What would you buy if there was a possibility you were giving birth next week...

[Ewemoo]

I am 30 weeks with id twins. There is a growth discrepancy and they are concerned this will develop into TTTS. I am being scanned again next week and if things don't improve they are talking about delivering them. Now, I am not ready AT ALL. I have one moses basket, cot and 2nd hand baby clothes from my dd1 and family members and that tbh is all. I am so petrified of things going wrong (dh was a twin - his twin was stillborn) that I don't want to overbuy but I am a control freak and don't want it to get to the stage where dh is having to buy everything at the last minute once I've had them. What essentials would you buy if you were me?

Some nice nighties for hospital. I'd start with my hospital bag and go from there.
A nice preemie sleepsuit for both of them. I hope it all goes well, must be scary

If you got a sling like the moby wrap you could use that to go out with them at first rather than invest in a pram you may have to change.

moby wrap

My dts shared a cot for the first 3-4 months, so not rearly any rush for a second one, my dts were early (33 weeks) and had to stay in NICU for 4 weeks, the hospital dont provide nappies, so get plenty in, just in case, tesco do napies for tiny babies. They did provide clothes during thier stay though they prefer you to take your own in. For when they come home I would say the essentials are, a baby bath and toiletries, 12 vests, 12 babygrows, a million bibs bottles etc if bottle feeding, 4 sheets for cot, a abuggy is'nt important in the short term if dh will be on paternity leave, just get a couple of slings if they do come early so you can go out and about when you feel upto it.

Why don't you do a wishlist on some websites of things you might like, then if your dh has to get stuff at least he'd know what to get.

Best of luck for next week

You dont say if these are your first?
My smallest DT was just over 5lb. I found that Boots, Mothercare and Asda (the cheapest) did teeny clothes. Boots also do premmie nappies.
Both of mine went straight in a cot, well wrapped / swaddled. We got through loads of draw sheets but very rarely had to change the full bed as the draw sheets too the full brunt. Stick to plain white sleep suits etc as it can all go in the same wash as the bedding.
Will you B/F or formula? I found that assigning each lad his own colour (blue and green in our case) we never confused bottles, dummies etc so we kept a track on how much each fed without 'double feeding' the same twin.
Good luck. Twins rock.

MERLYPUSS, I would have found it more helpful colour coding dts, so not to confuse them

Well yes, there was that to it as well. However DT1 was nearly 2lb heavier so we hardly ever mixed them up unless we were really tired.

Just here to wish you good luck. Everyone's given good advice so far!

Ewemoo - I really sympathise, it's a dreadful shock isn't it? It happened to me at 26 weeks, the consultants were talking about delivering THAT DAY! I went into a complete meltdown!

Firstly, don't worry about things you need to buy for the babies. Prem babies are usually in the SCBU till around their due date so you will have a couple of months to get everything sorted. The SCBU provides nappies and toiletries so you won't need anything until just before they are discharged. They don't put clothes on the wee ones, when they do they will provide these. It's nice to buy a couple of little outfits so they feel a bit more like 'your' babies but it's worth waiting to see their weights so you can buy clothes that fit. Mine were too small for most of the prem clothes so I had to buy some online.

What's more important is preparing yourself for the NICU/SCBU experience, it is a rather bewildering place at first. Ask to go on a tour of the ward, if they haven't offered already. There are lots of people that can help (breastfeeding councillors, specialist midwives etc) - track them down and ask for their help. I had no idea there was anyone to help me and blindly went at expressing on my own. If I had received help and advice to begin with things would have been a lot easier.

I found this book really useful. It explains in plain English what will happen to your babies, all the kit they are hooked up to and the procedures they go through. Bliss (the prem baby charity) also produce some useful booklets, you can download to PDFs for free.

Lastly, hang in there! I know it is terrifying and seems really early but by SCBU standards 30 weeks is home and dry

I was expecting a planned c section at 37 weeks so when my waters broke a 35+5 we were completely unprepared! Luckily I had got a hospital bag for me and the babies ready and took 5 x vests, sleepsuits for each of them plus mini nappies from Sainsbury's. The girls from work had made up a brilliant baby basket which contained all the obvious things that we hadn't got round to getting: muslins (get LOADS!), cotton wool, hooded towels, Sudocrem, Vaseline, Infacol, baby bath etc... This was a godsend as the weeks went on!
As we were on SCBU for a week we were able to get out to Mothercare in between the twins' cares to get other bits and pieces (bottles, bottle brush, bottle warmer, breast pump, nipple shields, baby bath, bedding.) Obviously, you may not be up to this following the operation - and you also may not want to leave the babies - but we found our trips out to the shops quite a nice break from the hospital!
In summary (sorry for rambling!) I would suggest you need the following:
Tiny/early baby vests
Tiny/early baby sleepsuits
Prem nappies (Pampers or Sainsbury's were really good and cheaper!)
Hats
Warm blanket/snowsuit for their trip home
Car seats
Cellular blankets
Draw sheets (found v useful for swaddling, though they usually ended up more like a toga!)
Muslins (x millions!)
Breast pump (if planning to express)
Sterlizer
Bottles x 8 (or more if you want to avoid too much washing up)
Bottle brush
Bottle warmer (all if planning to bottle feed)
Bepanthenan/Sudocream
Baby monitor (we didn't have the babies in our room so this was essential)
Baby bath

I'm also really glad I took a diary into hospital as I wrote down everything I was feeling and what was happening and it's lovely to look back on.
Congratulations and good luck!
xxxx

Thanks for all the advice. I think I was forgetting that if they were born this early I'd have a few weeks to get myself ready. I have been out today and got a few bits like muslins and sleepsuits and nappies so feel like I've started at least. I also bought all the toiletries I think I'll need. It seems really petty to worry about things like this when there are two babies to consider but I think that's how you cope with big things. It feels a bit limbo-ish at the moment but hopefully things will get clarified in the next few weeks. Thanks again, I'll let you know how I get on.

I'll be thinking of you x

Just remembered the one thing I couldn't have done without while in hospital - earplugss! If your babies are in SCBU you'll probably be on the normal maternity ward surrounded by mums & new babies, nurses coming in & out all night or other people snoring. I found earplugs a godsend so I could catch some sleep between going over to SCBU to feed the babies.