29+3

Sorry it's been a while! Have had quite a stressful couple of weeks but things are getting easier now. Work was getting too tiring and I have been struggling more and more with back pain and sleeping through the night so have been really tired. I eventually accepted that I was going to have to finish work early and so last Thursday (my birthday) was my last day teaching and have been signed off work with exhaustion until my maternity leave starts. 

I was quite upset to have to finish early but know it's the right decision for my babies and me. I was really worried time was going to drag on but I've been keeping myself pretty busy and sleeping when needed during the day so this first week hasn't gone slowly at all! Some days I feel like I can barely stand up I'm so tired and other days I feel a bit more energized so taking it a day at a time.

I've added another 2 inches to my waistline so babies seem to be growing at a healthy rate haha! I had to have a test done for gestational diabetes because of dad having diabetes but pleased to say that came back clear. They also checked my other levels and they are now all normal so the low platelet count seems to have sorted itself out...basically I'm the picture of health - yay!

The babies are moving pretty much all the time, they are active little ones so feeling like they are doing really well and the last scans show their growth is right on track at 27+3 they were estimated at 2lbs6oz and 2lbs4oz.

Here's my latest bump pictures!

27+5

Another week closer to meeting our babies! Getting very excited now, some days I wake up and look at my scan pictures again and cuddle my belly, then cuddle Robin and say I can't wait to have our babies here!

Work has been OK this week, not much to report really. Have had a bit of back pain the past couple of days on the left side so hoping that doesn't get worse. It is OK when I'm not moving but quite painful walking around, a bit like it's pinching a nerve maybe. It might be just that I've slept funny perhaps.

I've bought a few more things second hand, just blankets, baby sleeping bags, some christmas vests and some little toys.

It's my birthday this week...the big 30! I joked that I would have an extra 30 inches on my waist for my 30th...now measuring 45 inches round my waist!

26+6

We went for our 3D scan today! They were very lovely there and the sonographer was very good at continuing to conceal the sexes. We were really lucky as Robin's cousin's wife works there and she got us an upgrade to the top package so you got to get a DVD and CD of images too which was fantastic. 

You can really see them so clearly. It was really funny to see that one baby kept getting the other baby's bottom in their face! We still have no idea about the sexes, but my guess is one boy, one girl. I've started a sweepstake for the sexes, weights and birthday on facebook so get guessing just for fun! Here's a selection of the pictures from today...

26 Weeks

So, last week was quite exhausting! A full timetable back at school was hard work even though I was teaching other people's classes and I was glad to be having a little lie in on Thursday before our antenatal class about breast feeding.

Again the antenatal class was OK but not much to write about really! I was feeling exhausted and emotional and I went to speak to the midwife about how I would go about finishing work earlier than maternity leave starts if I needed to and then ended up crying about it which was quite embarrassing obviously! She told me I should go and see the doctor so I will have to see how I feel going on over the next weeks. I don't want to finish too early as it will be such a long time to wait and I know it will really drag on but I know I need to do what is best for me and the babies. We will have to see how it goes! 

When I went into school Thursday afternoon, I was so tired that by the end of the day I was in tears again so I realised that maybe I needed to call it a week and rang in sick Friday. 

The babies have been so active over the weekend and I've started feeling much better after resting. They are moving pretty much all the time now and it's really lovely to feel them so often. Unfortunately, feeling them isn't as fun when I am getting woken up in the night when Sage is wedged up under my left rib...ouch!

The other obstacle to me continuing to work, other than my tiredness and emotional capability to get through a day without crying, is actually whether I will be able to stand up by myself soon or have anything to wear other than pyjamas haha!

Here is my 26 week bump picture...not long now?!!?!

Twins fetal development:24 weeks babycentre

 By 24 weeks your twins are proportioned like newborns, but thinner, as their baby fat hasn't yet developed. They're getting heavier every day, but their skin still appears wrinkled, because they need to gain more weight. 

