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

I'm built like a horse even when I'm not pregnant, so I'm hoping my old maternity things will last. I've got mountains of leggings and long tunic type things that will hopefully do. We took a photo about a month ago and I'm exactly the same size of shape at 6 months as I was at 9 months with my singleton! Worrying indeed.

I carried all bump last time, put on 2st2lb and lost it all effortlessly through bf, and a bit more- in fact, I had to check I wasn't still losing!!! Very lucky indeed. So I'm also deluded that it'll happen again!! I was generally healthier diet and exercise wise my last pg though, worked to 36 weeks, walked up to 5 miles a day most days and swam a mile twice a week... This time, I carry dd everywhere, and walk when needed. Plus I scoff chocolate liberally all day. Hmm. May not be so easy!!! I put some bump pics on my profile with some others from the ttc/ ante natal thread I still follow- its really popped now though, should update. I'm about the size I was at 30 weeks last time. Will try and find some old pics for a compare and contrast!!! Fancy doing a bump pic for us quempin?! Or anyone?!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas? Sounds like it!

Excellent news re getting your CS date quempin woop woop.

I am now starting to struggle. I am 35 weeks now and in the last week and a bit am really feeling it. I am itching all over and it is driving me demented - particularly my hands and feet but all over really. I can do very little without needing a lie down and a sleep to recover from the exersion of doing anything - including showering and getting dressed fgs! Really lazy Xmas for me - my parents and DH did everything and I am so grateful.

Weighed myself for the first time in a couple of months and I have put on 2 stone, all in my belly (and maybe my face). Haven't measured my "waist" but will do later as curious now. I was also a size 10 before falling pregnant and am now living inover the bump leggings from Seraphine (so comfy, but stylish?...eh no!) and maternity tunics.

Roll on my 36 weeks appt and scan which because of the public hols etc is at 36+4.

I am just in love with our nursery. The furniture was all built last week (M&P Fern range in white if anyone is interested!) and over the last few days I have been doing finishing touches to it (stuff on walls, bunting, making up the cot beds etc). Also been washing babies clothes and bedding etc in non-bio. I feel a bit odd doing all this before they are safely here - but it needs to be ready for them!

Will catch-up on everyone elses news in a bit - thread moved pretty fast over Xmas! xx

raven you've done so well to get to this point! Only a few more weeks to go!!

quemp I was 52 inches when I gave birth almost double my normal waist measurement (28) I was in size 16 maternity clothes (mostly pjs) maternity jeans left me at about 7 months x

I think it's normal to fear every scan as well as be excited with a twin pg - I almost always got teary afterwards as relief swept over me that all was ok x

Good luck for scans this week, do let us know how they all go!

Now when you've all popped are we going to have a twins club post natal thread - I haven't found one yet and so am still bothering you all! Xxx

Oh I put on almost 3 stone too - have 1 left to lose (although might be more post Xmas !)

Absolutely bb3, I'm up for a post natal thread, you are a vital source of info and support, you can't leave. Xx

And one stone left to lose with 3 month old twins probably puts many, many mums to shame!!

42 inch waist ..... cripes. I am 5'10" so I think the babies have more vertical space to play with iykwim which may expain why I am not nearer 50" (yet!).

Right, just measured mine! It's 46inches and I'm only 27 weeks. And I'm 5'10". Do I get away with this because it's my second time round?

rednelle at measuring yourself at 3.20 in the morning, I found I went up about 1-1.5 Inches every two weeks but you might slow down a bit towards the end Fwiw I blame second time around too!!!

42 inches is a very need twin bump!

Ds having another really bad night he's in with us after crying his heart out in pain with this cough and stonking great temperature, he's currently led across my lap. Ayse-Rose has just been fed and is laying on dh and edith-may is starting to stir. Da is not going back to sleep anytime soon so looks like I'm set here for the rest of the night

Oh and thanks dream as I say after the amount of rubbish I've consumed this Christmas it might be closer to two!!!

