Twiniversity Podcast with Natalie Diaz

In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Nat talks with Sasha MacBain – a mom who found out she was pregnant again while her daughter was still a baby, then learned at her very first ultrasound that she was already 20 weeks along with twins. Her boys arrived one week before her daughter’s first birthday, and Sasha shares how she runs a house with three under three, why she answers every “Are they twins?” with “Actually, they’re triplets – I left the ugly one at home,” and why close spacing comes with so much joy in the chaos. Nat and Sasha also get real about getting pregnant right after having a baby, one-on-one time for each child, screen time with boundaries, and why everybody’s hard is their hard.

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This series is brought to you by CordBlood.com. Your babies’ umbilical cord blood is a one-time source of precious newborn stem cells, and once the cord is cut, it’s usually thrown away. Banking it lets you collect and preserve those cells right at birth — and with twins, that’s two once-in-a-lifetime chances you only get on delivery day. 👉 https://cordblood.com Use code DUO2 for special twin-family pricing. 💙

This episode’s break is brought to you by Twiniversity’s online Twins After Singletons class – made for parents who already have a little one at home and just found out two more are on the way. Get a plan for preparing your older child, handling the logistics, and making room for everyone before the twins arrive. 👇

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout
 

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿  Finding out at 20 weeks – blood work said 9, the midwife measured 26, and the ultrasound said twins

⦿  Yes, you can get pregnant right after having a baby

⦿  Why breastfeeding is not reliable birth control

⦿  Pumping goals that fit your life – six months for her daughter, three for the twins

⦿  “Irish triplets” – or twins plus a big sister?

⦿  Bringing twins home one week before her daughter’s first birthday

⦿  Her village: a batch-cooking mother-in-law, part-time help, and a partner with flexible hours

⦿  Who comes first when all three are crying at once

⦿  From a tandem stroller and babywearing to a four-seat wagon

⦿  “Actually, they’re triplets” – handling stranger comments with humor

⦿  The upside of close spacing: shared toys, shared stages, and a tight bond

⦿  One-on-one time so no child feels like part of a unit

⦿  Fraternal twins, “bonus eggs,” and Nat’s “going out of business sale”

⦿  Screen time with boundaries – and slower shows like Mr. Rogers

⦿  Daycare, routines, and protecting your mental health

⦿  Surprise-baby guilt, infertility envy, and why everybody’s hard is their hard
 

GIVEAWAYS 💰

🎉 YOU’RE INVITED: Need more support? Join us each month for our Twiniversity Virtual Meeting. Meet Nat and Lauren and bring them your biggest twin life challenges each month of the year. For dates and more details visit:

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter! https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has you COVERED with online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

Baby Safety (CPR, First Aid, Car Seat Safety, Childproofing): https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout
 

CONNECT WITH US 🎙️

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X: http://twitter.com/Twiniversity

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/twiniversity

Email: [email protected]

In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Nat talks with Nicole Whitaker – a coach for career moms and a twin mom of girls, plus an older child – about one of the spiciest topics in any twin home: who does what. Nicole shares why the first step is an honest check-in with yourself, how a “soft startup” and clear non-negotiables keep hard talks from turning into fights, and why your partner should own whole tasks instead of just “helping.” Nat adds hard-won wisdom from 21 years of twin parenting, including the cereal-on-the-floor story that changed how she thinks about control, and a reminder that it’s only too late if you don’t start now.
 

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This series is brought to you by CordBlood.com. Your babies’ umbilical cord blood is a one-time source of precious newborn stem cells, and once the cord is cut, it’s usually thrown away. Banking it lets you collect and preserve those cells right at birth — and with twins, that’s two once-in-a-lifetime chances you only get on delivery day. 👉 https://cordblood.com Use code DUO2 for special twin-family pricing. 💙

This episode’s break is brought to you by the Twiniversity Virtual Twins Meeting – a monthly live call where you can bring Nat and Lauren your biggest twin-life challenges, from sharing the load at home to getting a little time back for yourself. You don’t have to figure it out alone. 👇

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout
 

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿  Why sharing the load is a struggle for almost every family – and why that’s normal

⦿  The first conversation is with yourself: what do you really need and want?

