yeah.

Gabi (35:40)
But now they're here and it's wild. ⁓

Sinead Finn (35:43)
What was it like afterwards? Like what happened after you guys left that room?

Gabi (35:48)
kind of like you're on this high and I was so excited and then it kind of hit me but weirdly what I, which is maybe very vain or I don't know, but I was really worried about my body and holding a twin pregnancy. That's where I went. I went into this state of like, my God, I've actually got a rate like hold grow these two babies inside of me.

What does that look like for me? Because the commentary I'd heard around twins was like, your body's going to be ruined. You're going to be destroyed. Um, and also obvious yet. And then there's the anxiety around, know, are they going to make it all of that sort of stuff? And then that hit me where zero was like, I'm so excited. Instant family. This is amazing. I was like, that's nice for you. You don't have to actually do this. Um, but then I, you know, you, you come.

Sinead Finn (36:13)
Mm-hmm.

They're going to come early.

Yeah.

Gabi (36:39)
terms with it and then I really enjoyed my pregnancy. I actually had a great pregnancy other than the anxiety of carrying two babies at one time and the high risk and yeah.

Sinead Finn (36:49)
Yeah, I'd say that my pregnancy was the same. It was riddled with anxiety. And I think the innocence kind of was lost because of experience, experiencing the miscarriage. I didn't get to enjoy it. Like the first 12 weeks of my first pregnancy, like I did all the surprises and you know, I remember putting a bun in the oven for Andy and I was, it took him so long to get it. But you know, I didn't do anything like that. didn't, I didn't do like agenda reveal. didn't.

Gabi (37:11)
Yeah.

Yeah, because you're too scared.

Sinead Finn (37:18)
I didn't really acknowledge the pregnancy until I was about 20 weeks. I had to get past that like 12 week stage before I could even acknowledge it. And then I had...

Gabi (37:27)
And did you feel hopeful then? Were you excited or you like, you know, at 12 weeks or, at any stage or was it? Yeah.

Sinead Finn (37:36)
I would definitely say the first 12 weeks, was just pure survival. It was like, just make it to 12 weeks and then you can get excited. milestone, it, when it was like, I did have a milestone. had to make it, that NIP test had to come back good and I had to make it pass. I think it was like, yeah, the 12 week stage because that's where I had my loss. And then I had, I had like a lot of attachment around 20 weeks, maybe it being halfway. I just was like, have to make it pass.

Gabi (37:42)
Mm. each little milestone kind of.

Hmm that big scan.

Sinead Finn (38:04)
And then, yeah, if you followed me on socials since the start of my journey, I really didn't actually start sharing anything till 20 weeks because I was just so paranoid. I didn't want to put it out there. and you know, if anyone's listening and you've gone through something similar, like try not to let that overshadow your experience, like do all those milestone things, like, you know, like surprise your friends with the test, like do, do the gender reveal. kind of like look back and I, you know,

Gabi (38:13)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Sinead Finn (38:33)
Yeah, I don't want say regret, but it was overshadowed for sure. Yeah.

Gabi (38:37)
Yeah, and that's so like hard after going through your journey and then you feel like you can't even enjoy it when you've had it like.

Sinead Finn (38:43)
Yeah, but not to be a negative Nancy, did like as a pregnancy progressed and everything was looking good. I did start getting a lot more positive and start more enjoying it and embracing it. And that's how I started sharing on socials because I started feeling confident enough in my pregnancy. So yeah, and it all, it all turned out okay in the end.

Gabi (38:58)
So good.

So past that 20 week mark, you feel like you, like I struggled more with anxiety, I think towards the end of my pregnancy. ⁓ but like, do you feel like past that you were obviously still, there's always an anxiety in any pregnancy, but like you felt better?

Sinead Finn (39:09)
Right, right.

Yes.

Yeah, it's like you said, it was always there. I don't think I felt better until I heard the cries when they came out of me. That was like when my body just went like, we did it, but we've done it. What about you though? So why did you feel anxiety like later on in the pregnancy? Is it the risk of them coming early?

