Elly Russell's blog. Read about her IVF journey and life with her twin girls.

You would have been 5 today

2012-01-22T10:06:00.005Z

Dear Matthew

Today would have been your 5th birthday. It fills my heart with sadness that you cannot, and will never be here to celebrate a birthday, that you will never meet your sisters, and that we never got to see you smile or hear you laugh.

I will never forget the day you were born, you were so tiny, just over 15 ounces in weight, born at 21 weeks and 3 days.

The last 5 years have been hard without you in our lives, but we stayed strong and went on to have another 7 rounds of IVF so that we could have your twin sisters, Emily and Faith. They will be 2 this year.

We miss you.

Happy Birthday my little man, I wish you were here with us to celebrate it.

Love Mummy
xxxxx

Give me a whisper
And give me a sign
Give me a kiss before you
tell me goodbye
Don't you take it so hard now
And please don't take it so bad
I'll still be thinkin' of you
And the times we had...baby

The day you were born

22 months old now!

2011-12-12T22:00:00.004Z

Being a busy mum of twins is never easy, it just doesn't leave me with much time to do the things I used to enjoy doing, like writing in my blog!

It seems weird sometimes as I'm not doing IVF any more, and this blog started out as my IVF diary, and I can assure you that after 9 tries we will NOT be doing it again!

As for the girls, well they are growing up fast. I do keep a daily diary to hand and note down all the funny things that they say or do that day, most days I try to write one or two things in there, so I can look back in years to come and giggle.

Here are a few of the things that have amused me lately:

Faith to daddy "Daddy I can hear an aeroplane in my ears!"

Me to Emily "Emily what are you doing" (she was crawling around on the floor) She replied "We're being wiggly worms".

When Faith made a mess on the floor I said to her "Oh dear, do you think we should get the sweeper and clean it up?" She ran off to get the sweeper saying "good idea mummy, good idea!".

They both love music and singing, and are always trying to sing along with what they hear, Faith knows Twinkle twinkle, and Emily does all the actions to wheels on the bus!

You can see Faith singing (well shouting this time!) twinkle twinkle here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF5MLe-jj9k

They also know all their colours well now, and can just about name any colour, even when it's a different shade, and Emily is starting to repeat her ABC's.

We are just starting to get into Christmas, they don't really understand yet what it's all about, but they now recognise father christmas and very much enjoy opening their advent calendars every day and eating the chocolate!

Talk, Talk Talk

2011-07-13T19:53:00.007+01:00

I finally have an evening where there is nothing majorly pressing (although still many things to do) so I wanted to give another update.

I think I'm going to have to face facts that as a busy mum to 17 month twins, and running a new business is more than enough to keep me going and it just sucks up all of my time (when I'm not cleaning, washing, hoovering, clearing up toys etc!).

The girls have come on a lot in the last few months, it's hard to believe how rapid a child's development can be, and how quickly they learn new things to say or do. It doesn't seem that long ago I was spoon feeding them, now they eat all their meals with a fork (or spoon) and do quite well - OK there is mess, but not bad for their age! They do manage to get most of it in!

Their speech seems to be the biggest leap. We have come a long way from Emily's "Apple". Both of them are now putting words together like "mummy's here", "yes please", and "more milk" but Faith is running away with the ability to add new words to her vocabulary.

She has too many to remember, but over the last few days I've written down a few of the words she has come out with!

"Piece of paper" - said when she handed me her drawing
"I can't see" - said when she put her sunglasses on (they are dark lenses!)
"My mummy's gone" - said when I walked out the room

She also likes to shout out what she has, and we play with their plastic fruit and veg, she can say broccoli, corn, peas, onion, aubergine, pear, raspberry and a few others, and also knows the colours pink, blue, purple, green, yellow, brown!

She probably comes out with 2-3 new words a day at the moment! Emily is doing well too, and tries to say a few things that Faith says, some of which are very clear, some are still gibberish! But she will shout "purple" at the top of her voice if you ask her what something purple is!

As for me, I'm plugging on with http://www.thecakemakery.co.uk We now have the credit card facilities in place, so advertising has started!

I don't have a huge budget, so I'm having to plan carefully, but am pleased to have built a following on facebook of over 500 fans in just under 2 months!

If you write a blog - feel free to give me a plug :)

Here are a few recent pics of the girls - can't believe how big they are these days!

Enjoying an ice lolly in the garden on a hot summer day:

Just after breakfast we sometimes do drawing - we like to eat our (safe!) pens!

Emily wants ALL the pens...

Someone woke up with bed-head, but made up for it with a pretty smile!

Enjoying their new paddling pool:

What's been going on!

2011-05-03T21:24:00.007+01:00

I can't believe it's been two months since my last post. I have been rather busy though so I'll try to fill you in.

The girls are doing really well, they have grown so much in the last two months it's scary! They are still not walking, although Faith will often stand on her own and play with toys without holding on to anything, and will push her plastic chair around while walking, she won't actually take steps on her own! I think Faith is waiting for Emily to show her how as Emily has decided in the last 2 days that she wants to try to walk, and will happily toddle several steps between me and Chris (although it sometimes ends in her flinging herself at you!)

Their speech development is amazing to watch, I wrote a list the other day of all the things they can say, and recognise (and try to say) and was surprised to see how many things are now on that list.

Words that they can both say clearly, include: apple (Emily's all time favourite word), bear, ball, fish, elmo, bye bye, and yeah, they also attempt to say (but haven't perfected) shoe, flower, dog, frog, balloon, banana, cheesy, bird, and spoon. Emily can also say Peppa Pig (Faith says Peepee), and Faith also says ning ning which means no!

They are really quite comical these days, getting into all sorts, tipping the clothes pegs on the floor is a great and frequent game, and playing at tea parties is a new discovery too. Faith has a new drum kit that their nanna and grandad bought them, and she thinks it's wonderful!

You can see her playing with her new drum kit on You Tube!

I also posted another video to YouTube recently of Emily telling me what her favourite computer manufacturer was. You can see that here.

As for me, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do over the next few years while the girls are still small and out of school, I want to do something that isn't in the office all day as this means I can't be around them as they just press buttons, tip the bin over, pull things off the shelves and rummage through the drawers full of deadly and dangerous stationary (Faith eats pens, and everything goes in her mouth, Emily likes pressing buttons, so often tries to turn off my pc with the big shiny silver button!).

So one day while baking some cupcakes I had an idea! It has progressed through several things in the last two months, but a firm plan has been formulated and the wheels are in motion for a new business launch in a couple of months time! I'm excited about it, and it means that once it gets going I can still be home for the girls. Watch this space!

That has pretty much sucked up every spare ounce of time I have, which is already limited when you take into account all the other stuff I do, and how little spare time you actually get once the kids are gone to bed!

I will try to post more often, there is so much they are doing daily now, I should keep you posted!

Emily and Faith enjoying their tea party:

Time flies

2011-03-03T10:26:00.002Z

Another month has passed and I rarely get time to sit at my computer. I have an iPod touch and a Blackberry phone so I use those most of the time to read my email, keep up with friends on facebook and twitter, but to actually sit down at my computer is nothing short of a luxury.

When I do - I have to sort out bills, emails and other things that are supposed to be more important. We don't watch TV much either!

Once the kids are in bed, I usually have so much to do and only 2 hours to do it. I'm learning sugarcraft so that I can start a new business - I'm trying to find clients so I can start work doing my old 'job' which is online marketing and I'm finding it all a bit of a blur!

The girls are doing so well though. Faith is still not walking on her own, but she loves using her walker - Emily refuses to use the walker but has been spotted pushing other large toys around, so she can do it, just chooses not to.

We've had nasty colds and coughs for the last two weeks, and let me be the first to say it was nothing short of miserable. When they are sick, there isn't much you can do except comfort them and be there when needed, calpol helps - but it doesn't stop their snotty little noses from oozing all over the sofa and any other clean material they can find, and it doesn't help them breathe at night, so they wake often and need 'propping up'.

Daddy is a wonderful help at nights, he's always the first to say "I'll take her downstairs" and he does. Mostly because he can sleep anywhere, and once the little one is settled propped up on his chest, he just dozes off, whereas I end up with no sleep at all.

But the last two nights have been good. Neither child has been in bed with us, Emily slept entirely through both nights! so I'm hoping this is the end of this round of nasty colds and we can finally all get some sleep!

Their birthday cake

2011-02-05T19:52:00.003Z

I just wanted to post a quick picture of the cake that I made for them - everything on it was hand made by me :) I've never done it before but I've been practising making sugar flowers and found it's fun. Oh the cake tasted pretty good too!

Happy Birthday Girls:)

2011-02-03T09:38:00.003Z

I can hardly believe that yesterday my little babies turned 1! After everything, this past year has gone so fast, and they are growing up even faster...

January was a month that gave us Faith using the walker for the first time - completely on her own - just took off with it! Emily knows what an Apple is and can say the word (although she also thinks pears are apples!) We are learning the word cat - which they have both said a few times.

The highlight of my month was when I was bathing the girls with my mum, and Chris walked in - Faith lights up when he walks in the room, but when he went to leave she Shrieked "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" at the top of her voice. It made me cry - so sweet to hear her call for her daddy.

They are both trying new foods all the time now, and we are encouraging more finger food eating - spaghetti bolognaise is loved all round, but you have to be prepared to bath them right after and hose down the kitchen as the mess from both of them is unbelievable!

We have also had fun this month with the little ride on car - I've taken the safety barrier off and Emily now loves to ride it on her own - the best thing is now Faith uses a walker - she pushes her sister around, it's too cute!

A great week for development

2011-01-09T21:09:00.002Z

At 11 months old, both Emily and Faith are so much fun. They are interacting with everything around them, and are completely mobile, with as much standing up as they can get in during the day!

I saw both Emily and Faith take steps last week while they were playing in the hall with the big sit in car, they stand up behind it and use it as a walker - Faith took several steps on one occasion before she ran out of hallway.

They are also learning how to make new sounds, and what fruit is. They can both say 'Apple' and Faith will say it when you show her an apple too! Emily tries to say raspberry, but it sounds more like 'ba ba brry'.

Another milestone last week was cows milk! They were on 3 bottles of formula a day, with porridge/toast for breakfast, sandwiches/cheese/fruit etc for lunch and a jar plus snacks/fruit for dinner.

This means I can drop one of the formula feeds and replace it with cows milk - much cheaper! I will keep them on 2 bottles of formula for a little while longer while they learn how to eat new things, and drop it down to one.

So an exciting week. They giggle and laugh a lot these days, which just fills me with joy. It's the best sound in the world and I get to hear it every day.

I'm a lucky lucky girl.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T21:05:00.002Z

Wow, it's 2011 already - doesn't it seem like yesterday that we were all running around in fear of the world coming to an end, and all computers were going to crash and fail horribly - 2000 - the Millennium - that was eleven years ago....

Well 2010 was an amazing year for me - the birth of Emily and Faith was probably the single most amazing day of my life, and it got better from then on.

This year they will turn one (in 4 weeks!) - they will learn to walk, although they are just about there already with that one! and we will get more talking too - I'm looking forward to taking them to the zoo to see real animals, and taking them swimming more often as they absolutely love the water.

Once summer is here, there is the beach too - although I'm not looking forward to mixing children with sand - I remember how horrific it was as a kid to have your parents rub you dry with a towel when you are covered in sand - ouch!

But there is so much to look forward to - we can't wait...

Happy Chrismas Everyone!

2010-12-22T14:04:00.003Z

This year Christmas will be fun!

For the last few years Christmas has been a time of sadness for us, and there will still be a little as we remember Matthew and think about what we might have bought him this year. But this year we have much to be thankful for.

The last 10 months with the girls have been an amazing adventure, from the minute they were born our lives have been enriched with the joys of two little people growing up.

They have learned so much in the last few months, and are now becoming little people who will soon be walking!

Christmas for us this year will be spent being thankful for having them in our lives, and for remembering those who couldn't be here and for enjoying the moment with those who are.

We hope that yours is filled with laughter, great company, great food and drink and much love.

Happy Christmas Everyone.

Love Elly, Chris, Emily and Faith xxx

Dancing Queen

2010-12-08T15:50:00.004Z

Since Faith discovered she likes to move and groove to the dancing bear, we have also discovered that she loves music - well they both do if it's nursery rhymes or songs on the TV, but Faith likes dance music!

We discovered this as my ringtone on my phone plays a snippet from 50 Cent's 'in da club' and she would sit and rock when it rings - so I put the track on my iPod and this is what happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYy38EK623A

If a 3 minute video isn't enough - here are a few recent pics:

Taken at Nana and Grandpa Russell's:

This was taken at Pat and Walt's in the USA, poor Emily had a terrible cold!

Back home and normality has resumed (sort of!)

2010-11-22T19:42:00.005Z

We survived our American adventure! The girls had a lovely time while we were out there and they picked up a few new skills along the way!

