So I woke up this morning and everything had changed. OK it hadn't really but it felt like it should have changed. This morning I awoke to find myself 35 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Those 3 days are very important; cast your minds back to 3.5 years ago and you may remember our twins, Edward and Harriet who inspired this blog, arrived a little unexpectedly at 35 weeks and 2 days. So today, I am entering uncharted territory. This is the longest I have ever been pregnant. Go me!
Hubby is getting increasingly anxious I think, as am I truth be told, as it really could be 'any day now' but my midwife reckons I will go full term and although bump is very low and heavy I am inclined to agree with her. I dont feel like its any day now. With E&H there were a few little signs (only spotted in hindsight of course) which I havent yet noticed therefore I will keep fingers (and legs) crossed until we reach november and then Sproglet is free to make his or her appearance whenever they are ready. We have given Sproglet the option of 3 eviction dates but whether they will oblige I couldnt say (I think its highly doubtful, but worth a try).
In the meantime we are pottering on as ever; E&H are in their second year at nursery and are thriving, hubby has recently started a new job and as a result of this employment we are looking forward to moving house and starting a new life in the new year. Just occasionally it feels as though life really is like waiting for bus; you spend years waiting for the opportunities and good times to show up, and when they do they all come at once!
Monday, 13 October 2014
Sunday, 1 December 2013
And Now for Something a Little Bit Different: The Rochdale Surprisers
Something a little different from the usual musings, but rest assured they still relate to Twindom!
We have shared the ups, downs and agonies of being pregnant with twins, enjoyed the perks of extra scans, shared the frustrations of non-committal consultants who refuse to answer questions but instead reply with ‘we’ll discuss that when you get to 38 weeks along’ and then in the next breath tell you to get everything ready as it’s unlikely the babies will stay put past 34 weeks. We’ve endured every daft question you could ever think of regarding twins. But still there was something missing in our bestie relationship, and that was we had never met face to face. Yes you read that correctly, all of our kitchen table gossiping had been done via the medium of social networking sites. For most of us it began on a parenting website when we first found out we were expecting twins (we were due in little clusters between February and May 2011) so it was fantastic to have people who were going through the same things at more or less the same time, and for those who were a few weeks behind they knew they could ask questions of what to expect at the next series of appointments and classes and it would be fresh in our minds. Our little group of 13 soon grew as a few experienced ladies joined us, mums who had survived the first few months of twin-mummyhood, and they soon proved themselves invaluable, especially to those of us who had no idea what we were doing with 1 baby let alone 2 together! After a few months of chatting on various parenting forums we decided to find a more private place to chat, and our group on Facebook was born. We shared photos of our growing bumps, had guess the weight games, who would pop first, what ‘flavours’ would Sarah R’s and my twins be as we were the only one who didn’t find out what we were having until they all arrived. Between us there are 3 sets of boy/girl twins, 3 sets of identical girls, 3 sets of identical boys, 3 sets of non identical boys and 4 sets of non identical girls, but most of us reckon 1 of those sets of non id girls are actually identical they look so much alike.
Every woman needs ‘besties’, who she can moan to, confide
in, get support and advice from on all manner of subjects, and of course can
return the favour to when necessary. I am very fortunate, I have quite a few of
these friends. We meet regularly around the kitchen table or on the sofa;
gossip over cups of tea/coffee (sometimes these are even consumed hot!) set the
world to rights, share pictures of our families, general chit chatty girly
things I suppose. We have been friends for around 3 years now, and we’ve been
through a lot; the most important thing, the one which connected us all
together in the first place: we all have twins.
We have shared the ups, downs and agonies of being pregnant with twins, enjoyed the perks of extra scans, shared the frustrations of non-committal consultants who refuse to answer questions but instead reply with ‘we’ll discuss that when you get to 38 weeks along’ and then in the next breath tell you to get everything ready as it’s unlikely the babies will stay put past 34 weeks. We’ve endured every daft question you could ever think of regarding twins. But still there was something missing in our bestie relationship, and that was we had never met face to face. Yes you read that correctly, all of our kitchen table gossiping had been done via the medium of social networking sites. For most of us it began on a parenting website when we first found out we were expecting twins (we were due in little clusters between February and May 2011) so it was fantastic to have people who were going through the same things at more or less the same time, and for those who were a few weeks behind they knew they could ask questions of what to expect at the next series of appointments and classes and it would be fresh in our minds. Our little group of 13 soon grew as a few experienced ladies joined us, mums who had survived the first few months of twin-mummyhood, and they soon proved themselves invaluable, especially to those of us who had no idea what we were doing with 1 baby let alone 2 together! After a few months of chatting on various parenting forums we decided to find a more private place to chat, and our group on Facebook was born. We shared photos of our growing bumps, had guess the weight games, who would pop first, what ‘flavours’ would Sarah R’s and my twins be as we were the only one who didn’t find out what we were having until they all arrived. Between us there are 3 sets of boy/girl twins, 3 sets of identical girls, 3 sets of identical boys, 3 sets of non identical boys and 4 sets of non identical girls, but most of us reckon 1 of those sets of non id girls are actually identical they look so much alike.
We had often talked of meeting up, but trying to find a
suitable date and place where we could all get together was like trying to find
the proverbial needle. Sorting time off work and childcare was another hurdle
to overcome as many of us also have other children to think about as well as
our twins. There was also the small issue of feeling constantly worn out with
all the sleepless nights, the constantly shifting daytime nap patterns, growth
spurts, wonder weeks, sleep regression.. Then before we knew it we were
celebrating 1st birthdays and we hadn’t managed to meet up. Blink
again and we were wishing each other well having survived almost 2 years of
raising twins, 3 years for some, and we still hadn’t met up. But then one of
us, (perhaps unwittingly, perhaps not) provided the perfect answer. I logged
into Facebook one morning to find I had dozens of messages, and discovered I,
along with several others, had been invited to a wedding. The main do itself
was to take place abroad, which meant most of us wouldn’t be able to go, but
the reception was a different matter. And so a secret plan was formed; two of
the group, Zoe and Sarah C, were going to the reception and would be staying
locally, so it was decided that the rest of our little group would tag along
and hopefully provide a very happy surprise for the bride (and fingers crossed,
the groom too). Unfortunately not all of our group were able to attend, but
everyone was involved in the planning and scheming that went on. And there was
a lot of that! Trying to get 10 women, coming from all different corners of the
UK to book train tickets/plan routes which would get us all to Rochdale at
roughly the same time is trickier than you would imagine! Plus there were
outfits to discuss, colour schemes (of clothes and hair), in my case there were
dilemmas such as ‘did this top cover my mummy tummy better than that top?’,
‘which colour suits me better?’ and ‘which pair of killer heels (and they most
certainly were) went with the whole outfit when it had finally been decided
upon?’. And people wonder why I don’t go out often! In between all the planning
there was one underlying fear shared by all of us, what if the bride found out
about our plan? We were, we are, very close and talk about everything and
anything so keeping quiet was hard, especially when Kym (our bride) posted
about her own worries and we couldn’t say what we wanted to reassure her. We
had set up a secret group for all our wedding chat, making sure we were
posting/commenting in the right group was a constant worry. Our plans were very
nearly blown when a post accidently appeared in the wrong group, but thankfully
it was very quickly removed with minimal damage even though it had been seen; Kym
just presumed (perhaps rightly so!) Zoe (the accidental poster) was having ‘a
moment’ and nothing more was thought about it.
Suddenly, after what seemed like months of planning,
discussions, worries about being discovered, worries about all the travelling,
wondering if outfit choices were the right ones, hoping I would still fit in
the selected outfit 2 months later, we, the ‘Rochdale Surprisers’ (thanks Sarah
T) found ourselves waking up on Saturday 8th June and setting off
for our rendezvous point of Rochdale, Lancashire, hoping we got on the right
trains and didn’t end up in Edinburgh, or Bournemouth (I’m sure both of these
places are delightful, but neither are where we wanted to be). We were
travelling from all over the country; Laura from near Glasgow, Sarah C from
near Newcastle, Becky from Hull, Sarah T from near Rotherham, Zoe and Becci
were both already in Lancashire fairly close to Rochdale, Sarah R from North
Wales, Sam from Somerset, Katrina from Northampton and myself from Lichfield,
just north of Birmingham. Becky, Sarah C, Zoe and Becci were all driving, the
rest of us were putting ourselves at the mercy of the great British railway
network to get us to Rochdale at more or less the same time. Katrina, Sarah R
and I had agreed to meet in Manchester as our trains arrived within 20 minutes
of each other, and we decided we would rather face the Metro as a group than
individually (a good choice as it turned out, Manchester was full of festival
goers and the Metro was packed). Whether it was good luck or judgement I’m not
too sure, but we managed to successfully
navigate our way from Piccadilly to Victoria stations and catch our
connecting train to Rochdale, where we were going to meet Sarah T and Sam.
Thankfully Sam had had the foresight to dye her hair bright pink and was
therefore visible from space (well, at least the 100 yards from the metro
station to the railway station) so after a few minutes of trying to decide
whether or not to leave the safety of the station we spotted our fellow
Surprisers and the first half of the group, Sarah R, Sarah T, Katrina, Sam,
Laura and myself, had officially met.
Together at
Rochdale Metro Station, from l-r Katrina, Emily, Sarah T, Sam, Laura and Sarah
R
After lots of hugs and some photos, and some careful
studying of the map at the metro station by Sam and myself we set off in the
wrong direction in a bid to find our hotel. So far things were going well! A
few locals took pity on our group of lost looking women wandering aimlessly
down the street dragging our cases behind us and very helpfully pointed us in
the right direction. When we got to the main road we were told to look out for
Sam and I decided we should take the left road while Laura and her map app
reckoned the right, and given our performance so far we dutifully followed for
fear of being forever lost in Rochdale. As it turned out both roads would have
lead us to our hotel, and we got there just in time to see Zoe and her partner
walking into the lobby, and Sarah C and her hubby were waiting in the bar.
