So you've just found out that you're having twins. Congratulations! You might not feel like being congratulated, and if that describes you, listen carefully, because the next two minutes are for you.
Everything is about to change. I know it's a massive understatement, but you don't really know how much everything is about to change. For this reason, now is not the time to be giving up any vices. So long as they're not a danger to you or your family, you need to cultivate your vices, because they are what's going to get you through the first year of life as a parent of twins.
Perfect your television-watching abilities. Practice your ice-cream eating. Brush up on your Facebook skills. In the ocean that is new-twins-parenthood, these activites will be tiny islands of sanity.
Know that your definition of sleep is about to be revised. It already has, if you're the one who is pregnant, but even this is not an accurate picture of what's to come. You don't know this yet, but your personality is precariously balanced on the number of consecutive minutes of sleep you get each night. And I did just say "minutes," because that's the increment in which you will be measuring sleep for a while. Don't be surprised if you discover dark corners of your mind that you didn't know existed, and would have been just fine living without.
Once your twins arrive, strangers on the street will tell you that you are blessed, and as bleary eyed and exhausted as you might feel, this is true. Know that it might be some time before you actually feel it. In the midst of the sleep deprivation, the nights and days turned upside-down, the endless feedings and diaper changes, there will be moments of piercing joy; simultaneous baby smiles; the gentle weight of your two new children sleeping on your chest. In time, there will be more of those moments. In more time, those moments will string themselves into an hour.