⦿  New babies are like a work reorg – the old system has to change

⦿  Deal breakers: naming the bare minimum each of you needs

⦿  Starting your own family as a chance for a redo or a do-over

⦿  The soft startup – “Is now a good time?”

⦿  Three ground rules: stay calm, seek to understand, aim to reconcile

⦿  Non-negotiables inside the circle, flexible areas outside it

⦿  How resentment builds when twin moms “just do it themselves”

⦿  Five minutes alone – you are not relaxing, you are recovering

⦿  Partner, not helper: owning the whole task, including the mental load

⦿  Letting go of how it gets done (and the cereal-on-the-floor story)

⦿  Why a strict 50/50 split turns into tit for tat

⦿  Finding the one change that would be a game-changer for you

⦿  Putting your relationship ahead of stroller research
 

GIVEAWAYS 💰

🎉 YOU’RE INVITED: Need more support? Join us each month for our Twiniversity Virtual Meeting. Meet Nat and Lauren and bring them your biggest twin life challenges each month of the year. For dates and more details visit:

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter! https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has you COVERED with online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

Baby Safety (CPR, First Aid, Car Seat Safety, Childproofing): https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout
 

CONNECT WITH NICOLE 🤝

Nicole Whitaker helps career moms get out of survival mode so they can finally breathe, feel healthy again, and wake up living their purpose – without missing time with their kids or living with constant mom guilt. Visit her website to book a free one-on-one coaching call.

Website: www.nicolewhitaker.com

Instagram: @nicolewhitaker.coaching

Podcast: Burn Beautiful

📚 Book mentioned in this episode: Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
 

CONNECT WITH US 🎙️
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Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/twiniversity/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Twiniversity/

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X: http://twitter.com/Twiniversity

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/twiniversity

Email: [email protected]

In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Nat talks with Sayra Yepez – an architect who moved from New York to California to start over, met her partner in August, and was pregnant by December with di/di twin girls.

Sayra walks through the appointment where a joke about twins turned real, the conversations that followed with her roommate and her family, and how a relationship that was three months old had to evolve ten years in a week. She is also honest about what came next: a severe postpartum depression she is still working her way out of two and a half years later.

It is a story about trust, about how fast a family can build itself, and about why the village – whether you were handed one or had to assemble it – is the whole thing.

#TwinMom #TwinParenting #SurpriseTwins #TwinPregnancy #PostpartumDepression #PPD #TwinGirls #TwinToddlers #ParentingMultiples #TwinLife #NewbornTwins #BlendedFamily #ItTakesAVillage #MultiplesMom #PostpartumSupport #TwinDad #DiDiTwins #TwinsOfInstagram #Twiniversity

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This series is brought to you by CordBlood.com. Your babies’ umbilical cord blood is a one-time source of precious newborn stem cells, and once the cord is cut, it’s usually thrown away. Banking it lets you collect and preserve those cells right at birth — and with twins, that’s two once-in-a-lifetime chances you only get on delivery day. 👉 https://cordblood.com Use code DUO2 for special twin-family pricing. 💙

This episode’s break is brought to you by Twiniversity’s online Breastfeeding Twins class – for the pumping-feeding-formula-repeat stretch Sayra describes, taught by twin parents for twin parents, so you go in with a plan instead of a guess. 👇

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿  Meeting in August, pregnant by December – and cracking up at the universe

⦿  Read the fine print: birth control is not 100%, and the 2% can come as a set

⦿  The burrito run, the joke about twins, and the nurse who said “the scan shows there’s two”

⦿  Time is not the same thing as knowing someone – the questions they asked on day one

⦿  “Safe” is the word that matters more than the timeline

⦿  Trust, but do your homework – and let your sister do hers

⦿  Telling the roommate, telling the family in Ecuador, and being the black sheep

⦿  Telling his 12- and 13-year-old kids, and a big sister who stepped right in

⦿  Everything at once: the lease, the Tenderloin walkup, the two-bedroom, the Atlas