Gabi (39:28)

I think it was like, got to the point where I just wanted them out. Like everyone tells you, oh, they're going to come early. They're going to come early. Like, and then I started thinking like, and this is just so in my own head and irrational, but like, well everyone's saying they should come early. So why are they not coming early? What's wrong? Um, and then I had a horrible experience with, um, a different obstetrician than my normal obstetrician who said Darcy was, I it was probably like 33 and a half, 34 weeks. And they said, Darcy is.

Sinead Finn (39:41)
Yeah.

Right, okay.

Mm-hmm.

Gabi (40:07)
She's her growth has stopped. And I just was like, well, okay, we're nearly at 35 weeks. Like, should we not just get them out? Like, is that not the safer thing to do to me? Like same as you, like once you hear them, you know, they're here. I felt like I just wanted them here because then I could control the situation. Like, you know, when they're inside of you, you have no control. It's you've just got to trust your body. and so that one really scared me. And then it was like a week later, come back for a scan. And I was like, well, what?

Sinead Finn (40:15)
Get them out.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's not up to it. Yeah.

Gabi (40:34)
So much could happen in a week. Like what if something's gone really wrong? anyway, everything was fine. And I saw my normal obstetrician and he reassured me that everything was fine, but it's just little things like that that can just, yeah.

Sinead Finn (40:46)
But that can't be undone. Like that can really send somebody like, yeah, right over the edge.

Gabi (40:51)
Yeah, because I was like, we're nearly at 35. I know that like once because there's every little in twin pregnancies or multiple pregnancies, they tell you there's every little stage that they want you to get to. And so every stage, like milestones you were talking to, you get to that stage, you're like, okay, we're good. Like, and then I was like, well, we're good. Now you're telling me we're good. So just get them out because if she's not growing and something's wrong, just get her out.

Sinead Finn (41:05)
Yeah. So you've had this scare. When did the twins actually end up coming and rewind did, did you plan to have a vaginal birth or were you booked in for a plan C section?

Gabi (41:24)
Yeah, so the whole time my goal was for a vaginal birth for the twins purely because I'd done that with Billy and that's what I knew. Not that like the experience with Billy was great. Like it was great, it was painful, but it's what I knew and that's what I sort of felt more comfortable with. But unfortunately, think Darcy was the first twin, twin. Yeah.

Sinead Finn (41:35)

Twin A?

Gabi (41:51)
And she was breached. So I was, it was, it was ruled out. I think it was ruled out at 35 weeks at that appointment with my obstetrician. So I was in public health. don't think they book in, Cesar's until you're getting closer towards needing the Cesar. and so in that appointment at around that 35 week mark, my OB booked me in for 36 and six weeks. ⁓ and so I had that.

Sinead Finn (42:04)
Right. Sure.

You can.

Gabi (42:18)
I was so excited because that gave me a date. I was like, they're going to be here. feel this like anxiety is like relieved, like it's relieved ⁓ that they're coming. But then unfortunately on that day, ⁓ I, so I dropped Billy off at daycare. Like we'd done the goodbyes and cried, you know, all morning, took the dogs for a walk. And then my obstetrician called me and he said,

Sinead Finn (42:30)
What? What?

Gabi (42:41)
Unfortunately, we can't deliver the twins today because there's not enough special care beds in Geelong. ⁓ And so, yeah, because Darcy was measuring small, they just assumed that they're both going to need to go to special care and the risk of them not having enough beds and them both coming, they would have gone by ambulance to Melbourne if they needed special care. So I was distraught. My obstetrician was like, okay,

Sinead Finn (42:47)
⁓ my god.

Right.

Right.

Gabi (43:09)
just come in, we'll do some monitoring. And I think like, just cried nonstop. Like you've told everyone as well, like everyone's excited, you know, I've got even like little things, like I've got Billy looked after by my mom, just like logistics at this point. I was like, mom, turn back down the freeways, not happening. And, but so I went in for monitoring. I was distraught. think I'm not sure until this day if my obstetrician saw me.

Sinead Finn (43:18)
⁓

Yeah.

⁓ my gosh, I couldn't even imagine.

