Life with twins 3

[GibberingGinger]

Like some sort of film sequel, or a royal dynasty, welcome to Life with twins III, a thread for general discussions and sharing experiences of having (or expecting) twins.

The toilet and the driveway Lottie?????? Surely that's not even legal? Oooh, an Aga tho! I do like the idea of that but I understand it takes a fair bit of getting used to! You could always get one of those combi-oven things as a standby if needed.

No, the boys were OK I think Mumof1. Well, it could easily have been so much worse. It took a fair while to get ds1 out but that was in part due to his big head and in part due to my laziness / not knowing what I was doing & the midwife not giving me the kick up the bum I badly needed. A shift change made things all the easier. Ds2 was a doddle. In all it took 4 1/2 hours according to my notes (tho I'd argue it was actually a couple of hours more than that given the midwife disappeared off to theatre with an emergency section so we were left on our own for a v long time, but still fairly quick for a 1st timer / twins). My head swings from thinking my body knows what it's doing, we'll be fine' to it was so straightforward last time that it's bound to go wrong/end in csection this time'. Time will tell....

You guys, you have to watch the first part of This Morning from, um, this morning on the itv player - painful Liz Jones interview about the sperm-stealing confession column she wrote for the Daily Mail. Holy crap, you couldn't make this stuff up, seriously... When I was still at work (seems so long ago now) we were offered the rights to her book but gave it a massive bodyswerve thank god. Total nightmare personality.

ALL MONDAY???!! How did that happen? Bloody hell. Bon voyage!

Just got back from holiday (centreparcs - strangely relaxing and stressfree ) so just taking 5 minutes from the washing mountain and saying hello and Wow, ALL, EDD Monday. Though will try not to build you up to Monday too much (bitter experience of building up to EDD and then going 12 days over). So exciting. I'm sooooooo not ever having any more kids that I take huge excitment in others pregnancies. Think I might turn into one of those awful women who hover round new mothers desperate for an offer of a cuddle of a newborn

ALL wil be thinking of you xxx

Oh poor Lottie have you ibuprofened them?
Can't think of anything besides teeth but whatever it is surely if they're drugged up it can't really be hurting them?? Really hope the day gets better...

Oooh glad cp was good GG. Think we will end up doing that with the pils in the new year some time. Which one did you go to?

ALL I'm predicting next weekend. A nice quiet week of daytime telly - you deserve it!

Much sympathy LL. I hope they have got better over the day. When I am at a loss as to what they are crying excessively for I normally calpol them, smear teething gel all over their gums, metanium all over their bums (D is a nappy rash fiend when teething) and then either stick them in the buggy and go for a walk, or stick them in the car and go for a drive. Even at 3 in the morning!

Cerubina - hope the illness has passed for your family too

LL poor you, hope it gets better soon. What about a syringe for medicine? (without the needle obviously )

My girls have never had dummies but I've bought the Tommee Tippee ones that are like gum shields these you can smear loads of bonjela on them and the girls love biting on them and stealing them off each other

at suppositories

ALL Thinking of you, I hope you are going to keep us updated, can't wait to see some photo's.

Promise I will send some photo's LL!

Hello!! Well (as some may know......evils of bloody Fb) baby girlie arrived on Friday at 8.20pm weighing 7lb 15. We got our homebirth sans midwife as bubs was in a bit of a hurry. Daddy caught (I've been reduced to having a bit-role in the whole thing by MIL who has elevated dp to hero status. All he did was make sure she didn't hit the floor too hard.....). No name as yet, but getting close..... we're living with option 1 for few hours to see....

Ds2 chose that night to struggle to go to sleep (tho to be fair was prob a bit off putting having me there trying to breathe through contractions) so ended up being dumped in his cot while daddy did his catch. Think he was a little traumatised at then seeing mummy attached to screaming baby on floor & he did NOT want to look at her later. Not so keen on having to share me either. Tho he is rather impressed that baba has toes .... Ds1 woke much later so we introduced them. He was bemused and just pointed & laughed a lot, then looked away shyly. V sweet.

Have just read the thread but forgotten now except lottie, sounds horrendous, esp on your own. We use a syringe here for medicine tho we're in a loving calpol phase, which helps. Dp gave some to ds2 on spoon today after coating spoon first so he knew what was coming. He (wisely, I spose) won't open his mouth to stuff on spoons unless he knows what it is & is happy. Syringe is only way for medicine here in non-compliant mode but we do have the upchucking prob here.... and no idea about the answer to that one!

ALL Wow congratulations!!!!!!!! I didn't see it on facebook, but you were in my thoughts, can't wait to hear the name. You did so well to do it at home like that, bloody hell!

