From retiring as a professional athlete to training to be an obstetrician, mum-of-six Jana Pittman is a woman of many talents – but that doesn’t mean everything for her is easy, even if she makes it look that way.
Adding to her jam-packed schedule, Jana, 42, is hosting Channel Nine’s new series Australia’s Most Identical, which sets out to find the nation’s most identical set of twins. Scott Cam, a fellow twin parent, is co-hosting.
In an exclusive chat with New Idea, Jana, one of our popular columnists, admits that raising her fraternal three-year-old twins Willow and Quinlan has been “much harder” compared to the rest of her brood. She also has Cornelis, 18, Emily, 10, Jemima, eight, and Charlie, four.
When Jana found out she was expecting the twins, whom she had with her second husband, Paul Gatward, she went into the pregnancy thinking she was going to “rock this” as she’d already had four children. Instead, the former Olympian says she was “completely knocked off my socks” by how much harder it is having two newborns at the same time.
“It was a very humbling moment,” she says. “The sleep deprivation was extraordinary.”
Jana recalls one instance when Willow woke up at midnight and “screamed her little head off until her brother woke up. So they were both screaming, and I’m trying to make one go back to bed. And then the other one’s like, pat me!” she says with a laugh.
“I was up for two hours going from one bed to the other bed.”
On top of co-hosting duties for Australia’s Most Identical, Jana is planning an epic life adventure for her brood – bundling them all into a caravan and travelling around the country for 12 months. Her fingers are crossed that they can manage a whole lap!
“I’ve taken a complete break from my career as a doctor,” she shares.
“I’ve just recognised that, whilst it’s great to sound like you’ve done all these amazing things, if you can’t remember half the experiences, then it’s almost not worth it.”