Gabi (43:39)
so distraught and he was doing a scan and then I had like a pain which I'd been having for like two weeks because you're so heavily pregnant everything hurts at this point and ⁓ he was like that's weird what's what's that and I was like just another pain and he was like no I think you could be in labor.

Sinead Finn (43:40)
Yeah.

Yeah, everything hurts. Yeah.

Gabi (43:57)
⁓ so I think like he called me at 9 AM. This was probably like 1130 AM. He's doing the scan. I'm having this pain. So at this point, I think I'm not having the baby. So 9 AM I'm having the babies. 1130 I'm not having the babies. I think by 12 PM he said, yep, you're in labor. You're going in for your C's as he was getting in his scrubs and they were born at 3 PM that day. It was just like this roller coaster. ⁓ so I don't know. They magically found two special care beds.

Sinead Finn (44:17)
Wow, but rewind, like what happened with the nursery beds if they weren't available?

Gabi (44:25)
I don't know all that stress. Yeah. Yeah. So, but they, they arrived. Darcy went straight to special care. Hunter came into recovery with me and unfortunately he needed to go into special care as well. Not for any reason, just low blood sugar levels. But so magically they found two special care beds. Very grateful. Like that we didn't have to, you know, get in an ambulance to Melbourne. But yeah, but.

Sinead Finn (44:26)
All that stress like when you're about to give birth is the last thing a mother needs.

Yeah.

Gabi (44:54)
your journey when we're Declan and half are born? What gestation did you get to? And was it less stressful than my day?

Sinead Finn (44:57)
Right. It very...

Yes, definitely. So different experience to you in the sense that we learnt very early on when our Plan C section was going to go ahead. So obviously things, there's lots of variables and that could change, but it was temporarily booked in from the first trimester. So we were planned on 37 weeks exactly, but...

I never thought we would actually make it again from all the forums, social media, the Facebook groups. You're like, there's no way you make it to full term. Cause I believe 37 weeks is classified as full term for twins. And we actually went through the private system. So that date actually ended up staying in place and everything went smoothly. And yeah, just turned up that morning. I think we were first, second or we originally were first, but there was someone,

Gabi (45:25)
Yeah, you're told. Not happening.

Full term, yes.

How lovely.

Sinead Finn (45:51)
more high risk than us. So they got pushed above us. And I think we were booked in for 8.30 in the morning. So we, I couldn't sleep that night, but we literally woke up, got ready, got in the car, drove to the hospital and yeah, So turned up to the hospital, you Andy got his scrubs on, we waited around for a little bit. It got wheeled into theater.

and the rest is history. Yeah. I was, I've got to be honest, having a C-section was so scary to me. Like the idea of it. I had always pictured myself having a vaginal birth ⁓ prior to twins. And I very early on made the decision to go with the C-section, but yes, yes. I think...

Gabi (46:15)

Mm.

Hmm.

Was it an option? Like they did? Yes.

Sinead Finn (46:40)
And I'm just such a curious person, like the whole way through my pregnancy, every scan, I'd be like, so are they in the position where I could have a vaginal birth if I wanted? And they were, but he said it was pretty ideal. There was just one thing. It wasn't major, but it was like, it would be better if like, I think it was something to a Declan's position, if he was just a little bit better positioned, but it was still like an actual option, but we'd obviously already ruled it out. And I think for me again, like, unfortunately, this fertility stuff and the losses and everything,

haunts you and I was like, and I know C-section comes with risk, right? But I was like, I don't want, I want to rule out additional risks. And like, obviously we all know with twin birth, vaginal twin birth, there are a lot of risks that present themselves.

Gabi (47:07)
Mm. Just.

100%.

Oh yeah, you can have like one naturally and then go into an emergency Caesar. Like there's so many. I don't think that's for anyone.

Sinead Finn (47:23)
girl. That's not for me.

That would be like, we're gonna have to find somebody and talk to somebody that's experienced this because yeah, well, you get to experience if you're only gonna ever have one pregnancy, get to you could experience both in one go. No, so we rolled in and it all went well. They were born within two minutes of each other. Harper came out first and Declan Declan actually peed on me when he was born. So that was lovely advice. Nice welcoming into the world.

