Twins Club 3!! All welcome :-)

[dreamfeeder]

Hello to everyone expecting twins!
Join us here for some mutual reassurance

MrsStevo, #1 & 2, EDD 23/08/2011, Lincs, MCDA ID,
Tiggersreturn #2+3 EDD 26/09/11 NW London DCDA - not finding out
silverangel #1+2 Sophie, 3lb3 & Alice3lb1 born at 31+2 on 01/08/11 EMCS
PrincessScrumpy #2 & 3, girls
BB3, #2&3 (#1 DS) DCDA girls born 20.09.11 by EMCS at 37 weeks exactly - Edith-May 5lb 11.5oz and Ayse-Rose 6lb 1oz.

PeelingmyselfofftheCeiling #1+2 EDD, DCDA, Boy and Girl, Born 14 Sept
Twinnerves, DCDA, #2&3, girls Francesca and Isabella, born 18/11/11 EMCS 6lbs 6 oz and 6lbs 9.5oz
xkatyx , ID girls, DC 8,5,9months, EDD 21/12/11
Quempin #1&2 EDD 27/1/12, ID surprise
Ravenlocks DCDA, #1&2, EDD 28/01/12
Tabbycatt, DCDA, 2 boys, DC 2 & 3, EDD 30/1/12
Claireinmodena DCDA, Boy & Girl, DC 3 & 4 (!!), EDD 23/02/12
Dreamfeeder, DCDA, DC 2 & 3, EDD 12/4/12
BigBoobsAtLast, MCDA, DC 2&3 EDD
CarrieInAnotherTWOBabiTWINS DCDA DC 2&3, EDD 28/06/12
Caesnake, DCDA, DC 2&3, EDD

That riccardo's a clever one - Showing his big sister how it's done! Well done Claire, you're doing fantastically well. I'm staring at my ginormous babies now that are almost too big for their Moses baskets remembering what it was like bringing them home. we're so lucky to have them.

After a rocky few days we are getting through things I think. Last night I bought all three kids in with me and it was fine - Edie and Ayse did their usual 4 o'clock wake up call but they settled again by 5.30 and then ds woke me up at 7 by stroking my head and giving me a kiss . He's been a real terror this past week or so really playing up and hitting me / tv etc to get attention (obviously seeing I'm Knackered and not coping well) but yesterday I took him up to the local horse riding centre and we walked a short hack behind a rider and he stroked some horses and loved it so I've signed him up to pony gym (only 15 mins a week until he's three learning to be among the horses). And then today I took him swimming this morning to the kids beech pool thing in the city for a couple of hours and we went for a walk just me and him after lunch and the difference in him is astounding - we've had one little moment tonight through tiredness but all in all he's content, smiling and just lovely to be around today. Made me realise I'd been neglecting him slightly in the stress of the past 10 days but has given me the wake up call I needed. He's got quite bad speech delay so if I'm to help him through that I need to do more with him one on one. So that's our weekend plans set from now on - riding, swimming and walking.

Oh, its so nice you got some real quality time with your dd bb3. How long til your husband's back, or is he already? I know you said 4 days or something but I've no idea when you said it!!! You sound amazing- swimming and riding at weekends, he's a lucky boy with a dedicated mummy! so good you just recognized it was 1:1 he needed and could provide. I hope through newborn/ looking after 3 fog I have the same insight. Does your dh speak to your ds in Turkish? I've heard from SLT's that bilingual children, well, those being brought up to be bilingual, are later to speak anyway. Not meaning anything by that, just interested.

Claire, I hope those babies do better for you tonight. Fingers crossed for stuffed full, sleepy babies (sleeping at the same time of course!)

rednellie I wish I did want to dtd ;-) think it would be good for dh and i, but with the ongoing bedtime issues and him revising for exams we have no evenings, no time together... Gives me another thing to worry about!!

We had a lovely day in the Lakes yesterday,at soft play then a walk in the snow but today I'm totally knackered and being a complete bitch to poor dh useless. The tiredness has definitely hit with a vengeance. desperate to go to bed but dd won't go to sleep... Argh! And I'm.having a tired flap about not having anything to pack in a hospital bag for any of us, due to my theory I want the bag done ASAP to guard against pre-term labour... Determined to make my CS date!