Faith learned a little trick that three year old Delaney taught her - she can make clicking noises with her tongue!

Emily developed her crawling skills and now climbs over everything - including her sister!

Faith learned to dance!

They also picked up a few new toys while they were there that seems to give them much entertainment - Emily loves the soft toy Elmo and Faith loves the sesame street school bus - they both love chicken dance elmo and Faith always dances to the Cha Cha Bear.

Since they have been home, they are now both crawling properly and are all over the place! Emily can also now stand herself up against the sofa, something she learned today!

They are finally getting settled back into their normal routine after a week of late nights and sleeping late (that part I didn't mind, one day they slept till 10am!) But being 5 hours out, with a daylight savings change too threw their sleeping routine way off!

We also took them to Hull this weekend to visit Chris's family, so they had much attention and had some quality play time with their six cousins! Faith really enjoyed playing foosball with Tom!

Emily and Faith - nine months old now!

2010-11-07T00:48:00.002Z

I can't believe they are nine months old already, in the last few weeks their development has come on in leaps and bounds - they are both now able to crawl properly, although Emily prefers to crawl commando style - Walt says it's the best low crawl he's ever seen (and he was in special forces!).

Faith spends a lot of time chattering and you can clearly pick out certain words - daddy is a favourite - or dadda, she sometimes says hi. Emily can say mama - but not much else although she knows how to make herself heard!

Emily is most definitely the more dominant of the two - she knows what she wants and she gets it - even if it means taking it from Faith, so she is learning to stick up for herself and take things back.

When you sit and play with them on the floor, they will now come over and climb up onto you asking for cuddles - it melts my heart!

I will try and post more often, I have so much to write about that I think of during the day, but am never on front of a pc for, then when I finally get to sit down for 5 minutes, my brain switches off and I can't remember a thing! I guess being a mum to two very active 9 month old girls will fry a few brain cells :)

In America with the girls!

2010-11-07T00:39:00.003Z

It's been ages since I wrote in here - things have been really busy as we are currently on holiday in America - we are here for two weeks to let the girls meet Pat and Walt's family and to go back to Shady Grove to say thank you.

We went to Shady Grove a few days ago and also did a follow up interview with the local paper - we made headline news yesterday with a front page story!

You can read the story online here, but we were slap bang on the front page of the printed edition :)

They also took a few pics - here's the one they used:

We are having a great time so far, mostly out shopping at the different malls - so far we've really only bought things for the children - I must remember to look out for some clothes for myself too!

The flight wasn't too bad, they slept through a part of it in the cots that were provided, and sat on our laps playing the rest - the sitting on the runway for 2 hours before an 8 hour flight wasn't the most fun though!

We are planning a couple of day trips over the next few days before we head home - Chris and Walt are off to a Ravens game tomorrow and we have all the family coming for lunch.

Christening photos

2010-09-19T21:32:00.006+01:00

You get two posts today as I'm not that tired tonight for once (maybe because I fell asleep on the floor this afternoon!).

Here are a few photos from the Christening - if you have any and you haven't sent them to me - please can you send them?

Chris with Faith:

Me with Emily:

Getting Christened:

The cake (which was chocolate on top and vanilla cream on the bottom and was delicious!):

Oh how things change!

2010-09-19T21:19:00.003+01:00

It's been a busy few weeks, first off my PC died, which is why there are no updates - my pc is fairly new so I had to send it back to the manufacturer, it was collected just before the bank holiday weekend and finally ready to send back to me two weeks later - only they sent it to the wrong address - again over a weekend, so it got sent back to them and finally three weeks after it was collected I got it back only to find that when the motherboard blew - it took my graphics card with it :( This now means I have to waste time getting refunds and ensuring I get it fixed!

The girls are coming along great though, so much is happening right now - their development is so interesting to watch.

They are both now given different foods at mealtimes, they still get their purée but I also give them cheese, strawberries, bread sticks, rice cakes, toast, raspberries and other tasty snacks that they can suck the life out of!

Emily copes really well, you can place the food on her high chair tray and she will pick it up and eat it, or smoosh it all around and make Emily art, then eat it!

Faith isn't so good - she will pick things up and also put things in her mouth, but she's not keen on swallowing anything even vaguely lumpy. She spits out breadsticks when they break off, the same with cheese, but if you dip the bread stick in philadelphia cheese she loves it! (still won't eat the bread stick bits though!).

They are both able to get themselves right up onto their hands and knees now and can rock themselves backwards and forwards - getting ready to crawl and cause chaos. Faith likes it more though when she lies on her tummy and 'humps the floor'.

The best thing that has happened recently though is them learning to say a word.

They have been doing it for about a week now - but they can both say 'mama' (although Faith sometimes says baba instead - could be trying to say dada?).
The first time they did it - it made me cry.

I can't believe that there are two little people that call me mama - it's the most amazing feeling in the world. I'm so proud.

Emily and Faith's Christening

2010-08-31T19:06:00.003+01:00

On Sunday we took the girls to church for their Christening, I have been planning this for several weeks, it's taken a huge effort to organise everything and get things ready before the big day.

We went up to the church for 10am, everyone who was coming bar about 3 people were travelling anything from an hour to 4 hours, so we appreciate that people had to get up early to be there on time - if it's any consolation we were up from 6am anyway!

The service was lovely, a friend of mine has it all on video so we hope to see that again soon as I hear the girls were somewhat animated when they were having the water poured on their heads!

After the service we all went to the pub over the road, a place that we eat regularly and is really nice, however I can't say that I enjoyed the food that they prepared for us.

The cake however was amazing, I will post a few pics when I have taken them off the camera - I can't do it now as I don't have my PC as it's gone back to the seller - long story!)

People then came back to ours to continue the party and eat more food!

All in all it was a lovely day, the girls were on their best behaviour and looked great in their dresses - I hope someone has a photo of them as I didn't get around to taking any!

Christening this weekend!

2010-08-27T20:48:00.003+01:00

It's been a busy few weeks for me, organising their christening, getting decorations, a cake, a venue, food, invites and cleaning the house for the after party.

However they have come on in leaps and bounds in the last few weeks.

Faith has always been the whiner, she hates being on the floor for very long and used to cry and scream until you picked her up or put her back in her bouncer chair.

Last weekend we decided to make it more comfortable for them, so we got an old double duvet from the attic, put a cover on and laid it on the floor. An instant success!

They have their playmat on top, all their toys, pillows to sit up against and as much rolling space as they can cope with - and they love it!

Faith will now roll around a lot more, she still cries when she's fed up, but her tolerance is much greater! they both also fall asleep on the floor now too - although Emily still prefers to stay awake as much as she can!

They also now enjoy time in their door bouncers, Faith now laughs when you put her in it and Emily bounced so hard she hurt her toe!

We've also got a new walker/car that a friend has lent us, pictures will follow at some point - my pc died a few days ago and it's in for testing so I can't post anything till it's back online!

I will also post pics from the christening on Sunday :)

Twins are expensive!

2010-08-11T19:28:00.003+01:00

We don't usually think about the things that they need, we just get them - but sometimes I stop and think about the cost of it all and how much we spend on them each week.

I'm not talking about the cost of toys or clothes, or things like door bouncers, I'm talking about food, nappies and milk!

When they were 2-3 months old they seemed to have a problem with the aptamil milk we were giving them. It was the powdered type and they screamed a lot after we fed them, so we switched to the pre made milk and it made a huge difference.

The pre-made milk is £1.07 for a 500ml carton and they use one per feed. They were on 4 per day, but now we are weaning this seems to be 3 a day now - so £3.21 a day in milk.

They are eating porridge for breakfast mixed with 1 little fruit pot each - the fruit pots are 42p each and the porridge works out to be about 20p per meal each so £1.24 for brekkie.

Lunch is usually a jar of something from the organix range at 65p per jar - one will feed both kids at the moment followed by a fruit pot or other dessert between them - another £1.20 for lunch.

Dinner is something I've puréed so this one is pretty much free - although I still have to buy the carrots, potatoes, apples, pears etc...

I estimate we go through 6-8 nappies each per day (sometimes more!) at 12p per nappy so about £1.68 a day in nappies.

so daily we are probably spending approx £7.33 on their basic needs. My calculator tells me this is £51.31 a week - it's a good job they get a whole £30 a week child benefit between them!

Oh, here is my new favourite photo of Emily!

Weigh in today

2010-08-05T19:39:00.002+01:00

I took the girls up to the weigh in today and they are getting to be little porkies!

Emily now weighs 15lb and 13ozs, and Faith now weighs 14lbs 6 1/2 ozs! its seems Emily has gained a few extra ounces over Faith - which is probably down to the fact that she eats just about everything you give her while Faith is a lot more picky and doesn't want as much.

I'm really enjoying watching their development now as they are starting to learn new things, seeing the concentration on Emily's face when you give her a new thing to hold and play with, while she turns it around in her hands and examines every bit (before shoving it in her mouth!) - while Faith will just shake things and throw them on the floor.

Emily can put her own soother back in her mouth now, and loves to help guide the milk bottle away and towards her while she gurgles at it!

Faith gets more frustrated, she will lie on the floor for a few minutes quite happily, but gets very annoyed when she can't move herself or her head gets too heavy!

I guess the fun starts here!

I took them on the swings the other day when I went to the park with a friend - I think they enjoyed it - hard to tell as I couldn't see their faces, but I did get a couple of pics:)

Trying different foods

2010-07-26T11:48:00.004+01:00

When they were about 5 months old, I started giving them some baby rice, or porridge in the mornings, we tried all the different flavours!

For the last week or so I've upped their dinners to include lunch, and they are now trying a variety of vegetables, and some puddings too.

I went out and bought the Annabel Karmel book last week so it's time to get the blender out and start making some yummy food for them as they are now almost 6 months old!

Today we tried a little avocado mashed and mixed with a drop of their milk, this did not go down well at all! The look on both of their faces was hilarious - it looked like they were thinking "OMG mum you just put dog poo in my mouth!" - they spat it out and refused any more.

So then we tried mixed vegetables, Faith refused to let much into her mouth, however the apple and strawberries they had for pudding went down well with both!

Being a busy mum

2010-07-22T10:23:00.003+01:00

I don't get all that much time on my PC these days, I can grab a little here and there when the girls are napping or watching a little TV, but it's always a toss up between sitting on the computer reading facebook, or sorting out the laundry/dishes/bottles/hoovering/cleaning etc that also needs doing! I know I'd rather be sat looking at Facebook, but the house won't clean itself (damn!).

But I have to say I love it, being a mum is everything I knew it would be and more, it is hard work, tiring but also watching them grow has been so amazing so far, and now they are just starting to really develop new skills every day. Also to see their differences starting to show.

Emily is still a little ahead of Faith, she seems to do everything first, but Faith watches and is soon having a go herself!

Emily loves to hold thing in her hands, she looks at them, examines the detail and takes her time, Faith just thrashes about and it ends up on the floor!

They both love porridge now and we are starting to introduce new foods, I'll write more about this another day, but weaning is upon us!

Both girls can now roll both ways, Faith still gets herself stuck, but is getting better at it now!

And the drooling has increased somewhat too, I guess their little teeth are getting ready to make an appearance! They are going to look so cute.

Photos

2010-07-13T11:23:00.004+01:00

Here are a few new photos of the girls!

Emily after she had rolled over for the first time:

Faith giving us a lovely smile with her mad hair!

Another one of Emily on her tummy:

One of them together in their bouncers!

Still rolling

2010-07-06T21:43:00.002+01:00

Emily has taken to rolling over like a duck to water, now she can do it she wants to do it all the time! I had to roll her back (after she decided she didn't like it any more) twice this morning in bed, and several times during the day while on her play mat!

She just needs to figure out how to roll back now, then we won't get the screaming abdabs because she got herself stuck!

Emily rolled over today

2010-07-04T20:30:00.002+01:00

Both girls are now at the stage where lying on their backs is just plain boring, and sometimes you can roll onto your side and see something different!

Emily has been rolling about three quarters over for a week or two, but then she would just lie on the floor with her head twisted around and stay there, no attempt to lift her head at all!

However today, she made the full roll and lifted her head off the floor for a considerable amount of time! OK it was so she could see the TV, but she did it - twice!

Faith isn't far behind, although she still tends to roll onto her side and just hang out there for a bit!

If I have time, photos and video will follow!

They don't like this heat

2010-07-02T13:59:00.002+01:00

We have had some glorious weather over the last 2 weeks, blazing sunshine and high temperatures, which is lovely - unless you are very small!

Both of the girls have been suffering with heat rash, even though they have just had their nappies on, or a thin vest. Faith also gets very grumpy and will cry when she is just too hot! so we went out and bought an air conditioning unit which has made a huge difference.

It means now we can all huddle in the 'cool' room on those super hot days.

The girls are finding their voices!

