Twins Club

[Amberc]

Here's the new thread!

Oh jjkm you and your family are going through it, you poor thing. You sound amazingly calm about it. Hope you are feeling better on the antibiotics (I'm also in the metronidazole club!) and also that your little one is recovered from her op. The poor things are having to endure so much, but it sounds as though they are really strong and dealing with everything they go through. I hope that all these treatments now at this stage mean they will be strong as oxes by the time they are term, and you never have to set foot in a hospital again. Hugs to you all.

I've still found it quite difficult to switch off my brain and sleep properly every night, but had a bit of a breakthrough last night and managed about 6-6.5 hours more or less uninterrupted. Still up a bit early again this morning, but the pattern seems to be that I am getting an hour more every day plus naps so hopefully that is going in the right direction.

My parents went home yesterday - I'm so grateful to them for stepping in and looking after me. I haven't spent so much time with them in years and it was lovely to do so. They didn't even really drive me mad! Now it's the weekend we're going to have a very quiet one but have friends coming round for a cup of tea late morning, and hopefully others coming round tomorrow. A cup of tea is about all we can offer anyone in terms of effort but I think they understand that! I'll be trying to get a lot of Christmas shopping knocked on the head via some online shopping - no way am I going near shops for the foreseeable future.

tabby it's annoying when you try to organise social events and it feels thankless. I suppose meet ups of people who don't know each other properly might just need an extra push to get off the ground, but I imagine after you have done it once it will be easier to get people to sign up if they think it's an established thing.

hippy enjoy your weekend away!

Everyone have a good weekend and stay warm.

hey all not been on for a while...littlins keeping me busy!

Babies insist on being fussy and not settling at 3am...but sleep well all day! Gave them a bath before bed last night and it did seem to help a bit (but did end up co sleeping with them from 5am!).

Still managing to fully breastfeed but its not easy...glad im managing it, will be mixing expressed in a bottle in once they are old enonough. :)

Still not managed to get out...still very sore...getting fed up now as i want to get on with life but pain is holding me back...hope it goes soon!

Jenzopos I express every day and DP does the 11pm feed for me, it means I get to go to bed at 9.30pm and then get up at 2.45/3am and miss a feed. It means I get a fair sleep each day. I usually wakeup a bit anyway but it's not so exhausting. He also loves it as it's his bonding time with the girls. What do you mean about old enough? (my first babies so am clueless about what is right/wrong )

JJKM I've been thinking about you and sending my best wishes. You sound incredibly strong, and are doing so well. The twins too, I'm glad they are getting through this. A friend's grandchild was born at 24 weeks and is a gorgeous little toddler now, you will get through this and I'm sure it will make you much stronger as a family

Tabby Where are you based?

Time for another feed, off I go

been reading of this nipple confusion thing...worried about it causing breastfeeding issues....I have bought a medela swing pump and some closer to nature bottles.

I'd call one of the breast feeding helplines and ask but it hasn't caused us any problems. Because the girls were so early they were having formula to ups in hospital but for the last 2 weeks I've just breast fed and it's going really well, girls are fine with the bottle. I would assume later on they would notice the.difference where as now it's just normal to them. Good luck anyway, so many people struggle with breast feeding, I just think it's incredible that we are managing with twins

I bought this double breast pump and can really reccomend it.

I am feeding every 3 hours in the day, and every 4 hours at night, I wake the girls to feed as sometimes they would just sleep through.

Hi Jenzopos and lavita. Mine show signs of nipple confusion and they are 15 weeks old! Jacob is the worst, he takes ages to suck from a bottle cos he is trying to do the same suck as he uses on the boob! He gets there eventually but it can take a while. Isobel does it to, but usually only a couple of sucks until she realises it's not a boob and then she gets it. Bless.

Hi girls - am having a bad day today of what should have been a fab weekend! Went to see A-ha last night at Wembley - amazing but wonder if I'm paying for it today. Spent all night on my feet dancing along (whilst holding my bump with one hand!) and a subsequent late night. (Am based in Colchester lavita - recently moved to the area).

Anyway, is or has anyone else felt like this... I'm sure I'm not alone. My bump is becoming more of a hinderance every day. I'll be 28 weeks tomorrow so have plenty of time and growth yet but I'm getting soooo frustrated that I can't do what I want to do. The poor house is becoming a pig sty (tho my hubby is supportive) and I'm finding myself short of breath for doing nothing!!!! I know we're amazing creatures and the body does amazing things to accommodate these little miracles, but still.... I would love one day of pure selfishness where I can have my body back and do what I want without any problems! I have a an A/N appt tomorrow with growth scan so will voice these issues to the midwife, see what she says. Ill also be interested to know what their weights are - i thought I was on the road to having two little tiddlys but now I'm not so sure!

On the 'social meets' front... I've given up I think on continuing to organise socials for our area - I heard nothing back from one of the girls and none of the regulars really voiced any interest. Thankfully one girl who's due to move here shortly has become a bit of a net chat buddy so that's good but still, it makes you wonder whats the point!! I hope others have more success. I'm sure there are mumsnetters on here in your local areas to meet up with :)

Good to see the breast feeding discussion above. I'm struggling with that. I tried in hospital but they would take a couple of sucks and then recoil crying. Kept trying several times a day but it hasn't worked yet. So we've been giving them formula both in hospital and since we got home - I've been using the tommee tippee closer to nature cups which say the teat is like a real nipple and they drink well from that. Today I got a manual pump and started expressing - only managed 2oz today but intending to do it more often tomorrow and get more. Not sure either how much I should be giving them per feed or how often but it usually works out at 60ml every 3-4 hours. How much formula or expressed milk are the rest of you giving?