Gabi (47:36)
No, it's not!

Beautiful.

Sinead Finn (47:50)
We were told that there was a high chance they would go to nursery. We toured the nursery in advance for preparation. I had gestational diabetes, which we'll talk to at another time. So there were some concerns about their blood sugar levels and them actually being quite big babies because of the gestational diabetes. You think that, but it comes with risk and, but they were fine. They obviously, as soon as they were born, they were quickly like taken to the little beds to get checked over. But I was able.

Gabi (47:54)
Yeah.

Yeah.

That's what you want, isn't it?

Yeah, we'll talk about it. Yeah.

Sinead Finn (48:19)
to hold them and I never let go. yeah, had them the entire time, which I'm so, grateful for because I know so many mothers of multiples don't always get to experience that. So I am forever grateful that that was... I sometimes think I'm like, okay, like I did think they were gonna get taken away because just my luck and I'm grateful. yeah, I don't know. I don't want to say, not everyone deserves that, but I was just like, give me something.

Gabi (48:20)
Amazing.

Yeah. But you went through a long journey to get there, so you deserve that.

Hmm.

You deserve that. You deserve that. No, but yeah.

Sinead Finn (48:48)
No, and I got two beautiful, healthy babies and I'm forever blessed and I'm so grateful for my experience. But yeah, yeah.

Gabi (48:56)
Well, I can't wait to talk more about our babies and our journeys, but I guess we've got forever and we will. But why don't we talk about, yeah, like how we got here?

Sinead Finn (49:00)
Yeah, we could talk forever, couldn't we? On these topics.

the podcast started?

Gabi (49:10)
Well, I slid into your DMs. I sure did. No, I think it was when you had just finished up working as a fashion designer and I think you put up a question box like what's next? And I was just like, well, I've been thinking about this for ages and what better time to ask than now when she's literally asking for an opportunity. So I think I said podcast question mark. And that was, think about six months ago.

Sinead Finn (49:15)
You sure did.

Crazy. I know. And it's so funny when Gabby slid into my DMs, like podcasts had been on my goals list. Like I had envisioned that also. And it was so cool to talk to Gabby. I'm like, this is like a complete stranger. Like is she a psychopath? TBC. But like everything just seemed to align with us, like our ideas for it, this type of guests that we'd like to come onto the podcast, like our work ethics.

Gabi (49:41)
And now here we are.

Could be.

Sinead Finn (50:10)
I obviously didn't like accept straight away we jumped on a few phone calls got to know each other but hey what's life without a little risk?

Gabi (50:17)
Yeah. So hopefully you guys listen and it's good, which gets...

Sinead Finn (50:21)
Yeah, we've spent the last six months like putting our blood, and tears into it and we really... Yeah, definitely, definitely. ⁓

Gabi (50:26)
If nothing else, hopefully I found a friend of another multiple mum. But if you had to describe all at once in one cheeky sentence, Sinead, what would it be?

Sinead Finn (50:37)
Oh my god. Two very overstimulated mums talking about the ups and downs of motherhood. What about you?

Gabi (50:42)
Hahaha this wild journey that we're on. ⁓

I guess I'd like to think of it as like a really real raw space that hopefully makes other mums of multiples feel less alone. Like maybe I felt when I was, you know, starting out my journey. So that's what I hope for.

Sinead Finn (51:03)
Absolutely. Yeah.

That's a big thing, isn't it, Gabi? That's like probably the number one reason why we started this podcast because when we got chatting, like it's both something that we wish was more readily available when we're pregnant. I guess the first thing you do when you find out you're pregnant with multiples, especially if you... Yeah, you follow me. No, humble, humble. ⁓ The first thing you do is either jump on social media. This is if you don't...

Gabi (51:24)
You follow Sinead?

Hahaha!

