D'ya ever wonder how life still carried on like this?

[Kelly1978]

A new thread!
Especially for throckenholt

I was hoping the original one would go to 1000, but it was gettign a but annoying scrolling all the way done, so come over here instead.

How is everyone coping with the school holidays?

I'm fed up with the rubbish weather, as we're stuck in the house too much. I daren't take them to soft play as it packed during the hols and then I can't watch all four of them. Plus it costs a fortune.
Mine are changing so much. Rav is becoming a right wuss, scared of new places. I suppose it shows awareness, but it is annoying when I've driven miles for a nice day out and he just wants to sit and whine because he is too scared to go on anything! Shay is developing his houdini skills, and now has a tendancy to bolt out of parks so I have to watch him like a hawk. I must dig out the reins before we go on holiday.

Hi girls! Our half term is over I detest school. Clock watching and being told what to do are my two most hated things. So its back to the school run for me.

We had a good week though - we hoped to go away but left it far too late and everything decent was booked up. Still, we did lots of stuff and it actually felt a bit like fun (minus the monstrous DTs tantrums). AND I did N O T H I N G every night. Once the kids were tucked up and slumbering I went to bed and watched garbage on telly - BLISS!! It seems when schools on I have a running list of stuff to get done in the evening but with Mr fg pulling up the slack through the day, we had free evenings and took full advantage of it doing bog-all . We even managed dinner and the flicks at the weekend !!

1b3, that feeling reminds me of severe jet lag - I had it when I did a crazy thing and did a trip to Hong Kong and back in 4 days for a wedding (crazy but enormous fun). It got worse when I shut my eyes. Agree with Mars, its likely hormonal. Make sure sleep and water are high on the list of taking care of yourself. Other thing is do your ears feel ok? Got a cold?

HM I think head down bum up is a good position for turning babies. Not the most ladylike and I'd do it when HD is stuffing his face at Mars', just so he doesn't pop in and get any ideas . On a different note, my DT2 was breech and the birth wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (maybe due to experienced and lovely midwives).

p.s. I've put on half a stone in no time . What's that all about then? (definitely not up the duff!).

p.p.s. Kelly will email you about the tops soon.....

a bit late, but congratulations DD. Wonderful weights, and am dying to know their names.

Marslady - French is a much nicer and easier to learn language than German! I managed to get to a very good level of French just with evening classes, but have lived in Switzerland for 5 years and my German is still embarrassingly bad (doesn't help they speak a wierd dialect here though!). You impress me, 5 kids and doing an degree and working as a doula and salsa and cooking dinner for lonely men and.... you remind me of (the the things that impress me about) my mum !

HM - I carried a sling very early with DS after the cs. just be careful when carrying the sling (if its a front one) that you don't lean back and stick your belly out, not good for your tummy muscles and causes more separation of the muscles. I've heard that the big cloth things (failing to find the word in English, but Tragetuch in German) are better for supporting the baby and mum. Am going to have a go at it myself this time.

Accupuncture is great, you just have to get someone good to do it.

HAd a bad couple of day, worrying about the risks of having monoamiotic twins , hoping that the better scan at the hospital on Tuesday will find they are DA. On the other hand my boss was very, very sweet to me today when he realised I wasn't feeling quite right , his wife will have their second baby on tuesday so he is all teary and emotional at the moment !

Hi Leo, sorry you're feeling worried. I found out mine were b/g twins about 5 months so I didn't have the worry (I think its identicals that run the conern isn't it?). I know its hard to ignore it but you must try, there's nothing to know until Tuesday and maybe someone on here will have experience..... Will be waiting and watching xx. Glad you have a lovely boss .

Thanks FG - i guess a lot of it is the hormonal ups and downs of being pg as the worries come and go. There are 2 main risks, first is ttts from sharing a placenta, which I think in reality is actually quite a low risk (?), second is because the babies share an amniotic sac with no division the cords can get tangled which can be fatal, this is a much bigger risk. Hopefully I will get more reassurance on Tuesday, stupid doctor I was seeing before only shrugged his shoulders when I asked him about this and spent his time trying to tell me there was no choice but to have a cs as the twins might hold on to each other when they were being born, i've not read anything about this being a risk !