⦿  Getting your doctorate in parenting straight out of kindergarten

⦿  Severe postpartum depression with twins – and the guilt that comes after

⦿  When everyone else’s happy twin story doesn’t match your reality

⦿  Nobody’s relationship is prepared for postpartum with twins

⦿  It takes a village: the friend who moved in, and building one from scratch

⦿  Pumping, feeding, formula, repeat – and a partner learning in real time

⦿  Head on a swivel: why twin moms become the hen of every family gathering

GIVEAWAYS 💰

🎉 YOU’RE INVITED: Need more support? Join us each month for our Twiniversity Virtual Meeting. Meet Nat and Lauren and bring them your biggest twin life challenges each month of the year. For dates and more details visit:

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter! https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has you COVERED with online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

Baby Safety (CPR, First Aid, Car Seat Safety, Childproofing): https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout

 

CONNECT WITH US 🎙️

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Twiniversity

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/twiniversity/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Twiniversity/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@twiniversity

X: http://twitter.com/Twiniversity

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/twiniversity

Email: [email protected]
 

In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Nat talks with Brittani Thorne – a kidney transplant nurse, a twin herself, married to a twin, and now a mom of twins – about the question her day job made impossible to ignore: why do transplant patients get months of education to care for one precious gift, while new parents get a two-minute phone call and “feed them every two to three hours”?

Brittani walks through her road to twins after losing her first baby at 21 weeks and having 15 fibroids removed, the NICU stay that taught her (and both sets of grandparents) how to actually care for two newborns, and the support system – parents at her door at 6:30 every morning – that meant she never felt sleep-deprived.

It’s an honest look at the education hospitals quietly stopped offering after COVID, why “we’re all just winging it” might be the most freeing thing you hear all week, and how to build the accessory humans who make up for the manual nobody handed you.

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This episode is brought to you by Dr. Brown’s — the #1 pediatrician-recommended baby bottle in the U.S. Their anti-colic internal vent system is clinically proven to reduce colic, spit-up, burping, and gas while helping preserve the good stuff in breast milk. The breast-like nipple shape supports a proper latch, so going from breast to bottle and back stays easy — which matters when you’re handing one baby to your partner at 3 a.m., or handing a bottle to a NICU nurse so you can finally lie down. 👉 drbrownsbaby.com

This episode’s break is brought to you by Twiniversity’s online Baby Safety class – CPR, first aid, car seat safety, and childproofing, taught for twin families. If this whole episode is about the manual nobody hands you, this is the chapter you really don’t want to skip. 👇

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout
 

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿  Hairdressers need licensing hours – parents get handed a human being with no education at all

⦿  Two twins raising twins: when “we’re a twin family” is just standard operating procedure

⦿  Brittani’s road to twins – a loss at 21 weeks, and 15 fibroids removed

⦿  The transplant comparison: months of prep to protect one precious gift vs. a two-minute discharge call

⦿  “Eat every two to three hours” is not a discharge plan – and most people never read the papers

⦿  What COVID cut from hospitals – tours, classes, follow-up – and never brought back

⦿  Watching your babies on the Angel Care monitor when you’re the one who can read the vitals

⦿  Why NICU nurses are the parent-education system nobody tells you to hope for

⦿  Nat’s dream: a five-day transitional unit before they send you home alone

⦿  Preparing for the wedding day instead of the marriage – and the registry instead of the parenting

⦿  Never feeling sleep-deprived: parents at the door at 6:30 a.m. and a husband on the night shift

⦿  “We’re all just winging it” – why you should never feel intimidated asking a question

⦿  Lean in: aunties, grandmas, and anyone who has raised a baby in the last 60 years

⦿  Why a nurse says skip Dr. Google and ChatGPT and go find a real human

⦿  Tara, Think Pink Lungs, and the stem cell donor gap that shuts out twin parents
 

RELATED VIDEO 🎥

⦿  Check out our interview with Brittani’s Husband Jeremy: https://youtu.be/oHfeZzcVnms 
 