Sinead Finn (51:34)
know, have anyone that in your life that has had twins or multiples, you jump on social media, you jump on the Facebook groups or the forums or Dr. Google. And it can be quite lonely and it can be quite scary what you come about. Like I know some of the things I read did create a lot of anxiety and fear for me in my journey. And that's a big reason why I started sharing is like I wanted to like share the positive sides of twin motherhood and twin pregnancy.

Gabi (51:35)
Mm.

Mm.

Sinead Finn (51:59)
And, ⁓ that's something we want to do here. We want to speak through our experiences so you can feel less alone. And we want to bring on experts that have, you know, invaluable advice

Gabi (52:12)
even other, even other podcasts, they're all related to having one child or even like even different age children, but it's not the same. Like, you know, how do I get two children to sleep? Help me. It's it's not the same. And that's what I hope we can share through experts, through advice from other moms and from our own experience. And yeah, I hope it's a, I hope it helps other moms or parents.

Sinead Finn (52:21)
No.

Yes, exactly, exactly.

Yeah, we hope you find

it to be like a really valuable resource.

Gabi (52:42)
Yeah.

Is there anything you're secretly excited to share on this podcast?

Sinead Finn (52:48)
I'm honestly just so excited to hear from other multiple mums experiences. I'm also really interested in speaking to some of the guests that we have planned and hearing their invaluable insights and advice. What about you?

Gabi (53:03)
I think I'm most excited just to like, yeah, chat to other moms more importantly. I love hearing from other moms and it's just like relating to other moms, getting tips from other moms, cause I still need all the tips and advice I can get. And yeah, I just think it's going to be really exciting. And also just to share.

Sinead Finn (53:16)
You

Gabi (53:19)
our own journey and I think we're going to learn so much too so it's going to be good. To finish off, should we finish off with some rapid fire questions?

Sinead Finn (53:22)
Absolutely. So excited.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Sure. Should I start or would you like to go?

Gabi (53:33)
Uhhh... You go.

Sinead Finn (53:35)
All right. You ready? In one word, what's life really like raising multiples?

Gabi (53:36)
No?

busy.

Sinead Finn (53:44)
Yeah. All right. One thing people would be surprised to know about you.

Gabi (53:49)
⁓ that I have major OCD and I can't stop the microwave on a multiple of five.

Sinead Finn (53:55)
No, it feels like I hard relate. I have OCD too, but from getting to know you, I know yours is on a whole other level. Do you have any, do you have any other ticks? Sure.

Gabi (53:57)
Ha

But it's good thing. a lot, but we'll learn about them.

Sinead Finn (54:09)
What's a belief you've had to unlearn about raising multiples?

Gabi (54:12)
⁓ that you can do it all and it's okay to ask for help.

Sinead Finn (54:18)
Absolutely. Okay. What's one multiple survival tactic you stand by?

Gabi (54:26)
have a few probably, but get into that. probably just not to compare yourself particularly to singleton parents, but also to even other parents of multiples because all children are different. And if you feel like you need a break and you want to put on a movie for your kids, don't feel guilt about it.

Sinead Finn (54:29)
Thank

No, no that's a good one Gabby. Okay, this is my favourite question. Best well-meaning but wildly unhelpful comment.

Gabi (54:53)
So I know that everyone says it, but it's that, you've got your hands full, but I wanted to flip it the other way. And what I love is when you actually go out in the street and you just have another mom come up to you and say, you're doing amazing. And that is literally like the best thing that can happen in your whole day. It like changes. Like, yeah.

Sinead Finn (55:11)
That everything. It makes a mum of multiples day when when you see when you see that person approaching you and you're like oh here we go with the generic comment and then like they actually turn it around and say something like really positive it's so yeah it puts a smile on my face every time.

Gabi (55:17)
Yeah!

You

Yeah.

I think one time I was at Aldi and someone like offered my bag dropped on the floor with all the three kids and someone offered me their bag and I think I could have just cried like just like just help. This is hard. Just help. But Sinead your turn. In one word, what's life really like raising multiples?

Sinead Finn (55:37)
Beautiful. Yeah. ⁓ absolutely.

I'm going to say whirlwind. It's definitely a whirlwind.

Gabi (55:50)
Yeah.