My bosses wife is a lucky woman, not only is he sympathetic, caring and adores is dd he is also real eyecandy.... but nothing compared to my dh in anyway of course !

Why is it that so many doctors are extremely wise and clever but lack the ability to feel compassion......hopefully your scan will give you all peace of mind (I have no big knowledge of twin to twin transfusion just what my book touched on lightly....)

I couldn't work with a man like that. Couldn't concentrate to do anything not to mention the fluster I'd be in .

Hi all!
Congratulations DD! How much baby??? I can't believe you were still walking round!

Anyone who can learn languages impresses me - I only managed to learn a few understandable sentences of Romanian after living there for 3 months - sciences make much more sense!

Leo - try not to worry too much - I remember reading that the membrane separating the twins can be very thin and quite hard to spot in early scans - I remember the sonographer not being 100% convinced that there was a membrane separating mine at the first scan but it was much clearer at the second - so fingers crossed that there is a membrane there (that will be one less worry for you). I used to panic loads about TTTS and stress before every scan that one wouldn't have grown.

FG - glad you had a good half term - it will be Christmas before you know it

HarrogateMum.... a little advice please lol

he likes as little as possible! so I reckon jut an apron

The apron worked wonders! I think I've pulled

Leo please try not to worry too much - easier said than done, I know . I've probably mentioned this before, but my two were m-c/m-a and although I was aware there were risks associated with this, I simply didn't allow myself to think about them. I didn't do any internet searches on TTTS or mono-amniotic twins (I'd looked up something during my first pregnancy and scared myself silly, so knew not to do that again!) as I knew I'd just get the negative stuff.

You're obviously getting lots of support from the girls here, but it might be worth checking out the TAMBA message board (Twins and Multiple Births Association: www.tamba.org.uk - forgive me if the link hasn't worked, I'm a bit crap at doing links). There are quite a few mums who post on there whose twins have survived TTTS so could help you with any concerns.

So long as you are being scanned regularly (I was scanned every 3 weeks, I know others who have been scanned every fortnight), then any anomalies should be picked up and can be acted upon very quickly. How often do you get scanned in Switzerland?

Would be very happy to chat further if you'd like to...Take care xxx

Hi all,

Thanks for the support, I've got over worry again and am feeling positive and very happy today - i guess its more hormones and the sun is shining. I've got 2 babies inside me kicking around, my belly is getting large and I'm over the 20 week mark so its countdown from here ! All good signs!
I'm not sure how often I will be scanned, every 2 weeks has been suggested but I will find out more on Tuesday! I've browsed around Tamba and found a link to this website which is what kickstarted my worrying again www.monoamniotic.org. I haven't looked much but guess its very american (hence can find reasons why the doctors prefer not to be involved in higher risk pregnancies), it seems that some of these ladies were recommended to have terminations when it was discovered they had MA pregnancies !

I wonder how Doris is doing!

Marslady, how was your evening?????

morning all, how is everyone?

MArs thank you so much for entertaining HD last night - he really enjoyed himself and said you were all lovely - and whilst he went home to bed - you went salsa-ing - have you endless energy? I am v. impressed. He has insisted I get on the archives and get the lemon drizzle recipe as he said it was out of this world! HE is cranky this morning though as he got to West Norwood station to buy a ticket at 7.10am and there was no-one at the ticket booth He then got fined for not having a ticket and explained to the guard, who rang West Norwood and the guy said he had been there from 7 (of course he would wouldnt he) so she didnt believe him and fined him £20!! He is MAD MAD MAD but not sure he can do anything about it.

I can smell a twin so had better go! They are running around with their surgically attached THomas the Tank Engine books and its time to get dressed! Hope everyone has a good day.

I would want to be sure that the doctors really know what they are talking about with your id twins. It seems many are clueless about the actual risks.

I think a good scanner should be able to see the dividing membrane by now (they found ours at about 14 weeks I think).

TTTS is a real risk - but I think the degree varies a lot - so it probably helps to know the signs - eg rapid weight increase may indicate increase in amniotic fluid which is a sign of a problem. If you get that - then get to the specialists quickly - they can do things that help.

