Anyone else pregnant with twins - or more? Or anyone who has twins - or more - who wants to hold our hands...

[GettingBiggerBird]

Hoping to drag my fellow pregnant mums and those whose bodies have been recently or not-so-recently liberated over from our ante-natal thread. We're not as experienced as those on the d'y ever ones but a lot slower . And any new ladies please join us, here's the list so far:

PazzaPlusTwo: twin girls born April 28th 2008 - Anais and Carmen
Neenztwinz: twins born May 6 2008, Esther and Theo
Accessorizequeen: twins born Sept 27, Felix and Bridget - East Yorkshire
Merrymarigold: non id twins (girl and boy) born 22 Oct, Jude and Mirissa - Forest Gate, East London
jennyroper: id girl twins due dec 15th - New Zealand (but am proudly British)
Anjlix: id twin girls due 24 dec (37 weeks) - London, booked at St Thomas.
GBB: b/g twins due Dec 25 - Hackney, London
PBH: twin girls due 9 Jan 2009
MEL2005: twins due(40w)10th jan 2009, Norfolk
Pheonixnights:Non ID twins due 17th Jan
Ewemoo: id twins due end Jan 08
Tallulahbelle: twins due Jan 08
Nellstar: id twins due 18 Feb 2009 (well, that's 40 weeks)
Balamorybaby: twins due 11th March - East Sussex
Barbarella: triplets due 9th April 2009
Swerve: twins due 28 May 2009

Yay, Pheonix, congratulations - great weights and what a fantastic birth experience. It seems that maybe induction isn't necessarily something to be dreaded after all. Hope you get some sleep when you can - I know I'm really tired but still struggle to discipline myself to nap when the babies do in the day, but DD1 is back to nursery tomorrow so I'm determined to sneak some in.

Ahhh, congrats to both Mel and Pheonix, wonderful news that all four arrived safely and good weights. V.sorry that you ended up with section (did you say general anasthetic as well Mel? yikes!), after your original intent to have one but hope you will be able to leave it behind and enjoy them God, it's coming back to me those early days, felt so overwhelmed with relief, love and tiredness

Hi all, I have only just been introduced to this site and think its great that there are so many people in the same boat as me that i can chat too! lol! I am 17 weeks pregnant with twins and after the initial shock, am really excited. I already have 3 boys aged 4, 3 and 2 so will really have my hands full! Hubby thinks its great as he is one of 6 himself so always wanted a big family! It would be nice to chat to any of you as im feeling slightly out of my depth now!

Hi there

Just crashing to let you all know about Tallulabelle

twin girls were born on 31 December, 9.33 and 9.34 am. twin 1 6lbs 7oz, twin 2 5lbs 15oz. twin 1 doing well, twin 2 has a collapsed lung and has been on ventilator in intensive care but is getting better every day. No names yet, and she isn't sure when she'll be getting home.

If I hear any more I'll let you know

Thank you! Please send my love, congratulations and good wishes. Good weights! Hope all well with twin 2.

And Congratulations to you too Pheonix! Well done. Sounds like a good birth and a lovely wise mw.

Congratulations Pheonix great birth story quite an achievement to manage on gas and air.

Congratulations Tallulah, hope you'll be home soon and posting on here to tell us how lovely your little ones are.

congratulations Pheonix and Talluluah! Wonderful news. Hope Twin 2 doing well Tallulah, they will never be short of people to come to their birthday party, what a brilliant day to be born on.

And what an amazing birth Pheonix! Very impressed with minimal use of gas & air and all of your birth weights. How did you all get through the last few weeks? Am nearly 34 and legs feel like lead, walking from one end of the flat to the other leaves me out of breath, heartburn from hell and have permanent stitch pain in belly. Moan, moan moan. And I shouldn't be complaining as I won't have to go as far as you lot as MCDA twins. Seeing consultant on friday to decide on when they will whip them out...still nowhere to live. Feel remarkably calm considering! Just praying to god no late onset ttts. And DS1 being very cuddly - does he know his life is about to radically change?

Congratulations Tallulah, and hoping all is well with Twin 2 as quick as poss. Hope hospital isn't too bad as well.