BB3 that's really interesting and reflects what I've heard from others with older children and twins. My Mum said that even with just me and my DB she made sure that when I was born people basically got told to ignore me and make a fuss of DB (he's years older). Her point was that the baby (me) wouldn't know any different and was getting plenty of one on one time from her breast feeding and my DB was the one who would be feeling left out. I think it's even more of an issue with twins as they are such attention grabbers that I know people get stopped in the street all the time by strangers to talk about the twins and the older child gets totally ignored! Anyway, food for thought. We already do swimming with DD and she LOVES it, so I'm swapping her day to Saturdays so either me or DH can carry on taking her. Also, we've already talked about taking turns doing bedtime so that we can get that special time with DD without the babies around...

dream - just having hugs or getting a massage off DH is a way to connect physically. This hasn't happened so much this time, but last time my DH gave me a massage most nights and it was just nice to have that intimacy (even if we did DTD ) I think tiredness is the biggest killer, unless we consciously say right let's go and get on with it, we both do all our evening chores, then flop in front of the TV and never get round to it. It's almost like we have to book it in!!!

Oh and don't start about the bloody hospital bag. I keep thinking of other things I need and is it just me or do half the things I want to take are things I need now so I can't pack them. At this rate I'm either going to have to pack at the last minute or buy multiples of everything...As long as it's not like last time where DH and my Mum left me with no normal clothes, no money and no mobile. I was stranded at the hospital and had to beg the mw's to use their phone and they got really grumpy with me...

Right, sorry, I'm rambling. Will stop now.

Oh and bigboobs sorry, I completely forgot to say Happy Birthday to your DD! Wow, our DD's are pretty much exactly the same age...lovely little girls that they are. Glad she had a nice time.

Rednellie we did that at the beginning, all visitors were asked to play with k first before holding twins and we had a stash of toys / treats so if we were opening baby presents ds got something soon and we included him in all baby things (bath / changes etc) but overtime I've just let it slip and now girls are bigger, more vocal and demand more attention his inclusion has slipped, still a wake up call for ms who thought I was facing a behavioural issue on top if everything else when actually he just wanted mummy time xx

Dream yes dh only speaks to the kids in Turkish, so he should have about a 6-8 month natural delay but he's about 12-14 months behind. He use to attempt words (although could pronounce none properly) but now just gabbles constantly and occasionally slips the odd word out. He's always playing with his ears and the drs say there is no infection but they are always red and inflamed so I've got a feeling there is something wrong there. He can hear, no problem but I wonder if there is something distorting his hearing of himself and he therefore doesn't see speaking as an effective way of getting what he wants because we don't understand and physically dragging works a treat

Work today (boo).

Note to self: big notice on door saying 'Greet DD FIRST!' in case I forget to brief people! . My dd is also always playing with her ears, I'm constantly wondering if she has an ear infection, but only ever a little red when examined. She also doesn't have a first word yet at 17 months. Still, there's only so much you can do surely- repetition, books, signing, singing, 1:1 (of course, I have no idea what I'm talking about ). The secretaries at work joke they could do the speech therapists job- 'turn off the tv and talk to your child', the physio's job 'turn off the tv and take your child out and play with them' and the OT's job 'let them practice themselves and demonstrate'. Ha ha. Very funny. Plus I can totally see me being tired and busy and thinking it's behavioural and missing out how I haven't given DD enough time with me.

I told you bigboobs daughter was a Feb birthday rednellie! It's so nice they both enjoyed their birthdays- the first one when they kind of know whats its all about I guess. Happy Birthday to your DD bigboobs!

rednellie, I try to persuade DH into a massage a lot Not sure how nice he thinks it is!!! I'm always trying to persuade him to rub my ribs hard at the back too- think more as a distracion form the pain which is mostly front/sides of ribcage... So true about the hospital bag- I'm going to buy some giant pants from Asda or somewhere for if I have a CS, so they can go in, but clothes etc for me can't really, and they boys stuff I'll be guessing a lot for sizes- guess just do a mixture? We've been given up to 5lb and the next size, up to 7.8lb hand-me-downs so bit of both in case!? And surely they won't be more than 7lb 8 each?! (of course, they're coming on the 'right' day so i know they'll be term .

Right, DD napping, must go and ahve a rest too.

My mate took in a load of different size outfits still i their wrappers. She only opened the ones that would fit and took the rest back to mothercare! She's a very cool mama.

I put on a pair of tena lady pants for DH's amusement last night. I've never seen anyone laugh so much. So they're worth the money just for that.

