Balancing Positive Thinking with Preparation

[Liora]

I'm a big believer in positive thinking!  I'm doing daily affirmations and meditation that my twins will be healthy, full-term, born naturally, and breastfeeding champs!

However, I'm also a research freak and I'm not sure how much I should read about premature birth, NICU, etc.  Even the book Mothering Multiples has multiple chapters I've kind of skipped.

What are your thoughts on being prepared vs. staying positive?

[queenofchaos]

Thinking positive is huge!  Another thing I did is set goals for myself and read them over everyday.  Such as I will eat X amount of protein.  The babies will weigh X.  They will be vertex.   They will be born after X wks gestation. I will drink X amount of water.   Etc.  I made them as statements of fact.  Writing them down really helped me a lot.  A twin pg can be very emotional and the hormones are outrageous.  The written reminder can be a lifesaver sometimes. 

You may be thinking that reading about some of the scarier side of a multiple birth will muddy the waters, and encourage you to think negatively or get anxious.  The way I looked at it was that I wanted to be prepared and have at least a basic knowledge of anything that might happen.  I think being knowledgable and prepared is a VERY positive thing.  I think it will also inform as to what exactly the dangers are and how you might be able to prevent or at least prepare for them.  I look at it as knowing as much as I can and preparing for what I can allows me to get a handle on the difficult things so I can focus my time and energy on the positive things.

So, in a nutshell, read about all that stuff, but once you have don't dwell on it, or make it your focus. 

I hope you have a happy, healthy pg! 

[Liora]

Thanks so much for the reply!  I love the idea of writing down my goals.  I think I'll post them on the bathroom mirror or something.