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

Hi all. I a feeling your pain dream ! Had DD in bed with me most of last night as she was v upset bless her - calpol helped so assuming it is the last of the teeth coming through! She was fine this moring - unlike me as I am shattered! She kept waking up asking for either me, DH, her cuddly bears - or 'Baby Jake'!!!

Had my 20 wk scan yesterday. My consultant said that the appointment would be at least an hour - but I was in and out in 30 mins so hope he remembered it was the 20 wk scan and did all the checks needed! He did seem to check lots and talked me through everything - and all is fine with both and no sign of Twin-to-twin transfusion (fingers crossed it stays that way). So nice to see them squirming around!

Feel so relieved. And....... we are having boys!! So excited. Not telling anyone else that we know (apart from my Mum!) - and I feel a bit naughty knowing, but we thought we need all the help we can get to plan and prepare for 2 babies. And I am glad we know as I am already feeling more mentaly prepared. I think boys are good for my DD as well - as she will still be the only girl and so special in her own right (worried that 2 identical girls would push her out because they would be so close and my DD would be a bit on the 'side lines' if you know what I mean).

Got to think of names now - I have no idea!

Having a day off work today which I feel really naughty about as I am never off, but I have low blood pressure and feel really dizzy on occasion so thought I should take it easy today especially after last nights sleeplessness.

Hope you are all feeling ok and those with poorly LOs are seeing improvements.

at drug dealing cars!!

Yay bigboobs - boys are so much fun and you're right about dd being special! Lots of boys around in a few months!

Quemp - are you off having your babies yay!

Well we are home - ds still very poorly and wouldn't ordinarily be let out but was so scared his obs would shoot through the roof the second a dr came in the room so we all decided to try him being monitored at home x he does seem to be improving slightly bit still very flat x

bigboobs, the sleep thing with my DD is painful indeed at the minute- after my 90 minute battle at bedtime, she was up off and on, but mostly up, 4-6:30am too.... And the energy is just not there then. DH cracked and brought her in bed with him- in the spare room (soon to be boys room!), but she plays and giggles and doesn't sleep, so I think it's a non starter... Anyway, she is finally asleep tonight... How lovely you're having boys. I think the same about my boys- DD will always be our special little girl, and different from the boys that way, and I hope they will still all play together nicely. I was also worried if we had girls that other people etc would fawn over little twin baby girls and she'd feel left out or not as special for not being a twin, as she- like yours- is probably too little to really underdstand for a good while, so I think it's great news!! i think the scan will only be as long as it takes to get good pictures. Mine kept moving, and she couldn't get a heart view of one and had to try coming back to him several times, so I was in for just over an hour!! Non compliant already . It was just a sonographer though, not a consultant (but mine are DCDA so maybe the lower risk means I don't ever need to have been scanned by a consultant)

bb3, I'm really pleased you're home with your little DS. They do say you get better more quickly at home- lots of research on it! I really hope that's true for your little boy. It must be awful to see him so ill for so long- it's scary when they're flat... And awful he was so scared, poor little mite. Are the girls being looked after at your house by your mum? Or are you in sole charge again? I hope you're getting lots of help still so you can lavish attention and cuddles on your DS.

Lots of wriggling from both twins today for me, so reassuring on that front. I'm so tired though- after the bedtime battle, DD was up 4-6:30 (on and off 4-5am, but enough to keep me awake...). Yawn.... And finally asleep around 9pm again. There seems to be no quick-fix happening here!!!

And I need a non-festive name again, but don't think I'll go back to dreamfeeder... tempted by DreamingOfPeace!!!!!!!

What about 'dreamofafullnightssleep?' so glad your boys are behaving and reassuring you!

Oh and he is getting better, today he actually got off my lap and walked to his toys for a play (2 minutes was all he lasted before coming back for cuddles and sleep) and we had a few smiles today. He's very weak and skin and bones - today he managed some grapes a few bites of bread and butter and some chocolate buttons. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit more.

