Nearly six weeks after welcoming her baby girl, a woman felt uneasy and exhausted. She started feeling fuller, and oddly enough, her belly grew bigger. She then took an ultrasound scan and froze at the stunning revelation.
A few weeks after exhausting childbirth, some mothers would feel a lot like themselves before getting pregnant. But for one Australian mom, it was just the opposite.
In January 2016, Eliza Curby and her boyfriend Ben were thrilled when they welcomed their baby girl, Charlie. The couple was over the moon at the thought of raising their little family but found themselves in a situation six weeks later after Eliza’s belly mysteriously started to swell.
FASCINATED BY BABIES
The Northern Beaches native and her partner Ben fell pregnant with their first child after three months of dating. Like Eliza, Ben was always fascinated by the idea of having babies. So, when Eliza revealed the good news, he was excited at the very thought.
Stunned beyond belief, their doctor sent them for an ultrasound scan. At this point, more shocking details came to light.
Although the first few weeks following childbirth are rejuvenation time for many first-time moms, it wasn’t exactly the case with Eliza. Not only were the initial weeks post-delivery the hardest, but for some reason, she was constantly exhausted and feeling fuller.
THE POSTPARTUM STRESS CONTINUES
“My mom always said it takes six full weeks to come up for air!” Eliza recounted. Though not all women experience the same postpartum stress and trauma, their weariness does wear off with time.
But for Eliza, that didn’t happen even six weeks after childbirth. She even tried to figure out the odds of what was happening with her body. For some reason, Eliza couldn’t help but suspect that she was pregnant again. She recalled:
“Everyone told me it was sleep deprivation catching up with me, but I was not convinced—I remember looking at Ben and saying, ‘I think I’m pregnant.'”
OFF TO AN ULTRASOUND SCAN
However, Ben brushed it off as a joke. The couple had just had their first child, and it would be out of the question to think Eliza was pregnant again six weeks later. But the mom was still unmoved. She was confused, exhausted, and just wanted to find out the truth.
Curious, Eliza took a pregnancy test, and the results were negative. Still, something clicked, and she opted for a few more tests. But the jolting verdict came two weeks and four tests later—Eliza was indeed pregnant!
The couple couldn’t believe their eyes. They immediately rushed to the doctor to confirm the news. Stunned beyond belief, their doctor sent them for an ultrasound scan. At this point, more shocking details came to light.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
“The technician seemed awkward and uncomfortable before he finally said… ‘look, it’s early days, but I think there’s two,'” Eliza recalled.
The revelation jolted the mom, but she was super excited. Although the couple had fraternal twins in their families, neither had identical until the pregnancy news became official.
Eliza was animated, but it took her a little over two months and thousands of internet searches to deal with the double joy growing inside of her. “I just didn’t think about it too much—as that made me nervous thinking about the how,” she said.
THREE CHILDREN IN A ROW
For the next few months, Eliza lived in pleasant denial of becoming a mom again until she was too full-figured to pretend anymore.
“I was a whopping 35 kg heavier than my pre-babies 55 kg frame…My poor body hadn’t even had a chance to recover after the first!” she exclaimed.
Luckily, Eliza’s pregnancy wasn’t as complicated as she surmised it would be. Her twin baby boys made it to the 36-week deadline and even passed the 3 kg weight test. In just 11 months, Eliza birthed three children, two after one! However, her expanded family came with some changes in the plans they initially had for just one baby.
MODIFYING THOSE PARENTING GOALS
Eliza, who drove a Swift before, felt the urge to get a bigger, spacious car to fit her three baby capsules. She said:
“But three baby capsules won’t fit across most of the biggest five-seater cars…so off we went car shopping, and I now drive a van—a big mamma VW van!”
The family tackled their baby-tending duties with an average of 20 diapers a day. That’s 140 a week! But how does it feel to parent three babies simultaneously when you were prepared for just one? Well, Eliza has her answers.
A FULL-ON MOTHER
“I express at the moment—as the whole twin breastfeeding thing is impossible with a one-year-old crawling on you,” the mom of three revealed. Meanwhile, the exhaustion and everything dual pregnancy-related she had endured six weeks after Charlie’s birth wore out with time.
“No, I don’t know what day it is…No, I don’t know which of my identical twins I just fed…No, I probably couldn’t spell my name right now…But I am here, and I am functioning…Just!” Eliza exclaimed.
The Northern Beaches mom called her babies “Irish triplets” because of their proximity in age. It sure does feel that Eliza Curby and Ben have had their little nest full of Almighty’s blessings! What do you think?