GIVEAWAYS 💰

🎉 YOU’RE INVITED: Need more support? Join us each month for our Twiniversity Virtual Meeting. Meet Nat and Lauren and bring them your biggest twin life challenges each month of the year. For dates and more details visit:

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout
 

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter! https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has you COVERED with online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

Baby Safety (CPR, First Aid, Car Seat Safety, Childproofing): https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout

CONNECT WITH US 🎙️

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X: http://twitter.com/Twiniversity

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/twiniversity

Email: [email protected]

In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Nat talks with Amanda – mom of fraternal twin boys who are now grown men, one of whom is autistic – about what twin parenting looks like from the far side of it. Amanda found out at 23, in college and on birth control, that the two heartbeats on the ultrasound meant twins, and she raised them with almost no internet, no twin-mom circle, and no mother of her own to call.

She and Nat go straight at the things twin parents rarely say out loud: the colicky 3 a.m. thought that she could not do this, the fear of being judged in the Target parking lot, and the one decision she would make differently if she could go back.

What is left after 24 years is not a system or a hack – it is patience, presence, and the kind of consistency that still has her son heading to bed at 9:00 on New Year’s Eve.
 

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This series is brought to you by CordBlood.com — and since July is Cord Blood Awareness Month, there's no better time to talk about it. Your babies' umbilical cord blood is a one-time source of precious newborn stem cells, and once the cord is cut, it's usually thrown away. Banking it lets you collect and preserve those cells right at birth — and with twins, that's two once-in-a-lifetime chances you only get on delivery day. 👉 https://cordblood.com Use code DUO2 for special twin-family pricing. 💙

This episode’s break is brought to you by the Twiniversity Virtual Twins Meeting – because the one thing Amanda never had was a room full of other twin parents. Meet Nat and Lauren each month and bring them your biggest twin life challenges, whether your twins are two weeks old or twenty-two. 👇

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout
 

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿  Finding out at 23, in college and on birth control, that there were two heartbeats

⦿  “I have a baby with two hearts?” – the first reaction so many twin parents have

⦿  Dropping out of school, getting married, and rebuilding the whole plan around two babies

⦿  Raising twins before the internet, when the library was the only twin resource there was

⦿  Fraternal boys who look nothing alike – and the classmates who never knew they were brothers

⦿  Separating the cribs early because one twin was a wiggler, and trusting that instinct

⦿  Noticing a difference in one boy and pushing her pediatrician until someone listened

⦿  An autism diagnosis 24 years ago, back when almost nobody knew what that meant

⦿  The colicky middle-of-the-night thought she was terrified to say out loud – and why it is more common than anyone admits

⦿  Parenting through it without her mom, without a twin-mom circle, and without a break

⦿  Toddler leashes, a Target runaway, and letting go of what strangers think of you

⦿  The one thing she would do differently: giving the boys more time apart

⦿  How the brothers look out for each other now, and the “would you take care of him?” conversation

⦿  Routine as comfort – why her son still puts himself to bed at 9:00

⦿  Labels and diagnoses keep changing; the kid in front of you does not

⦿  What she thinks she got right: patience, presence, and a face-to-face world
 

GIVEAWAYS 💰

🎉 YOU’RE INVITED: Need more support? Join us each month for our Twiniversity Virtual Meeting. Meet Nat and Lauren and bring them your biggest twin life challenges each month of the year. For dates and more details visit: 

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout
 

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter! https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has you COVERED with online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

Baby Safety (CPR, First Aid, Car Seat Safety, Childproofing): https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout
 

CONNECT WITH AMANDA 💬

Amanda does not have public social accounts to share, but she said yes to hearing from parents who are where she was. If her story sounds like your life, reach out through us and we will pass it along: [email protected]
 

CONNECT WITH US 🎙️

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Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/twiniversity/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Twiniversity/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@twiniversity

X: http://twitter.com/Twiniversity

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/twiniversity

Email: [email protected]
 

In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Nat talks with Connie Rutherford — a Wall Street–turned–tech mom, author of Searching for Tadpoles, and a solo mom by choice raising twin girls she was told she had almost no odds of having. Connie walks through the whole road: freezing her eggs at 38, choosing a sperm donor in secret from her traditional family, three IUIs, a failed transfer, and a fresh cycle at 40 where she skipped genetic testing, transferred two embryos at less than 1% odds, and got both.