2010-06-24T19:09:00.002+01:00

As always Emily seems to be the one who does things first, but Faith is not far behind either and it appears they have both discovered they have voices!

We get lots of moans, groans, squeals, goos and other such noises from both of them as they test out the sounds that they can make - it's adorable!

Smiles all round

2010-06-14T13:44:00.003+01:00

This morning while we were sat in bed feeding the girls, we turned them to face each other so that they were face to face.

Faith smiled when she saw Emily and Emily smiled right back at her! This went on for a minute or so - the two of them just smiling at each other - it was too cute!

Emily Laughing

2010-06-08T14:03:00.003+01:00

I just took this video clip - she seems to find it funny when I pretend to sneeze!

Their second wedding

2010-06-07T19:23:00.003+01:00

We went back to Somerset this weekend for my cousin's wedding, and stayed in a castle overnight! It was very cool.

The girls were really good throughout the weekend, only a few small bouts of grizzling when they got a little too hot, or they weren't getting enough attention!

Banwell Castle was lovely, we had a huge room with a four poster bed, there was plenty of space for their travel cots and even a sofa to feed them on!

It was lovely to see Renee and Ady finally getting married! We wish them all the best.

Food and Laughter

2010-06-03T20:04:00.006+01:00

Two of life's most wonderful things! Both of which have been enjoyed this week by both girls.

I'm now giving them 'breakfast' in the mornings which so far has been 6-10 or so spoons each, much of which gets pushed back out and dribbles down their chins resulting in a spectacular mess - but today Emily got the hang of it a little better and ate most of the bowl! Faith is also getting better at it, but she thinks its funny so smiles a lot - meaning you can't get the spoon in her mouth!

I also had both of them laughing yesterday for the first time also :) Faith gets quite excited sometimes and sort of laughs, but with a few silly faces, tunes and much arm waving (me waving their arms) I had several giggles from them, sadly it was 15 minutes before daddy came home, and by the time he arrived they were all laughed out.

They are such a joy.

We are off to another wedding this weekend with them, this will be their second! We bought them lovely dresses to wear but Emily wee'd on hers 20 minutes in, and it was so hot we decided to take faith out of hers too, but we did manage to get 1 photo of Emily in hers!

There are a few other photos and a little video for you too:

Emily in her posh dress:

Some video from the wedding - Emily in her dress and Daddy with Faith (trying to stop her from crying!)

Holding hands.... awwwww.

Sat on the sofa:

Emily enjoying the swing lent to us by Aunty Tracy:

Taking the girls swimming

2010-05-31T17:55:00.003+01:00

As someone who loves swimming, I've been keen to get the girls into a proper swimming pool since they were born! We have put them in the bath with us a few times to get them used to the sensation of floating around in deeper water than their little baby bath - and the trials generally went well!

So recently we bought them some swim nappies and a couple of different swim suits, plus Aunty Tracy bought them a set of two piece suits - we took a picture of them wearing their suits for your amusement!

So today was the big day, we thought we would get much crying, but they actually enjoyed it quite a lot, Emily cried a little at first, but I think that was more because the water was colder than expected!

We stayed in the little pool with them for about 40 minutes, floating them around and letting them watch all the other kids playing.

Getting out wasn't as much fun, we took towels for them to the pool side so they didn't get cold, and the pool has a family room to change in, but only one baby change station with no-where to put the other child! So I stood around freezing my ass off with Emily all wrapped up in a huge towel, while Chris stood around freezing his ass off while getting a screaming Faith dried and dressed, he then had to stand and hold her (still wearing his wet trunks!) while I got a now crying Emily dried and dressed, then myself dressed - Chris could then hand Faith to me and get dressed himself.

They have two family rooms there - next time I think we will take one each, it will be much smoother!

Lessons learned! We all had fun though and the girls are worn out now, time to go and feed them and put them to bed :)

Creamy Porridge is a hit!

2010-05-29T19:06:00.002+01:00

This morning we added a little variety into the girls feeding by giving them some porridge for their breakfast. Cow and Gate do one for children from four months so we thought we would give it a try!

Both girls loved it! they ate everything that was given to them and I even made up a little more :)

They still love their milk, but it will be fun over the coming weeks to try them on different foods to see who likes what!

Weigh in yesterday

2010-05-28T07:46:00.002+01:00

On Thursdays the Health Visitors hold a weigh in, so you can take your children along and get them weighed and recorded in their little red books.

I took the girls along yesterday and they are growing fast!

Emily was 11lb 12 at the last weigh in which was two weeks ago and she is now 12lb 10 so she has gained 14 ounces in 2 weeks, roughly an ounce a day

Faith was 10lb 10 ounces last time and is now 11lb 8 ounces so she has also gained 14 ounces!

The girls are 4 months old

2010-05-26T19:03:00.002+01:00

I can hardly believe that my two little tiny girls are already four months old, they are growing so fast and developing new skills all the time. Both of them are now able to hold toys and are reaching out for things in front of them, I don't think they have full control yet as their arms are often wobbly but they are getting there!

We have now switched their milk to the pre-mixed cartons and it seems to be better for them than the powder, although typically it costs almost twice as much at about £30 a week to feed them both. I'm glad we will be weaning them very soon.

I have already tried both girls with some baby rice, little Faith didn't really know what to do with it and kept pushing it out of her mouth with her tongue, and Emily likes it but hasn't quite got the hang of swallowing a mouthful, so half of it ends up down her chin!

They are much more active during the day now too, both wanting lots of attention and cuddles!

My babies are growing!

2010-05-14T21:01:00.007+01:00

We went to weigh in yesterday as I haven't been for a couple of weeks, Emily now weighs 11lb 12ozs and Faith weighs 10lb 10ozs! They are now more than double what they weighed when they were born and are now onto their third size sleep suits (they finally fit into 0-3 months!).

We also made a big change for them this week, as they are now getting so big, they were beginning to fill their Moses baskets and there wasn't much space. They both like to sleep with their arms either above their heads or straight out to the side which leaves little room for them and scraped fingers!

So last night we put them into their big girl cots for the first time. To be honest we were expecting them to give us a hard time in settling them down, but other than the usual crying/carrying on that they do before bedtime they were really good.

Faith usually takes longer to settle than Emily who just zonks right out every night! We usually have to take it in turns to run upstairs a few times to replace a discarded dummy (pacifier) but by 9pm they are usually both sound asleep and will stay that way till morning (6 ish).

Tonight is their second night and so far so good, it's 9pm now and they have both been sound asleep since 8.30 awwwwww.

Here are a few new pics of my gorgeous girls.

Faith in her cute cardigan:

Emily in the sling:

Emily looking cute:

Action shot!

Emily likes baby rice

2010-05-10T20:55:00.002+01:00

I bought a packet of baby rice this week as they are getting closer to 4 months old and I can't wait to try them on different foods.

I mixed up a small amount and tried Faith with it, but she didn't seem bothered at all, so we tried Emily who enjoyed it a lot!

New things every day

2010-05-06T18:08:00.002+01:00

Emily and Faith are now just over 13 weeks old and things are starting to get interesting!

I've been watching their development with interest as they are only 2 minutes apart in age, and it's interesting to see that they are both very close in the things they are doing.

They now love being on their playmat, Emily likes blue monkey and Faith likes to look at the pineapple toy, both like the caterpillar and also Geoffrey Giraffe.

Emily plays with her hands a lot now, she concentrates hard on her fingers and sucks away on her dummy (pacifier) with real intent! Faith likes to stare around the room and just look at things.

We also discovered baby TV this week which is also a hit, all the bright colours and shapes are very interesting to them, especially Emily who loves Draco Dragon, he makes her smile.

The thrush is starting to clear up now and I hope it will all be gone by the weekend. It doesn't seem to be causing them any problems any more, but they are still both a bit snotty !

We bought a bumbo

2010-05-04T16:27:00.003+01:00

As they are now beginning to sit up a little better, and they can hold their heads up on their own now we thought it was time to invest in a chair that would sit them upright.

I got this one from ebay for a lot less than they cost brand new and sat Emily in it (Faith was sleeping at the time!).

I think we need to buy a second one now!

Emily now has a cold

2010-05-03T15:57:00.003+01:00

We had a bad night with her last night as she woke up crying at 1.30am and was totally bunged up, she appears to have a cold and was having trouble breathing. She was up a few times in the night, but she is OK.

Chris had a shower with her this morning which helped her nose a lot, the steam from the shower works a treat on clearing babies noses!

Faith's first word?

2010-05-03T15:52:00.002+01:00

OK, I know she is only three months old, but I swear this is true (I have witnesses!).

We have had some trouble with the girls over the last week or so getting them to feed, with the thrush, I'm sure it has given them both a sore throat, and the inside of their mouth and lips also looks sore.

To deal with this we have been giving them their milk 'cool', rather than 'warm' but it has still been a fight at times to get them to take it without screaming.

However, we have noticed that Faith has learned a word! It seems you can offer her the bottle at times and she refuses it - but when she gets upset and she is really hungry, she will say 'ungee ungee' and it really sounds like she is saying hungry hungry - then takes the bottle!

This has now happened on several occasions over the last three days - is she really that clever!!??

Poor babies

2010-04-28T22:25:00.002+01:00

We have had a few grizly days here with the girls but I think we now know why.

As a new parent, you worry about everything and know nothing of childhood illnesses. You don't want to be the mum that rushes them to the doctors just because they have a bogey in their nose, but you also don't want to miss something that could be important.

I noticed yesterday that Emily has little white patches inside her mouth, I thought it was milk as she is known to be a little bit sick and it's hard to tell, but a friend today said she thought it was thrush, so we are hoping to get them into the doctors tomorrow to get it checked out. We tried to get her in today, but our doctors only take appointments same day, so we have to call them at 8am and take the lottery chance that we can get them in to see someone.

They have also been suffering a little with wind, so we tried a new product called Colief, it worked wonders and they seem happier with it in their milk, trouble is it is £11 a bottle, and the bottle is tiny. It lasted just 3 days...

I will also ask the doctor tomorrow if we can get that on a prescription, otherwise it's going to be an expensive month!

Faith's first shower

2010-04-25T13:04:00.002+01:00

Little Faith had her first shower yesterday with me, she loved it!

I dipped her toes in first, and then her legs, tummy and finally we got close enough that the water would splash on her face, we stayed in for a good few minutes and she didn't cry once! I think it actually helped her sinuses as she seemed much less congested when we got out - the steam must have really done her some good!

Emily's turn tonight!

Taking it in turns

2010-04-23T10:08:00.003+01:00

Having twins is an interesting experience, for the first two months all they do is sleep, feed and need changing - I think this lulls you into a false sense of security and ease as I found myself thinking that this would be easy! I hear you laughing!

The nights were hard at first, getting up 2-3 times to feed them every three hours was tiring as you are up for about an hour each time and sleep seems like such a luxury, but you manage - I have an extremely supportive husband who is very hands on, he was up to make bottles and feed one of the girls with me every night, this is invaluable if you are a parent, let alone a twin parent!

They are now sleeping through though, we put them to bed around 9pm and they are waking up around 6.30 - 7am - this is wonderful, getting a good night's sleep is very much needed if you want to get through the day.

Now that they are 11 weeks old (almost 12!) they are now awake a lot more during the day. In the last week they have really started to take more notice of everything around them and want to see it all. This has resulted in me needing to 'entertain' them much more during the day which is bringing it's own set of challenges.

It seems they like to take it in turns when it comes to sleeping and crying, which means I don't get much time to do anything else! I'm not complaining here - just telling you how it is:)

Emily used to be our sleeper - but in the last week or so they have switched, now Faith sleeps and Emily wants attention! The smiles that I get though more than make up for the frustrations of them tag teaming the crying!

Emily has also found her hands this week, she sits in her bouncer and plays with her fingers - she's not yet really interested in the toys that I place on her lap, but she does like the play mat where she can lie underneath the brightly coloured toys and look at them.

Emily likes strawberries!

2010-04-19T17:35:00.004+01:00

The other day I bought some strawberries and while eating them thought that the girls might like to 'taste' something new, so I cut off the seeds to get to the good tasty bits and let them have a lick!

Emily adores strawberries! Faith liked them too but not as much as Em - so here for your delight is a little video of her enjoying her new taste sensation:

10 weeks old and full of smiles

2010-04-15T21:59:00.005+01:00

The twins are now 10 weeks and 2 days old, can you believe it??

I took them to be weighed again today Emily is now 10lb and 9ozs and Faith is now 9lb and 8ozs, both have gained about a pound in the last two weeks :)

We have started to get smiles now from both of them, it took a little longer than we expected, but I suppose if you take into account they were born at 37 weeks, their development may be a little slower in the early stages.

Here are a few early pics - it's hard to catch them smiling as the cheaper cameras I use seem to be slow - I'm going to get the pro lights out again this weekend I think and get some new 'proper' photos of them :)

Faith:

Emily:

It's been a busy week for us all, one of the reasons I haven't updated this - also because it's hard to find the time between all the baby juggling and housework, it's amazing how many muslins there are all over the place at any one point in time, even though I pick them all up every morning for the wash! they seem to be everywhere! A friend of mine told me the other day that they breed - I can quite believe that!