Anyway, I must sleep now as I promised DH if he would deal with the feeds tonight and let me sleep for 8 hours I would be back on form tomorrow (I'd been feeling totally wiped out as not taking the advice to sleep when they sleep during the day. Tomorrow is a new week though and I intend to get on top of the tiredness issue!

Hope the rest of you are all well. I will find time to pop on this week and tell you all about the nightmare birth story too - haven't forgotten!

Glad to hear your hubbies are helping out, I seriously doubt I'll be so lucky with my OH when the little ones arrive. As for sleeping when they sleep - will be quite impossible when I have to single handedly raise a 5yo too! So I'm sure this is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done. But we'll see.

Glad you're all well though!

Swazzee - have you seen a BF counsellor?

I'd recommend breastflow bottles. I breastfed DS till a year (till I found out I was pregnant again), and these without doubt were the best.

I just asked my beloved exactly how much support he was going to give me and his answer?
Basically none.
And he even had the cheek to say I should have thought about this before..
Anyway he didnt want to talk about it and so ive no idea if he was joking-i doubt it though.

Hope everyone else is doing better than me?

So exhaustion - anyone any tips? I'm now 14 weeks and completely shattered, as in I need a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Unfortunately I did have flu the week before last and the doctor has signed me off work with post viral fatigue, but she said basically my body is finding it difficult to cope with the 2 babies.

holidays a few things spring to mind here. First of all, have you mentioned to any of your healthcare providers that you have a less than supportive OH? Mentioning it now might mean they can make sure you have a bit of support when the babies come. I trust that his failings only extend to not being arsed, but if there is ANY element of cruelty in there then you must mention it as soon as possible; don't keep yourself in harm's way.

Secondly, do you have any family or good friends that you can lean on a bit for help? Maybe some childcare for your daughter once in a while so you get the chance to rest.

Thirdly, lower your standards on the housework. I know from what you've said that you find it difficult to ignore a pile of dirty dishes but you're going to have to, unless you have an OH who will actually behave like An Other Half of your family (i.e. taking 50%+ of chores).

Finally, if you are being a doormat to him then stop. Don't plead for his help, just make it clear where your line is and don't go beyond it. He sounds like a lazy arsed sod to me - sorry, but he does - and I'm a bit fed up with hearing that he won't do anything. Decide for yourself how much you are going to do, and if he has a problem with it then he'll have to help out. I think this may happen when the babies come anyway, but in the meantime you have a pregnancy to get through and I would concentrate on avoiding stress that is caused by him and that is completely avoidable.

Snowfalls it sounds like a combo of pregnancy and post-flu! By 14 weeks I think I was feeling much more normal again, though having a doze on the train every day. Are you taking anything extra to help you recover? Might be worth taking a vitamin tonic for a boost, but make sure it's OK in pregnancy obviously.

How are you sleeping at night? I guess if you need the daytime sleep then you need it, so play along while you need to and hopefully this will pass. Otherwise, just try to eat good stuff and don't do too much as this will prolong your recovery.

All well here - still off work and playing it by ear when I go back. If it becomes snowy here then I might do working from home as I'd be paranoid about slipping over and God knows my husband and family would be too, I'd never hear the end of it. I was really pleased that last night I managed to sleep through until 7am without any problem - first time I've done that since hospital.

Anyone know where VictoriaSecrets has gone? She's not posted for aaaages!

holidays - OMG I'm in shock reading your last post! Really, my jaw was heading towards the floor! Fancy hearing that come out of the mouth of the man who you've decided to spend your life with and have children with! How totally upsetting! Not sure I would tolerate that to be honest - I'm worth much more than that and I'm sure you are too! You poor thing! Having one baby must be challenging but two at once as we're having, is a massive life change and will be totally exhausting. You need plenty of help and your partner should be the first one offering to help out!!!!! Oh God, what would I do if my husband was like that......!!! How many weeks are you now?

I was wondering where victoria was too!

Im 24weeks today. Hes just thrown a fit saying hes too stressed to talk about it.
To be honest I have no one but him and he knows it.
If I were having 1 baby I could cope but im having two!
I dont want to tell the midwife in case she calls social services.
Il just have to wait for him to calm down and try talk about it properly.

snowfalls I'm nearly 15 weeks and struggling with a lack of energy. I'm still being sick and feeling awful- my doctor signed me off work due to how much I was being sick but I'm back now. I'd hoped it would have died down by now but I know for some women it just doesn't.
My doctor said having twins is double the hormones, tiredness and in my case, sickness. I feel shattered most of the time.
It doesn't help that I wake up several times throughout the night- do you have this problem as well? Are you managing to eat well?

Hi Pennylane and Cerubina - yup I'm waking up at night as well. Its such a pain. I'm eating every 2 hours as otherwise the nausea is horrible! I'm now just having a few days doing nothing so hopefully that'll help. I'll look into a tonic too. Thanks

Do make sure you get some proper rest snowfalls- feet up, snug quilt and pjs, good books/dvds, something that you fancy to eat.. take care of yourself

I remember those days or rather weeks of nausea well..... I'd hate to go back there. HAd 8 weeks off work in total and went through stages of nope, can't eat at all, to mashed potato only please, to right have to eat now else I'll feel crap again. Needless to say, weight gain has never been an issue! They do sooo much growing in the first few weeks that eat and eat and eat if that's what you need to do, your babies will thank you! And then the tiredness! Both combined made that first trimester really miserable but thankfully now I have no ailments apart from a spine laying across right underneath my ribs so I can't do/bend what I want to do but hey ho, if that's all I can complain of then I think I'm doing well!!! Rest assured it will get better tho snowfalls and pennylane!! :)

Thank you Tabby! Fingers crossed its soon