From there it is a twin pregnancy in a boiler-room career, a 17-hour flight home from Taiwan in a face mask as COVID hit, and a book written almost entirely while pregnant. It is a funny, unfiltered, deeply reassuring conversation about building the family you want without waiting for anyone else to show up.

Grab her book, Searching for Tadpoles — her full solo-motherhood and fertility journey, written the way she wished someone had written it for her.

Website: https://www.connierutherford.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/searchingfortadpoles

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@searchingfortadpoles

Email: [email protected]

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This series is brought to you by CordBlood.com — and since July is Cord Blood Awareness Month, there's no better time to talk about it. Your babies' umbilical cord blood is a one-time source of precious newborn stem cells, and once the cord is cut, it's usually thrown away. Banking it lets you collect and preserve those cells right at birth — and with twins, that's two once-in-a-lifetime chances you only get on delivery day. 👉 https://cordblood.com Use code DUO2 for special twin-family pricing. 💙

This episode's break is brought to you by the Twiniversity Virtual Twins Meeting — the exact community Nat invites Nicole into. Meet Nat and Lauren, bring them your biggest twin-life challenge of the month (parent preference absolutely counts), and remember you are never doing this alone. 👇

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿ Freezing your eggs at 38 as an insurance policy — and why it is okay to shop clinics

⦿ The wake-up call: a stage four diagnosis and the fear her kids would never meet their grandfather

⦿ Choosing a donor when the pool is small — ethnicity, CMV status, and the letter about his dad

⦿ Three IUIs, a hybrid cycle, and four embryos that came back abnormal

⦿ The PGS question: are we throwing away embryos that would have self-corrected?

⦿ Going old school at 40 — morphology, ranking, and “it only takes one”

⦿ Transferring two at less than 1% odds and getting both

⦿ Being pregnant with twins in a high-pressure, male-dominated career

⦿ A pandemic pregnancy, a 17-hour flight, and a face mask she never took off

⦿ Writing Searching for Tadpoles — 95% while pregnant, the last 5% over five years

GIVEAWAYS 💰

🎉 YOU’RE INVITED: Need more support? Join us each month for our Twiniversity Virtual Meeting. Meet Nat and Lauren and bring them your biggest twin life challenges each month of the year. For dates and more details visit:

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter! https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has you COVERED with online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

Baby Safety (CPR, First Aid, Car Seat Safety, Childproofing): https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout

CONNECT WITH US 🎙️

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Twiniversity

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/twiniversity/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Twiniversity/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@twiniversity

X: http://twitter.com/Twiniversity

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/60TDcDJoEtQHwqLzZ8L9rX?si=9734d507f23845e6

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/twiniversity

Email: [email protected]

In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Nat sits down with Nicole Kernan — mom to fraternal twin girls Ollie and Lou (two and a half) — to talk about the thing so many parents feel and rarely say out loud: parent preference. Nicole did everything as a team — exclusive pumping, a husband who took full paternity leave — and one twin still gravitated hard toward Dad, leaving her buried in guilt. Nat meets her in the eye of the storm with the reframe that changes everything: stop trying to be equal, start being fair, and shift the story from "them vs. me" to we — because a child with two parents they can fully depend on isn't a rejection, it's a gift.