I managed my first outing alone with the babies today, how ridiculous is that? 3 weeks old . Well, it was fine but I did feel rather old and exhausted by the end of it - I put one in a sling and the other in the single McLaren to minimise the amount of shop hassle, and it worked well except that I realised how much stomach muscle is involved in protecting the lower back when carrying a weight on the front of your body - and I don't have any of those muscles any more. Well, good excuse for a massage, methinks...

Ooh, and hello to Niki as well - welcome to the madhouse. I'm not surprised you're a little nervous with 3 boys already, will you find out what sex these two are? Mel is our buggy expert and Mars is our friendly doula who can give lots of splendid advice about birth, breastfeeding, etc.

I have been out for a while. The twins were a handful for the first month being preemie and all. Not to mention the c-section. Almost 5 weeks and still recovering. I must say c-section sucks although I have no experience of natural birth. And I had a major panic attack post birth due to the strangeness of spinal. But in the end we are all safe and sound.

Any one else suffered/suffering from post natal blah (anxiety, panic, fear, depression, OMG)? And no I don't mean just sleeplessness. I can't believe how little is said about this meanwhile 2 in 3 women suffer from it. I feel like I should interview all mums (esp twin+ mums) and write a book some day.

Joy or joy that there are more little ones in the world. Congrats to mel and phoenix. Welcome to motherhood (again and again and always)

Oooh also congrats to Tallulah, my fuzzy brain missed that while catching up the long thread. Sending extra special prayers for your Twin 2.

More exciting news! Congratulations Tallulah and Phoenix - it's great to hear a positive story about induction. Glad to hear from you anjlix I hope you feel better soon and whilst I have no experience at all to offer, it seems to me that if you are recognising that you are suffering then you are doing really well. Make use of all the support you can find around you, including MN. NQSBB I don't feel that there is any reason to be about first outing at 3 weeks - I'm keeping my expectations of myself low LOL!

Niki hello and welcome. I'm 21 weeks pregnant with twin girls - my first babies, so also have a little way to go yet. I'm feeling very lucky that we will have the experience of all these brave women to learn from before we do it!

It does seem a bit of mad house on here, but with twins and expectant twins i dont suppose it would be anything else! lol!
NotQuiteSoBigBird i think i will be finding out what sex they are and its great to know i can get some advice on here! lol! I bottle fed my boys but have decided to give it a go feeding myself this time! (am i brave or just nuts!?!)

1stMrsF First pregnancy and twins! Wow your brave! I think i would of been terified if it was my 1st! Were you really excited when you found out? I have my 20 week scan in 3 weeks and really hope they can tell me what sex they are!

Either brave or stupidly naive...

I was pretty shocked, but wierdly had had a dream about twins so something in my head had prepared me. In some ways it's a blessing - I don't have a clue what I'm in for, and I will have nothing to compare it with so I'm spared some of the terror. Also, don't have any other children to look after so can be (and am being, while I have the chance!) very selfish during this pregnancy and looking after myself.

Now, I'm really looking forward to it, I wanted to have two children anyway and I'm getting them both at once with a unique opportunity to experience them both tiny at the same time. It's really helped to know that they are girls so hope you can get to find out what they are!

Hi Ladies

Just got a few minutes to pop in. Babies are both asleep but due a feed soon. Milk has come in today and feeling a bit wobbily. Think there will be tears before the end of the day. BF is going well and babies are really getting the hang of it. Night time is hard!! I have no idea how I will manage when DH goes back to work. Hopefully he is having 2 weeks off. Any ideas how to get through the nights? I know thay are so tiny but they don't seem to settled until the early hours. Hopefully now my milk is coming they will settle better. I keep falling asleep feeding them which worries me about safety.

Anjix I suffered terribly from PNI with my previous ds so am really taking it slowly this time. I am already on medication and really watching how I feel. The anxiety is awful but the one thing I learnt previously is that it is made worse by tiredness. You have to be kind to yourself.

Welcome to all the newbies, I can't beleive my twins are here. I can't stop looking at them in amazement!!! I can still remember the 07/07/08 when I found out I was expecting twins!!!

I might wrap the babies up and go outside for 10 minutes today. Getting a bit housebound!!