Your twins' lips are distinct and their eyes are formed, though the coloured part of their eyes (iris) still lacks pigment. Their pancreas, liver, thyroid, adrenal and pituitary glands, essential for producing hormones, continue to grow and mature. Tiny eyebrows and eyelids are now visible. 

Your twins' internal ears are now formed and they'll start hearing the sound of your heart and other internal sounds. This includes your voice, which is transmitted via your spine. They will also hear sounds from outside through the skin covering your belly. 

However these sounds are distorted as they pass through your fat and muscle, the wall of your uterus, and amniotic fluid. Only your voice will be clearly recognisable to them by the end of your pregnancy. 

Your twins can now hear high-pitched sounds and will soon hear low-pitched sounds too. If you sing or talk to your twins, sound waves are transmitted along your spine to make them progressively familiar to your voice. This helps them to recognise you after they are born. 

Even this early, tooth buds are forming beneath your babies' gum line. Before you know it, your twins will be born, and soon after, their first teeth will come through. 

Your twins' lungs continue to develop and mature to prepare for breathing. Your babies are making breathing movements even though there is no air in their lungs yet. This is essential practice for when they are born. 

You may be noticing stretch marks on your belly, hips and breasts. These faint, red or brown streaks are known as striae. You can't get rid of stretch marks, but they will fade after you give birth. Wearing a supportive bra may help to prevent stretch marks from developing on your breasts. Stretch marks are very common at this stage of the pregnancy. About 90 per cent of women get them. 

Also, your eyes may be light-sensitive and may feel gritty and dry. This is a perfectly normal pregnancy niggle known as dry eye syndrome. Try to rest your eyes as much as possible, and keep them clean with cotton wool and warm water. 

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/24-weeks-pregnant-%20twins#ixzz2eIeae6GM

24+5

Have spent my first week back at school this week, but have had a fairly easy week with not much teaching to do so that has eased me in gently! Everyone's looking after me too which is sweet :-)

The first couple of days back at school were quite tiring with all the unpacking we had to do to set the school back up but there was alot that I couldn't do so I felt a bit useless! 

On Thursday morning, Robin and I attended our first antenatal class (just the free NHS one) and it was OK but not much was covered, only signs of labour, what to do and pain relief really. Lots of people there were having their babies in the birthing centre and hoping for water births but obviously I can't do that as have to be in hospital :-(. To be honest, although the birthing centre is really lovely, I think I would feel better about being in a hospital anyway, just in case and there's no guarantee there will be a pool available so it's best not to get hopes up anyway. I'm sure in the future everyone will have a pool available but I think it's still quite a new thing.

I was a bit nervous about having an epidural but having heard and read more about it, I feel a bit better about it now and realise that it is a good idea for me to have it so I am prepared for any eventuality. I don't think there is much point in having a 'birth plan' written really though as I think there is so much unpredictability with a twin birth that I will just have to go with the flow. I'd rather that than have a strict expectation of anything because it's more than likely it wouldn't happen anyway.

Here's my 'mental' birth plan...1) Take paracetamol at first sign of contractions. 2) Get in a warm bath. 3) Call hospital. 4) Take lots of snacks, comfy clothes/pyjamas, friends DVDs and laptop in preparation for what could be a long, boring, painful, exciting, scary labour/stay in hospital. 5) Have entenox & epidural when appropriate. 6) *Soon after, have two beautiful babies, hopefully the way nature intended! 7) Treasure our gorgeous miracles :-) (oh and have a bath, call friends & family, take millions of photos etc etc etc!)

NHS says the following things should be covered in antenatal...

The kinds of topics covered by antenatal classes are:

• health in pregnancy, including a healthy diet
• exercises to keep you fit and active during pregnancy
• what happens during labour and birth
• coping with labour and information about different types of pain relief
• how to help yourself during labour and birth  
• relaxation techniques
• information about different kinds of birth and interventions, such as ventouse or forceps delivery
• caring for your baby, including feeding
• your health after the birth
• "refresher classes" for those who've already had a baby
• emotions and feelings during pregnancy, birth and after

It also says NCT run classes but they may charge for them (Yes, £151!) TAMBA does a one day twins class too but that's £139 aswell. Thanks but no thanks! So I'm probably not going to be getting as much info as paid classes but people have been having babies for millions of years without all this wishy washy practicing, education session malarky and I think I will pick lots of advice from other mums (especially twin ones) and from our own mums about stuff. Half the time the advice is obvious and the other half it's common sense/a quick youtube video/chat with another mum about! If you've got the money to spend and want to meet other new mums then maybe it's worth it but I just can't justify the expense when everything is costing us double!

