From the moment you find out that your baby is not one but "many," everything changes. Of course, the first few moments are filled with awe, wonder and excitement. As a mother of twins myself, let me assure you that these feelings are quickly overshadowed by another emotion – panic!

First, there is the emotional strain. This isn't what you signed up for when you decided to become a parent! But after the initial shock wears off (for me this took about five years), an even bigger problem arises. How can you afford them? Won't it be twice as expensive to raise two children together? Not necessarily. Just because you are having twins doesn't mean you need twice as much.

Christina Baglivi Tinglof, author of Double Duty: The Parents' Guide to Raising Twins, From Pregnancy Through the School Years (McGraw-Hill, 1998), agrees. "There's such a misconception that you need two of everything," she says. "It's best to take a wait-and-see attitude. Buy one bouncy seat or Snuggly sack and see how your children react to it. If, for instance, you find by the second week that you can't survive without two bouncy seats, run out and buy another."

Something else that's important to know right from the start is that everything does not need to match, because matching almost always means buying new.

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