I live next door to my mum (we built a 4 bed house on the end of theirs when we found out about twins). We were an hour away before and not feasible with my commute, dh working away and three young kids. It's interesting - brilliant in many ways but sometimes a bit too much we are currently looking for a plot of land to build a house on nearby but it doesn't come up very often (and we've got done saving to do post twins too!) xx

BB3, glad he's made some improvement. Poor little dab. The one good thing about children is they put back the weight and get better quickly once they start improving. Let's hope he keeps on getting better. (PS I would LOVE to live next door to my Mum. Am actually trying to sell the idea to my DH for when we move back to the UK. He's not convinced as yet...)

bigboobs - congratulations on your scan. I've got a DD and expecting two boys so welcome to the club! I had the exact same thought as you - my little DD will remain special! My twenty week scan lasted for about 2 hours! But the sonographer was really enjoying showing off his (lack of) knowledge. I almost got into an argument with him about the whole didi/identical/fraternal thing and then he told me at one point I'd definitely be having a CS. When I asked him why he said that and was there anything he'd seen on the scan he was just like, no, but you're having twins so that's what will happen. Grrrrr. I wish I could have only seen him for half an hour!

I want a drug dealers car! We've just put a deposit down on a mountain buggy duet (slimmest side by side on the market) and we'll bloody need a transit van to cart it around...

Sorry everyone, just noticed how many exclamation marks I used in that post. I'm quite chilled in real life - honest.

Thanks rednelle - he's currently led on nanny's lap being fed grapes and chocolate buttons and watching shrek so I think he is on the mend! It is horrible seeing his ribs, spine and hips jut out so much but we will have to feed him up over the next couple of weeks.

Oooh I don't think I've seen that buggy - I'll have to google it x I remember when my buggy turned up in 8 huge boxes and I just looked at it wondering what on earth I'd done!!!

Oh and dh thought the build / move was a great idea but think he finds it the hardest living so close to in laws x

So glad your LO is getting bettter BB3. Certainly sounds like he is being well looked after - grapes and chocolate and DVDs - heaven!!
Dream - I don't know about you but I if I think about it too much I freak out about how I am going to manage a 2 year old that wakes EVERY NIGHT 2-3 times (or more) as well as 2 new borns..... so I try not to think about it! DD ended up in bed with me again as she was just sobbing. I habbit I dont want to / cam't get in to so just hope it is her teeth and it will settle soon.

Told my Mum about having boys and she is v excited - my Dad does not want to know as wants a surprise bless him - so only me, DH and Mum know and we are not telling any one else - even though I want to tell EVERYONE as I am so chuffed!

Getting realy fed up with work. Last day is planned to be 24th Feb - thats starting mat. leave at 36 weeks (when I have been told I will have the babies), and taking all my annual leave (I have LOADS!). So I will be leaving 2 months before I am likely to have them and three months before EDD - but I am still considering bringing my mat.leave start date forward. Whats everyone else doing?

Hooray for being looked after at home bb3! Hope he starts to really improve soon. I would love to build our own house. We did look for a plot of land but as neither of us has a clue it would probably have been a disaster! Was your Dh's job useful in normal house building or is he too specialized?

bigboobs, I get very worried about looking after them all. People say 'you'll cope' which I believe, but i don't want to just cope, I still want to take dd to her various playgroups we go to (as she doesn't go to nursery) . I don't want her to feel excluded or left out, she'll be too young to understand mummy's busy feeding the babies... Our local nursery doesn't take under 2's for half days, and leave-them-there-without-you playgroups are also age 2-4 round here.

Oh rubbish, landing sitting not working tonight, must just get back into the Bedtime Battle a min, back later...

bigboobs, I can't comment on maternity leave as I'm a SAHM (wish there was maternity leave from that, sigh), but most of the twin mums I know here seem to be starting they're leave from about 30 weeks. In the olden days people used to start at 28 weeks which makes sense to me - have the last 3 months off. And as a twin pregnancy is considered 'term' at 37 weeks going off around 28/30 weeks sounds about right...If I was working in my old job I would definitely be going on leave now - the transition to the third trimester has hit me like a train. I'm fine, but much much slower and tired, clumsy and brain dead. So yeah, 'fine'!

BB3 I've been making loads of 'special soups' for my DD to fill her up. They're smoothies by any other name, but I stick a whole banana, frozen berries, peanut butter, milk and, wait for it, spinach and blitz it all. She LOVES them and they're easy to eat/drink, also packed full of energy food. Do you think your DS would like them? Might be a way of getting some easy calories in?