While we were chatting in the lobby and checking in Becky walked down the
stairs having arrived about ten minutes earlier than we did. Nine out of the
ten of us were here, altogether, in one place at the same time! With neither a
computer nor phone in sight! I think I am right in saying there were a few
initial moments of ‘oh goodness, now what do we do?’ but they passed very
quickly and we spent the next hour and a bit chatting away in the hotel bar
before heading off to find food before the big reveal.
Zoe and Sarah C were eating at the hotel so the rest of us
headed out to find a local chippy; the first one we found we walked straight
back out of, but thankfully there was another one a few doors up the road.
Several portions of cheesy chips later, and some interesting glances from the
locals including one chap who walked into the chippy after we did and whose
eyebrows went up and his jaw went down, we were wandering back to the hotel
filling our faces, and wondering what Kym would make of our arrival that
evening. I was starting to get nervous in case it was a surprise too far; I
think a few of the others were a little worried too. We were also hoping that
the secret hadn’t somehow got out, a post by Kym that morning had made some of
us wonder if she had cottoned on to what was going to happen. We had spent
months planning this and didn’t want it to be blown at the last moment! We met
back in the bar (there’s a theme developing here) to await the arrival of the
final member of the group, Becci, along with her partner before heading off to
the reception at the local rugby club.
Ready to go!
About to leave the hotel, Sam, Becci, Sarah C, Sarah T (sitting), Katrina,
Laura, Emily (sitting), Zoe, Sarah R and Becky
As the cars pulled into the carpark we all hoped Kym and her
new hubby were well away from the windows, we had come too far to be seen now!
Zoe had enlisted the help of Kym’s sister Kirsty to help us sneak in unseen,
and she met us at the door. By this point I was really regretting wearing my
lovely heeled sandals, and I wasn’t impressed to walk (teeter) inside to see a
huge flight of stairs standing (or should that be ascending) between us and
Kym. Zoe and Sarah C went in first with their partners as they were expected,
the rest of us were gathered on the stairs, our hearts pounding as we waited
for what seemed like ages before Kirsty said ‘ok ladies, come on in!’. This was
it! Sarah T and I were first in, Kym had her back to us and was chatting to Zoe
and Sarah C. Kirsty said more guests had arrived , Kym turned around and looked
at us, and looked again as the recognition of who we were flashed across her
face, then as we all filed through the door spluttered ‘oh, it’s my girls! It’s
my girls!’. It was a really lovely, touching moment, there were lots of hugs,
and not a dry eye between the eleven of us. Even as I am recalling this, some
time later, I have tears in my eyes as the memories swirl around my mind. It’s
safe to say the surprise was exactly that, Kym had no idea we were coming, and
was delighted that we had.
Once the initial shock of our arrival had worn off, we were
ushered onto the dance floor where I was pleased to learn we were posing for
photos, not doing some ridiculous dance (they came later!), I could barely
hobble in my killer heels (pathetic I know, but I had spent my career in steel
toe capped rigger boots working on construction sites, so can you blame me
really?) the other girls had obviously spent more time in such instruments of
pedi-torture and were used to them. The drinks flowed, conversation carried on
as though we had all met a dozen times before, and Kym’s gorgeous boys, looking
very handsome in their little suits, ran around and flirted like troopers with
everybody. Unfortunately Sam, who had been suffering with a migraine for much
of the day, took a turn for the worse a few hours after we arrived, so when
Becci and her partner said they were heading home (Becci was running the Race
for Life the following day and wanted a good night’s sleep beforehand) she
asked them to drop her off at the hotel. I joined her, I’m afraid I’m not a night-owl
and my feet were killing me, and we left the others partying the night away.
Twinkletastics
together at last! L-r: Sam, Sarah R, Sarah T, Laura, Katrina, our blushing
bride Kym, Zoe, Sarah C, Becky, Becci and Emily.
After a couple of hours of fitful sleep I was awoken at 3am
by very loud bangs and crashes, and shouts and yells, and something which
sounded like glass shattering. I presumed a few drunken guests were having
issues with the card reader on the entry door just as Sam and myself had when we
returned some hours before. It wasn’t until later that morning that the causes
of the disturbance were revealed. The other Surprisers had returned shortly
before 3am along with Kym and Sy, and were sitting in the hotel bar when
another wedding party returned a little worse for wear. One chap got a little
possessive over his girlfriend, and wasn’t pleased she wanted to sit with other
men in a room other than hers and her fella’s and all hell broke loose; doors
slammed, doors kicked in, mirrors being shattered. The police were called, I
believe everyone involved was cautioned. When we all went down for breakfast in
the morning we were asked if we were part of the same party! I wonder if we
would have been thrown out if we had said yes?! Breakfast was a very tasty
affair, if a little somber; Sam and Sarah R had already left on their journeys
home and the remainder of the Surprisers, as well as feeling a little delicate
from drink and lack of sleep, were all a little down at the thought that our
time together was coming to an end.
We checked out of the hotel just after 11am, Becky fluttered
her eyelashes alluringly at the lad on the reception desk and managed to get
her breakfast for free! The rest of us had to fork out £8. Then it was time to
say goodbye; Becky, Zoe and Sarah C had all driven to the hotel so Laura,
Katrina, Sarah T and myself said our goodbyes and headed off to the station.
Laura, Katrina and myself were heading back to Manchester and Sarah T to Leeds,
it was a sad moment when our train pulled out of Rochdale station and we left
Sarah on her own, last one standing. At Manchester Laura dashed off one train
and onto the next, leaving Katrina and me to face the Metro on our own. We had
plenty of time to get across town, or so we thought. Half way between Victoria
and Piccadilly stations the Metro stopped at a station, and didn’t move again.
An ‘incident’ had occurred at the next stop, blocking the line, meaning all
trams on that line couldn’t go past that station in either direction. We
decided to get off and walk to the next stop to hopefully catch a tram back to
Piccadilly. An older lady also got off our tram, and as she seemed to know
where she was going we decided to follow her. Not only could we not properly
keep up with her, but we (ok, I) saw a sign for the railway station and,
perhaps foolishly in hindsight, followed it rather than the lady. After some 20
minutes of wandering around some of the less touristy parts of Manchester we
finally found ourselves at Piccadilly station, and with about 5 minutes to
spare Katrina got on her train and was gone. My train wasn’t due to leave for
another 2 hours or so, the joys of a cheap advance ticket, so I found an empty
seat and indulged in a spot of people watching until it was time to go. By 6pm
I think we were all at home, the weekend officially over. We all had a great
time, got on like a house on fire, and now we have heard each other’s accents I
doubt we will read comments on Facebook in quite the same way again!
Now, where should we go for the next meet up?
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
A Brief Musing..
Edward and Harriet are now, rather unbelievably, two years old. I cant believe how much they have changed/grown/developed in just 2 short years. Yes some days drag on for what feels like an eternity but by comparison the weeks roll by so fast it really does feel like if you blink you will miss a pivotal moment in their lives.
Most of the time I absolutely love being 'mummy'; its great fun, albeit very tiring, but very rewarding. However, just lately Im finding myself (possibly controversially so) dreaming of escaping for a few days, maybe a week, and just being allowed to be 'Emily' for a little while. Its not possible, at present, which is perhaps why it is occupying more of my thoughts than it should. Ah well, Im fairly sure that if the opportunity arose to escape for a short while I would spend a goodly proportion of the time wondering if E&H were ok, what they were doing, whether they were missing me etc etc...
Saturday, 29 December 2012
A Very Lancastrian Christmas
So here it is, merry christmas.... or rather, there it was. After 4 long months of festive build up Christmas has been and gone in a flash. We are still opening gifts 4 days later, and still ploughing through the leftovers. We haven't had the traditional turkey curry yet but theres time!
Edward and Harriet have been well and truly spoilt, if anyone has any ideas where we are going to put all their presents, answers on a postcard please! They've had lots of books, dvds, baby dollies with a cot and pushchair, wooden trains, jigsaw puzzles, a music player, Playmobil zoo, mini aquadoodle (so we now have 2 pens! yay!) a tea set, and come New Year they will also have 2 boxes of sticklebricks to keep them entertained. I shall take this opportunity to thank all aunties, uncles, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents, and of course Father Christmas for all the gifts they have given. Im not sure when all the toys will get played with but Im sure they will eventually.
A very brief round-up of 2012... E&H celebrated their first birthday, in as much as two 1 yr olds know about birthdays and celebrating! We also had our first family holiday to the seaside. P went off to deepest darkest Herefordshire for a week of singing followed by 4 days in Denmark for yet more singing. This was interspersed with some frantic PhD writing and more singing which finally culminated in the submission of the PhD (woooo!) and the recording of a CD in december. My year has been much less exciting in comparison, although Im sure there are many people who would give their left leg to spend their time feeding the ducks or playing on the swings and slide so I wont complain!
And what will 2013 hold I wonder? Hopefully a tonsilectomy for me (what a thing to get excited about eh?!) and maybe a bit of weight loss and a new job..
It may be a few days early but never mind,
Happy New Year!
Edward and Harriet have been well and truly spoilt, if anyone has any ideas where we are going to put all their presents, answers on a postcard please! They've had lots of books, dvds, baby dollies with a cot and pushchair, wooden trains, jigsaw puzzles, a music player, Playmobil zoo, mini aquadoodle (so we now have 2 pens! yay!) a tea set, and come New Year they will also have 2 boxes of sticklebricks to keep them entertained. I shall take this opportunity to thank all aunties, uncles, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents, and of course Father Christmas for all the gifts they have given. Im not sure when all the toys will get played with but Im sure they will eventually.