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This series is brought to you by CordBlood.com — and since July is Cord Blood Awareness Month, there's no better time to talk about it. Your babies' umbilical cord blood is a one-time source of precious newborn stem cells, and once the cord is cut, it's usually thrown away. Banking it lets you collect and preserve those cells right at birth — and with twins, that's two once-in-a-lifetime chances you only get on delivery day. 👉 https://cordblood.com Use code DUO2 for special twin-family pricing. 💙

This episode's break is brought to you by the Twiniversity Virtual Twins Meeting — the exact community Nat invites Nicole into. Meet Nat and Lauren, bring them your biggest twin-life challenge of the month (parent preference absolutely counts), and remember you are never doing this alone. 👇

Join the next Twiniversity Virtual Twins Meeting

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿ Why "my twin prefers Dad" is far more common than you think — and often a person preference, not a snub

⦿ How the preferred parent can flip overnight (first Ollie, then Lou)

⦿ The guilt and shame nobody names — NICU guilt, pumping guilt, and "why not me?"

⦿ Don't force it — but don't let the preferred parent "rescue" either

⦿ The crib standoff, the tantrum only Dad can calm, and the story-time lap meltdown

⦿ Trying to be fair instead of equal (you'll never hit exactly-equal, and that's okay)

⦿ The orange on the counter: how moms and dads carry the mental load differently

⦿ Shifting the whole story from "them versus me" to we

⦿ Why a parent preference can actually be a gift, not a rejection

⦿ Building your bench — twins are not a solo sport

⦿ Protecting your own time, friendships, and sense of self

⦿ It's a phase: your present, not your always — and awareness means you're already doing it right

GIVEAWAYS 💰

🎉 YOU'RE INVITED: Need more support? Join us each month for our Twiniversity Virtual Meeting. Meet Nat and Lauren and bring them your biggest twin life challenges each month of the year. For dates and more details visit:

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter! https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has you COVERED with online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

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In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Nat sits down with Zach Achatz - a small-business owner, woodworker, pie maker, and dad of six-month-old boy-girl twins - for the conversation she wishes more dads would have: how partners actually show up. After navigating his wife’s PCOS and a fertility journey that ended in a very big surprise (two little black dots on the ultrasound), Zach came ready to talk through every stage of the twin journey.

The heart of it is advocacy - his wife fired all her providers by 36 weeks to get the vaginal twin birth she wanted, and they found their yes at U of M with baby A head down and baby B breech. From there it turns practical: dividing the labor by "who’s fastest at what," home automation, honest talk about co-sleeping and sleep deprivation, the doula who steadied their birth, and Nat’s north star for every papa bear who thinks they can jump in later - there is no jumping in later. You jump in now.

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This episode is brought to you by Baby Brezza - a Twiniversity top pick for about eight years running. Their Formula Advanced Pro WiFi starts a warm, perfectly mixed bottle from bed, and their all-in-one Bottle Washer Pro washes, sterilizes, and dries in 88 minutes. 👉

babybrezza.com

This episode’s break is brought to you by Twiniversity’s Twins Delivery Day Bootcamp - the exact advocacy and birth-plan prep Zach and his wife lived out here, taught by Nat. 👇

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/DeliveryDayBootcamp

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿ Why raising twins is a two-person sport - and why partners can’t "jump in later"

⦿ Firing every provider by 36 weeks to fight for the birth she wanted

⦿ Getting cleared for a vaginal twin birth when baby B is breech

⦿ Dad as the mouthpiece in the delivery room - the BRAIN approach

⦿ Dividing the newborn labor by "who’s fastest at what," not by gender

⦿ Co-sleeping honestly and safely, and modeling real partnership for your twins

RELATED VIDEO 🎥

⦿ Want more of the dad’s side of things? Watch Twins Twice with Twin Dad Josh Longmore on our channel:

https://youtu.be/YCFempGZeyM 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE 🔗

⦿ Astrid & Co Podcast - Zach’s wife’s show on finding her voice:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/astrid-co-podcast/id1866448311

GIVEAWAYS 💰

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter!

https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins:

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons:

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

Baby Safety (CPR, First Aid, Car Seat Safety, Childproofing):

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout

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Email: [email protected]

In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Natalie talks with Laurie Donohue, a twin mom of boy-girl twins, about how often standard pregnancy education leaves twin parents out.

When Laurie learned she was having twins, she went looking for real data and practical guidance. Instead, most pregnancy books gave twins little more than a passing mention. She eventually found a multiples-specific resource, leaned on family support, and asked her medical team detailed questions to advocate for the birth experience she wanted.