Good to hear from you Phoenix and so pleased to hear that the feeding is going well. Sorry you are so tired - can you sleep during the day as well as the night? Can't realy offer any advice but hang in there, I'm sure they will sleep a little better now you have something more substantial to feed them with!

CONGRATULATIONS TALLULAH AND PHOENIX!!!!!.

I have to admit i fell asleep a couple of times feeding my two in the night as its constant when i am breastfeeding. so i have resorted to bottles and i now am up one time in the night for 30-60mins. i just couldnt cope with the section soreness and lack of sleep. i find it takes me ages to get out of bed because of the pain, it is worse after i have been asleep. i have had my stitches out which helped alot, why do they use SQUARE??? buttons????? on each end of the scar??? i have two huge bruses because of them. i have to feed Oscar every three hours as he is so small so i do them both at the same time, we are getting quite a good routine going already.
i have lost three of the five stone i put on over the pregnancy and i am begining to feel so much better. if i hadnt had to have the section i would be running around by now.
i am sooo in love with my two little bundles, they have slotted in like they were always there.

I had twins in 2005...daugher weighed just under 7 lbs and son about 6.6 pounds. No idea about kilos! To anyone pregnant with twins my advice would be to eat as much as you can, and lots of protein...worked for me! And most importantly take LOADS of strong iron pills. They induced me at 38 1/2 weeks. I ended up with an emergency c section which went a bit traumatic,lost loads of blood, was very good I'd taken the iron or could have been tricky...so in a way wish I'd just demanded a c-section to begin with. But then a few of my friends had ok twin births...but if babies are really big I wouldn't let them induce you, womb gets too stretched with the contractions and in my case just wouldn't go back...hence the bleeding.

Although now I REALLY want a tummy tuck...but don't worry about that if you're pregnant...heh heh

Hi there Pheonix, sounds like things are going pretty well. I've managed so far with the bf'ing but - you probably don't want to know this - I have real trouble settling the babies at night and have done from day 3 (when we got home), and am going to start expressing in the morning (well, if Mars agrees!) to make sure they're getting enough to eat in the early evening. I just had a quick go and found there's not that much coming out so I suspect my supply isn't brilliant, which was the same for my DD. The DTs are doing loads of cluster feeding, have very green nappies quite often, so I really need to try and get more sleep. Easier said than done when it can be so tricky to get them to nap together. Just off to throw lots of food down my neck (every cloud...) .

Phoenix Welldone on the BFing so far. I gave up completely at 4 weeks. It was not my thing to do. Before my milk came they were on formula since they were preemies. After that they did 90% expressed breast milk for 1 week or so and then I started nursing them 6 times a day for the rest of the time. By week 4 they were on 90% formula and I realized I was only BFing under pressure without fully believing in it...Also PNI did not allow me to eat much so milk was likely less. C-section made it harder and also this is my first pregnancy. I did have a lot of support for breast feeding but also a lot of pressure (I think since they were preemies). The health visitor recommended topping with formula after each feed. Expressing some at night and then try to get 6-7 hrs sleep and let some one else feed expressed milk or formula while you sleep. Have you considered a night nurse after your husband goes back to work? They are expensive but only needed in these early days.

Remember there is no shame in trying to do what works best for you. Breast/bottle/formula/duration all varies from woman to woman. I know women who Breast fed for 8 months and still felt like they failed. Where does it end?

i agree anjlix.
there is alot of pressure to breastfeed, luckily my health visitor said she totally understood my decision to formula feed the twins.
i fed my second for about 18mths and loved it. i am now mainly formula feeding my two with breastfeed top-ups. i have just gone on to hungry baby formula because Alice is demanding more and more, she is drinking alot more than she should for her weight. so far she is more contented and Oscar loves it. i would have solely BF if i had had a single baby but its just not working with two babies and two very young children.

Hi ladies - haven't been on this thread for yonks as have been obsessing about buggys, local hospital etc. Congratulations to all the new mums, your stories are reassuring to say the least. Was wondering what help (if any) you have organised. I know some people can do it on their own but don't think I'm one of them especially with a two year old! Was wondering about a post natal doula for a few weeks and then...

GATECRASH!

Mel2005- I spoke to you on another thread and I believe we don't live far from each other. Just wanted to say congratulations on the safe arrival of your twins