I seem to always be washing bottles too - and emptying the dishwasher/washing machine/tumble dryer I don't remember these things being done quite so often before we had the girls!

Nine weeks old and first injections!

2010-04-07T08:13:00.004+01:00

It's already going so fast, they are nine weeks old now and starting to take notice of the world around them.

We have starting to get lovely smiles from both Emily and Faith and they are so cute when they do that! I'm trying to get one on video so I can post it on here ;)

We've been away for the Easter weekend up to Hull to visit Chris's family. They all had a lovely time cuddling and feeding the girls who were mostly very well behaved, even during the six hour drive there and back!

They also had their injections yesterday which was horrible for them, I had to hold them while the nurse stuck a needle in each leg and it made them cry :( They have been OK since then, just very sleepy and none of the crying that the nurse said we might get, so we are very happy!

Other news is that they are now both sleeping through the night, well they have done for the last 4-5 days! We put them down after their last feed at 10pm and they are sleeping till 7am - bliss! Still get an occasional grumble where a dummy may have been spat out and wanted again, but they don't seem to need feeding at 3am any more. That makes us very happy :)

First long drive in the car

2010-03-31T07:51:00.002+01:00

Call it a test run for this weekend when we are driving the 250 mile trip to Hull!

I went to visit a friend in Somerset on Friday, it usually takes me an hour and a half to get there, but with the kids in the back it took a little longer this time, plus I got stuck behind the 3 lorries that are 'always there' on the road from Frome to Shepton Mallet!

They are very well behaved in the car, mostly because it seems to send them to sleep right away and there they stay until I unleash them from the straps a few hours later (where Emily always stretches for all she is worth!).

I took them into town yesterday afternoon for an hour or so, this was at 2.30pm, at 6pm Emily was still sleeping happily in her car seat while Faith was grumpy in her cot.

So car seats are a winner, I hope this proves to be the case for the drive to Hull, we are expecting it to take 3-6 hours on a Good Friday, including multiple stops at the services no doubt!

Hip scan today

2010-03-22T17:47:00.000Z

We had a lovely weekend - took the girls to Ikea for the first time on Saturday down in Southampton, it's very good there as they have great facilities for babies including bottle warmers and sofas to sit on to feed them, plus mummy and daddy get to have swedish meatballs! mmmmmmm

Today was their scan day up at the Aldershot health centre. Because Faith was breech they do a routine scan to ensure their hips are OK and don't need any physio.

We arrived on time and were pleasantly surprised to see there was no one waiting before us! it's a really nice facility up there too - much easier to get to than Frimley Park Hospital:)

The scans went well, Emily wee'd just as we were taking off her nappy and Faith did a huge stinky poo! We had changed Faith just before we left as she was a bit stinky but it seems she wasn't quite finished and decided to do it at the hospital. Oops

All is well though and both their hips are fine, so nothing to worry about :)

Six week check ups

2010-03-19T14:06:00.002Z

I took the girls to see the Doctor yesterday for their six week check up - what a waste of time that was!

He looked at their eyes, listened to their heart and checked their hips (even though he knew we have a scan on Monday at the hospital as Faith was Breech), and that was it!

When I looked in their red books this morning, it seems he ticked off all the other boxes such as fontanelle, palate, spine - which he never bothered to check and sleeping concerns which he never asked me about.

I also asked him if he could prescribe me some Colief for faith for her wind, but he had never heard of it and it wasn't in his little 'book of drugs' so he said no - we have bought some today (it's £11 a bottle!) but I'm annoyed that as he is supposed to be the 'baby check up doctor' and not my usual GP, he should know these things!

We also saw the health visitor today who weighed the girls. Emily now weighs 8lb 10 ounces and Faith weighs 8lb 1 ounce - so they are growing well!

She also did the post natal depression test which is a series of questions to test my well being - I scored 1 out of 30 - which means I'm not suffering with post natal depression - she said they like to see it under 12 so I guess 1 is good!

We have a hip scan for them on Monday - it's a routine thing and I don't expect there to be any problems, but I'll update on here anyway.

The next stage of development

2010-03-17T16:32:00.002Z

Emily and Faith are now six weeks old.

They haven't done very much over the last six weeks except for feeding, pooing, weeing and crying! But they are tiny babies and I know this is totally normal.

I have several books and one tells me that six weeks is the time to expect to see 'real' smiles from them - I'm so looking forward to this very much, I know it's going to make me cry!

So far we have had smiles - but as we know these are caused by wind (something they have lots of!) so they aren't quite real smiles - but it's coming!

I hope to be able to get photos of them smiling as it's just too cute!

I'm also finding that it is hard to entertain two babies at their age as they don't really follow you, we've waved brightly coloured things at them and played musical toys etc but no interest has been shown as yet - they don't have much of an attention span at this age - so I'm also looking forward to being able to get their attention and see them interact with the world around them.

I wonder when that will be!?? It's exciting!

Breast Feeding

2010-03-15T20:17:00.003Z

Does anyone else out there with twins feel the same way about this as I do?

I've been breastfeeding the girls since they were born, I believe in giving them a good start and I believe in the goodness (and cheapness) of giving them their mums milk - after all that's what it is there for isn't it?

However, most of the milk has been expressed and given to them in a bottle, and I'm now finding that I don't always have time for this as it can take half an hour or more to express - something that I don't have many of (half an hours spare that is!).

I would have breastfed them right off the boobie, but Faith didn't take to this right away - she only got the hang of it after she was four weeks old, and I'm a stickler for making sure they are getting the right amounts of milk - the easiest way to do this is from a bottle where it can be measured out.

Also Chris needs to help me (especially at night) feed them as it's hard work feeding two babies, plus winding them and doing it on a three hourly cycle.

What annoys me is the attitude of the midwives, the government and the do-gooders who think you should breast feed all the time and do so for six months or more.

Sod off.

The government tell you BF is best - and to encourage you I hear they make rules that say supermarkets can't discount the early baby formula, and you can't get store points on them either - most annoying when you are using two boxes a week and each box is almost £9 a go.

The midwives look at you like you are a bad mother if you say you are not BF all the time and ask you why, and say 'oh but it's best for them dear' - well yes - it might be best for them, but what about the mother's sanity??

I know if I just had one baby I'd be exclusively breastfeeding, but with twins - this is just not so easy to do. I have mastered the art of double feeding them this way - but have found it takes over an hour to do - and less than an hour later - they are both hungry again. Oh and you can't move while you are doing it - not even to answer the door! So do the midwives expect us twin mums to spend all day with babies on both boobs?

So for the record, I'd like to say that I'm proud to have given my girls breast milk for six weeks, and I'm not ashamed to say that I might not be doing it for much longer - it's handy in emergencies to give them a boob to quiet one, but it's not good for keeping two hungry babies full up.

I just wish the government would understand this and let Tesco give me my clubcard points!

Happy Mothers day to all Mums and future mums to be

2010-03-14T18:01:00.000Z

My first Mothers day! I have waited for this for a long time and it feels good to have Chris say Happy Mothers day to me this year.

I got a lovely card from him and a gorgeous one from the girls, which made me cry of course! plus some nice smellies and the promise of a lovely massage!

My heart today goes out to all the mummies to be though, I know how hard it is wanting something so bad, and trying so hard - and to those who have had and lost babies - today is heartbreaking.

So to you all - don't give up, next year you could be celebrating this day as a mummy.

It's been a busy week

2010-03-12T21:04:00.004Z

I just realised that I haven't posted in almost a week! it has just flown by and already it's Friday again! (which pleases me greatly cos daddy is home for two days!).

I've had a busy week with friends visiting, and also me visiting other twin mum friends, and it's been really nice to have adult company!

I've also taken them into town on my own this week, which wasn't difficult but it was interesting as I had to figure out how to get through doors on my own with the mega pram, and also dealing with the people that constantly stop you in the street to ask you questions about the twins. I'm not the only twin mum that suffers with this - and I say suffers as it becomes a pain after the 400th time!

It seems old ladies and other women are fascinated by twins, and feel it's their duty to stop you and ask you how old they are - are they both girls, is it hard work (or simply tell you that you have your hands full don't you! - no shit!) - and a couple of people have poked at their blankets (which irritates me no end - and makes me want to say "get your dirty hands away from my babies"!!)

It just seems to be the norm now to expect to get stopped at least four times on every trip out - Chris wants to get a t-shirt printed with 'they are girls', 'they are five weeks old', 'yes it is hard work but we love them' and 'no they are not identical' printed on it!

At first it was nice, being the proud parents but when you are trying to get the weekly shopping done it gets a bit much to be stopped every fifteen minutes in Tesco's to answer these questions - again...

So if you happen to see a twin mummy, spare a thought for how many times she has been stopped already today - and if you feel the need to comment, then - 'oh twins, they are very cute' will do just nicely' then walk away and let her get on with her day!

Parent and baby parking

2010-03-07T12:45:00.004Z

This is forever going to annoy me, it used to annoy me before we had children as I am one of what feels like a minority of people who 'do the decent thing'.

Why do people think it's OK to park in parent and child spots when they

A) Don't have children at all
B) Have children but didn't bring them with them this time
C) Have children that are clearly old enough to get themselves out of the car
D) Have children with them, but are sitting in the car waiting for their partner to come back

In the last few weeks we have experienced all of the above, and it is really, really irritating, and I feel it is downright ignorant of these people to take up a space when a mother, or family with children in car seats might actually need it!

With twins you really need the extra space these spots give you as it is impossible to get your child's car seat out of the car in a normal width space, you wouldn't park in a disabled spot without a sticker, so why is it OK to park in parent and baby?

I had 'words' with one couple who fell into category B last week, the father agreed he shouldn't have parked there, so why did he? bloody lazy asshole that's why...

Today we saw two lots of people that fell into category D, just sat waiting in the car with their older kids - they could have parked anywhere! but nooooo, they would rather abuse the privilege and use up a space that a mum with a baby could need.

I will say something to these people if I see them, I just wish the car park owners would enforce this more, they cold make a fortune in fines!!!

The end of the first week alone

2010-03-05T11:10:00.003Z

It's been an interesting and very busy week!

So far I've come to the conclusion that dealing with 4 week old twins isn't that difficult - until they both start screaming at the same time - then you are left with a choice - which one do you comfort/feed/change/play with first???

That's quite hard to deal with, there have been several times this week when one will start crying, maybe because she is hungry or needs a nappy change or just a cuddle, so you pick her up and deal with whatever her needs are. About five minutes in there seems to be some instinct with the other one that kicks in and tells her 'oh my sister is awake, I should be awake too!' and then the crying starts...

For any mother, it's hard to listen to your baby cry, most mums will rush in and pick up a crying baby within the first minute - but when you are sat on the sofa feeding one, while the other is in her cot, there is very little you can do to comfort her. This is hard to deal with - but I'll get used to it.

I've been reading a few books and one quote which stood out so far said "No baby ever died from crying" - so this is what I have to remind myself when after 10 minutes, and my heart is breaking because one is getting herself all worked up, but I can't deal with her because I'm dealing with the other (I've tried dealing with both at once and you end up with two crying babies!).

It will get easier as they get older and can sit up on their own, maybe even in a week or two when they are better at propping themselves up - I've tried feeding both at once but little Faith is still so tiny she just crumples to the side and falls over! and Emily is such a messy feeder on the bottle that you need both hands to deal with her!

I am Supermum (well for today anyway!)

2010-03-01T19:27:00.003Z

Today was the first day that I spent alone with the twins, as Chris sadly had to go back to work :( I must admit I was somewhat nervous this morning as he left at 7.30am, knowing he wasn't going to be home for 11 hours!

However, we did OK! I managed to keep them happy all day, do an hour of work/stuff on the computer (OK I cheated a little as my mum was here when I did that!) tidy and hoover downstairs, do 3 loads of laundry, have a hot lunch (although my mid morning bacon sarnie went cold as Emily needed a nappy change!), and I cooked a roast Chicken dinner:)

I'm not so sure it will be this plain sailing in a few months when they need more attention and aren't sleeping through much of the day, but for now I'm exhausted and need to go to bed - but we made it through day 1 - roll on tomorrow :)

Gaining weight

2010-02-23T17:29:00.002Z

The health visitor came today and weighed the girls - they have each gained about a pound in weight in the last 9 days! Emily now weighs 6lb 10oz and Faith weighs 6lb 3 oz.

I've also been in 'practice' mode this week. Chris goes back to work next week :( and I will be here with the girls on my own, so as Chris is working from home this week, I've been doing everything during the day which is proving to be interesting!

Feeding mid morning is the hardest part of the day as they seem to want to be awake after this, and awake can mean grizzling, the hardest part is knowing which one to pick up and comfort first! they seem to tag team the crying!