A very brief round-up of 2012... E&H celebrated their first birthday, in as much as two 1 yr olds know about birthdays and celebrating! We also had our first family holiday to the seaside. P went off to deepest darkest Herefordshire for a week of singing followed by 4 days in Denmark for yet more singing. This was interspersed with some frantic PhD writing and more singing which finally culminated in the submission of the PhD (woooo!) and the recording of a CD in december. My year has been much less exciting in comparison, although Im sure there are many people who would give their left leg to spend their time feeding the ducks or playing on the swings and slide so I wont complain!
And what will 2013 hold I wonder? Hopefully a tonsilectomy for me (what a thing to get excited about eh?!) and maybe a bit of weight loss and a new job..
It may be a few days early but never mind,
Happy New Year!
Sunday, 21 October 2012
2012 (so far) In a Nutshell
At some point in late January I seem to have blinked and found myself teleported to mid October. Where have the last 9 months gone? I would love to say that we were having so much fun enjoying a very long and lazy summer that I simply didnt get the chance to post here, but as I now seem to be hallucinating about this fabled 'summer' we are apparently meant to have between June and September every year I must admit that blogging just didnt factor into our daily mayhem-packed lives.
Edward and Harriet are now, quite unbelievably, 4 days away from being 19 months old, so the countdown is well and truly on until they turn 2. They have changed so much in just 9 short months; when I left you all last Edward was cruising around the furniture and Harriet was just starting to wriggle around in a sort of crawl. Now they run everywhere, unless its the direction they dont want to go in. Their first steps came just after their birthday, and surprisingly it was Harriet who decided to stand on her own two feet first. Edward, not to be outdone by his younger sister, followed suit a week or so later.
We've had the excitement (and the financial horror) of buying their first shoes, the joy of their first seaside holiday and the first feel of sand (they didnt like it), we shall gloss over the first long distance car journey as it wasnt a pleasant event.. We've had first words (Im rather ashamed to say I cant remember what they were, their vocabulary has come on so quickly) and also sentences from Harriet who is proving to be a proper little chatterbox, as well as a sponge! Anything we say at the moment is repeated almost instantly, which is fun, but also makes you very aware of what you are saying. Im quite certain we will be having proper conversations very soon.
Those who know us, and see us regularly will probably be tired of hearing us saying how fast Edward and Harriet are growing, how quickly they are changing and developing etc but I cant believe how quickly things are happening. A few short months ago they were babies, who stayed where you put them, and now they are rampaging little people (theres a very good reason why they are known to us as the Mini Marauders) who are eager to get into everything.
I am fairly certain in my January post I said we were already looking forward to Christmas 2012, which considering we were only a month post-Christmas 2011 may have been a little premature. But now we are only 2 months away from said festive holiday I can safely say I am getting more excited every day. Last year was their first Christmas so it will always be special for that reason but this year they will be able to take part in it more, or should that say be able to take it apart..?
Edward and Harriet are now, quite unbelievably, 4 days away from being 19 months old, so the countdown is well and truly on until they turn 2. They have changed so much in just 9 short months; when I left you all last Edward was cruising around the furniture and Harriet was just starting to wriggle around in a sort of crawl. Now they run everywhere, unless its the direction they dont want to go in. Their first steps came just after their birthday, and surprisingly it was Harriet who decided to stand on her own two feet first. Edward, not to be outdone by his younger sister, followed suit a week or so later.
We've had the excitement (and the financial horror) of buying their first shoes, the joy of their first seaside holiday and the first feel of sand (they didnt like it), we shall gloss over the first long distance car journey as it wasnt a pleasant event.. We've had first words (Im rather ashamed to say I cant remember what they were, their vocabulary has come on so quickly) and also sentences from Harriet who is proving to be a proper little chatterbox, as well as a sponge! Anything we say at the moment is repeated almost instantly, which is fun, but also makes you very aware of what you are saying. Im quite certain we will be having proper conversations very soon.
Those who know us, and see us regularly will probably be tired of hearing us saying how fast Edward and Harriet are growing, how quickly they are changing and developing etc but I cant believe how quickly things are happening. A few short months ago they were babies, who stayed where you put them, and now they are rampaging little people (theres a very good reason why they are known to us as the Mini Marauders) who are eager to get into everything.
I am fairly certain in my January post I said we were already looking forward to Christmas 2012, which considering we were only a month post-Christmas 2011 may have been a little premature. But now we are only 2 months away from said festive holiday I can safely say I am getting more excited every day. Last year was their first Christmas so it will always be special for that reason but this year they will be able to take part in it more, or should that say be able to take it apart..?
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Playing Catch-Up.. and Progressing Nicely
Christmas. Seems like a lifetime ago, especially now all the decorations are gone, the tree is smouldering in the fireplace, and we still havent found a home for all the presents. I didnt eat my bodyweight in mince pies, which considering I have a wedding to go to in June is probably a good thing. 'The Santa Clause' trilogy was viewed numerous times over the festive season and has now been put away, albeit reluctantly. 'Get to the important details' I hear you cry! It was, of course, Edward and Harriet's first Christmas, and it passed in a blaze of fairy lights, sparkly tinsel and mounds of screwed up paper. Oh and there may have been a few presents too. Nothing could have prepared us for the piles of gifts they received, we were still opening things 3 days later! I think they enjoyed themselves, they didnt really know what was going on but they got loads of new things to play with and keep them entertained. I would love to say they enjoyed watching Daddy on the telly on Christmas morning but they were otherwise occupied using Mummy as a climbing frame.
We thought Christmas 2011 would be the best one, the first as a family, and I'm sure we will always remember it fondly as the first, but we are definitely (already) looking forward to Christmas 2012!
Aside from Christmas, december was exciting in other ways. Edward decided that, having mastered crawling a few weeks previously, it was time to try something new..
Dec 4th 2011: Edward pulled himself up to standing for the first time, and after that there was no stopping him. A week later he was confidently cruising up and down the length of the settee but not so confidently landing on his bum when he wanted to get down and chase the cat. A few tumbles later however and he had figured out how to climb down as well as stand up. Clever boy! Harriet discovered she could sit up quite happily without the safety net of the V pillow behind her, although she does still like to fling herself backwards without warning. By the middle of january Edward was trying to stand on his own (he's growing up far too fast). We had come to the conclusion that Harriet wasnt going to crawl, she has always hated being on her tummy, even for a few minutes. New Year saw a new form of locomotion (Little Eva would be proud) as we discovered we had a bum shuffler on our hands (she takes after Mummy). Just when we thought we had her sussed she's apparently decided that crawling isnt so bad after all; for the last 2 days she has put herself on her tummy and happily stayed there for about 20mins at a time, and has even scooted forwards. She's also trying tp pull herself up to standing but once she is standing she can cruise a little along the settee :-) Clever girl! But, as with Edward, she's growing up too fast.
On the 19th Jan Edward and Harriet had their 9-12 month development check, which if I'm honest I was a little worried about. As ever though I needn't have worried as they passed with flying colours. The health visitor couldn't believe that Edward is cruising and trying to stand, or that Harriet stands too, as they are still considered premature; their actual age is almost 10 months, but corrected they are just over 8.5 months old. We dont think of them as prem babies though :-) They are doing well weight-wise too, Edward is now 21lb 9oz and Harriet is 17lb 10oz.
The next milestone is approaching rather too quickly for my liking, 9 weeks and counting..
We thought Christmas 2011 would be the best one, the first as a family, and I'm sure we will always remember it fondly as the first, but we are definitely (already) looking forward to Christmas 2012!
Aside from Christmas, december was exciting in other ways. Edward decided that, having mastered crawling a few weeks previously, it was time to try something new..
Dec 4th 2011: Edward pulled himself up to standing for the first time, and after that there was no stopping him. A week later he was confidently cruising up and down the length of the settee but not so confidently landing on his bum when he wanted to get down and chase the cat. A few tumbles later however and he had figured out how to climb down as well as stand up. Clever boy! Harriet discovered she could sit up quite happily without the safety net of the V pillow behind her, although she does still like to fling herself backwards without warning. By the middle of january Edward was trying to stand on his own (he's growing up far too fast). We had come to the conclusion that Harriet wasnt going to crawl, she has always hated being on her tummy, even for a few minutes. New Year saw a new form of locomotion (Little Eva would be proud) as we discovered we had a bum shuffler on our hands (she takes after Mummy). Just when we thought we had her sussed she's apparently decided that crawling isnt so bad after all; for the last 2 days she has put herself on her tummy and happily stayed there for about 20mins at a time, and has even scooted forwards. She's also trying tp pull herself up to standing but once she is standing she can cruise a little along the settee :-) Clever girl! But, as with Edward, she's growing up too fast.
On the 19th Jan Edward and Harriet had their 9-12 month development check, which if I'm honest I was a little worried about. As ever though I needn't have worried as they passed with flying colours. The health visitor couldn't believe that Edward is cruising and trying to stand, or that Harriet stands too, as they are still considered premature; their actual age is almost 10 months, but corrected they are just over 8.5 months old. We dont think of them as prem babies though :-) They are doing well weight-wise too, Edward is now 21lb 9oz and Harriet is 17lb 10oz.
The next milestone is approaching rather too quickly for my liking, 9 weeks and counting..
Sunday, 27 November 2011
35+2
Today is quite an important day, Sunday 27th November. It's the first sunday in Advent so I can officially start eating my own bodyweight in mince pies (and since having the Sprogs thats gone up quite considerably), I can also start the official countdown to being able to watch the Santa Clause films (always wait until after 1 Dec for those). But most importantly, at least to us, today Edward and Harriet are 35 weeks and 2 days old. Why is that important? Because they were born at 35 weeks and 2 days gestation, so today they have been outside for the same amount of time as they were inside! And I think thats important.