Oh, and the Mountain buggy duet is their newest stroller. It's only come out this summer. It's 65cms wide!!!!!!!!!! So the same width as the Baby Jogger tandem, but side by side. I'm not entirely sure how they've done it, short of using some of Dr Who's know how as the seats are the same size as the old duo. There are, of course, drawbacks - I can't have the kids facing me which I'm gutted about as I loved chatting to DD when she was little, it's damn expensive and of course quite large. But it folds with one hand/foot, moves amazingly and will hopefully suit all of us - when DD gets a bit older they've got a scooter thing that attaches to the stroller. She refuses to get in the pushchair most days so we're definitely at that stage now...We also thought, we've saved so much cash buying everything second hand/using hand me downs that we thought bugger it, let's get a pushchair I can actually push around without giving myself a hernia.

Hi rednellie - I have been looking at the mountain buggy duet - looks really good but a lot of money and cant find any second hand ones. Can I be cheeky and ask where you are buying yours from? and are you going to get the car seat adapters and use it as a travel system? It is so much money but I know when I had my DD that being able clunk click the car seat in to wheels was a real plus... which is surely going to be a double plus with twins!! Oh what to do.....

any one else done research / made decisions re double pushchairs ??

Hey ladies,

rednellie - good idea about smoothies - I will try them tomorrow.

Re maternity leave, I worked until 40 weeks with DS and had decided to leave about 35/36 weeks with the girls but I had to change and move it forward as come 32/33 weeks I was just so very uncomfortable, working and getting to and from work was impossible. The girls were due mid October, I finished work on 2 September in the end but could have done with finishing a bit earlier. The girls arrived 2.5 weeks after I had finished.

That buggy looks great, I am looking for a second twin buggy for DS and my niece (who is 8 months old) as we have her a lot and will help us logistically. This could be a really good one for us.

Bigboobs - how will your mum keep it from your dad - my mum would be off buying blue outfits and saying boys all the time! (So would I which was the reason I couldn't find out!)

Dream - how is the landing going now? We built this house technically as an extension so the build was relatively easy. DH had nothing to do with the actual build as he would get too involved if you know what I mean. We designed the house (a colleague of mine's husband is an architect) and my uncle and his colleague built it. I want a dream house next (we have our original house that we rent out and this one that is half a house of sorts) so I want to take the time to save enough money that we can have a small ish mortgage and find a plot that will be right for us so I reckon it' 5 or so years off yet. Builds are fine as long as you don't expect it to all happen on time. We started just before the snow last year so had a 3 month delay automatically (the entire build was due to take 16 weeks so cue lots of stress from me as we rented out our house and had no where to go!).

bigboobs, the baby jogger city mini double can have adaptors to take 2 car seats from 2011 model on. On eBay there's one going second hand for £275 that's only been used 5 times, and lots of others, but obviously you need to get a newish 2011 for adding car seats. As these babies will be little in the summer I love the thought of getting them to sleep in the pushchair with a walk first, use the amazing sun hoods and play outside with dd... I absolutely love our single version dd has. Especially the one hand fold!! The double is 76.5 cm wide, so is bigger than the duet. or there's the elite if you want an off roader. They're well built buggys. Maybe I should look at the duet, but I'd never convince Dh. As we have bought the ABC everest triple because I want to be able to move all 3 round myself without one of the babies getting soaked in a sling. Dd thinks she can walk everywhere now- err hello child, you're 16 months next week, you are not giving up your buggy!!! I'd like the option of a lightweight twin pushchair like the city mini double and carry one for fine weather with the behemoth buggy to use off road or in bad weather.... Greedy??

I am finishing work at 28 weeks with 2 weeks annual leave then mat leave from 30 weeks. I only work 2 days a week anyway, but it is quite physical, and I'm huge and tired and want to enjoy my remaining time with just dd and me too! Plus even though I still think I'll go on forever, a part of me thinks I should still consider they could come early.

Discovered this afternoon when doing some checking the pimp-mobile we've got a deposit on hasn't had a cam belt change it should've... Now v worried about its service history, though refused to have them change cam belt and agreed the money off the main Seat dealership near us will charge for the work. But if we ring in the morning and its missed more servicing than that we'll end up backing out. Still, could get a bit black/blacked-out windows pimp-mobile but what a pain!!!