Oh boo BB3, that sounds rubbish. Poor little one. Hope he gets better today and you're not too tired.

It's actually 9pm here - I'm still in Canada until the summer! So not too mental, yet.
Part of the reason I joined up with you guys on this group was that I wanted to compare my care out here and back home in the UK. It's good getting perspective from both sides of the pond.

Am seeing the mw tomorrow just to do a quick check of the old blood pressure in case the breathlessness is due to that - she thinks it might be low bp and being dehydrated (my bp's always been stupid low so could be the answer).

Oh yeah of course!! Out of interest how have you found the differences?

Hello quempin and dream, hope your scans go well today,, let us know how you got on!

bb3 hope your ds gets better soon, and your nightwas not too horrible! I had my 7 yearold in bed with me as but dh slept in her bed so in the end I had more space than usual !

quempin mh LO are 7 znd 10, so much much easier than for the other ladies on here with toddlers. They help with things like laying and clearing the table, loading the dishwasher and general tidying up and dd1 makes me coffee or tea! She heated up tomato soup for hersels and her sister yesterday fir their lunch too. They are
More of a help than a hindrance now, and keep me lots of company. I cant complain really! Dh was supposed to gave been on holiday from boxing day but has been going to the office til 7pm every day, but I managing without overdojng it. Its just really nice to have thd kitchen to myself again (even though I am not cooking as such...we're mainly reheating frozen or ready meals).

I have been weighing myself quite regurarly, in Italy they kick up quite a fuss about weight gain... Mainly for health reasons, but some drs can be a bit OTT. Mine's ok, but because I started off with a slightly high BMI I was told to put on max 15kg (thats how much I put with dd1 alone, but I was about 8 kgs less to start with). So far I have put on 11.3 kgs (about 1st 11lb), so not too bad. I am
Not even watching my diet, but between early sickness and indigestion and babies pushing against mh stomach i just cant eat too much. My "waist" is 46 inches at 32 weeks, I eish I'd measured myself in the other pregnancies to compare! I do know wiyh dd2 I was huge and round all over though.

I am still squeezing in maternity clothes even though havent really used any for past 4 weeks, since I gave been stuck at home I sm mostly wearing leggings or joggers. Occasionally I'll wear my H&M stretchy cords which are really comfy if I have visitors! I am just gutted that I bought a few nice pieces (fashion has changes liads since last pregnancy 7 years ago...) and havdnt worn them as much as I thought...bit of a waste.

I am now convinced I have SPD the pain is bad, I can barely move, that coupled with piles and having to sit all day makes for a lit of discomfort! I am pretty sure the babies are quite low thus making even worse! The joys and indignities of pregnancy!!

Hi quempin I have decided CS but haven't had that agreed with any HCP yet. At my last docs apt we discussed it and I said I would go away and think about it and research it some more which I have and CS is my decision - I know they would prefer me to 'try' a natural birth so hoping they won't be too disapproving and will actually let me! Next docs apt is Jan 4. Community MW hasn't even mentioned the birth to me.

So I am packing my hospital bag today (think this should have been done weeks ago!). Qu for those that have had or will have CSs - did you do a birth plan - and if so what sort of thing was on it??

raven, the mamas and papas fern furniture looks gorgeous!! I bet your nursery looks lovely. Dd is in a hand me down mamas and papas Jasmine cot, she's the third baby to use it and it still looks great so sure you've made a good choice. It's similar style to yours. Hope the itching calms down- is it definitely just itching not obstetric cholestasis if its everywhere?! Sure I was warned about that... I already think i will have CS, too scared about assisted breech delivery and retearing and the only thing I'd ask for is immediate skin to skin if possible. I didn't write a birth plan for dd, didn't see the point. After all, what happens happens and who would write I'd like a long induction and forceps in theatre or something!!! Or third or fourth degree tear for that matter.

