Diana Farid 
If you are about to have twins, you will always get to hear phrases like “Awwww, twins,” “Are they a boy and a girl?” “You are a very lucky woman,” “God be with you, that is a lot of work,” and so on. I have been told that in some cultures, if you have boy-girl twins, it is considered to be a sign of fortune. But when people tell me this, they forget that the kids are not only a “double blessing” but also a “double everything” else. I don’t want to sound grumpy or complaining, I am just being honest, because it is a constant challenge that you live every single day since you give birth until God knows when.
Having boy-girl twins, you will firstly experience the “double worlds” of gender cultures. Be ready, for there is an intense difference between males and females, and it is so enjoyable to see how each one of them is developing in an opposing direction. You will be amazed at how different they both grow up: their interests, their passions, the kind of toys that appeal to them, how they behave, the voice, the level of activity, favorite cartoon characters and so on.
You will also have to endure “double the expenses” since day one. We were buying two car seats, two single strollers, different clothes for a baby boy and a baby girl, etc. You also buy double the toys, for example, for every toy car we got, we had to have a new Barbie doll, and vice versa.
The one thing that concerns me the most is “double the effort.” People keep telling me “Wow you did it, you don’t need to go through pregnancy again,” “You are done for life,” “Good it is a boy and girl so you never consider a second pregnancy.” Even if they were the same gender, I wasn’t going to consider a second pregnancy. Twin pregnancy is more than double the pain and can count as two (or slightly more) pregnancies at the same time. Anyhow, I just want to say that yes twin mothers are “blessed” and yes we are “lucky” as some people say. They are twice the “love,” twice the “smiles,” and twice the “fun,” but raising twins especially at their very first couple of years is “double the challenge.”