I know I'm not alone as I'm friends with several other twin mums and it seems this is all perfectly normal, it just makes the work a little harder!

They are both feeding well, growing well and doing all the things that 3 week old babies do.

Learning about timing

2010-02-19T19:44:00.004Z

You would think after almost 3 weeks we would have learned about timing by now!

We went out to Basingstoke today, our 2nd trip there since the girls were born, this one was a good trip out, but we miss timed their feed!

After a quick trip to the doctors this morning to get the dressing changed on the c-section wound (one of the stitches came out!) we headed out to Basingstoke, with changing bag and 4 empty bottles - plus a carton of aptimil and all their spare clothes etc

After going to the stores we had planned to go to, we went to Starbucks for a coffee, however the girls were so fast asleep they weren't ready for their mid morning milky snack! So we had our coffee and left.

About 45 minutes later they woke up! and decided they were HUNGRY! we didn't have a way to warm the bottles so gave them a little at room temp, not good! They didn't really like it at that temperature so we gave up and headed back to the car.

Next stop was Mothercare, which is just outside the town centre, where we found they have bottle warmers in the changing area - nicely done! so we gave them their milk and all was well with their little world again.

Here are a couple more photos that were taken this week.

The family Russell:

Faith:

The joys of parenthood

2010-02-18T11:07:00.004Z

We are still very much in the honeymoon period of having our babies home and safe with us, and as such are very much enjoying everything about being new parents.

People keep asking us (in the street!) is it hard? and saying things like "Oh they must be trouble" - well so far they are not! They have made us laugh every day with some of the silly things they do, and although some nights are tiring when one won't settle, we know this is part of them being tiny babies and do not mind one bit.

On Sunday Emily was sick all over her sisters head! I'm very pleased that little Faith was facing away from her sister as it went all over the back of her head and down her neck, had she been facing the other way the poor little thing would have had a face full of her sisters puke, nice.....

We of course laughed at them both while putting them both into the bath for a good wash down!

There have also been many other bodily function related hilarities, from poo explosions, to being peed on several times. Emily is known for being a little bit sick post milk drinking, so you also have to watch out for the projectile vomiting that can occur!

We love being parents to these two little cuties!

Oh - don't forget to read Chris's side of the story - he's keeping his own blog too which you can read here

Video Footage

2010-02-14T15:52:00.003Z

Finding time to do this techie stuff has been a little bit of a struggle, mostly because we're either feeding, changing, cuddling or out buying things for the girls! However as we have taken the time to record the video footage, I'd like to be able to share some of it with you :)

So here we are - This first clip was taken the day they were born - at just 6 hours old:

This next clip was their first full day at home on Friday 5th February:

Two hungry babies waiting for dinner!

There is more to come, I will have to do it in another post though, as Emily has just thrown up all over her sister and now both babies need a bath and a full change!

The joys of parenthood - I love it:)

Visit from Grandad and Aunty Katherine

2010-02-12T19:01:00.002Z

Granddad came today (my dad) and my step sister Katherine, we had a lovely day catching up and they got lots of cuddles with the girls :) Katherine bought them a couple of gorgeous little outfits from Next which they will have to grow into - but that is pretty much what they will have to do with all their clothes!

Here are a few pics:

Granddad with the girls:

Katherine and the girls:

Taking some photos today

2010-02-11T19:09:00.012Z

I got one of my studio lights out today and decided to take a few pics - it didn't go quite as planned this time, but I know better for next time!

I'm planning on taking shots of the girls with no nappies on, so I got a plastic sheet to place under the soft blanket, which was a good idea as Faith decided to have a wee half way through!

Faith was well behaved other than that and posed beautifully for me, however Emily wasn't having any of it and kept turning her head away and then cried so her pics weren't quite what I was looking for!!

I'm going to try again next week, when I think I will ensure they are asleep before we start taking pictures to get the poses I want!

For now though - here are a couple of the ones I really liked:

Daddy and Emily:

Emily and Faith:

Faith behaving and doing what mummy wanted!

Faith and Emily sleeping together:

Faith and Emily (I love Emily's smile):

Emily's Feet:

And finally a few other pics we have captured that have made us laugh:

Wearing their going out suits - reminds us of Maggie Simpson, poor little things can't move very much in these, but they look so cute!

Emily doesn't want to go in her car seat!!!

Faith and Emily are official!

2010-02-10T20:38:00.002Z

We went to the registry office today to get the girls officially registered! It was all rather dull but we do not have an official birth certificate for each of them.

It's all done on computer these days and printed out - such a shame as the old style of handwritten birth certificates have a certain feel to them that the new 'printed' ones just don't have.

So they are real now, official and documented!

We also went to see two of the other twin mums from the ante natal group, their babies are 6 weeks and 8 weeks old, it was lovely to see them and also to see how big ours will get over the coming weeks!

All in all a lovely but tiring day - bed time now! Hoping that the girls will settle tonight to give us more than 3 hours sleep :) still loving it though...

The first week

2010-02-08T18:32:00.006Z

I can hardly believe that they are already almost a week old. The last week of my pregnancy went by so slowly that I thought it would never end, but this past week has been a blur and went in about 5 minutes!

As I said in my last post, we were allowed to come home from the hospital on Thursday - this was really unexpected as we had been told that with twins you can expect to be in hospital for about 5 days - especially after a c-section.

However as I was recovering very fast, and the girls were OK, they must have seen that we would be better off as a family at home as the last night at the hospital was pretty horrendous!

Leaving the hospital was a big thing, we got them into their car seats and Chris carried them to the car, it felt so strange putting these two little people into the back of the car into the seat bases and driving home, knowing that we finally had children in the back of our car - and they were OURS!

We got home and brought them in, got them out of their seats and held them tight, and just cried. We have a picture in our living room of our son Matthew, it was three years ago that we lost him and there we stood, in our home with our two brand new daughters, looking at that picture and knowing that our long IVF journey was finally over, and a new journey was about to begin.

I can't even begin to describe how that felt as it's just a moment in time that felt so good it was truly amazing, wonderful, we felt relief, joy, happiness, and awe all at once.

We didn't get much sleep that night, mostly down to adjusting to the new world and also because they didn't sleep much either!

Friday was also a blur, learning to see their patterns of feeding, sleeping and nappy changing. We also had a visit from the midwives who just turned up unannounced to check up on us (we would have appreciated a call to know what time they were coming!).

Saturday we went to Basingstoke - a nearby town to get a new bra for me - my milk has come in and the boobies have grown somewhat!! So a first shopping trip out with them was in order and Basingstoke has a large Mothercare where we could get a few bits for me and them. We also went into the town centre, stopped in Starbucks to get coffee for us and feed them, used the changing facilities in the shopping centre (which is really very good at Festival Place - we are impressed!) and went to a couple of shops.

Sunday was a lazy day - more visits from a midwife, didn't even bother to get out of my PJ's - we just spent the day getting a few things done around the house, looking after the kids! and catching up with the outside world via facebook and email!

So here we are on Monday - My mum has popped in a few times over the last few days and been really helpful with cooking for us, and keeping an eye on the girls while we popped out to the supermarket.

Here are a few more photos from the first week, click on them to see a bigger version:

Two sisters:

My mum with Emily:

Chris's Mum and Dad, Grandad has Faith and Nana has Emily:

Emily wants her own way already!

Emily Rose Anita Russell and Faith Samantha Elaine Russell are here at last!

2010-02-07T12:50:00.010Z

WOW what a week it has been. I've been wanting to update this but finding time has been so hard to do! Where do I even start?

Last Tuesday we went up to the hospital at 6.30am, got checked into maternity and waited as patiently as we could - we knew we were the first into theatre for the c-section and we'd be heading down by about 8.30am - by 8am they were ready for us so off we went.

I was nervous of the spinal block but it was actually pretty smooth, the feeling you get as your entire body from the boobs down goes numb is really quite weird, watching someone move your legs and not being able to feel their hands on you or the legs moving was very very strange.

In theatre there were many many people, Chris said he counted about 25 or so as there was 2 full teams of staff, one for each baby, I'm glad I couldn't really see most of them as I'm sure I'd just be horrified at that many people poking me about!

I could however see a part of what was going on over the curtain from the reflection in the theatre lights, which I was fascinated by - I would have liked to have seen the actual c-section being performed, I'm not squeamish and it would have been interesting to watch!

At 9.00am Emily Rose Anita Russell was born weighing 5lb 13 ounces followed at 9.02am weighing 5lb 9 ounces by her little sister Faith Samantha Elaine Russell. Hearing their cries was the most amazing moment in my life and something that I will never forget.

Emily Rose just after she was born:

Faith Samantha just after she was born:

The next hour or so was a bit of a blur, I was being sewn up, people were passing babies around, photos were taken and I was totally spaced out on morphine, so it's somewhat hard to remember it all, but I do remember seeing Chris sat on the chair beside me with his scrubs on and he was holding these two little bundles with tiny faces poking out and it was unbelievable to see, he was holding his daughters and looked the proudest man I know, it made me cry.

Up to recovery for a bit (where the fire alarm went off!) where I got to hold the girls properly for the first time, then back to the ward.

The rest of the day went so fast, midwives coming in to check my blood pressure, attempting to feed them with the tiniest amount of colostrum which the midwives said was enough! and just taking it all in.

Chris got sent out at 1pm until 3 - and again sent home at 9pm that night which I found to be most annoying as he wanted to be there and I needed him to help me get the babies from their cot and back - I know the midwives were there but I wanted the daddy!

On Wednesday he arrived at 9.30am (Shelly made him late!!) where we were transferred to a side room, it was much better in there as we had some space to move around and I was finally allowed out of bed. My mum and Chris's mum and dad visited us that afternoon and got to spend an hour or two with their new grandchildren.

Chris was supposed to go home that night but I begged one of the midwives to let him stay, they gave in (I think so they didn't have to do so much!) and we spent our first night together with our girls. It was a very tough night though with just about NO sleep! With only one bed it made things very hard and by morning we were both shattered, however as everyone was so well we were actually allowed to come home on Thursday which we did as fast as we could!

The rest of the week has also been a bit of a blur, and I'll post about this over the next few days to catch up - we have more photos to post too.

I'm also going to continue this blog and it will become the diary of a twin mum, so please keep popping back! For now, here are a few more photos of their birth day:

http://faithandemily.worldofcrussell.com

This time tomorrow I will be a mother

2010-02-01T18:40:00.004Z

Wow, I never thought this day would come. I never thought I'd make it to 37 weeks, and I had a hard time believing that I could be so lucky after having so much bad luck in the past with my 5 previous pregnancies.

But...It just goes to show, that with sheer determination, a little bit of hope, and the will to never give up on the things that you want so badly in life, you can have them.

In less than 24 hours I'll be going to the hospital for a caesarean section, and we will get to meet our children for the first time. I'm so happy I could cry. (oh bugger, now I am!)

Some people reading this blog will truly understand how I feel, those of you who have also had to endure IVF treatment, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancy's and premature deliveries, you will know just how special tomorrow will be for myself and Chris. Everyone else is thrilled for us and I can tell there is much excitement as they know our road has not been an easy one to travel.

I hope to be able to post an update as soon as possible, but I'm not sure when that will be. I expect I will be in hospital for about 5 days, but I might be able to get Chris to post messages for me when he pops home to feed the cat!

I also wanted to repost a poem that I once read that sums up how I've been feeling for quite some time. Of course this applies to two children!

I am a Mother

There are women that become mothers without effort,
without thought, without patience or loss
and though they are good mothers and love their children,
I know that I will be better.

I will be better not because of genetics, or money or that I have read more books,
but because I have struggled and toiled for this child.
I have longed and waited. I have cried and prayed.
I have endured and planned over and over again.
Like most things in life, the people who truly have appreciation are those who have struggled to attain their dreams.

I will notice everything about my child.
I will take time to watch my child sleep, explore and discover.
I will marvel at this miracle every day for the rest of my life.
I will be happy when I wake in the middle of the night to the sound of my child,
knowing that I can comfort, hold and feed her
and that I am not waking to take another temperature, pop another pill,
take another shot or cry tears of a broken dream.
My dream will be crying for me.

I count myself lucky in this sense: that God has given me this insight,
this special vision with which I will look upon my child that my friends will not see.
Whether I parent a child I actually give birth to or a child that God leads me to,
I will not be careless with my love.
I will be a better mother for all that I have endured.
I am a better wife, a better aunt, a better daughter,
neighbour, friend and sister because I have known pain.

I know disillusionment as I have been betrayed by my own body,
I have been tried by fire and a hell that many never face,
yet given time, I stood tall.
I have prevailed.
I have succeeded.
I have won.

So now, when others hurt around me,
I do not run from their pain in order to save myself discomfort.
I see it, mourn it, and join them in theirs.
I listen.