I looked at cotbeds yesterday, and decided to buy the ones I wanted for dd. Feeling very pleased as the local shop quoted £639 if order in December and i rang the cheapest company sellng online and cheakily asked.for a discount for twins and got 2 cotbeds and a changing unit (never had one of those before!) for £180 cheaper. Gone for the cosatto hogarth cotbeds and changer, since we realised all our bedrooms are too small to fit 2 single beds in so it has to be cotbeds, then bunks.

Claire, how rubbish about the spd... It is meant to be excruciating- I avoided it last time so am crossing my fingers... I suppose on bedrest there's not much you can do to help it either? you've not put much weight on!! I started with a bmi of 20, lost half a stone or so up to 15 weeks so was still below my normal then, but from what I was when i got pg I've now put on a stone already!!! So in 9 weeks . I'm banging it on!!! So far all bump... I hope my dd turns out as nice as yours sound.

Another survival only night for you bb3, sounds so hard... I hope his temp drops at least and he feels better today. My dd is coughing so badly she can't sleep, so i sat up with her 11-1 when finally got her back to sleep in her cot, but she coughed herself sick at 5:30, so v limited sleep again here... Dh had her til 7:30 and they dozed together til 8:30 so I know I'm better off than him but i feel so tired!!! scan 3:35, god I'm nervous!!!

Quick post ladies, I hope you're all well.

I'm feeling really down about this DD sleeping business- after being quite sleep deprived last night (took me so long to get back to sleep after the 5:30am cough-til-you-puke with DD) I really wanted a nice easy evening this evening. Not to be, of course... She was clearly tired, but screamed and howled, I sat with her, she didn't go to sleep, so I left her, she got frantic, I went in after 20 min (had a toast break, DH out doing silly manly walking-up-hills in the dark and rain with his friends) and she was of course not even lying down, she was stood up, coughing horribly in between howling, tears streaming down her face- I felt terrible. So I sat with her again. She still didn't go to sleep- this is nearly 2 hours on now, so I left her again as I needed a break and a wee- phone rang. I think she has gone to sleep now, at last, but I feel awful that she was so upset, and also not feeling well, and has maybe cried herself to sleep... . Honestly, it's taking over my life!!!!!

On the positive side, my scan was good. (I said to DH I was so relieved afterwards and he got irritated and told me to stop being anxious...) Boys are within 1 gram of each other weight-wise, and both a little bit over the 50th centile for femur length, head circumference and abdominal circumference . So I'm clearly growing whoppers . However, I saw a different consultant, who briefly asked about the birth, and when I said I was leaning towards a section he totally brushed me off, and said it doesn't matter about twin 2's position (breech today), if twin 1 is head down he says I should go for VB and when I said why I was concerned he basically brushed me off, conversation over (though did almost reluctantly say I can still choose). I just found it a bit upsetting- I have clearly been listening to DH more than usual and he is adamant I should have a CS, so I guess deep down I haven't thought about the practicalities of going through a twin VB... I think I was apprehensive before DD, and my last experience has done nothing to instill my confidence that I can do it, and I'm scared of a VB. Oh dear.

I hope your scan was good quempin, what did they think your babies' weighed? Hope it was over the 5lb mark, like you're after

Sorry about the me me me post. I'm tired, and worried about DD, and this pg and birth...

Thinking of you bb3, and hoping things are improving health and sleep wise in your household.

Just wrote l

Just write loong msg that got deleted, sorry

In short I was offering my sympathy yo dream gor her dds ongoing sleep problems, as well as insensitive consultant. Hopefully you'll see a more reasonable one next time. If your third degree tear is not good grounds for a cs I really dont know what would be!

Hope quempin s scan went well!