Dream that's really interesting about dd/ears - I'll let you know what the ent people say hopefully in the next month or so once the referral is through. It's starting to really get me down as I just want to help him we do signing, singing, books, pointing and repeating words, lots of talking - tv off for bulk of the day but I need to pit more of a concerted effort in!

at pants rednellie! I got a whole bunch of cheap cotton v large ones from asda they were heaven post cs x

Worrying news from my sister ,the health visitor has been round today and both babies have lost a lot of weight ,when my sister phoned me they were on their way to take the twins to the hospital,one of them has lost 11 per cent of her weight.Im hopeful it is a feeding problem and nothing else.the other baby has also lost some weight but not sure how much.I have not heard back from her yet as she only took them in about 4.30pm

Mummy are they breast or bottle fed? My girls lost a bit Ayse 8% or something like that, my dn lost 15% and all was sorted after a couple of days in hospital with some formula top up so fingers crossed that's all the twins need they'll probably up their feeds and weigh them to check the food is staying down (that's what happened to dn) until they are happy they are putting it on well. Keep us posted xxxx

They are breast fed and it appears that they have not been latching on properly at all.They have both had a little tube put down their throat to feed them.My sister has to express milk for them too.They are going to do a couple more tests of some kind tomorrow and My sister said probably in there for two nights.Hopefully this is just a feeding blip.She did say something about dehydration and that they were trying to bring the salt level down from one of them .I could not really make this bit out as my sister is so upset and could hardly get her words out properly.

Mummy, it's not easy for your sister to go through but it's for the best. My community mw gave me a full briefing of what may happen if babies are too small / losing weight and that all sounds familiar (although I can't remember word for word). What's good is they picked it up quickly and the girls are getting the help they need - a couple of days of help and fingers crossed they'll be chubbing up in no time x hopefully like you said it's just a feeding blip but seeing you're babies on tubes must be very hard sending lots of virtual hugs to your sister and fattening up vibes to the little ladies x

oh what a shame for your sister mummylin, must be very hard... I hope what bb3 said is right, and they get a bit fattened up, latch on properly like good 'uns and start banging it on and put this blip behind them. Good luck to your sister- I will join my hopes for 2 nice chubby babies asap!

rednellie, I hope you're poking that Twin A of yours out of the way on an hourly basis.

cheap cotton Asda big knickers are coming my way then! Did you get a size bigger bb3, or 2 sizes bigger? or more?! Is it bad to now actively want some tena lady pants?! . I washed some baby hand me downs today as part of Operation Get to Term.

Thinking of your sister mummylin. It must be really hard to see the girls like that, but I'm sure they'll be fine in no time. We'll be sending our best wishes.

Dream yes he started on 1st feb we got 6 signs to implement but she doesn't want to see him again until end of april as they won't start anything more intensive until he's three.

Oh I might look into baby signing xx

I'm normally a size 10/12 and I got one pack of 16 for immediately post birth and 2x 14 for the following weeks.

at tenalady!!!

Mummylin how are the girls today

mummy sorry to hear the girls have been readmitted, im sure theyll be fighting fit in no time. ds2 was born on a Thursday and readmitted on the Saturday, he hadn't fed at all and wouldn't even take a bottle, i took him by myself cause stupidly expected to just get checked out, he ended up with a lumber puncture and on a nose feed every 2 hours!! very worrying time he just didn't like milk!! we ended up in for a week, the one thing i.would say is that were admitted on a children's ward which isn't there to look after mum so i didn't get fed with communal showers etc, which when your milk etc comes in is not the nicest, just make sure she has some time to pop home for a bath and someone takes her food in if she on a children's ward, hopefully theyll be home before you know it xxx

hi everyone went to gp yesterday and he thinks i may be anemic so having blood tests he signed me off work for a week so i can recharge my batteries, worried what work will say but as my mum keeps saying i need to look after me and the babies, gutted ive got to wait another 2 weeks to check their ok, its such an emotional roller coaster i swing between being excited to absolutely terrified something is going to go wrong :( im an emotional wreck

Mummy that must be so hard for your sister, I hope they get better soon and go home in no time at all!

tena pants, I still have a packflull, as I didnt bleed as much with a cs, apparently they do a good clean up before cliding uou back up again!

We are taking the babies back to hospital tomorrow for their postdischarge checkup, I am absolutely dreading it as we may end up waiting for ages in a crowdedcorridor, I am so terrified they might catch stg... They'll check their weights as well so hoping I've been doing a good job of fattening them up!

All the best to everyone time for a feed!!

goingmad, your Mum is right. You've got to look after yourself and work will understand and if they don't they're knobs . I had a really low iron test come back recently and was started on quite hard core iron tablets and the difference has been noticeable - I felt so much better. I'm trying to also eat vast quantities of fibre to avoid any constipation issues - prunes and dried apricots are doing the trick currently. They also help with the vit C and iron intake. And don't stress yourself, your babies will be fine - they'll be leaching your iron and wont be affected at all, the little greedy ones, but they'll make you feel wretched!