And even though I cannot make it better, I can make it less lonely.
I have learned the immense power of another hand holding tight to mine,
of other eyes that moisten as they learn to accept the harsh truth,
to accept when life is beyond hard.

I have learned a compassion that only comes with walking in these shoes.
I have learned to appreciate life.
Yes, I will be a wonderful mother.

36 hours to go!

2010-01-31T20:56:00.002Z

Almost there now - I'm down to the wire and have had to resort to wearing flip flops out in -3c weather because my feet are so fat I can no longer wear my lovely sheepskin boots or even my trainers!

I've taken final bump pics (although I'll possibly take some when we get to the hospital on Tuesday) and posted them here, and now we are truly excited/nervous/impatient!!

Just have to get through tomorrow and 2 more nights. Lets hope tonight I get more sleep than last night as once again I was awake from 2.30am until at least 5.30am with nothing to do!

Things to look forward to

2010-01-29T12:23:00.005Z

With the imminent arrival of our twins, I've spent a few hours thinking about the things that are in my future that I'm really looking forward to - it started last night when once again I was wide awake half way through the night for no reason whatsoever!

Things to look forward to:

1. Meeting my babies for the first time and becoming a family.
2. Seeing Chris hold his children for the first time.
3. Bringing the babies home and starting our new life.
4. No more braxton hicks contractions.
5. No more groin pain.
6. Possibly more sleep than I'm getting now!
7. Not getting up 5 times a night to pee.
8. Being able to put my own socks on.
9. Being able to put my own underwear on!
10. Being able to see my feet (that are hopefully no longer swollen).
11. Being able to shave my legs and bikini line.
12. Not waddling when I walk
13. Getting in and out of the car without a struggle
14. No ligament pains
15. Use of my left arm back
16. Not feeling like a hippo
17. Wearing jeans!
18. Wearing heels!
19. Drinking coffee with caffeine in
20. Painting my toenails
21. Being able to breath without something in my ribs!
22. Going to playgroups.
23. Days out with Noah and the girls.
24. Watching my children grow and learn.
25. Sex!

But most of all...

Being a good mother.

C-section in T-5 days!

2010-01-28T13:08:00.002Z

We went up to the hospital today to do final check ups and to get all the information we need for pre-op, much waiting as we had to see the midwife, the anaesthetist and get bloods taken, as well as doing 2 lots of urine tests (the first one came back with 2++ protein so they wanted to check me again - 2nd one was 1+).

The midwife checked my blood pressure, listened to the babies heartbeats and ran through all the bits we need to know about Tuesday.

We have to be up at the hospital on Tuesday morning at 6.30am! and we should be first on the list as they do twins first, so hopefully all being well, we should be up on the post op ward by 10am ish!

Chris will be with me all the way, he gets to come into theatre, and will stay with me and the babies until we are up on the ward.

I will be having a 'spinal' injection rather than an epidural as this is apparently much better, it kicks in right away, it wares off faster and is much more suited to a planned c-section.

So all being well, and if the babies hang in there until Tuesday, we will officially be parents by about 10am on Tuesday!

Bring it on!

A week today

2010-01-26T14:30:00.004Z

We are now on the final countdown, the last week before we become parents and our world is turned upside down (for the better!).

I have been married to Chris for 11 years and together for 13, we have had an amazing time as a couple who had no cares in the world other than us. We have travelled, had a lot of fun and done all the things we wanted to do, when we wanted to do them.

We've bought a house, had careers (and still do!) had 6 cats (sadly only 1 left now and she is 17!), and lived the life of a carefree couple - and it's been amazing.

Now it's time for the next phase though - becoming parents.

When I first met Chris, he was very anti children. I knew at the time that I had problems with my fallopian tubes and that getting pregnant would be tough, but wasn't that bothered as I too didn't have that many maternal instincts. But over the years as we have grown older together and watched friends have children, and seen the joys that they can bring (yeah yeah we know about the headaches too!) we knew this was something we wanted.

Eight years from the time we decided we were ready, here we are, about to have twins and finally become a 'family'.

We will now be able to go to the zoo, or the theme parks, or the swimming pool, or the fireworks display with 'our' children and see the joy in their eyes at seeing things for the first time, and not be the couple who stands there watching all the other families enjoying their kids at such places.

For anyone that knows me and Chris personally, you will have seen over the years how good we are together, how we get along all the time, laugh every day (even on sad days) and we never fight or argue. You will know how much in love we still are after all this time, and how we are so much better when we are together.

He has supported me through everything, and been my rock when things are tough. He has been helpful, he's done chores he hates, and he's made being pregnant a little easier for me.

I adore my husband. He's the most amazing person in my life and I love him with all of my being, he is going to make a wonderful father and I can't wait to witness this.

36 weeks pregnant

2010-01-25T17:41:00.003Z

This week the girls are still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. They should now weigh almost 6 pounds and be about 18 1/2 inches long.

They should also be shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered their little bodies, as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected their skin during their nine-month amniotic bath.

They will swallow both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of their first bowel movement. (Oh I'm so looking forward to that one! not...)

At the end of this week, the babies will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.)

I can feel their movements now very strong, some days it's more action than others but they are getting quite cramped, so I expect moving is hard for them now. Rightly likes nothing more than to get up under my ribs, which means I have to sit up as straight as I can as often as I can otherwise I simply can't breathe and it's very painful!

We now only have 8 days (or 7 days if you are Chris who doesn't count the Tuesday and today is mostly over too!) to wait until we meet them.

Can this be really happening?

Happy Birthday Matthew x x x

2010-01-22T11:09:00.001Z

Today would have been our son's third birthday.

22nd January 2007, at 11.09am we gave birth to a little boy, born at 21 weeks and 3 days. A perfectly formed, tiny little boy. He was born sleeping after my waters broke two weeks earlier.

It's a day Chris and I will never forget, I remember every moment of it, from the day before when I woke up to find the umbilical chord had come down, to the moment he was born and the rest of that awful day.

It was a sad day, but somehow serene and peaceful, filled with tears and broken dreams. Losing a baby is hard at any stage but when you go through 9 hours of labour knowing all the time that it is not going to end the way it should, it's just heartbreaking.

We spent the day at the hospital, he was wrapped in a little blanket and stayed with us until we left that evening. While we sat on the bed that day we could only hear one song, which we later played at his funeral Chasing cars by Snow Patrol.

Three years on and the pain is not quite so raw, it seems to ease a little as time moves on, but I know that we will never forget, and each year on his birthday we will reflect on that day and always wish that things could have turned out different.

He would have been quite excited this year, probably the first year he realised that it's his birthday and he gets presents from everyone! I will always wonder what we might have bought him, how he would look now, and what life would be like with a son.

So to Matthew Christopher Stuart Russell, we miss you, our little sleeping angel.

I wrote this poem last year, and have changed it slightly for this year - it still seems appropriate being that this year we are carrying two!

It’s been three years since that day in the delivery suite
Where you were born too soon, with such tiny hands and tiny feet
It’s hard to think to the day that you died
When we lost you, our son, and both of us cried

It feels like it happened just yesterday,
I still ask the question will the pain go away?
Your daddy and I still cry for you
Not a month goes by without one of us feeling blue

We wonder what you’d look like today
Perhaps big blue eyes, blonde hair and we’d say
How proud we are that you can now walk,
And how many words you say, now you can talk

But none of this was meant for us
Our journey continues with so much fuss
Three years on since my baby was born
36 months since you have been gone

This year we will plant a rose bush for you
To remind us to be happy, on days when we’re blue
To think of the time you were inside me and then
To smile and be happy, try to forget all the pain

We loved you then, and we love you still
It’s what keeps us strong and gives us the will
To carry on and make a brother for you
Or maybe a sister, or maybe there’s two!

But you remember my darling son
We will never forget that you were the one
That broke our hearts and made us realise
That although we never got to see your eyes

We spent a few hours holding you tight
We held on to each other all through that night
And both of us know that whatever our fears
You were worth it to us, even though there are tears.

And we’ll always be glad that you never felt pain
And one day we know we will see you again
Until then my darling we will cry tears like rain
And we will continue to pray that it won’t happen again.

Hospital visit today

2010-01-21T18:43:00.002Z

Today was our last scan day before the babies are here, we have one more appointment next Thursday to meet the anaesthetist and a final midwife check up for bloods and pre-op things, and then we are good to go?

Why so soon... Because the c-section has been brought forward by 8 days to the 2nd February!!! so the girls will be here in just 12 days :)

They are both weighing in at 5lb and 8 ounces - according to their measurements today they are measuring almost exactly the same in terms of head circumference, femur length and abdominal circumference, which is how they guess their weights.

It's quite likely that they won't be exactly what is predicted as it's well known that they can vary by as much as a pound, but we will have to wait and see - not long now!

We are now officially excited...

Pain pain go away.....

2010-01-20T13:10:00.003Z

Another uncomfortable night, this is becoming far too regular an occurrence (every night now!). I'm not complaining though as it's a joy to be this far along knowing that our babies could be here in three weeks or less, but I can't say I'm enjoying this last part too much!

During the day it's not so bad (which I'm very pleased about!) I just seem to suffer with the swollen feet and fingers which has brought a new lease of pain, but thankfully the groin pain and some of the other 'night pains' do seem to ease or go away while I'm up and about.

Night times though are now nothing short of miserable. I look forward to going to bed - which I'm doing around 9.30pm most nights now, as I'm so tired from poor sleep that I can't wait to snuggle into my huge pregnancy pillow on my tempur matress and try to get 'some' sleep.

My husband is wonderful, he has been giving me a nice relaxing back rub that helps me get to sleep - and the first 2 hours of sleep are usually bliss. But then I wake up and the misery begins.

I seem to wake up at mightnight - like clockwork, Chris is usually still awake watching TV or playing on his xBox which he brought upstairs (PS3 is downstairs!) recently.

First I have to try and sit up - the groin pain kicks in and makes me feel like someone has grabbed my feet and pulled my legs as far apart as they can, then kicked me in the lady bits!

Once I get sat up, I feel the back ache and the arm/fingers aching. Now I have to actually stand, which results in some swearing and stilted movements as everything hurts so much!

Next the funny waddle/stagger/shuffle across the bedroom to the bathroom, holding onto anything or using crutches if it's too bad to finally have a wee which is hardly worth getting out of bed for - waddle/stagger/shuffle back to bed and then try to get comfortable with the pregnancy pillow.

By this point I usually have a Braxton Hicks contraction, which causes a lot of pressure on all of my insides, one of the babies (righty I think) up in my ribs kicking her little feet away and a low lying pain across my abdomen.

Finally I get comfortable (it takes 6 mini shuffles to get myself turned over in bed!) and hopefully I will fall asleep again for about an hour (2 if I'm really lucky!!) before I repeat this process all over again.

The last week I've been waking up with really nasty pains in my arms, worse in my left that I think/thought might be carpel tunnel but I will get this checked out tomorrow at the consultants.

My fingers feel like they have arthritis or something, and my feet tingle most of the time from the swelling.

Aside from all this - I am LOVING being pregnant - but can't wait to get these little ones out so I can feel like me again!

Three weeks today - just 21 days and I hope this will all be a distant memory :)

35 weeks pregnant and counting..

2010-01-18T10:05:00.004Z

Another week, another milestone and a little bit closer, it's finally starting to feel real. This week we hit 35 weeks and because of the booked c-section as of today we have just 23 days to wait until we meet them.

Now we have made it to 35 weeks though, we know that they are pretty much well developed and should they arrive earlier than planned we know they will be OK, this week they would possibly need a few days in special care, but as they had the steroids it's possible they'd be OK - so a part of us is secretly hoping they will come soon!

I guess we have waited so long for this (8 years!) that the last week weeks seem like a lifetime. I have to remind myself to be patient!

With regards to their development this week - because it's so snug in my womb (especially with two!), they aren't likely to be doing somersaults any more, but the number of times they kick should remain about the same. (and they kick lots!)

Their kidneys are fully developed now, and their liver can process some waste products. Most of their basic physical development is now complete — and they will spend the next few weeks putting on weight which just makes me heavier, ankles swell more, harder to put my own underwear on and generally more uncomfortable.

However it makes them healthier and stronger - so bring it on!!!!

Checked out the maternity ward today

2010-01-16T17:12:00.002Z

Chris took me out for a lovely lunch this afternoon, which happened to be in a place right near the hospital - so we decided to drop in and check out the maternity ward as they do tours on the weekend at 4pm.

Although I've spent time on Maternity ward when I was pregnant with Matthew, I only really got to see one of the bays - and we were keen to see the side room this time as we should get to use one of these as we have twins! Everyone else has to pay £100 a night :)

It all seems really nice there and we are looking forward now to having the babies and getting some quiet time in one of those rooms.

Just so everyone knows, they also gave us an info sheet on visiting times and rules for maternity, so if you want to come and see us after the babies are born here are the details.

