Hi Ladies, hope you are well.
Congratulations Leo. Sorry I have not been around recently, (bows head in shame and mutters repentance) I have almost felt as though I was tempting fate to be part of a multiples forum. I have managed to catch up with all the posts whilst lurking and have got so much inspiration from you guys. I have now decided that whatever the outcome with these babes I will always consider myself to be the mother of twins. I am currently 26 weeks so they have a fighting chance now don't they?
Budge up as my DD is fond of saying when we are all in bed together; make room on the sofa for a large little one. I am even bringing my own offering of coffee and walnut cake to apologise for lurking. Anyway are you sitting comfortable? Good, well I will begin the saga which is my multiple pregnancy.
We just seem to have been jumping out of the Frying-pan into the fire then back in the pan again. Talk about a rollercoaster of a pregnancy. At the 24 week scan, Twin 1 (exomphalos) was diagnosed with a rotated heart, hole in the heart, dual outlet right ventricle, and a large feeding vein going into the heart that the consultant radiologist had never seen before. DH and I went into meltdown. We tried to be normal over the weekend for DD but it was so hard.
We were referred to a cardiac specialist who we saw on the 12 Feb who said she is 98% sure the heart is fine. It just looks funny as it twisted out of its normal position due to the weight of the liver and bowel being on the outside and pulling it down a little. The large vein is just out of the normal position as it has to go outside the chest/abdominal cavity to get to the exomphalos. This is apparently usual with exomphalos babies. We are back to see her on the 6 March for a further check to assess any change due to babes growth.
We now have the letter from the heart surgeon and she basically plays hell with my consultant for putting me through such a trauma as well as reassuring us all is well (relatively speaking). We were taken to a private consultation room last week and apologised to by the top bods within minutes of arriving. We also met the surgeon who will do T1s op and he seems lovely, we had another scan whilst he was there and the exomphalos is larger than we had initially thought but it is still manageable, he also hasn't ruled out a normal birth either he says we will just keep monitoring things. Unfortunately we were back again yesterday for another scan as they think there is small patch of fluid on T1s chest but they just want to make sure and keep an eye on things there wasn't any development on this so we are now being scanned weekly to monitor.
I made the mistake of getting weighed the other day amidst DH saying "no don't do it". I have put on 12 kg I am not converting it to proper money as it sounds horrendous enough in Kg which I don't understand. I was on a bit of a downer after this but checked in my twins book which said it is good to put on 11Kg by week 24 as this means the two babes should be a good size when they do pop out. They were measured yesterday and they are about 1lb 13oz so hoping they continue to clap the weight on. Obviously I had to have 4 pancakes for dinner on Pancake Day just to keep on target .
On a positive note the barn we have been trying to buy for ages is now actually ours. The solicitor rang this week and we have now completed/exchanged contracts and monies. It has been a lot of a worry as we have paid the builder doing the renovation more than we had paid the vendor up until this point. (The vendor allowed us to start work last summer thinking the exchange would only be a few weeks) If the vendor had pulled out we would have been left in a right pickle and financially screwed. We have maxed our mortgage on our current house to be able to do this and we did not know obviously at the time that I was expecting or that it would be twins, so we are moving to a house which will be bigger than our current one downstairs but smaller upstairs, (we are losing a bedroom) and has no garage. Not sure if this going to work out now there will be 5 of us but will have to make a judgement when we can actually walk round the place and get a proper feel for it. It has been demolished and is now being rebuilt, we should be up to roof level in the next few weeks. Hoorah! Hopefully it will all be ready by the time all of us are out of hospital and due to be back home so we can sell our current house as we won't be able to afford the extra mortgage payments when I'm on my maternity leave.
We also now have a new car, we picked it up at the weekend it is a great big VW thing that will hopefully hold all of us and associated luggage. DH is going to be sat in the middle in the back and we have gone as big as we can without getting a 7 seater. Bless DH, he hasn't really driven since late 1980s after a couple of bumps and he confessed this week he has booked a course of refresher lessons as he is worried about me doing all the driving whilst heavily pregnant/after a possible C section. What a sweetie. I know he is really nervous about it but he is going to have a go. He has had his second lesson this morning, he was trying to keep it a secret but had to ask me where his driving licence was plus he can never keep a secret. I am really proud of him as driving is a real phobia with him. [proud smiley]
I've been sorting out items for my maternity bag as well, regular trips to Boots for various bits and bobs, I'm stocked up with Rescue Remedy, Arnica tablets, various pads for absorbing bodily leakage, bought a new dressing gown and put my flip flops in there to shower in. Not fully prepped yet though. I have cribbed my list (see below) from a fellow MNetter and added a few bits of my own. They also suggested packing your case into subsections labelled with name and contents to avoid DH/MWs having to route through everything to find stuff.
A thin dressing gown, Antibacterial wipes, Arnica, baby wipes, Babygros, Bachs Rescue Remedy, BFing pillow, Book, Breast feeding wrist band, Breast pads, Camera, change for parking and phone, cotton wool balls, Decaff coffee/tea, Drinks, Ear plugs, Eye mask, Flip flops, Hats, large mug, Lots of baby clothes, Maternity Pads, mittens, mobile phone, My Notes, nappy bags, newborn nappies, nighties, nursing bra/s, Old pants/disposables, picture of DD, raspberry leaf tea/tablets, Snacks, sweets, TENS machine, Toothbrush/toiletries/comb, Towels, vaseline/blisteze, Vests.
Can any of you ladies recommend anything that I might need due to this being a multiple birth/possible c section and will definitely mean a stay in intensive care for at least one of the babes and probably a short stay for me? This is going to be a far cry from my booked in homebirth.
I will have to get my life organised now as I feel like I have been in limbo for most of this pregnancy. I've almost been too scared to buy anything; I haven't bought anything new for either babe and only some maternity clothes for myself. I will have to check out DDs stuff and work out what we need and get shopping. I have decided to defer on the double pushchair for a while as so many things are up in the air and T1 is likely to be in hospital for at least a month if they arrive at 37 weeks (predicted date).
We have been through the mill the last few weeks and I feel exhausted but so relieved that things seem to be back on track again. DH says definitely no more kids after this as he can't face the worry again. I think 3 will be plenty though!
Gosh just realised this is an essay so will sign off for the time being. Sorry for going off on one. . PS does anyone want their cake warming up and serving with extra thick double cream? [licking lips smiley]