Natalie shares how that same information gap helped inspire Twiniversity. Even professional childbirth and lactation training often treats multiples as an afterthought, leaving parents and educators without the support they need.

The conversation also covers the fear that comes with the “high-risk” label, the challenge of finding trustworthy twin resources online, and why real support from local twin clubs and other multiples parents matters so much.

Most importantly, this episode reminds new twin parents that they do not have to do everything perfectly. Some days, success simply means everyone is fed, safe, and making it to bedtime. You can do this.

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This episode is brought to you by Baby Brezza – the maker of the Formula Pro Advanced, the automatic formula dispenser that makes a warm, perfectly mixed bottle in seconds. No measuring, no scooping, no lumps – just press start and it's ready. It works with virtually all formula brands and bottle sizes, which is a real sanity-saver when you're prepping bottles for two around the clock (some parents lovingly call it the "baby Keurig"). 👉 babybrezza.com/products/formula-pro-advanced

This episode is also brought to you by Twiniversity's FREE online Twins Delivery Day Bootcamp – the twin-specific birth prep. Nat walks you through twin birth plans, what to actually ask your medical team, and what to expect whether you deliver vaginally, by C-section, or both – so you head into delivery day feeling ready instead of winging it. 👇 https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/DeliveryDayBootcamp

Shop Nat's books and more Twiniversity resources: https://www.twiniversity.com/shop/

⦿ What to Do When You're Having Two: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1583335153?linkCode=sl2&tag=twpgemail-20&creativeASIN=1583335153&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.9EL8HFRXIDLU&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin

⦿ The Newborn Twins Sleep Guide:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637744420?linkCode=sl2&tag=twpgemail-20&creativeASIN=1637744420&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.9EL8HFRXIDLU&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿ Why twin parents get left out of standard pregnancy books and classes

⦿ The hunt for real data (not "Chicken Soup") the moment you find out it's twins

⦿ Pushing your medical team with specific questions to protect the birth you want

⦿ How the "high-risk" label can send your brain straight to worst-case thinking

⦿ Why the resources you need already exist – but stay buried in internet white noise

⦿ Finding your people: local twin clubs, a multiples mom friend, even a triplet friend

⦿ Letting go of control when you're a type-A planner having twins

⦿ Combo feeding, dishes in the sink, and redefining "winning" as alive and fed

⦿ Why real humans beat the algorithm (and AI) for twin support

⦿ The reassurance every new twin parent needs: there's a way, and you can do it

RELATED VIDEO 🎥

⦿ Want more on advocating for yourself in a twin pregnancy? Watch Black Maternal Health and Twin Pregnancy - How One Mom Advocated for a Safer Birth with Tracey on our channel: https://youtu.be/ksRv-pgBnAI

⦿ Want the long-view reassurance of a twin dad who's been through it all? Watch He's a Twin Dad, a Doctor, and Proof That Fatherhood Changes Everything with Charles on our channel: https://youtu.be/6Tjxo_M5Mxg

GIVEAWAYS 💰

🎉 YOU'RE INVITED: Need more support? Join us each month for our Twiniversity Virtual Meeting. Meet Nat and Lauren and bring them your biggest twin life challenges each month of the year.

For dates and more details visit: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter! https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has you COVERED with online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

Baby Safety (CPR, First Aid, Car Seat Safety, Childproofing): https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout

CONNECT WITH US 🎙️

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Twiniversity

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Twiniversity/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@twiniversity

X: twitter.com/Twiniversity

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/twiniversity

Email: [email protected]

In this episode of the Twiniversity Podcast, Nat talks with Mallory Reeves – a nurse and twin mom of boys, plus an older daughter – about something the internet loves to call impossible: exclusively breastfeeding twins. Mallory breastfed her singleton first (a rocky, painful start that a second lactation consultant completely turned around, leading to 18 months of nursing), and when she found out she was expecting twins she decided to give it a try with a simple rule: if it works, amazing, and if it doesn’t, a fed baby is a good baby. Five months in with her boys, it’s working. 