I hope you are relaxing and enjoying the new baby snuggles

ALL AMAZING NEWS!!! All sounds extremely dramatic, well done both of you - I was chortling a bit at the image of DS bemusedly watching events through bars of cot...
Don't know how I managed to miss the announcement on fb.
Am in awe.
Can't wait to see some pics...
Nice to have a new addition for us to coo over at the imaginary big summer Twin Meet-Up...

Lottie we have similar probs with medicine, on and off. They seem to smell it a mile off in milk. We have occasionally resorted to DH pinching nose and me forcing in mouth and clamping it shut until it's been swallowed in the manner of some brutal 19th century infirmary
Not much good when you're on your own though.

Oh, maybe the fb stuff isn't as visible/obv as I thought? Various family members deciding to announce their delight / details. Not happy, esp when one includes a pic not even sent to the person who posted it..

Haha, we didn't have much choice but to cope - she wasn't going to wait. As she was crowning I did wonder whose stupid idea a homebirth was . To be fair, prob wouldn't have made hospital anyway. Asked dp what ur thought to our homebirth (he was never v keen) & he said it was everything he hoped it wouldn't be. At least everything is ok tho. Midwife thought she heard a heard murmur yest so sent us straight to hospital. Seems fine tho - could have done without that drama.

So...... drum roll........ she's called Cora Elizabeth. Now for the inevitable family reactions....

Lovely name ALL Big congratulations

Absolutely love Cora. Hope you have a calmer day today xx

What's happened to all of LL's posts? They've all been withdrawn. Hope everything's OK Lottie?

Massive congrats to you, ALL! Gorgeous name (was on our short list) and a very auspicious birth date for her. It sounds rather too dramatic for comfort but at least you are all healthy and no ill effects. Hope DS gets over the trauma very soon and has started looking you in the eye again! How are things going so far? It must be hard work so I hope you're getting lots of help and not just comments about how good Daddy's reflex actions are...

Touch wood, we seem to be broadly healthy here again but not without both adults having D&V, and being subjected to a couple of milk showers from S at bedtime. Lots of outings booked for this week to try and make up for the enforced confinements recently.

Speaking of S, he is still being a devil about his naps. I experimented with separating them at lunchtime, and it helped to some extent but just meant she was downstairs with me and I had to tiptoe around to avoid waking her, so making lunch was really difficult. I wonder if he's having a developmental leap and this is affecting his sleep. Did any of you find that when yours were starting to be a bit more active physically, their sleep regressed for a bit? S is rolling and has lots more dexterity so I presume his brain is whirring away. God help us when he's standing/crawling/walking!

Glad you enjoyed centreparcs GG and happy birthday for yesterday. There are so many birthdays at this time of year (another one now with Cora). Wonder what is so special about 9 months earlier...are you all Valentine's babies?!

Congratulations ALL. Turns out my last post to you wasn't needed as she would have arrived by then! Lovely name. And great birthday. November birthdays are the best. Though I do rememeber being when I calculated when I was concieved. Even worse when I calculated that my sister was probably concieved on my dad's birthday. Doesn't say much for my parents sex life

Huge congratulations ALL - well done you!!! And love the name too. Hope your boys are getting used to the idea of a baby sister!

Huge congrats ALL - I love the name too! :)

All my posts have been withdrawn (at my request) because a certain somebody seems to have been searching and reading them all Am probably going to name change - oh how fab.

Oooh! Just had one of my brief peeks into this thread (trying to step away from MN at the moment - though seem to have replaced it with Pinterest, so house no cleaner) and LL had disapeared all over the place. I have a history of stalking Lottie, but this time it wasn't me!!

And ALL has a baby girl!! Cora is a lovely name. Thankfully I seem to recovered from my insane broodiness (another reason to step away from MN) or I'd be stalking you too to see how you are coping with twin boys and a baby.

Centreparcs for us too next week, unfortunately we're going a week later than last year so we'll miss all the snow being sprayed everywhere which the boys loved. Also planning to potty train Magnus that week - sounds insane, but there is so rarely a time when DH and I are both around to help out. Perhaps I should also try to do Alasdair too - he vaguely has the idea, but I'd rather leave it till he is totally ready.

For everyone with wee ones who are struggling with endless colds, it really does get better as they get older. Magnus was the most revoltingly snotty child last year - his cot was raised about a foot at one end, I spent a fortune on Vicks and plug-in decongestant. This year he has had one minor cold - life continued as normal around it. (The boys are 2.6 for anyone who has joined in during my non-attendance on this thread)

That's encouraging rattling! TOUCH WOOD we have not had proper illness for a while now so feeling very lucky as we had a fairly awful time last winter.