First 24 hours - I'll be in the post op bay - no visitors at all as this is for mums to recover from c-sections - we also want this first 24 hours to ourselves anyway :) We'll be updating on Facebook with pics and news though so you will get to see them virtually!

Once I'm in the side room the following day, visitors can come from 3pm - 5pm and 7pm - 8pm only. They do not allow any children under the age of 10 (to reduce possible infection rates) so if you are planning to visit us in hospital, you will have to leave your little ones at home.

Please let me know in advance you are coming (I will have my phone so please text me) this is because they also have a max 2-3 visitors at any one time rule and as many of the people I know will have to travel, I wouldn't want to have the midwives turn people away.

Also don't bring flowers to the hospital - they don't allow this any more.

We are hoping that we will only be in hospital for 3-4 days max - assuming all goes well, so if you can wait until we get home, you will get more time to visit :) which means you will get more cuddle time - oh and we don't charge for parking!!!

Replies to comments

2010-01-14T14:38:00.004Z

I've had a few comments lately - which I love getting, however if you want me to reply, you must put your email address in them! I won't publish that onto the blog as I believe in privacy, but I also won't publish my email address either as it just gets picked up by spammers and added to even more crappy lists!

So to the lady who asked the following questions on Monday, I'll answer them here this time, but please add your email address next time so I can reply directly to you :)

Q1: Did you gain weight as a result of taking the Lupron?
No, not as far as I'm aware - you do sometimes gain a little weight while doing treatment but it's probably a combination of all the drugs and also binge eating because doing IVF sucks!! If you eat a healthy balanced diet I'm sure you can keep weight gain to a minimum.

Q2. What do you think was different this time? Why do you think it was successful this time in comparison to the other times?

I'm not sure, I've always had good results with getting good eggs and fertilization rates - the problem is always getting the embryos to stick - and that is entirely in the hands of mother nature - like couples who are trying naturally, some months it doesn't work and then after 8 months perhaps it does...

The only thing we did different this time was a much higher dose of the drugs - but all this does is stimulate the ovaries more to produce more eggs and a little faster..

You said that you have to do IVF as you only have one tube and that one is blocked - have you considered a laparoscopy to unblock that tube first?

I lost both tubes due to ectopic pregnancies, but prior to that somehow got pregnant three times with very blocked tubes - so anything is possible.

Don't give up hope...

Incompetance all round

2010-01-14T14:22:00.002Z

What a week it has been, and most of it just plain annoying as other people have let me down and been incompetent in their jobs.

Today's incompetence was the hospital. We arrived on time for our appointment and waited an hour and a half, only to be called into a room by the anaesthetist, who sat us down and said "how are you? and so your having a c-section next week then?" NEXT WEEK????? I don't think so we said - we still have almost 4 weeks to go until the date that was agreed.

It turns out I'd been put on the wrong list, so back out into the waiting room we went and probably to the back of the queue - only to see a midwife for an anti-d jab and a blood pressure check.

All in all we were there over 2 hours :(

But on the good side, I've now had my anti-d jab, my blood pressure was OK and all is well with the babies, which quite frankly is all I care about right now!

But to demonstrate how incompetent other are, I've also had to deal with these issues this week:

1. The health in pregnancy grant screw up which I wrote about the other day, it seems all because the midwife wrote my due date down on the form as the 29th Feb - which doesn't exist this year...

2. Abbey bank still haven't sorted out my direct debit switches on my business account after 4 months, 3 letters of complaint and completing the switcher forms 3 times (2 of which they cunningly lost). Oh and they are now ignoring my complaints..

3. British Gas took 3 days to come out to fix a burst water pipe, not because they were busy it seems (which was their excuse at the time after 3 calls), but because they didn't bother to put the call through to Dyno Rod, the company that actually do the repairs until the morning they actually came out.

4. British Telecom told me after 3 weeks of waiting that they didn't have the order on their system for a new phone line for my dad - even though I had an email confirmation from them, so we had to place the order again.

5. Kwik Fit didn't have the battery in for my car which died, so they had to order a new one, only they got the wrong one so had to re-order it which has taken 4 days so far.

So there - all that in less than a week - can't you see how much fun I've been having dealing with the idiots who just don't seem to be able to get things right.

34 weeks pregnant and getting bigger by the day!

2010-01-11T16:13:00.006Z

We are almost there! So so close now - in fact it's just 30 days to the planned c-section date as of today!

We took a new bump picture last night as we haven't really done one since the nudies at 28 weeks, and I also compared my bulging belly to when I was 12 weeks and I look really skinny then compared to now! Check it out:

Me at 12 weeks pregnant:

Me at 34 weeks pregnant:

At 34 weeks the babies are continuing to grow and fill out. In fact, that is their primary job now from 34 weeks and beyond. Not much changes from now on except they are adding valuable meat to their bones! (making me larger still!)

According to one resource their central nervous systems are still maturing and their lungs are continuing to mature as well. They said "if you've been nervous about preterm labor, (which we have since day 1!!) that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies". (You have no idea how happy this makes us now!).

I'm due for an appointment with the Midwife this week, I need to get another shot of anti-d as I'm Rhesus Negative blood group - however as usual no-one in the medical field remembered this last week so I'm chasing them to ensure they will have the medication at my doctors surgery - it's usually given at the hospital.

Another thing I'm chasing is my Health in Pregnancy grant - I sent the form off on the 11th November and upon calling them today it seems due to an error they have stopped processing my form, they mentioned something about not being able to get the due date from it - which I can read perfectly well... (I have a scanned copy!) Any excuse - but it seems it could take another 4 weeks to process - so much for health in pregnancy - It will be Health in Post Pregnancy at this rate!

Pre Eclampsia

2010-01-08T16:14:00.002Z

I forgot to mention this in my last post (doh! must be the baby brain thing!) but we went back to the hospital yesterday for a check up on the pre-eclampsia and all is well with the girls and me.

My blood pressure is still slightly raised, and there is a little protein in my urine, but at this stage nothing to worry about :)

I'll be seeing the local midwife next Thursday so she will check these things again to keep an eye on it, and if anything weird happens in the mean time I can always go to the day assessment unit to get a check up.

Dating scans and gestation

2010-01-08T13:42:00.004Z

What is in a couple of days? Most of you would think not a lot and you'd probably be right, but at crucial points a couple of days can make a huge difference in a pregnancy.

My thinking around this is around the 24 week mark - for me and my friend who both lost babies around this time those extra two days that the hospital believe you have ahead of time; can mean the difference between them helping you out if your pregnancy has problems, or not.

As we had IVF we actually know the exact date we conceived as it was all done rather clinically in a lab. But the scans show different and the hospital have been dating me two days ahead for a few weeks now.

During my last pregnancy I actually argued with the midwives and said "no we know the exact date and it's X" when they tried to do this - but this time we have just let them think we are ahead as the girls must be growing well and slightly ahead of schedule.

So that being the case - instead of being 33 weeks and four days today, we are now officially 33 weeks and six days!

It says so on my notes, so it must be true ;)

Either way the countdown ticker - that says 33 days to go today is correct - it is 33 days to the 10th February which is the planned c-section date - OMG suddenly it seems really close!

Swollen feet = lovely cankles!!!

2010-01-07T10:27:00.005Z

I was sat with my feet up on the sofa yesterday morning, and I noticed that even with socks on my feet looked somewhat chubbier than usual. Now they have been a little swollen, as have my hands which is a normal pregnancy symptom (or possible signs of pre-eclampsia!) so I haven't given it much thought.

Upon removing my socks I was a little horrified to see that my feet were a lot more swollen than they were before!

They are developing into a lovely set of cankles right now - so I'll be keeping them elevated as much as I can from now on!

To give you an idea of before and after, I have also uploaded a pic I took while on holiday a few years ago:

Before:

After:

I only hope they don't get much worse!

Pelvic pain

2010-01-06T08:49:00.004Z

One of the symptoms of being pregnant is pelvic girdle pain - it used to be known as SPD - it's very painful and unfortunately I have it.

Most nights it's painful but gets a little better during the day when I'm up and about, but last night was by far the worst as the pain felt somewhat crippling every time I needed to get up (which was about 5 times!).

It is effecting me in the groin area and across the pubic bone at the front, the only way to describe it is to say that if someone made me do the splits (which I've never been able to do!) then I'd imagine how painful that would be and think it might be similar - for men it's probably like being kicked in the genitals very hard!

SPD or Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction happens because:

The symphysis pubis is the name given to where two bones meet at the front of the pelvis. The pelvic bone is roughly in the shape of a heart, and is actually formed by three bones, which are held together by very strong ligaments.

The bones meet to form three 'fixed' joints - at the front (the symphysis pubis) and at each side of the bottom of the spine (the sacro-iliac joints).

Normally, these joints are not designed to allow movement. However, when a woman becomes pregnant, a hormone called relaxin is produced which loosens all the pelvic ligaments in order to allow the pelvis slight movement at the time of birth.

For some reason, the ligaments occasionally loosen too much and too early before birth. This means they can't keep the pelvic joints stable so the pelvis moves, especially on weight bearing. All this is made worse by the increased weight of the growing baby and sometimes the symphysis pubis joint actually separates slightly. The result is mild to severe pain, usually in the pubic area, and is called SPD.

What are the symptoms?
The most common is pain and difficulty when walking. Some women describe the feeling of their pelvis coming apart. The pain is made worse when turning in bed or doing something that involves standing on one leg, such as climbing up stairs, getting dressed and getting in and out of a car.

The pain is generally felt in the pubis and/or the sacro-iliac joints, but can also be experienced in the groin, the inner side of the thighs, the hips and in one or both buttocks.

As we are up at the hospital tomorrow, I'm actually considering getting some crutches for the night as walking to the bathroom is excruciatingly painful now and is helped if I can take some of the weight off when I walk.

However with 20cm of snow outside - we have to hope we can actually get to the hospital tomorrow!!

Hospital visit today

2010-01-04T17:11:00.002Z

Two posts again today - aren't you the lucky one!

We went back to the hospital today for a check-up on the pre-eclampsia - I had a urine test and blood pressure taken as well as being put on the CTG machine to monitor their movements and heart rate for a bit.

My blood pressure was down a bit today which is a good sign, and the protein in the urine was also down - another good sign, so the midwife thinks I might not have pre-eclampsia after all.

We are going back on Thursday to see the consultant again, where I expect we will do the same tests to keep an eye on things, so hopefully this is just a false alarm and the symptoms I'm getting are just your regular run of the mill pregnancy things.

33 weeks pregnant and counting

2010-01-04T16:50:00.004Z

Another week, another mini milestone and now only 5 weeks and 2 days to the booked in c-section date! The nursery is done, the hospital bags are packed we are good to go!

According to my sources (the web!!) The babies can now detect light and tell the difference between night and day (of course that ability will miraculously disappear once they are born and up all night screaming!!). Their pupils will constrict and dilate in response to light.

Apparently, if I shine a flashlight on my belly, they may shy away from the light as if to say, "Cut it out, Mum. You're soooo annoying."

The bones in their skulls are soft and are not yet fused together. This pliability allows the bones to overlap; making their trip down the birth canal possible (they say "and resulting in that surprising cone head look your baby will sport for the first few days post-birth. Don't worry, it's totally normal and that's what hats are for".) Awwwww poor babies!

Well I suppose this would be true if I were having a natural delivery - but we don't have to worry about that - all I have to think about is having the epidural and getting yet another tummy scar post birth! I can live with that...

They will continue to pack on the pounds gaining around ½ pound a week from here on out - OK so let's work this out - if twin 2 is now 4lb 1 ounce and she puts on ½ pound a week for the next 5 weeks that means she will be a 7lb baby when she is born! and she is the lighter of the 2.....

Perhaps this is true for singletons, but I know that twins growth slows a little in the last few weeks, so we will just have to wait and see - while I don't mind having porkie babies - I have to carry them to birth - and the idea of carrying 14-15lb of baby doesn't fill me with glee!!!

Wall Words and Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T21:06:00.006Z

Firstly let me say Happy New Year to you all!!! My PC died a couple of days ago, so I had to buy a new one and get all my software installed which has been a royal pain in the bum (I upgraded to Windows 7 at the same time) but I'm getting there!

Today we took all the Xmas decorations down, tidied the house a little and also put the finishing touches to the nursery. We are now ready to welcome home the babies!

The last bits to add in were the 'wall words'. Many of you will have no idea what wall words are - but I'm sure some of you will end up buying some for your house once you are aware of this as they are great!

Wall words are simple - they are just quotes, or words either made up by you or pre bought, that you can stick to your walls. You can choose the font, the colour and the quote and they are really easy to put up, I first saw them just over 3 years ago when we were thinking about decorating a nursery for Matthew, and decided then that we would have these in our children's room.

