How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Congratulations, Sarah! Wow, twins... I had to chuckle at the suggestion for dad to bring the toddler and twins to the pool while you swim. I have this vision of dad wearing a Baby Bjorn with one twin in it, holding the other twin, and chasing a life-jacketed giggling toddler around the pool. Hmmm... perhaps another adult would help in that situation? :) Everyone has given you lots of great ideas. I'll second Dorothy's point to break your workouts up into short chunks. When you can't make it to the pool, a treadmill is great, or if you already own a bike you can get a windtrainer (mine was $89 from Performance Bikeshop) and voila, you have a stationary bike at your house. Stretch-cords work well for swimming related movements, too. I try to do stretch-cord work and yoga ball stability type stuff twice a week while my daughter naps. But the best "invention" EVER is the fitness center daycare. If this is at all a possibility, go for it. I don't know if I'd be swimming much at all if not for the daycare. Look for a place where the workers are all CPR certified, that smells 'clean', and has a decent staff/child ratio. Some gyms take kids as young as 6 weeks; 6 months seems to be pretty standard. Most places have a policy of paging the parent if the child is inconsolable for a certain amount of time. One warning... these daycares are serious germ-breeding sites. From about 14 months to 20 months, my daughter caught a lot of colds. But her immune system seems to have caught up now and this winter is going much better (I also slather her hands with Purell the instant I pick her up...) Good luck and congrats again!

No one was seriously hurt and I find that time alone with them to be quite fun, although I am graded on my efforts upon the return of my wife. Usually it's four thumbs down. I will say I have yet to master the art of styling female hair, it's always ponytails around here for me. LOL. I love getting the male POV on this!

Tell your husband to buck up. It's only a few hours, he'll survive, you'll be happier. You need to get out of the house every now and again to interact with grown people and recharge the batteries. We have lots of funny stories in our home about the various misdadventures that have occurred when I was left alone with the kids while my wife went on business trips or even gym trips. No one was seriously hurt and I find that time alone with them to be quite fun, although I am graded on my efforts upon the return of my wife. Usually it's four thumbs down. I will say I have yet to master the art of styling female hair, it's always ponytails around here for me.

Congratulations! What everyone else has said is right on target. You definitely need to get back in the water. I waited 6 weeks after my son was born, and that was way too long. You will go stir crazy if you don't get out of the house some. And you will have mommy guilt, but you have to do it anyway. I hate to admit this, but I was SO glad to go back to work after maternity leave. And yet my husband had to practically drag me out of the daycare center, prying my white knuckles from the crib! Meg

Congrats as everyone says.When our kids were little my wife and I would trade off childcare and work and workout times.We didn't see each other much,but she got some "adult human" time and I got great bonding time with the kids.

Maybe you can do a baby swap with another swimmer with little ones? Maybe the coach knows of someone else on the team to contact? One day you watch their kids when they swim and the next day they watch your kids while you swim (or the same day if you have multiple workout times available). Maybe something as easy as just hanging out in the parking lot, then there is not a lot of time involved with the exchange. :dunno:

Sarah-I told the gang this morning I heard from you on here. Told them the good news about your twins. The team is pretty much the same, with a few more new people. My season is going pretty well for a 41yr old. Still train with the masters and the age group team. The coach is really good. He swam for Pitt and coached there for a few yrs after he graduated. His practices are very different from old coaches but change is good I guess. He is also a big time tri guy and will be going to Peru next month for a triathalon and then possibly a few world cups. If I remember right you moved south? For some reason I thought it was Tenn? Beth and Mike say hello. Take care, Greg

I will say I have yet to master the art of styling female hair, it's always ponytails around here for me. Wow Geek, you da man! :bow: My daughters four and she AND my wife give me the :shakeshead: when I try a pony tail. I'll try to do a good one and when she starts to :cry:because of too much hair pulling. I :whiteflag:and tell her to go get a head band.

Hi Sarah, I remember you too and CONGRATULATIONS! I'm going through this too. It's taken 4 kids but I have learned this: I am important too! I need a break and to exercise. I'm also showing my kids that exercise is important for mommies too! I have only missed two practices since having Finnian in Jan. I've made it more of a priority. I don't get upset as much when I swim because I'm not overwhelmed as easily. It's definitely a stress reliever. And I've learned to let the house go. It will be picked up later (the thing is once it's picked up, it's a mess again, so I don't stress over it!) And there's always more laundry... it can wait. I've learned to swim when I can. Sometimes 5:30am, sometimes 7:30 at night, sometimes during a school break during the day. I've started to bring a sitter to the pool occasionally too. I feed the baby, pack everyone up, and then we go. There's a classroom at the pool and they can play and/or watch DVDs. I'm all of 40 meters away, and I have had to get out to take care of "owies", but at least I was able to get in and feel connected to swimming. Also, two nights a week I have a neighbor (teenager) come up for 30 minutes, after the kids are asleep so I can go for a run. Again, I don't know why I didn't do this years ago! Please, learn from my mistakes :] Anyway, starting to ramble... DO take the time for yourself. In a few years you'll be glad you did.

I'm always very confused by people asking this question. Didn't you think of it before? Thjis questin to me is much like peole who complain that their housae payments are too high.