Oh, missed your post bb3. The landing battle was won in the end, but 9pm is too late for a baby to be going to sleep in my opinion. She gets tired and cranky so quickly in the day, no surprise there... Still, perseverance is all I can do, I can't make her go to sleep earlier, I know that!!! Wow, 4 children under 3!!! I take it that's with your mum or sister helping or do you mean singlehandedly?! Impressed you worked til 32-33 weeks. I was fine til 36 the first time, but being able to rest in the evenings and not getting up in the Night makes a big difference with a second pg I think. I think we are more likely to extend our house than build from scratch. Our house is great, I'm very lucky, but i wish they'd done a 2 storey extension!! It's basically a 2 bed detached house, which was extended downstairs 30 years ago, and the bigger upstairs bedroom has been partitioned off to give two very small singles plus a box room (you can literally fit a single bed. No bedside table or anything!). So i think we will run out of bedroom space. There's no room to fit two single beds in the other room in any configuration so might be hard choosing who gets the box room once boys fed up with bunk beds and sharing!!

Still on phone so still not checked out this mtn buggy duet. I bet I'm going to get pushchair envy...

Love the smoothie idea too rednellie. Today I managed to get dd to eat some cereal this morning, a biscuit, one inch-square bit of toast and one petit filous yoghurt (I did offer proper meals!). Never given her peanut butter as I don't like it so don't buy it. Must try, like that healthy sounding smoothie idea a lot!!!

Oh, and most importantly, do you think quempin has her babies now?! Or ravenlocks or tabbycat?! They are all due about now, with quempin first!!!

Bb3 good to hear your ds is at home, dint blane him for not liking hospitals, bless him! Hope he gets his weight back on quickly!

Talking about buggies we got a baby jogger city select, would have preferred a tandem in theory but I knew it would havd been a hassle for us: lots of narrow aisles in supermarkets and narrow pavements! I also wanted a quick one to get car seats on/off which rules out loats of sidebyside. And I love all thr different combinations for placing the seats! We also havd very narrow doorway: 74cm!
I was put off the mb duet by some reviews I saw online (sorry rednellie).
It is a lit of money, but I got huge amounts of clothes from friends, highchairs, booster seats, 2 baby baths, I still have my old baby monitor and breast pump, plus, we never bought much for our dds as always had lots of hand me downs! (last cot didnt survive dd2...but we'll get cots from ikea when the time comes) I tried getting it on ebay but no one would ever ship to Italy, so in the end I decide to get stg that would have given me somd freedom, as no point getting huge cheap twin buggy that I cant luft in the car or get through door! Anc hopefully I'll sell it iff when done with it.
For info (or to confuse yourself even more!) on buggies of all kind have you tried bestbuggy.co.uk? I though it was brilliant

We also seem to have sleeping problems in the house! After a few days with the granmas the girls have totally list the plots, I have 2 nights to get them back into a decent bedtime ir monday will be a total nightmare when they go back to school. At least they dont cry anymore at their age!

Cant help with mat leave either as was forced to stop at 27 weeks...not that I get ang mat leave pay anyway.
Right need to go upstairs as I czn hear dd2 stompinv around still!!!

Wanted to say ^I would have preferred a side by side" doh!!!

No offense taken claire. I saw terrible reviews of the Duet which almost made me go into the shop and change our order, then I played with it again and just decided the Duet suits me better. Also, I couldn't see a lot of the things wrong with it that bestbuggy point out - maybe they've adjusted some aspects of it since it came out? But the thing that swung it for me was how thin it is, that I can fold it so easily and without having take off any seats. For what it's worth all the twin parents here seem to have a version of the Baby jogger.

bigboobs, they're all bloody expensive, but as claire said we didn't buy anything first time round (benefited from all our friends having babies before us and my Mum being an inveterate hoarder meaning she had everything from when we were children - cot, high chair, mosses basket, cloth nappies (I'm not making this up!!), the lot). So when we came to buying a buggy this time round I just wanted to get one that would enable us to get out of the house and that I could actually push. I'm having real issues pushing DD around in our cronky old pushchair now she's so big so maneuverability was the most important thing for me. I'm probably not going to get a car seat adapter for the Duet, mainly because I didn't bother with that with DD, but the option is there...you can put two car seats on the Duet which is great, but you have to buy the adapters separately which sucks. Also, I'm based in Canada atm so we bought it through our local baby shop - I don't think you can get them anywhere cheaper as they're so new and seem to be retailing for the same price everywhere. The probably wont start popping up an ebay until next year.