Yep. What's one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

Sinead Finn (55:55)
Okay, I've actually got two that spring to mind. The first one is, and people are like mortified when they find others, but I don't drink coffee or tea and I never have. I've never had more than a sip of coffee. And if you can't tell...

Gabi (56:07)
No, that's not okay.

How are you surviving?

Sinead Finn (56:12)
Look, I probably have undiagnosed ADHD or something, because... No. Look, I would love to drink coffee. I really would. I hate the taste of it. Like, I want all the things it does for you, but...

Gabi (56:14)
Okay, good. We've got natural enhancers.

Yeah. ⁓

So you have like a red bull.

Sinead Finn (56:26)
I don't, I don't, not since my uni days, not since my studying days. I don't, nothing, water. Definitely not. I think I crashed a lot earlier than the regular person, but Andy and I have said if there's any stage of life where we're gonna drink coffee, cause I don't know, I found a husband that doesn't drink coffee or tea either. Like, can you believe that we found each other? Yeah, so we're like, if there's gonna be any stage, it's gonna be maybe now. So we shall see.

Gabi (56:32)
So she's just superhuman. All right.

No, I can't.

We'll see.

Let's see. And what's the other one? Yeah.

Sinead Finn (56:56)
To be continued? and the other one.

Okay, that I'm seriously obsessed with true crime podcasts. I actually know too much about crime. It's a little bit concerning.

Gabi (57:08)
too much. Yeah, I think maybe I'm the one that should be scared about this, this unknown relationship.

Sinead Finn (57:13)
Yeah, if yeah,

if yeah, if it had been the other way around, I don't know if I could continue doing this podcast. No.

Gabi (57:21)
Oh gosh.

Well, also to be continued, we shall see. What's the belief you've had to learn when it comes to raising multiples?

Sinead Finn (57:24)
Mm-hmm.

think it's similar to yours that I thought I could control it all, but twins will teach you humility and patience very, very quickly.

Gabi (57:41)
Absolutely. I'm still learning patience, but I'm trying. What about a multiple survival tactic that you stand by?

Sinead Finn (57:44)
Yeah.

Schedules and batch everything together like when you can sleep them together, when you can feed them together, when you can bath them together, especially in those early days, it's just going to make your life a whole lot easier.

All At Once (57:51)
Yeah.

For sure. I like that the hard way after having one non-Rajeen child. And what about this one for you? Best well-meaning but wildly unhelpful comment.

Sinead Finn (58:02)
Yeah.

feel like there's so many, but I've kind of gone a little bit blank and I'm with you on your hands are full or just like the people that pass by and say double trouble. think Andy and I, like when we catch their eye, we're like, here we go. Like they're about to say double trouble.

Gabi (58:25)
You just disengage now. You just like look down. Don't look at me. Don't talk to me.

Sinead Finn (58:30)
I know,

and I like, look, I don't like, I don't take it seriously. I know people mean well. It's just like, oh, it's so odd. It's so odd. It's like you said, it's so much nicer when someone like actually surprises you with like a really positive statement.

Gabi (58:38)
Yeah, please just help. ⁓

I don't even know if it's nice or it's just so unexpected that it feels so nice. It's probably just base level kindness. ⁓ Anyway.

Sinead Finn (58:52)
I think that might be it.

⁓ my gosh. ⁓ All right. Well, I

feel like that's enough about us. Now you know who you're dealing with, but thank you guys for being here and we can't wait to chat with you guys next week. See you later.

Gabi (59:01)
Yep.

Can't wait. Bye.

Gabi (59:13)
That's a wrap for today on All at Once.

Sinead Finn (59:15)
We hope you laughed, maybe cried a little, and most importantly, felt seen while navigating the chaos of raising multiples.

Gabi (59:21)
We release new episodes every week. Subscribe to keep them coming.

Sinead Finn (59:24)
And if you want more in between, you can find us on TikTok and Instagram, sharing behind the scenes moments, practical tips, and exclusive guest insights, or watch the full episode on YouTube.

Gabi (59:34)
It's messy, loud and beautiful. Life with multiples all at once.