8 short months ago (short in some respects, tediously long in others) E&H came into our lives as bawling tiny pink and squidgy little creatures. Now they are huge bawling pink and podgy creatures. Both have fully mastered the art of sitting up unaided, although Harriet much prefers to lounge in her large V pillow and watch the world go by (she's going to be big in the sport of people watching I think). Edward has been desperately trying to crawl for about a month, he gets around rather quickly doing a caterpillar-meets-Action Man crawl, although as Im typing he is actually properly crawling across the floor to attack the changing bag!! Clever boy :-) No crawling signs from Harriet, we are fairly sure she will just train Edward up to fetch things for her. They are getting very talkative now as well; standard baby ramblings mostly, dadada, bababa, mumumumum (wow thats made my eyes go funny) but also the occasional waggawaggawagga and quackquack from Harriet. Maybe she was a duck in a former life?
At the moment we are gearing up for their first Christmas, not by going overboard on presents but with shiny sparkly lights and decorations! They were both mesmerised by the giant foil snowflakes in Sainsburys, even though a) the snowflakes were 3' wide and red and b) E&H have never seen a snowflake before. Maybe thats why they were so fascinated? Because of their reaction we have decided to get some foil decorations to hang around the place :-) Im hoping we will be going Christmas tree shopping in the next 10 days or so too, then we will have to construct the playpen to go around it.. Im looking forward to Christmas this year, not that I dont every year, but to have 2 little'uns around marvelling at everything and playing in mounds of paper, ignoring their presents will be great fun. And they will able to join us in sampling all the food goodies too, well most of them. Not sure how well Edward will do as he hasnt got any teeth yet, but there are still 4wks until the big day. Harriet on the other hand is busy perfecting her chewing skills with her pearly whites; the first came through on 11.11.11 and the second appeared rather aptly when we were at the BBC Good Food Show 13 days later. She's putting them to good use, her scrambled eggs didnt stand a chance this morning.
Right Im off to enjoy a rare moment of peace while they are napping and to make and drink a hot cup of tea. I know, outrageously rock and roll isnt it!
8 short months ago (short in some respects, tediously long in others) E&H came into our lives as bawling tiny pink and squidgy little creatures. Now they are huge bawling pink and podgy creatures. Both have fully mastered the art of sitting up unaided, although Harriet much prefers to lounge in her large V pillow and watch the world go by (she's going to be big in the sport of people watching I think). Edward has been desperately trying to crawl for about a month, he gets around rather quickly doing a caterpillar-meets-Action Man crawl, although as Im typing he is actually properly crawling across the floor to attack the changing bag!! Clever boy :-) No crawling signs from Harriet, we are fairly sure she will just train Edward up to fetch things for her. They are getting very talkative now as well; standard baby ramblings mostly, dadada, bababa, mumumumum (wow thats made my eyes go funny) but also the occasional waggawaggawagga and quackquack from Harriet. Maybe she was a duck in a former life?
At the moment we are gearing up for their first Christmas, not by going overboard on presents but with shiny sparkly lights and decorations! They were both mesmerised by the giant foil snowflakes in Sainsburys, even though a) the snowflakes were 3' wide and red and b) E&H have never seen a snowflake before. Maybe thats why they were so fascinated? Because of their reaction we have decided to get some foil decorations to hang around the place :-) Im hoping we will be going Christmas tree shopping in the next 10 days or so too, then we will have to construct the playpen to go around it.. Im looking forward to Christmas this year, not that I dont every year, but to have 2 little'uns around marvelling at everything and playing in mounds of paper, ignoring their presents will be great fun. And they will able to join us in sampling all the food goodies too, well most of them. Not sure how well Edward will do as he hasnt got any teeth yet, but there are still 4wks until the big day. Harriet on the other hand is busy perfecting her chewing skills with her pearly whites; the first came through on 11.11.11 and the second appeared rather aptly when we were at the BBC Good Food Show 13 days later. She's putting them to good use, her scrambled eggs didnt stand a chance this morning.
Right Im off to enjoy a rare moment of peace while they are napping and to make and drink a hot cup of tea. I know, outrageously rock and roll isnt it!
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Autumnal Equinox
Friday 23rd September 2011, the autumnal equinox, the first day of autumn (although the MetOffice would have you believe that was 1st September). In our household friday 23rd September 2011 also marked another milestone in the year; Edward and Harriet were 26 weeks old. Today, 2 days later, they are properly 6 months old. I think we timed their arrival very well to have every 6 months marked by an equinox!
Both babies are now rolling, Edward more freely than Harriet. Although they arent crawling yet we can no longer put them on their mat to play and leave the room to put the kettle on, or answer the door, safe in the knowledge that when we come back they will be exactly where we left them... Edward likes to turn through 180 degrees, he can also travel backwards (not quite sure how) and he gets up on his hands and knees but thats as far as crawling goes at the moment. Im sure he practises in his sleep too as we are always finding him at the other end of the cot at an 180 degree angle from where we originally placed him!
Weaning is going remarkably well I think, they seem to like most things that are presented to them, and sometimes the food even makes it into their mouths. Now they are at the 6 month mark the dinner time repertoire can be substantially widened to include such delicacies as scrambled egg, toast, cheese and meat, and in a format that actually resembles the afore mentioned food stuffs and not a generic mush. Happy days. P made the mistake of bringing a yoghurt into their line of sight earlier, he didnt get much of it..
In the words of the cartoons they used to show on a sunday afternoon, that's all folks, at least until the babies are restrained somehow so it doesnt take 4 hours to write one post on here!
Both babies are now rolling, Edward more freely than Harriet. Although they arent crawling yet we can no longer put them on their mat to play and leave the room to put the kettle on, or answer the door, safe in the knowledge that when we come back they will be exactly where we left them... Edward likes to turn through 180 degrees, he can also travel backwards (not quite sure how) and he gets up on his hands and knees but thats as far as crawling goes at the moment. Im sure he practises in his sleep too as we are always finding him at the other end of the cot at an 180 degree angle from where we originally placed him!
Weaning is going remarkably well I think, they seem to like most things that are presented to them, and sometimes the food even makes it into their mouths. Now they are at the 6 month mark the dinner time repertoire can be substantially widened to include such delicacies as scrambled egg, toast, cheese and meat, and in a format that actually resembles the afore mentioned food stuffs and not a generic mush. Happy days. P made the mistake of bringing a yoghurt into their line of sight earlier, he didnt get much of it..
In the words of the cartoons they used to show on a sunday afternoon, that's all folks, at least until the babies are restrained somehow so it doesnt take 4 hours to write one post on here!
Saturday, 13 August 2011
365 days
Exactly 365 days ago, 1 whole year to the day, I was sitting on the edge of the bath watching 2 little pink lines appearing on an inoccuous looking little white plastic stick. I had no idea what was to come, which was probably a good thing as P and myself were nervous enough at the prospect of becoming parents to 1 child let alone the duo we were actually going to get!
The babies are 20 weeks and 1 day old today :-) Edward likes to spend whatever time he has on the floor on his belly; he has learned how to roll but Im not sure whether he can control the rolling! Every time we put him down, be it to get him dressed or change his nappy he tries to roll over. He's also trying to crawl, so far he has travelled about 6 inches in an 'Action Man' style tummy crawl but I have a feeling it wont be long before he's off causing trouble at the opposite end of the flat! Harriet prefers to (try to) sit up and watch the world, she's got to perfect her balancing skills but she isnt far off sitting totally unaided. She wasnt interested in rolling until a few days ago, and I think she only does so now because she has discovered her feet/toes and grabs them when she's lying on her back, thus then rolling onto her side. She watches Edward a lot though, picking up tips and hints I reckon.....
Its quite difficult now to think back to when they were newborns, all wrinkled and tiny, let alone thinking back a year to when they were smaller still...
The babies are 20 weeks and 1 day old today :-) Edward likes to spend whatever time he has on the floor on his belly; he has learned how to roll but Im not sure whether he can control the rolling! Every time we put him down, be it to get him dressed or change his nappy he tries to roll over. He's also trying to crawl, so far he has travelled about 6 inches in an 'Action Man' style tummy crawl but I have a feeling it wont be long before he's off causing trouble at the opposite end of the flat! Harriet prefers to (try to) sit up and watch the world, she's got to perfect her balancing skills but she isnt far off sitting totally unaided. She wasnt interested in rolling until a few days ago, and I think she only does so now because she has discovered her feet/toes and grabs them when she's lying on her back, thus then rolling onto her side. She watches Edward a lot though, picking up tips and hints I reckon.....
Its quite difficult now to think back to when they were newborns, all wrinkled and tiny, let alone thinking back a year to when they were smaller still...
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
A Right Royal Palaver
I rather stupidly thought that people would soon get used to seeing a double pushchair around town, as we are out in town most days plus the fact that there are at least 7 other sets of twins living in this city, and therefore the silly comments would soon stop... In the words of the wise Homer Simpson, D'oh! What was I thinking?! What on earth would the good folks of Lichfield do if they didnt have my offspring to gawp at and pass comment on?! However I have become rather good at just looking at the ground and ignoring anyone who attempts to get away with 'ooooh double trouble' or 'wow I dont envy you!' or possibly the best one yet, from a police officer no less, 'golly you didnt waste much time, there isnt much between them is there?'. Erm... 2 minutes... 'Oh are they twins then?' Wow I can see why you were chosen for the Forces of Crimefighting, not much gets past you! I can see the topic of stupid comments being one which runs forever..
OK rant over.