I have scan snd app with my gyno ag the hosp tomorrow morning...very anxious hope e erything's ok and still a while to go before they come out.

dream - I'm so sorry about your DD still being ill and having a hard time going to sleep. Please don't beat yourself up about her going to sleep crying, she knows you're there and that you love her - sometimes we just have to accept we can't make life perfect for our children. I think it's hard, as when they're a baby you can comfort them and make everything better, but once they start growing up they have to get hurt/cry/get ill/be frustrated etc and learn how to deal with it all too. As long as they have a strong support base (i.e. you and you're brilliant at it, I'm sure) then they'll do fine. More importantly, right now, is that you get some sleep too - can you get DH to do bedtime for a few nights a week just so you can chill and put your feet up? Having a break from the routine may be just what you need.

BB3 - Canada seems to follow the UK on the whole. They're quite progressive here so my hospital, for e.g., are really big on skin to skin and kangaroo care for preemies. They also have single rooms for all deliveries - you get to stay in that room for the labour, birth and after care. Your birth partner also gets to stay too, which is great imo. They do do more testing here - like the glucose tolerance test I just did - but nothing too annoying. Mine, btw, was fine so that's another worry checked off the list. So far they've been very good in terms of not making this pregnancy too 'high risk' - as my mw's say it's higher risk, but still normal. My OB seems alright - fancies himself a bit too much imo, a case of the silver fox and he knows it. I don't know whether I trust a man who grooms that much! One thing here is they recommend you have an epidural placed, but not necessarily working, right from when you come into the hospital. I'm still debating about this as I think it's something they do just for their convenience, rather than there being any good medical reason for it. We'll see...

quempin my blood pressure was low, as always, so they reckon it's probably just that my heart's having to work a lot harder to pump all that blood around. She said not to worry and not to eat any dark chocolate to near bedtime!!!

revenlocks - I've not made a birth plan, but I did see this template for multiple births which looks really useful. It starts off with all the options for a VB and then moves on to the various other choices you can make. For the CS part it's got lots of stuff I wouldn't have even thought about: Birth Plan

Claire - I would get your SPD checked out by a physio who specializes in that area, if you haven't already. They can do marvels and if you catch it now they can stop it getting worse. (you may already have gone down that route, so feel free to ignore!)

Everyone else - hope the scans/plans are going well.

oh and dream - good news on the scans, but grr about the consultant. I've got a lot of doctor friends so feel relatively justified being rude about them . My mate who was in hospital for a week after her birth due to complications and said every nurse, doctor, registrar, consultant and mw gave her different advise and reasons for why her birth had gone a bit wrong. Medicine is still a bit of an art, dressed up as science. The one thing about birth is YOU know your body best and if YOU don't feel it would be right to give birth vaginally the doctors will have to respect that. And if they didn't deliver your first baby, how can they comment on what you should do this time round?

Hey ladies

dream brilliant news about the scan - dh was the sane and couldn't understand why I was so worried but then as I said to him, you're not the one carrying them and having to bring them into the world so he didn't get to tell what to feel! (he still did though )

I am right there with you on sleep and sickness - what has dh (with his dr head on) said about dd's illness, it just doesn't seem right that she is still so poorly?! I took my best friend to the airport (she lives in new York) yesterday and came back to a very flat and sick ds / temp of 39.6 so took him to drs and he now has antibiotics for chest and throat infection, he Also had pretty bad croup so got to try and get some steamy baths going to help him! And after we got home his eye started oozing green goo and now he has lumps all over his head so back again today when he's up - he finally settled at 4 and girls woke up at 4.20 for feeds. Feel like I'm broken (also have the throat, cold bug) and Edie is coughing herself silly which means she is getting it grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

How did the Adam go quemp?

Interesting about canada vs uk - I tend to think we do pretty well with MHz (despite it's faults) dh is Turkish and their healthcare system is horrendous!

And by Adam I clearly meant scan quemp!!!

Oh and dream I'd have told mr ignorant that when he had experienced the pain and recovery time of a 3rd degree tear he can have an opinion on birth options until then you will decide what's best for you and your babies! Bloody idiot.