Nat and Mallory walk through what actually got her there: ditching the myth that you must tandem feed from day one, learning to feed and teach one baby at a time, leaning hard on her husband as her number-one support, and booking lactation help early so she had validation and a safety net. They get into the meat scale her hunter husband rigged up for weighted feeds, why poops and pees are the real proof your babies are thriving, and why babies – like the rest of us – choose their own meal sizes (a “potato chip” feed one time, a “tomahawk steak” feed the next). 

The conversation also clears up a lot of noise: breastfeeding should not hurt for more than a few seconds, oversupply is not the flex social media makes it out to be, you need almost no special gear, and the right breastfeeding pillow depends on your torso, not the trend. Nat shares why the right lactation pro – ideally an experienced IBCLC with multiple-birth experience – matters so much, how virtual consults can solve everything from latch to flange size, and the truth that lactation support has been a covered benefit since 1994. Most of all, this is a reassuring, funny, myth-busting episode for any twin parent who has been told they can’t – with Nat’s north star throughout: the goal isn’t exclusive breastfeeding, the goal is no regrets.

A QUICK SHOUTOUT 📣

This episode is brought to you by Dr. Brown's — the #1 pediatrician-recommended baby bottle in the U.S. Their anti-colic internal vent system is clinically proven to reduce colic, spit-up, burping, and gas while helping preserve the good stuff in breast milk. The breast-like nipple shape supports a proper latch and makes going from breast to bottle and back so much easier — exactly what you need when you're feeding two. 👉 drbrownsbaby.com 

This episode’s break is brought to you by Twiniversity’s online Breastfeeding Twins class – everything Nat coaches Mallory through here, in a self-paced course built just for twin parents. Get the latch, positioning, and tandem-feeding confidence before your babies arrive. 👇

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

EPISODE THEMES 📝

⦿  Why “you can’t breastfeed twins” is mostly noise – and how Mallory did it anyway

⦿  Breastfeeding a singleton first as the best set of training wheels (but not a requirement)

⦿  The IBCLC difference – getting the right lactation support, not just any opinion

⦿  Letting go of the tandem-feeding pressure and feeding one baby at a time first

⦿  Husband-as-number-one-support, and booking a lactation visit for a day or two after home

⦿  Weighted feeds, the hunter’s meat scale, and trusting poops and pees as proof

⦿  Babies choose their own meal size – the “potato chip vs. tomahawk steak” feed

⦿  Breastfeeding should not hurt for more than a few seconds – pain means a fixable problem

⦿  Why chasing oversupply (and over-pumping) can backfire into mastitis

⦿  You need almost no gear – picking a pillow by your torso and skipping the nipple-shield hype

⦿  Trusting your body again after IVF and a hard first start

⦿  Taking it one day at a time – and the rule that ties it all together: no regrets

RELATED VIDEO 🎥

⦿  Want the full breastfeeding-twins walkthrough? Watch Breastfeeding Twins on our channel: https://youtu.be/SJz9sIYUj5g

GIVEAWAYS 💰

🎉 YOU’RE INVITED: Need more support? Join us each month for our Twiniversity Virtual Meeting. Meet Nat and Lauren and bring them your biggest twin life challenges each month of the year. For dates and more details visit: 

https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/MKse3EVR/checkout

✔️ Subscribe to the Twiniversity Email Newsletter! https://www.twiniversity.com/subscribe/

Expecting twins? Twiniversity has you COVERED with online classes! ⬇️

Breastfeeding Twins: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/HTaVcGhH/checkout

Twins After Singletons: https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/hegrd8Ez/checkout

Baby Safety (CPR, First Aid, Car Seat Safety, Childproofing): https://twiniversity.mykajabi.com/offers/AccFMLk8/checkout

CONNECT WITH US 🎙️

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Twiniversity

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/twiniversity/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Twiniversity/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@twiniversity

X: http://twitter.com/Twiniversity

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/60TDcDJoEtQHwqLzZ8L9rX?si=9734d507f23845e6

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/twiniversity

Email: [email protected]