We started to notice that whenever we were eating we would have 2 pairs of eyes watching our every move, and two little pink tongues had started licking lips... So we decided to try them on some baby porridge. After a rather hestitant start and some very amusing faces by Edward and Harriet, Edward decided he quite liked porridge and lunged at the spoon. Ten minutes and 2 very messy babies later the porridge bowl was empty, and weaning had begun. This monumental moment was quickly followed by lots of debates on why weaning shouldnt have begun. Edward and Harriet are thriving though and surely that is the best set of guidelines to follow. They have banana porridge for breakfast every day and thoroughly enjoy eating it, wearing it, smearing it all over their hands and faces, their chairs...
I got rather excited about 2 weeks ago when they both received letters, my excitement was rather short lived however when I realised it was just notification of their 16 week jabs. Shame the only mail they get is to tell them they are getting needles jabbed in them :-( I need not have worried though as they were as good as gold, they cried (we all cried) when they were jabbed as they had to have 3 each but by the time we left the nurse's office Harriet was fast asleep and Edward was looking around and smiling at everyone, so definitely a much better experience than the 12 week jabs! I must say though I am rather pleased they dont have any more until next april.
The day after their jabs was an altogether more exciting day, not that they will remember it. The Queen came to the Cathedral for a military ceremony so there was much craziness in The Close (and the policeman who asked the daftest question so far). We didnt get very close although her car did drive past us as she left the Cathedral so we were able to get some pictures. Sadly Harriet didnt get to show off her new trick which is probably a good thing really as I didnt want to get put in the Tower for insulting the Queen.. (a few weeks a go in an effort to get Harriet to smile I stuck my tongue out at her. She laughed and then stuck hers out at me! Since then whenever she starts giggling her tongue appears along with a very cheeky look on her face. She's obviously a very fast learner so maybe I should start teaching her quantum physics or something similar?). As lovely as it was to have Her Majesty around it was also very nice to have The Close back to normal again, I have never seen so many police people in one place!
The next big milestone is on monday (right now its just about still wednesday) when the babies are officially 4 months old. Edward is on the verge of rolling over, he just needs to figure out where to put his arms! Harriet is sitting up almost totally unsupported. Both are dribbling and drooling for Britain and have little white specks lurking in their gums but so far are not showing any signs of cutting teeth just yet. I did wonder if Edward was cutting a fang the other day as he had 2 little pin pricks on his fist where he chews it but neither P nor I could feel anything coming through. Im sure it wont be long. They are growing so fast, they now sleep in separate cots as we had a headbutting incident one night last week. In the next few weeks we will be sorting out the study so it can become their room. Hope the rats wont mind too much about sharing. They are piling on the weight too, the day they had their jabs they were weighed for the first time in 4 weeks; Edward is now 15lb and Harriet 12lb 8oz. Both are following the middle centiles in their red books and gaining weight nice and steadily so we are obviously doing something right :-)
OK rant over.
We started to notice that whenever we were eating we would have 2 pairs of eyes watching our every move, and two little pink tongues had started licking lips... So we decided to try them on some baby porridge. After a rather hestitant start and some very amusing faces by Edward and Harriet, Edward decided he quite liked porridge and lunged at the spoon. Ten minutes and 2 very messy babies later the porridge bowl was empty, and weaning had begun. This monumental moment was quickly followed by lots of debates on why weaning shouldnt have begun. Edward and Harriet are thriving though and surely that is the best set of guidelines to follow. They have banana porridge for breakfast every day and thoroughly enjoy eating it, wearing it, smearing it all over their hands and faces, their chairs...
I got rather excited about 2 weeks ago when they both received letters, my excitement was rather short lived however when I realised it was just notification of their 16 week jabs. Shame the only mail they get is to tell them they are getting needles jabbed in them :-( I need not have worried though as they were as good as gold, they cried (we all cried) when they were jabbed as they had to have 3 each but by the time we left the nurse's office Harriet was fast asleep and Edward was looking around and smiling at everyone, so definitely a much better experience than the 12 week jabs! I must say though I am rather pleased they dont have any more until next april.
The day after their jabs was an altogether more exciting day, not that they will remember it. The Queen came to the Cathedral for a military ceremony so there was much craziness in The Close (and the policeman who asked the daftest question so far). We didnt get very close although her car did drive past us as she left the Cathedral so we were able to get some pictures. Sadly Harriet didnt get to show off her new trick which is probably a good thing really as I didnt want to get put in the Tower for insulting the Queen.. (a few weeks a go in an effort to get Harriet to smile I stuck my tongue out at her. She laughed and then stuck hers out at me! Since then whenever she starts giggling her tongue appears along with a very cheeky look on her face. She's obviously a very fast learner so maybe I should start teaching her quantum physics or something similar?). As lovely as it was to have Her Majesty around it was also very nice to have The Close back to normal again, I have never seen so many police people in one place!
The next big milestone is on monday (right now its just about still wednesday) when the babies are officially 4 months old. Edward is on the verge of rolling over, he just needs to figure out where to put his arms! Harriet is sitting up almost totally unsupported. Both are dribbling and drooling for Britain and have little white specks lurking in their gums but so far are not showing any signs of cutting teeth just yet. I did wonder if Edward was cutting a fang the other day as he had 2 little pin pricks on his fist where he chews it but neither P nor I could feel anything coming through. Im sure it wont be long. They are growing so fast, they now sleep in separate cots as we had a headbutting incident one night last week. In the next few weeks we will be sorting out the study so it can become their room. Hope the rats wont mind too much about sharing. They are piling on the weight too, the day they had their jabs they were weighed for the first time in 4 weeks; Edward is now 15lb and Harriet 12lb 8oz. Both are following the middle centiles in their red books and gaining weight nice and steadily so we are obviously doing something right :-)
 |
| mmmm porridge! |
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| look! Im tall! |
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| no hands! |
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| waiting to see the Queen |
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| Her Majesty looking lovely in lavender! |
Friday, 17 June 2011
Three Months In..
Through the haze of sleep deprivation which has hung over the Lancaster household for quite some time I realised that the sproglets are 12 weeks old today, officially 8 more days and they will be 3 months old. Of course if I believed everything I read on the interwebs then they 'should' only be 7 weeks old. Apparently, because a) they are twins and b) they were 5 weeks premature we shouldnt be going by their actual age but by their adjusted age instead, which to us is absolutely ridiculous. They shouldnt be trying to roll over, or holding their heads up all the time, or grabbing their toys (or my hair) but they are. Are we going to tell them they shouldnt be doing what they are doing for another 5 weeks?? Of course not. Not that they would understand us anyway!
So what has been going in here in the last 12 weeks? Lots of tears and tantrums, but at least the babies have (mostly) behaved themselves. (and just as I typed that the synchronised screaming began..again). Most of the time the days pass in a blur of 'ooh its light' and 'oooh its dark again' so its quite hard to assign certain milestones to certain times, not that we've had any major milestones just yet, unless you count breaking through the 10lb barrier which both babies have now achieved. They are both piling on the pounds quite nicely, at 10 weeks old Edward was 12lb 4oz and Harriet was 10lb 2oz. I can confidently say they are both growing well! We had a few issues in the first 8 weeks with their formula, both babies were rather windy to the extent we considered setting up our own personal wind farm. Harriet was also diagnosed with reflux so was on infant gaviscon to help stop her projectile vomiting everywhere (mostly over the cot just after we had changed the sheets). We decided to change their milk from Aptamil to SMA, first milk for Edward and Staydown milk for Harriet, and suddenly the wind farm idea is a non starter. I think Edward definitely takes after Daddy and would be happy eating whatever is placed before him as his windiness is the only difference we have noticed but the biggest change is with Harriet; she was rather grouchy on the aptamil milk and we really had to work to get any smiles but within a few days of being on the new milk she was more settled, much more laid back, happier generally but most rewardingly is now extremely smiley!
Their first jabs at 8wks passed without incident, much to the annoyance of the other mums in the baby clinic waiting room when we came out with 2 peacefully sleeping babies and they were all trying to soothe squalling singletons. I somehow doubt we will have the same success in 4 days time when they have their 2nd set of jabs.
Every trip into town is an adventure, sometimes its fun (when nobody bats an eyelid at the babies) but most of the time we have to field remarkably stupid questions with very obvious answers from remarkably stupid members of the population. Ooooh are they twins? No I was just able to have 2 babies within 2 minutes of each other, a medical first you know. How do you cope with 2? How do you cope with 1? You just get on with it. Its also amazing how people cant tell the difference between them; what are their names? Edward and Harriet. Oh thats nice, 2 little boys. ?!?!?!?!? Yes because I really would name a boy 'Harriet' and dress 'him' in a peach denim dress with spotty tights. Or the other day when we were out, 'are they boy and a girl?' I thought that was obvious: Edward was wearing grey dungerees with Humphrey the elephant on and Harriet was in a blue dress with bright red tights... AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Also, for some bizarre reason, people seem to think that knowing how they were born is their business... What is that all about??
Anyway, the mini beasts have awoken from their slumber and in their own very subtle and delicate ways are letting me know that sometime within the next few nanoseconds they would like their bottles attaching to their mouths.. Such charming little creatures.
On their new quilt
The elusive smiley Harriet :-)
Happy Edward!