My consultant said fortnightly scans should be standard for id twins (not sure about MA ones though - maybe more ?) - and more if there were any signs of problems (I had 3 in a week once).

Ask them about AAA (aretio/arterial anastamoses - I think). That is when you have blood vessels in the placenta that allow the blood flow to regulate better - and very much reduces the risk of TTTS. My consultant managed to find one in our placenta at about 20ish weeks and it was a great relief - and meant we could relax a bit more.

And keep with that positive attitude .

Throckenholt - I agree, the doc we see at the hospital is supposed to be a twin specialist so I am going armed with lots of technical questions to ask to see how much experience she really has. I'll be looking up AAA before then for sure!

www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1046/j.1469-0705.2000.00227.x

Also google Nick Fisk - he is one of the top specialists in the UK (I know you aren't in the UK).

Also - maybe go over to the www.twinsclub.co.uk forums - there are more people there who have been through this and come out the other side .

I am trying to be careful what I type - I am the sort of person who likes to know all the possibilities - you might not be - I don't want to point you to things you don't want to read.

Thanks Throckenholt! I also like to have as much information as possible, even if it upsets me to start with. I like to be able to ask questions and know what I may be faced with so keep sending over what you have !

ok - well in that cae I would ask about the possibility if laser surgery should TTTS occur - at what stage would they consider it etc.

I don't think there is much they can do about tangled chords - but I would want them to be really sure there is no membrane between them.

And I would ask them about scan frequencies etc..

By the way - we didn't get TTTS - were induced at 35 weeks because the little twin had stopped growing (it turned out he only had 1/3 of the placenta - so he did pretty well considering).

From what I am reading you did well to get to 35 weeks ! Were you hospitalised before or did you carry on as normal (or is that just what they do in the US)?

We were freaked to begin with - but really relaxed a bit when they found the AAA.

My little twin had a very odd blood flow pattern - we had long discussions between DH (an ocean modeller) and the consultant (who had trained with Nick Fisk) - about the fluid dynamics going on - and they finally decided they understood it and it probably wasn't a problem .

We were lucky the consultant was so good and gave us a lot of confidence that he knew what he was doing - and would refer us to the best if needed.

I wasn't hospitalised - just normal life, with regular scans (I got sick of the road to the hospital ). Each week that ticked by we relaxed a bit more.

At 34 weeks they thought littlie was slowing down, at 35 they decided better off out than in. He was 3lb 13oz, his brother was 5lb 5. They were both fine - albeit the little one was just skin and bone - no fat at all - took him a few weeks to grow a bottom . They were in special care for 1 night - fed hourly because of low blood sugar, and also had one night under uv lights for jaundice at about 3 days. We came home at 1 week.

They are now getting on for 4 and have never had any problems (apart from the bigger twin gets croup). The little one is still slightly shorter and lighter than his brother.

Hey ladies!

Well having finally thrown HD out of bed... oops I mean... um um....

Actually, he's a lovely man. We're happy to have him here any time he needs family company or a good meal. Learnt a lot about you HM. All about your time in Aus and the way you jumped the the poor man's bones after the gym. My word woman! lol He's staying in digs right by my sister (about 2 roads away) but she's not at all like me and so I won't be sending her round with food parcels etc.

Leo........ all will be well babe. You know they have to cover every angle. Besides, I'm reasonably determined to come out to see you when you have the twins (any excuse for a holiday).

Ooh which reminds me... must email Piximon! brb

what I meant to say was - if you have confidence that the consultants know what they are doig - then you can just concentrate on growing those babies - since there is nothing else you can do anyway .

Mars - I hope you do come out and see us! But will you want to bring the 5 children, dh and the student [worry emoticon]?

Throckenholt - once she has proven to me that she is informed enough to answer my questions then I will be able to trust her and not worry as much. I'm looking forward to having a big weight lifted off my mind on Tuesday!

lol Leo.... haven't you noticed I'm always looking for excuses to leave them all behind???????????? Would be a solo trip!

well fingers crossed for you !

I remember people saying when are you due - and thinking - mid February but it could be any time from early Dec onwards. It was an odd Chrsitmas .