Oh and dream bad news re pimp mobile. But yeah, that sounds well dodgy. My ears would have pricked up at that too. Hope it gets sorted. And definitely try peanut butter - a complete life saver in our house, for me and DD. At our local shop there is a machine which mashes up the peanuts and chocolate chips right in front of your very eyes. Got to love North America!

And yes, baby news please! Hoping everything's going ok for the expectant mums...

rednellie if theres a conclusion I have come too regarding double buggies is that no one will ever be perfect! For the simple reason that anything built for 2 babies will never have all the practicalities of a single...lol!
I couldnt ser the duet in real life, coulnd find it here in Italy so had to base my decision only on reviews. I was a bit wary about spending so much money on stg without seeing in the flesh iykwim. I ssuppose the reviews on bestbuggy are over thorough and expose defects you might not even notice! I know the bjcs is supposed to get very heavy and difficult to manouvre as the babies become toddlers, but I figured I can sell at that point and get a lightweight one!

dream 9pm is not ideal, but seems an improvement on recent nights? What time does she go down?

Would be lovely to hear about new babies arriving!!

Housewise, we're lucky in that we're having rent paic by dh's company and have big house. Its a very nice house, but it does have little problems that nag at me and I am starting to ferl fed up with renting after 5 1/2 years... We had our own house in the uk snc were about to rmbark on a kitchen extension when we left . i have never had a nes kitchen in my entire life and I find it so frustrating! I guess I feel it more now that I am pregnant and the nesting instintc has kicked in!

Morning all!

I like the city select Claire, I've seen one in a village near us with twins on board and the combinations are fabulous!! Again, if I want a second buggy I'd never be allowed to get something that expensive, I'd be banned!! I thought about it with a buggy bike for dd but decided on weather proofing them all in the monster buggy...

Dd is put down 7 ish. Always between 6:45 and 7:30, usually 7. Just taking so long to get her to give up protesting and standing up and actually lying down and trying to go to sleep...
Dying to check out the duet now!! On way to look at this pimp-mobile. It has been serviced, just not had the necessary cam belt change. So maybe the owner didn't take it to a dealership who knew it was due, or knew they'd be selling soon so refused to pay out over _£300 on it... We'll see what its service book actually says. I've got the jitters we're changing too early now as I'm only 25 weeks, but I suppose if i end up on bed rest or anything I'll have had a go at driving it..

I think me and DH have talked ourselves in getting a Duet... even though we promised ourselves we would not get something new or too expensive... BUT, like lots of you we have had nearly everything given to us for DD and this time round... all we need to get is a new baby monitor as the one we have is broken... oh, and one more care seat. So we can sort of justify it.

BB3, I can't believe my Dad doesn't want to know but he is adamant he wants a surprise so Mum is secretly buying blue things and hiding them from him! Mum told me yesterday that she did not want to know either but she had no choice as I was so excited I just blurted it out to her! But she says she is glad she knows now and is v excited too. I never thought to ask if they wanted to know!!

Dream - does your DD still have a day time nap? Just wondering if the length or timing of this is affecting her bedtime? Just a thought. More likely to be a 'stage' due to learning new words or something - not that it makes it any easier! My DD has in the last few weeks dropped her day time nap (she is 2 in Feb). TYPICAL!!! She does have 'quiet time' (ie. watching cbeebies) after lunch but thats my only 'break' - just in time for the twins! Hey ho.

dream go for it, I was in the process if looking at cars (was getting new one with zero% finance as for us made mord sense than 2nd hand which we would have to pay all upfront) planning to place an order in thr next few days when I was admitted to hospital! It takes 3 months to get new car, so I'll have to squeeze 4 kids and a double buggy in mh old battered Modus... Luckily dd1 can do without z booster seat now, or I wiuld NEVER be able to take them anywhere all ag the same time!

Oh dh has a 5 seater too... Work promised to change it around this time, but there gavd been redundancies and he diesnt want to push it. So if we want to go anywhere all together we may well gave to travel in 2 cars which is utterly ridiculous!

Your dd is quite determined isn't she deeam?
I do hope it is just a phase for you and she gets settled soon, of you'll have to feed the twins on the landing while mumsnetting on phone!!!