Post-bathtime fluffy Edward
'Mum I'm hungry. Feed me. Now.' *nomnomnomnom*
So what has been going in here in the last 12 weeks? Lots of tears and tantrums, but at least the babies have (mostly) behaved themselves. (and just as I typed that the synchronised screaming began..again). Most of the time the days pass in a blur of 'ooh its light' and 'oooh its dark again' so its quite hard to assign certain milestones to certain times, not that we've had any major milestones just yet, unless you count breaking through the 10lb barrier which both babies have now achieved. They are both piling on the pounds quite nicely, at 10 weeks old Edward was 12lb 4oz and Harriet was 10lb 2oz. I can confidently say they are both growing well! We had a few issues in the first 8 weeks with their formula, both babies were rather windy to the extent we considered setting up our own personal wind farm. Harriet was also diagnosed with reflux so was on infant gaviscon to help stop her projectile vomiting everywhere (mostly over the cot just after we had changed the sheets). We decided to change their milk from Aptamil to SMA, first milk for Edward and Staydown milk for Harriet, and suddenly the wind farm idea is a non starter. I think Edward definitely takes after Daddy and would be happy eating whatever is placed before him as his windiness is the only difference we have noticed but the biggest change is with Harriet; she was rather grouchy on the aptamil milk and we really had to work to get any smiles but within a few days of being on the new milk she was more settled, much more laid back, happier generally but most rewardingly is now extremely smiley!
Their first jabs at 8wks passed without incident, much to the annoyance of the other mums in the baby clinic waiting room when we came out with 2 peacefully sleeping babies and they were all trying to soothe squalling singletons. I somehow doubt we will have the same success in 4 days time when they have their 2nd set of jabs.
Every trip into town is an adventure, sometimes its fun (when nobody bats an eyelid at the babies) but most of the time we have to field remarkably stupid questions with very obvious answers from remarkably stupid members of the population. Ooooh are they twins? No I was just able to have 2 babies within 2 minutes of each other, a medical first you know. How do you cope with 2? How do you cope with 1? You just get on with it. Its also amazing how people cant tell the difference between them; what are their names? Edward and Harriet. Oh thats nice, 2 little boys. ?!?!?!?!? Yes because I really would name a boy 'Harriet' and dress 'him' in a peach denim dress with spotty tights. Or the other day when we were out, 'are they boy and a girl?' I thought that was obvious: Edward was wearing grey dungerees with Humphrey the elephant on and Harriet was in a blue dress with bright red tights... AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Also, for some bizarre reason, people seem to think that knowing how they were born is their business... What is that all about??
Anyway, the mini beasts have awoken from their slumber and in their own very subtle and delicate ways are letting me know that sometime within the next few nanoseconds they would like their bottles attaching to their mouths.. Such charming little creatures.
'Mum I'm hungry. Feed me. Now.' *nomnomnomnom*
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Now We Are Four
Thankfully, since the babies were so, um, healthy at birth (read 'healthy' as fat little wotsits) they didnt need to spend any time in special care and were able to come with me up to the ward straight after birth. P came with us too, to see us settled into our private room (there was a perk to having a caesarian after all!) but had to leave in the early hours of saturday morning. The babies were sealed inside their first nappies (such a proud moment) and given back to me for their first feed. Everyone says that breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world, well I beg to differ! Especially when you are trying to feed two babies at the same time, after being awake and in labour for two days, at 1am and just after being sliced and diced. Its amazing how much you really dont care about how you look or how much of your person is on display to perfect strangers when you've just had a sprog or two; one midwife passed the babies to me while another whipped out my boobs to attach said babies to. Did I care? At the time, no. Looking back, possibly. Lets just keep the fingers crossed that I never bump into anyone from the ward in Tesco's. Once their appetite was sated I think I had about 30mins until it needed sating again. Considering how teeny they were they didnt half have good appetites! They were feeding every 2hrs or so for an hour or more at a time. Im not sure why I bothered taking them off the breast in between feeds really. *insert eye-rolling smilie in here*
Aunties, Grandmas, Grandads and Great-grandmas arrived on saturday afternoon. The babies were about 16 hours old and very well behaved, no obvious pooping or puking :-) Good babies! Everybody had a cuddle (with the sprogs, not each other) and marvelled over how much hair the babies had between them, especially Edward. Much posing for many cameras was had, and then it was dinner time again. P returned from the last singsong before paternity leave kicked in just in time to help heave me off the bed and very very slowly crawl to the shower. Goodness me it was painful, but a necessary painful as from then on I was able to get out of bed, albeit slowly, and move around.
During a routine weigh in for the babies it was noticed that they were losing a lot of weight. Its normal for newborns to lose a little of their birthweight in the few days following birth, but these two were losing a little too much. Harriet lost 11 ounces and Edward about 8 ounces. This suggested that although they were being fed every 2 hours or so they were not getting enough food so a breast feeding support councillor was sent to see me to assess my technique. Now we return to the 'breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world'. Everyone had an opinion on what was happening and they all went along the lines of me not attaching them correctly. 'Just try again', 'just try it this way', 'try putting baby in this position', dont do that, do this' was how many conversations started. Cue a mini breakdown which resulted in the babies spending 4 hours with a midwife while I attempted to sleep. A little dramatic perhaps but it did prompt one midwife to mention the dreaded 'f' word: formula. Did I want to give them formula? YES!!! If it meant they were getting food instead of getting increasingly frustrated and hungry then yes, give them as much formula as they will consume. All of a sudden the babies were content, with bellies full of milk which meant they were sleeping better, and in turn meant I was too. Nobody had mentioned any other ways of feeding, it was all 'breast is best' which Im sure fundamentally it is, but it doesn't work for everyone. A midwife told me they were not allowed (??) to ask mothers if they wanted to use formula as they had to promote breastfeeding which in my humble opinion is ridiculous. Surely if baby and/or mum is having problems then any other method which improves the situation is good? Apparently not. When I said I wanted to use formula all the time someone mentioned expressing. Why wasnt that mentioned before? I also found out that a caesarian section can delay milk production by several days as the body goes into some sort of shock after surgery, no-one told me that when I was struggling to feed and ended up producing more blood than milk. I felt so guilty for not breastfeeding, that somehow I was letting the babies down by not doing the best for them. I managed to express for 10 days so they did get the colostrum and first milk, and therefore all the antibodies and other goodies they should have had but I still felt awful.
In total we spent 4 days on the ward, and were released together on the tuesday evening. The babies were starting to put weight on again after losing so much, I was healing nicely so they couldnt keep us in any longer!
Ready to go home!
One of the first nights at home
Harriet
Edward
Group hug!
Aunties, Grandmas, Grandads and Great-grandmas arrived on saturday afternoon. The babies were about 16 hours old and very well behaved, no obvious pooping or puking :-) Good babies! Everybody had a cuddle (with the sprogs, not each other) and marvelled over how much hair the babies had between them, especially Edward. Much posing for many cameras was had, and then it was dinner time again. P returned from the last singsong before paternity leave kicked in just in time to help heave me off the bed and very very slowly crawl to the shower. Goodness me it was painful, but a necessary painful as from then on I was able to get out of bed, albeit slowly, and move around.
During a routine weigh in for the babies it was noticed that they were losing a lot of weight. Its normal for newborns to lose a little of their birthweight in the few days following birth, but these two were losing a little too much. Harriet lost 11 ounces and Edward about 8 ounces. This suggested that although they were being fed every 2 hours or so they were not getting enough food so a breast feeding support councillor was sent to see me to assess my technique. Now we return to the 'breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world'. Everyone had an opinion on what was happening and they all went along the lines of me not attaching them correctly. 'Just try again', 'just try it this way', 'try putting baby in this position', dont do that, do this' was how many conversations started. Cue a mini breakdown which resulted in the babies spending 4 hours with a midwife while I attempted to sleep. A little dramatic perhaps but it did prompt one midwife to mention the dreaded 'f' word: formula. Did I want to give them formula? YES!!! If it meant they were getting food instead of getting increasingly frustrated and hungry then yes, give them as much formula as they will consume. All of a sudden the babies were content, with bellies full of milk which meant they were sleeping better, and in turn meant I was too. Nobody had mentioned any other ways of feeding, it was all 'breast is best' which Im sure fundamentally it is, but it doesn't work for everyone. A midwife told me they were not allowed (??) to ask mothers if they wanted to use formula as they had to promote breastfeeding which in my humble opinion is ridiculous. Surely if baby and/or mum is having problems then any other method which improves the situation is good? Apparently not. When I said I wanted to use formula all the time someone mentioned expressing. Why wasnt that mentioned before? I also found out that a caesarian section can delay milk production by several days as the body goes into some sort of shock after surgery, no-one told me that when I was struggling to feed and ended up producing more blood than milk. I felt so guilty for not breastfeeding, that somehow I was letting the babies down by not doing the best for them. I managed to express for 10 days so they did get the colostrum and first milk, and therefore all the antibodies and other goodies they should have had but I still felt awful.
In total we spent 4 days on the ward, and were released together on the tuesday evening. The babies were starting to put weight on again after losing so much, I was healing nicely so they couldnt keep us in any longer!
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
All Hell Breaks Loose....
We had our last midwife appointment in mid march, at 34wks. Nothing spectacular occured, we learned twin 1 was very very low down, I think thats at least 1 'very' more than when we had the growth scan at 32wks. My body was starting to really ache and protest at every little thing, my hips felt as though they were dislocated most of the time, my knees had also joined in the aches and pains party even though they hadnt been invited and my feet looked like they had taken inspiration from Joseph Merrick (I think he was aka the Elephant Man... apologies if not..elephant feet are lovely, especially on elephants). I managed to wobble (Im certain it would have been easier, but not as graceful Im sure, to have been rolled a la Violet the blueberry from the proper version of Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory) from the doctors surgery to Costa-fortune coffee for a well deserved hot chocolate and choc donut (I wanted an almond croissant but they didnt have any. grrrrrrrrrr) and upon attempting to get out of my chair to leave got assaulted by well meaning people commenting on my rather small size, 'ooooh when are you due? tomorrow? last week?' erm no, 6wks time actually.... I love looking back and remembering the looks of horror cross peoples faces...