Here is what we chose to put up - the first one says: (click the pic to see larger version)

"The angels danced the day you were born"

The second one says:

"Sweet dreams, sleep tight, we love you, goodnight"

The first one was the one we were going to buy for Matthew - it still makes me cry when I read it.

If you want to see what they have to offer go to http://www.wallwords.com - they do ship internationally.

Scan and Consultant appointment today

2009-12-31T18:46:00.003Z

Just got back from the hospital and I'm pleased to say that the babies are putting on weight nicely and are little porkies!

Lefty is head down and weighs in 4lb and 5 ounces, and righty is now head up (she keeps changing!) and is 4lb and 1 ounce.

I did the usual round of urine tests and today they discovered that I have raised levels of protein, I also reported to the consultant that I have swollen hands and feet (I have cankles - such a sexy look!) and have also had a flashing light thing in front of my eyes and slightly high blood pressure.

All this can add up to pre-eclampsia which at my stage of pregnancy with twins is common.

They have taken another urine sample and bloods to do overnight and I'll get the results tomorrow and I will be going back into the day assessment unit on Monday for monitoring and also back to see the consultant next Thursday.

For now we don't know if this is definitely pre-eclampsia - but we will know more after they have the results so I will post when we know more.

So that's it for 2009! I hope you all have a wonderful evening tonight (I will be sat on the sofa watching a movie and not drinking, and probably be asleep by 10.30pm as usual - Chris will have to wake me at midnight! lol).

I hope that 2010 brings you all the things you truly desire, and much happiness. For us we are thrilled it will be the year we finally become parents - it took 8 years, 9 rounds of IVF and 5 pregnancies to get here - but we are now getting there.

Roll on 2010!!

The nursery is just about finished!

2009-12-30T18:44:00.010Z

Two postings today!

We have spent a little time in the nursery today getting the shelf, pictures and wall decorations up - the only thing left to add now are the wall words that we bought which should arrive in the next few days.

Here are a few pictures so you can see how it looks (click them to see a bigger version).

This is most of the room, there is a sink also on the left that you can't see here!

This is their changing area - Chris put the shelf up on the wall and it's still there! The picture frame will have something in it very soon - I'm going to make a little sign that says "Always kiss me goodnight" to go in there.

The sink area is sort of opposite - this will make a great baby bath in the early days!

This is the left cot:

This is the right cot:

A gorgeous little clock that my mum bought them:

The big teddy pic that is over the left cot:

The smaller teddies pics that are over the right cot:

So it's almost done - I'll post a few pics of the wall words when they are up - and then all we are waiting for are the girls to arrive :)

I have a stretchmark!!!

2009-12-30T18:32:00.003Z

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

OK so that might be a little over dramatised as it's only one and I'm now at 32 weeks with twins and should probably be covered in them! but I was hoping to get away with it altogether and not get any! I was doing so well!

I'm using Bio-Oil (which you can now buy on Amazon way cheaper than the chemist!). And I think this has helped a huge amount.

Oh well I think I can live with one - as long as there are no more between now and when they are born!

32 weeks pregnant today.

2009-12-28T13:48:00.002Z

Another milestone with just over 6 weeks to go until the planned c-section date!

They say that the babies should now weigh about 3.7lb and are around 42.4cm long from head to toe. We have a scan on Thursday at the hospital so we will see how their weights are developing then!

Their lungs won't be fully developed until just before birth, but they are constantly inhaling amniotic fluid to exercise their lungs and practise breathing. (As we had the steroid jab I'm hoping their lungs are better developed now!)

Some babies have a head of hair already, others have only a few wisps. Thick hair at birth doesn't necessarily mean thick hair later on, but children with fine hair in childhood usually grow up to have fine hair too. We are just wondering what colour our babies hair will be - assuming they have any at all!

Happy Christmas everyone!

2009-12-24T17:04:00.002Z

Not much to report here as it's the same old same old - braxton hicks giving me a hard time, lack of sleep (fell asleep on the sofa today for 2 hours!) and needing to pee every time I stand up!

I just wanted to wish all the people who have been following me and my little blog a very Happy Christmas!

I hope you get all the presents that you desire, that the food is wonderful and have a glass of Champagne for me!

As for me, myself and Chris haven't bought each other presents this year as we have spent so much money on the babies that we felt there wasn't any need to splash out further - but to be honest we both feel that the best present ever is that these babies make it into this world safely.

The last 2 Christmas's have been pretty crap for us as we had so many plans for our little boy, and Christmas is for kids and it just wasn't the same.

I'll be thinking about Matthew again this year, he would be almost 3 now, so this year would have been the best so far as he would be getting so excited about Santa Claus coming.

I will also thinking about little Florence who I hope is out there somewhere with him and the angels. My heart is with her Mum, Dad and Brother who I know will be missing her this year. Big hugs to you sweetheart x x x.

31 weeks pregnant

2009-12-21T18:47:00.002Z

Another week, another mini milestone and one step closer to being a mum!

This week there is an incredible development in their lungs as they will be able to inflate properly from now onwards. Their lungs will start producing surfactant from this week preventing them from collapsing as they start breathing smoothly after delivery.

Their ears will be completely developed from the inside as well as outside and they can now hear your voice as well as other familiar voices from outside the womb.

Their skin is pink in colour instead of red at this point and they have well developed finger nails.

Their bones are growing stronger and will require more calcium than ever at this stage to grow well.

They receive all their nutrients through the placenta and the placental blood flow enables them to make urine, which they pee about half a litre every day! which they swallow in the form of amniotic fluid which is now replaced a few times daily.

The amniotic fluid needs to be measured as a routine to detect any problems. If there is too much fluid in the amniotic sac it could indicate that they are not swallowing properly or having a gastrointestinal difficulty. If there is less fluid in the amniotic sac it could indicate that they are not urinating enough or has a problem with their kidneys.

Their arms, legs and body continue to fill out this week – and they are finally proportional in size to their head and are now looking more like a newborn.

Their bone marrow has taken over from the liver in producing red blood cells. Soon we can wonder what your they are wishing for – brain scans have shown that babies have periods of dream sleep around month eight.

7 weeks and 2 days to c-section day!

Things that go numb in the night

2009-12-19T11:33:00.003Z

There are certain things they never tell you about in pregnancy books.

One such thing is how you can be happily sleeping, then woken with a pain or numbness that you just didn't expect.

I was chatting with a friend the other day and she said she had suffered the same thing when she was pregnant and near the end, but I don't recall ever being warned about this!

Most nights I end up turning over at least once an hour because my hips have gone numb, which in turn makes my legs go numb too as I must be cutting the circulation. This has been happening for several weeks now.

Just recently I have a new one - my shoulders go numb which in turn gives me a dead arm!

So roughly every hour I'm woken up with the feeling that the left or right side of my body has gone numb, I then have to either get out of bed or find a way to turn over to the other side while trying not to scream in pain and wake up the other half!

Oh the joys of being pregnant...

Midwife appointment today

2009-12-17T16:38:00.002Z

I'm not sure why I go to the Midwife appointments any more which are every other 2 weeks from the scans and the consultant.

I turn up on time, end up waiting 20-30 minutes as they are always running late - even though the waiting room is practically empty, then I get a blood pressure check, a urine test and they listen to the heartbeat - most of which (except for the urine test) I can do from home as I have all the equipment!!

I tell them things like - I'm suffering with Braxton Hicks - what can I do - they say "Yeah, that's quite normal" and offer no advice....

Anyway, all is well - the heartbeats are good and strong, they are kicking like crazy every day and moving around, and we are just playing the waiting game now.

I'm starting to get very uncomfortable on odd days (some days are still OK!) especially when I get a Braxton Hicks attack! It's a very odd feeling and quite nasty when your tummy goes so tight it's completely solid!

7 weeks and 6 days.....

8 weeks today they will be here!

2009-12-16T19:16:00.002Z

Our C-Section is booked in for 8 weeks today!

I read today that 43% of twin pregnancies don't make it past 37 weeks - so that gives us a 57% chance of having them before the due date....

We are ready though - I think we've been ready for years, well prepared anyway - not sure if ready is the right word!

We have a lot of twin mum friends these days, and I've been chatting to lots of them recently, there are all the Woking ladies that I met in 2006 when we first started doing IVF, many of which now have 2 year old twins and have been a valuable source of information on what to expect in those first few years.

There are the Fertility Friends twin mums - a group of people most of whom I've never met but chat daily on an online forum about every detail of their pregnancies and births and the first few months.

And not forgetting the Frimley twin mums, a local group of ladies who are all either still pregnant (and not far off giving birth) or have given birth in the last few weeks, who I'm sure will all become good friends (we've already done coffee and lunch meetings!) as we lean on each other for help/advice/ideas over the coming months.

The one thing that stands out more than anything though is how hard everyone says it is, how little sleep you get but how rewarding it is to finally have those babies in your arms.

Everyone knows with a singleton you get very little sleep and it's hard work - so I'm wondering how different it will be with two - and I think I am going to find that whatever I think it's going to be like - I should scrap that and see how it 'really' is!

Wish us luck.....

30 weeks pregnant!

2009-12-14T09:55:00.004Z

Wow, wow, wow. We made it to the 30's. I'm still in denial but it's slowly starting to sink in that this is real and this time, we will be parents. Just 8 weeks to go.

So what is going on in there this week?

I have read that their lungs and digestive tract are almost fully developed. Their growth in terms of their length will soon slow down, but they will continue to gain weight until they are born.

This week they will continue to open and shut their eyes. It seems they can probably see what's going on inside my uterus, and that they can distinguish light from dark and even track a light source. (I'd love to know how they know this!) They say that if you shine a light on the stomach, the baby may move it's head to follow the light or even reach out to touch the moving glow!! I shall have to put that to the test:)

Some researchers think baring your stomach to light stimulates visual development. But it says not to expect 20/20 vision when your baby is born (I wasn't!) – newborns can see a distance of only between 20cm and 30cm. Children with normal vision don't reach 20/20 vision until the age of about seven or nine! Oh and they now have eyebrows and eyelashes.

About a litre of amniotic fluid now surrounds them (each! no wonder I feel so heavy!), but that volume will now decrease as they get bigger and have less room in my uterus.

For several months, the umbilical cord has been their lifeline to me. Nourishment is transferred from my blood, through the placenta, and into the umbilical cord to each of them. Their bone marrow is now responsible for red cell production. These red blood cells will continue to service their bodies by transporting oxygen and removing the wastes. They are now also beginning to store iron, calcium and phosphorus.

A busy weekend

2009-12-13T18:10:00.006Z

We got a lot done this weekend, well Chris did (I mostly sat around and watched!) but the nesting has begun!

The Christmas tree is now in and decorated, rooms have been tidied and cots now built. Stuff was taken to the tip, things were returned to stores that were no good, and things we don't need were stored in the attic.

Now that we have both cots up we have begun to realise how HUGE they are! they are bigger than we thought even and take up much of the room! We aren't too worried though as this is the smaller of our spare rooms, so they will get the bigger room when they are a little older - this room is however right next to ours so for the first year it's ideal to have them closer to us.

I've taken a quick picture on the phone so you can see just how much of the room they take up - I will take a better picture of the nursery when it's finished on my 'proper' camera!

We still have much to do in their, like putting up pictures and shelves and building the changing station and tidying too, so it's not done yet!

As for me I'm starting to find I'm getting tired very quickly, just a little walking or standing can leave me feeling exhausted (which I'm not liking at all!) so I'm generally opting for sitting a lot (with my feet up) which is also helping to calm the braxton hicks.

It's pretty horrid when I get one, that feeling of your tummy going totally solid is so weird, and bordering on painful at times too, so I'm doing my best to try and stop them as much as possible.

Hard to believe we are almost at 30 weeks!

2 postings today

2009-12-10T12:00:00.002Z

OK so after I posted the bump pic I also wanted to update you all on the happenings of the bump post steroid injection.

Yesterday I was a little worried as they didn't move hardly at all during the day - I did a heartbeat check twice though and all is OK - it seems that sometimes after the steroid jabs they can get a little sleepy, but they are back to normal today and I've felt them both moving again! phew...

I've also had a few period like cramps last night so for the next few days I'm going to be taking it very easy and spending the majority of my time on the sofa with my feet up to ensure we don't do anything to bring on labour!

The braxton hicks have calmed a little too - so the resting is doing me good...

So no work, no nothing, just lazing about and relaxing! I like the sound of that!

Bump pic at 28 weeks

2009-12-10T11:49:00.003Z

OK so this one is a little different! Being that I'm a photographer, and I have done a lot of work in the past with nudes, I clearly have an appreciation for the shape of the human body and I simply adore curves and black and white nude photography.

So for once, I've allowed myself to be photographed this way! (I'm usually on the other side where I prefer it!) but as I'm pregnant I really wanted to capture the beauty of what is happening and so here it is:

A one shot deal to see me in the nude (albeit tastefully done!) and looking (according to the husband!) radiant and gorgeous! to me I look huge and nude, but opinions will vary!