Good luck at the appointment claire. I always used to hate all the postnatal check ups with DD and eventually stopped weighing her or seeing HV's as they always made me worry about things I hadn't thought to worry about before! Which was daft as DD was perfect in every way.

I LOVE tena lady pants, I've decided. Very comfy and enormous!

had a quick text from my sister this morning ,no infections found so babies have had their canulas removed but not the feeding tubes.they forgot to feed one of the babies in the night.Also she had her dressing changed this morning and it had stuck to her wound so now that is very sore and bleeding .She is very tearful today.I think everything has caught up with her,its only a few weeks since our mum died and with that and having the babies its all taken its toll,plus the rest of the family are so far away from her at the moment.the babies were about to be weighed but i have not heard back yet.

goingmad, its so hard. Especially when it still feels like very early days... I felt a bit better after 24 weeks and the 'viable' stage and better again now I've hit 30 weeks and likely 'ok' whenever they come stage. just try not to count the hours til your next scan (very hard, I know) and they'll be fine! I still have panics one baby will.die before they're born, that I'll go for the scan and there'll be no heartbeat. I think bb3 hit the nail on the head when she said you won't stop worrying til they're here. And ours were DCDA! Yes, look after yourself and your babies. This is much harder than s singleton pg imo. And as my manager told Mr, noone else is going to put you first, don't feel bad for your week off.

rednellie, I'm sold, tenalady pants it is :-) . Plus some Asda specials of course.

My iron is slightly low- 11.2 (the lower limit of normal is 11.5 though) and I'm.still not taking anything. Trying to eat more red meat though. Must find out if floradix is prescription only...

Claire, hope their check up goes well. I also used to avoid them like the plague. Especially as dd dropped more than 2 centiles weight wise in the red book, hv got in a flap... She got prescribed infant gaviscon for reflux then- which i'd been begging for at 6 weeks when she was suffering and as she hadn't dropped down the chart they wouldn't give. By the time they did, things were improving. She seemed happy and growing to me though so i never took her for weighing again. Keep them.away from all snotty babies and children!!! I hope they're putting weight on nicely and the doctors think they're doing well too.

mummylin, glad there's no infection. Forgot to feed one in the night?! WTF?! Hope both doing ok. Your poor sister, shame you can't go and be with her. Hope your dh recovering ok though.

babies have gained a little weight.having bloods tested this afternoon to do with the dehydration and salt levels.sis is very upset and wishes i could be there,but at the moment its impossible.She does have her adult daughter there now and of course her dh.I dont think they would let me stay with her anyway But hopefully early in March my dh will be ok and i can go to her with my brother who will be on holiday.

dream - floradix is available from Waitrose so really doubt you need a prescription. On the same note, that kind of means it doesn't really have a huge amount of elemental iron in it. Still worth taking though, especially if you're just a bit under.

mummylin, glad the babies are improving. xx

Agggghhhhhh! Annoying mum at DD's nursery (the one who started asking me when my c-section was booked for even though I hadn't ever talked to her before) today said again "aren't those babies born yet? You're going to be massive!"

I shut her down by saying: "No, I don't want them to come out now. If they did they would be premature and have to spend time in the NICU so isn't it great that my body is able to accommodate them all for a bit longer?"

Just a tad snippity, but I was proper annoyed.

Had mw appointment - fundus measurement is for 41 weeks! But everything looking great, bp still really low, iron levels creeping up and I got to do my own GBS swab (my ex-OB was going to do it himself - I'm starting to think he is genuinely a bit dodge). It was quite easy - just a swirl around with a cotton wool bud. They do it routinely here and if you get a positive result they offer you antibiotics when labour starts. There are SOOOO many more tests here than in the UK. Really amazing. They also were asking me about whether I'd be OK with them putting this eye ointment on the babies once they're born - apparently totally normal here to prevent infection. I've asked if they can delay it a little bit so we can all gaze into each others eyes for a bit before they get all gunked up....

Right, am girding my loins to ring my old OB's secretary to cancel my appointments and tell them I'm not coming back...daft that I'm feeling nervous about it! Wish me luck.

Could the mw tell what position twin B was in rednellie? I bet not, but I'm waiting for the next installment... Some people are just stupid... My MIL said around Christmas time she was betting