Monday 21st March was the day I first thought things might have been starting, nothing major mind just little niggles like feeling a little 'off', more pressure in my pelvis, more painful braxton hicks, that sort of thing. But nothing happened. I was quite pleased in some ways as I was still only 34wks (+ 5 days) and wanted to get as far as possible to reduce the time the babies would have to spend in neonatal but on the other hand I was desperate to get them out so I could have my body back! And meet them of course!
Nothing happened the day after either, I started to wonder whether I was wishing them out so much that I was seeing patterns/signs where there werent any. Wednesday night changed that completely. I got up off the settee aroud 8.30pm and waddled to the bathroom... En route I felt something 'pop' and then gush in a rather revolting fashion but thought 'ooooh waters have gone!!'. My joy and excitement were short lived; as I walked into the bathroom I noticed the pale lino accruing some large red droplets.. 20 seconds later my clothes were sodden. Not good. I will spare the details, but suffice to say panic was now rather firmly in control as I yelled to P to ring the ambulance.. All credit to them, the rapid response car arrived within 5 minutes with the ambulance 10 mins behind, and we were at Burton hospital by 9.20pm. I was examined by 'my' consultant who deemed the tsunami was my show (so much for small jelly-like mucous plug all the preggy websites harp on about) and I was 2cm dilated. So one type of panic started to reduce a little only for anothr type of panic to appear.... it had started.... Babies were coming!
I was kept in the delivery suite overnight for monitoring, thankfully P was allowed to stay too. A few more checks overnight showed we had advanced by 1cm (woooooo) and I was getting contractions rather than braxton hicks tightenings. Cue the steriod injections just in case; very painful I can tell you! Especially as they go in your bum... I think someone was attempting 'how many different body parts can we puncture?'. My hands were assaulted by 3 different people trying to get a canular into me, the first 2 attempts failed and sent my body into shock but finally someone was found who could get the blooming thing into a vein. I have a lovely blue bruise covering most of the back of my left hand now. In the morning it was decided that things werent going to progress that fast so I was moved to the labour ward for yet more monitoring. Its no fun being attached to so many cables that you cant move or get comfy. Nor is it fun when very wriggly babies manage to escape the range of the monitor so all the sticky things have to be moved around only for babies to move again 5 minutes later. The consultant come to see me/us and told us we were booked in for a scan in the morning to assess where the blood had come from although she was still sure it was just my show and nothing more serious. If the scan was clear we would be discharged until things picked up pace. Best laid plans and all that...
At just after midnight I was woken by what felt like severe period pains with bowel cramps thrown in for good measure. I hunted down some co-codamol, which would usually work quite fast, and went back to bed. Just over an hour later I was back at the midwife station being groped and assessed as having contractions, not braxtons. And they just didnt stop. In little over an hour I had gone from having a few tigntenings in several hours to having 3-4 contractions in 10 minutes. Hmmmmm, dont think I will be going home today somehow! More monitoring followed so now not only could I not move for all the cables but I also had contractions to contend with. The midwife said at one point 'oh we dont need the machine to tell when you're contracting, I can see the entire outlines of both your babies!'. At least she was happy. A shot of pethidine later (again, in the bum, ouch) and I was happier too! At 6am I was taken back to the delivery suite, and you've guessed it, hooked back up to the blooming monitor again. I had wanted to be active during labour so I could move around and get comfy(ish), not cabled to the bed. Such is the joy of being in premature labour with twins, and of course their safety was paramount to me and P but it would have been nice to have been a bit more comfy. Another assessment showed I was now 4cm dilated. Wow it was taking a while. Meanwhile that monitor was showing twin 2 was not happy about being monitored either, their heartbeat kept dipping quite low so I was advised to have an epidural just in case it dropped lower and a trip to theatre was necessary. Not that I needed any convincing, even though I had been adamant I wouldnt have anything stronger than gas and air. P arrived just as the epidural was being ordered, it was so nice to have someone I actually knew back in the room with me while I was being poked and groped. By 9am the epidural was in, it didnt totally take away the pain (it was a mobile epidural so some feeling was left) but my goodness what a relief. And then the midwife appeared with her crochet hook, twin 1's waters were ruptured and I was officially in labour according to the hospital. A bag of contraction stimulant stuff whose name has totally escaped me was attached to me via drip and we were left to it. The epidural was topped up a few times during the day and by 6pm we were told the joyous news that I was 10cm dilated and things should start happening..
A couple of hours (and several random people in blue scrubs who insisted on putting their hands where hands really shouldnt go) later revealed that twin 1 was malpresenting; rather than the top of the head coming out first it was the face that the doctors could feel, meaning baby was back to back with me, which explained why I was so uncomfy lying down, and they were effectively stuck. Twin 2's heartbeat was also still dropping below 100 beats per minute. When the doctor/registrar told us the only option was a caesarian I could have kissed her. Again I had put in my birth plan I didnt want one but by this point I was exhausted and the babies wanted out so the forms were signed and away to theatre we went.
Edward (twin 1) arrived first, covered in bruises from all the drs poking him, at 22.27 on friday 25 march 2011. He weighed an impressive 6lb 3.5oz :-). Harriet was born 2 minutes later weighing 6lb. Impressive because they were 5wks early so even by twin standards they were premature. Thankfully though they didnt need any time in neonatal care, all the aches and pains from being so vastly enormous in the final weeks were definitely worth it!
Minutes old! Edward on the left, Harriet on the right
Hours old :-)
Harriet
Edward
Monday 21st March was the day I first thought things might have been starting, nothing major mind just little niggles like feeling a little 'off', more pressure in my pelvis, more painful braxton hicks, that sort of thing. But nothing happened. I was quite pleased in some ways as I was still only 34wks (+ 5 days) and wanted to get as far as possible to reduce the time the babies would have to spend in neonatal but on the other hand I was desperate to get them out so I could have my body back! And meet them of course!
Nothing happened the day after either, I started to wonder whether I was wishing them out so much that I was seeing patterns/signs where there werent any. Wednesday night changed that completely. I got up off the settee aroud 8.30pm and waddled to the bathroom... En route I felt something 'pop' and then gush in a rather revolting fashion but thought 'ooooh waters have gone!!'. My joy and excitement were short lived; as I walked into the bathroom I noticed the pale lino accruing some large red droplets.. 20 seconds later my clothes were sodden. Not good. I will spare the details, but suffice to say panic was now rather firmly in control as I yelled to P to ring the ambulance.. All credit to them, the rapid response car arrived within 5 minutes with the ambulance 10 mins behind, and we were at Burton hospital by 9.20pm. I was examined by 'my' consultant who deemed the tsunami was my show (so much for small jelly-like mucous plug all the preggy websites harp on about) and I was 2cm dilated. So one type of panic started to reduce a little only for anothr type of panic to appear.... it had started.... Babies were coming!
I was kept in the delivery suite overnight for monitoring, thankfully P was allowed to stay too. A few more checks overnight showed we had advanced by 1cm (woooooo) and I was getting contractions rather than braxton hicks tightenings. Cue the steriod injections just in case; very painful I can tell you! Especially as they go in your bum... I think someone was attempting 'how many different body parts can we puncture?'. My hands were assaulted by 3 different people trying to get a canular into me, the first 2 attempts failed and sent my body into shock but finally someone was found who could get the blooming thing into a vein. I have a lovely blue bruise covering most of the back of my left hand now. In the morning it was decided that things werent going to progress that fast so I was moved to the labour ward for yet more monitoring. Its no fun being attached to so many cables that you cant move or get comfy. Nor is it fun when very wriggly babies manage to escape the range of the monitor so all the sticky things have to be moved around only for babies to move again 5 minutes later. The consultant come to see me/us and told us we were booked in for a scan in the morning to assess where the blood had come from although she was still sure it was just my show and nothing more serious. If the scan was clear we would be discharged until things picked up pace. Best laid plans and all that...
At just after midnight I was woken by what felt like severe period pains with bowel cramps thrown in for good measure. I hunted down some co-codamol, which would usually work quite fast, and went back to bed. Just over an hour later I was back at the midwife station being groped and assessed as having contractions, not braxtons. And they just didnt stop. In little over an hour I had gone from having a few tigntenings in several hours to having 3-4 contractions in 10 minutes. Hmmmmm, dont think I will be going home today somehow! More monitoring followed so now not only could I not move for all the cables but I also had contractions to contend with. The midwife said at one point 'oh we dont need the machine to tell when you're contracting, I can see the entire outlines of both your babies!'. At least she was happy. A shot of pethidine later (again, in the bum, ouch) and I was happier too! At 6am I was taken back to the delivery suite, and you've guessed it, hooked back up to the blooming monitor again. I had wanted to be active during labour so I could move around and get comfy(ish), not cabled to the bed. Such is the joy of being in premature labour with twins, and of course their safety was paramount to me and P but it would have been nice to have been a bit more comfy. Another assessment showed I was now 4cm dilated. Wow it was taking a while. Meanwhile that monitor was showing twin 2 was not happy about being monitored either, their heartbeat kept dipping quite low so I was advised to have an epidural just in case it dropped lower and a trip to theatre was necessary. Not that I needed any convincing, even though I had been adamant I wouldnt have anything stronger than gas and air. P arrived just as the epidural was being ordered, it was so nice to have someone I actually knew back in the room with me while I was being poked and groped. By 9am the epidural was in, it didnt totally take away the pain (it was a mobile epidural so some feeling was left) but my goodness what a relief. And then the midwife appeared with her crochet hook, twin 1's waters were ruptured and I was officially in labour according to the hospital. A bag of contraction stimulant stuff whose name has totally escaped me was attached to me via drip and we were left to it. The epidural was topped up a few times during the day and by 6pm we were told the joyous news that I was 10cm dilated and things should start happening..