I do have other worries though at the moment. Nursery have told me that M has been sleepwalking during nap times (obviously she can't at home because of the cot, but she does have difficulty getting off to sleep and is restless).
She has also been biting her sister. Usually when they are battling for space on my knee or both clamouring to be picked up. Nursery told me she has bitten someone else today. Mortifying. I have just been pulling her off, saying NO BITING and then making a fuss of the other one, but obviously hasn't had much effect so far. Anyone have any advice/experience of it? I know it can be linked to frustration at not being able to talk so perhaps it will improve of its own accord but I need to feel I'm doing something about it!
Not overjoyed at the prospect of sleepwalking I must say...
Work is also weighing on my mind just now, so much to do, so I am all doom and gloom

Oh tarti - nothing useful to add I'm afraid. A couple of the girls' friends have gone through biting phases and all I can recall is that it didn't last long. We may yet experience it, who knows. Never heard of the sleepwalking thing, although let's face it, you wouldn't know about it if they weren't sleeping that way at nursery. Do they not sleep in cots there then? Maybe loads of kids would do it if left on a mattress? Mine toss and turn loads in their cots, no idea whether that would mean they'd end up wandering sometimes.

I think I'd react to the biting the way you say you are. And if I was out somewhere and they kept doing it, I think I would just leave. I was talking to a friend about this recently and we decided that sometimes that's the only thing they really understand. Staying somewhere and trying to stop one (of the two you're responsible for) from repeatedly doing something like that is not only next to impossible, it's also hugely embarrassing and very stressful. I get really embarrassed when at playgroup etc. and some mums make massive big deals about publicly disciplining their children.

Yes quite agree, I would leave too if it happened out somewhere. God, the shame!
Will try not to make a big deal out of it in my head. The nursery staff were fairly low key about it and only gave me a little leaflet (about 'behaviour' ) because I was so obviously mortified about the whole thing and freaking out about sleepwalking too.
They sleep on little mattresses on the floor at nursery (GOD knows how they get any of them to sleep - can you imagine?!!).
Anyhoo, sorry for the intense self-absorption this end. Hope all ok with you Lottie ......

J also seems to be a bit of a biter here. He nips and pulls hair a lot too. Not too sure how to deal with it. Fortunately it's only been family bitten so far but dread the day it happens to someone else. Mostly I just shout No really angrily at him (the anger is real so probably pretty frightening).

LL sorry to hear about the stalking. Was thinking of name changing myself as I sometimes feel I leave too much personal info about. In fact I often use another name on other parts of this site.

Rattling, good to hear form you. Hope you enjoy centreparcs. Our kids loved it. We were at Windfell. Lots of pheasants and squirrels (most of which have been terrorised by my children banging on the window at them) and a great pool

Sheesh Lottie .

Thanks for all the lovely comments. Have to say I'm not totally at ease with her name for a variety of reasons, but it was my Grandma's name. Tho just been asked today if we named her after a character in Downtown Abbey. Never seen it, but Wiki tells me she's the main character. Typical. Prob will now be loads at school compared to the boys who have top ten' names <img loading="lazy" class="inline-flex mumsnet-emoji" alt="Hmm" src="https://www.mumsnet.com/build/assets/hmm-PR4o6B1t.png">. Ds2 is sooooo cute trying to say it Baba Cwowowowor.....a'. Ds1 (our usual bully) seems to have developed a soft side for baby sister. He was trying to share his rice and ice cream with her yesterday & had such a tender, gentle look on his face. I'm sure throwing wooden blocks into the cot is a sign of affection too, right ?

tarti, I feel for you too. Although ds2 has had biting phases, it's only ever been us he's bitten and it's coincided with teething. DS1 was bitten quite badly at nursery a while ago but my take was that it's just a phase & it could so easily have been one of mine doing the biting. I know the staff hate having to tell the parents tho. Our nursery has the sleeping mat arrangement too for nap times. I too just think how??????

Ds1 has added a new trick to his tantrums when he wakes at night. He's taken to doing head-first body slams into the side of his cot. It's horrible. It makes a totally sickening noise. Dp ended up getting really frustrated with him last night & was telling him it was a stupid thing to do & he had to stop. Useful (not), but understandable cos it is really scary. Not really sure what to do. Ignore is my preferred option, but awful when they could hurt themselves. But picking him up doesn't usually work anyway cos if we try to interact mid-tantrum he just gets even more angry. We've got the ILs coming down this weekend. MIL is going to be unbearable if she has to hear this performance.....