A couple of hours (and several random people in blue scrubs who insisted on putting their hands where hands really shouldnt go) later revealed that twin 1 was malpresenting; rather than the top of the head coming out first it was the face that the doctors could feel, meaning baby was back to back with me, which explained why I was so uncomfy lying down, and they were effectively stuck. Twin 2's heartbeat was also still dropping below 100 beats per minute. When the doctor/registrar told us the only option was a caesarian I could have kissed her. Again I had put in my birth plan I didnt want one but by this point I was exhausted and the babies wanted out so the forms were signed and away to theatre we went.
Edward (twin 1) arrived first, covered in bruises from all the drs poking him, at 22.27 on friday 25 march 2011. He weighed an impressive 6lb 3.5oz :-). Harriet was born 2 minutes later weighing 6lb. Impressive because they were 5wks early so even by twin standards they were premature. Thankfully though they didnt need any time in neonatal care, all the aches and pains from being so vastly enormous in the final weeks were definitely worth it!
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Time Flies...
I woke up this morning to find its March 5th... I know February is short but I didnt think it would go that quickly!
OK, so a quick recap (mostly for my baby-addled brain..) the last post encompassed the thrills and spills of Christmas and New Year, up to our 25wk midwife appointment in January. So whats been happening for the last 7 weeks I hear you cry? Read on....
The remainder of January passed in a blur of cold, bleak January greyness. The babies continued to be their usual wriggly, pokey selves, only with much more determination and a lot more energy behind the wallops. Heartburn and acid reflux is now becoming a major issue, I think I am consuming my body weight in Gaviscon (other heartburn remedies are available) every week! Thankfully its free otherwise it would be costing a fortune. Shame it doesnt taste very nice.. but it works. However, a well known brand of powdered milk flavouring works even better, and it does taste good! Pity you cant get that on prescription.
We found ourselves back at Burton on 4th Feb for the first of our scheduled growth scans, and to see the consultant again. For the first time this pregnancy I wasnt nervous about the scan; there had always been some element of uncertainty in all the previous scans but as this one was at 28wks, they were kicking and wriggling all the time (they were alive), my bump as huge (they were obviously growing) and we had been given the all clear at the 20wk anomaly scan so we knew they were perfect. What we were not expecting was the estimated weights the sonographer calculated from the babies' measurements.. From our online readings we knew the approximate weights for twins at 28wks was around 2 - 2.5lbs each, similar to that of a single baby. From the scan measurements however it was clear that nobody had informed our babies of this snippet of information: Twin A was approx 2lb 15oz, and Twin B was approx 3lb 1oz. Oh my. Both these weights were very approximate, they had error margins of +/- 1lb or so, but even then they still seemed fab weights for twins. The consultant, although not 'our' consultant, seemed pleased too. He didnt have time to answer many questions so we left with our huge list relatively unanswered. They still couldnt tell us anything about our birth choices which was a little disappointing, but at 28wks twins are still able to move into daft positions, so I guess its a bit silly to plan a natural birth only to find in a month the twins have gone from head down to transverse or diagonal (ours were head down, good babies). After we left the consultant I was sent for routine blood tests in a different part of the hospital (fortunately, on the ground floor and much nearer to the entrance). How I love being a pin cushion.
Two weeks later I received a letter from the hospital, my blood results had come back. Thankfully I was negative for obstetric choleostasis (I think thats how you spell it) which causes itching on the hands feet and bump but is an indicator of liver problems, but I was rather anaemic. No huge surprise there. So now I have the pleasure of swallowing vile brown tablets twice a day as the little monsters are glugging all my iron supplies.
I saw my midwife again towards the end of feb, I hadnt even walked into the room when she greeted me with 'growing well I see?' ! Everything was fine, blood pressure was normal etc. She listened to the heartbeats which was good. Both sounded very healthy, twin 1 (right hand side) was 135bpm and twin 2 was 145bpm. She didnt measure the huge expanse of bump as I would be off the scale! I think that was the polite way of saying I was rather big :-) She also booked me in for my 34wk appointment although she didnt think I would get that far...!! Slightly worried now....
Our second growth scan was on 4 March, at 32wks. We were very eager to find out how heavy the not so little wotsits were now measuring in at, and we were not disappointed! The sonographer used three different sets of measurements to get an approximate weight, head circumference, abdominal circumference and femur length. Twin 1/A was so low she couldnt see the head to get the measurement, which was slightly worrying in itself.. low babies could mean an early arrival date.. The other two measurements were recorded and a weight approximated.... 2343g. 2.3kg. 5lb 2oz. Blimey! Twin 2/B was more cooperative, and amazingly the weight calculated was also 2343g. Twin 1 therefore could actually be somewhat larger.. Both babies are huge, around 5lb 2oz each which for twins is big. Single babies are estimated to be around 5lb at this stage, twins are often estimated to be around 5lb when they are born. Oh My Goodness. I was so pleased when I was told I didnt have to have an epidural, now I think I may need one!
Again we saw the consultant after our scan, she was very pleased with how the babies are growing, and that they are both still head down. Thankfully she had revised the estimate of how far I would be allowed to go before any intervention from 40wks to 38wks, however she said if we get to 34wks she will be happy! Im hoping to get to 35-36wks but even that isnt that far away (end of march). Its all scarily close now.
We think we are ready for them if they should arrive in the next 2 weeks; the cot is up, the clothes are washed, the bag is packed... which probably means they wont arrive until mid april!
Bump at 31wks, displayed in the only nice top I have which will accomodate it!
OK, so a quick recap (mostly for my baby-addled brain..) the last post encompassed the thrills and spills of Christmas and New Year, up to our 25wk midwife appointment in January. So whats been happening for the last 7 weeks I hear you cry? Read on....
The remainder of January passed in a blur of cold, bleak January greyness. The babies continued to be their usual wriggly, pokey selves, only with much more determination and a lot more energy behind the wallops. Heartburn and acid reflux is now becoming a major issue, I think I am consuming my body weight in Gaviscon (other heartburn remedies are available) every week! Thankfully its free otherwise it would be costing a fortune. Shame it doesnt taste very nice.. but it works. However, a well known brand of powdered milk flavouring works even better, and it does taste good! Pity you cant get that on prescription.
We found ourselves back at Burton on 4th Feb for the first of our scheduled growth scans, and to see the consultant again. For the first time this pregnancy I wasnt nervous about the scan; there had always been some element of uncertainty in all the previous scans but as this one was at 28wks, they were kicking and wriggling all the time (they were alive), my bump as huge (they were obviously growing) and we had been given the all clear at the 20wk anomaly scan so we knew they were perfect. What we were not expecting was the estimated weights the sonographer calculated from the babies' measurements.. From our online readings we knew the approximate weights for twins at 28wks was around 2 - 2.5lbs each, similar to that of a single baby. From the scan measurements however it was clear that nobody had informed our babies of this snippet of information: Twin A was approx 2lb 15oz, and Twin B was approx 3lb 1oz. Oh my. Both these weights were very approximate, they had error margins of +/- 1lb or so, but even then they still seemed fab weights for twins. The consultant, although not 'our' consultant, seemed pleased too. He didnt have time to answer many questions so we left with our huge list relatively unanswered. They still couldnt tell us anything about our birth choices which was a little disappointing, but at 28wks twins are still able to move into daft positions, so I guess its a bit silly to plan a natural birth only to find in a month the twins have gone from head down to transverse or diagonal (ours were head down, good babies). After we left the consultant I was sent for routine blood tests in a different part of the hospital (fortunately, on the ground floor and much nearer to the entrance). How I love being a pin cushion.
Two weeks later I received a letter from the hospital, my blood results had come back. Thankfully I was negative for obstetric choleostasis (I think thats how you spell it) which causes itching on the hands feet and bump but is an indicator of liver problems, but I was rather anaemic. No huge surprise there. So now I have the pleasure of swallowing vile brown tablets twice a day as the little monsters are glugging all my iron supplies.
I saw my midwife again towards the end of feb, I hadnt even walked into the room when she greeted me with 'growing well I see?' ! Everything was fine, blood pressure was normal etc. She listened to the heartbeats which was good. Both sounded very healthy, twin 1 (right hand side) was 135bpm and twin 2 was 145bpm. She didnt measure the huge expanse of bump as I would be off the scale! I think that was the polite way of saying I was rather big :-) She also booked me in for my 34wk appointment although she didnt think I would get that far...!! Slightly worried now....
Our second growth scan was on 4 March, at 32wks. We were very eager to find out how heavy the not so little wotsits were now measuring in at, and we were not disappointed! The sonographer used three different sets of measurements to get an approximate weight, head circumference, abdominal circumference and femur length. Twin 1/A was so low she couldnt see the head to get the measurement, which was slightly worrying in itself.. low babies could mean an early arrival date.. The other two measurements were recorded and a weight approximated.... 2343g. 2.3kg. 5lb 2oz. Blimey! Twin 2/B was more cooperative, and amazingly the weight calculated was also 2343g. Twin 1 therefore could actually be somewhat larger.. Both babies are huge, around 5lb 2oz each which for twins is big. Single babies are estimated to be around 5lb at this stage, twins are often estimated to be around 5lb when they are born. Oh My Goodness. I was so pleased when I was told I didnt have to have an epidural, now I think I may need one!
Again we saw the consultant after our scan, she was very pleased with how the babies are growing, and that they are both still head down. Thankfully she had revised the estimate of how far I would be allowed to go before any intervention from 40wks to 38wks, however she said if we get to 34wks she will be happy! Im hoping to get to 35-36wks but even that isnt that far away (end of march). Its all scarily close now.
We think we are ready for them if they should arrive in the next 2 weeks; the cot is up, the clothes are washed, the bag is packed... which probably means they wont arrive until mid april!
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