Anyway, next week is all about feeding and we have to take a teddy or doll...must find two to take!

In other news, I've had no right thigh pain for 3 whole days now! Yay! The midwife had a little feel of my tummy on Friday and she thought they were both presenting breech so if that means that onion has shifted off my leg nerve, I'm happy with breech for now as she said there's plenty of time for onion to get back to head down for the birth. I'm measuring 30 weeks now...starting to feel it too! I dread to think how huge I will be in 10 weeks! It really doesn't sound long at all when I say that now does it! They were both quite quiet today so I popped the doppler on to check they were OK and the hbs were pretty parallel and quite high so I reckon she might have been right about them being head up side by side now.

I had to book in for my gestational diabetes test whilst at the docs so that's another morning to take off work. They will check my CBC to look at my platelets and iron levels too so am hoping the platelets aren't down further and that will put my mind at ease about bleeding to death etc. They asked me if I wanted to book the flu shot while I was there so I said why not...and maybe I should get the whooping cough while I was at it so I think the next few weeks and beyond I will feel like a bit of a human pin cushion! Oh well...it will be so worth it when I get my little munchkins! I can't wait...can you tell I'm excited!?!

I nearly got stung on the head today by a wasp again whilst I was in mothercare...what is it about me and wasps?! Luckily, I escaped but I was quite shaken up by the whole thing!

I'm wondering when I should ask people if they want to start putting in their sweepstake votes? Maybe wait a few more weeks. I really have no idea what they are...probably swaying towards thinking Onion is a girl and Sage is a boy but really have no clue! Also I have absolutely no preference for either gender combination so I'm not hoping for any specific flavours of babies, just happy and healthy ones :-)

Here's a couple of little pictures I took of my belly today...it's really stretching out now! Also check out this clip on youtube...it's so funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmA2ClUvUY

24 Weeks

It's getting exciting now! I've reached the stage where the babies are kicking really obviously now and we can feel them from the outside! They are 'real' from now on and could survive if born prematurely but obviously have no intention of that happening any time soon hopefully!

We went to see our consultant last week and have a growth scan. The consultant was very nice and helpful and said there's no reason not to go for a natural birth so am hopeful that we will be able to do that.

Everything is looking as it should be and the babies were both moving lots. The sonographer said, "these two are lively babies...I think you'll have to have a firm hand with these!" It was lovely to see them again and they gave us a little picture again. It sort of looks like one is squishing the other but it's just how they do it on an angle. Twin 1 was head down to the right and twin 2 was breech to the left so they are sort of ying and yang right now. 

Been back at work for two days and my back is really hurting and my right thigh is still giving me pain but I'm taking it fairly easy at work and people are looking after me well! Everyone says I'm looking so neat with my bump for twins at 24 weeks so here's my bump picture from today...

Someone pinned this on a pregnancy forum, I thought it was funny! http://www.pregnantchicken.com/pregnant-chicken-blog/2012/1/17/porn-for-pregnant-ladies.html

Every so often I notice that someone has found this site by searching "Pregnant Woman Porn" and I have no doubt that I am not what they are looking for. But it got me to thinking, pregnant ladies *should* have their very own candy to look at. We have needs! We have desires!

So after seeing a bunch of these for crafting and new moms online, I thought about some of the wonderful words many pregnant women might like to hear.

Here are a few I came up with, but feel free to let me know what else these fine (oh so fine) gentlemen could say to make you weak in the knees.

Thanks you, gentlemen. I couldn't have said it better myself.

20 reasons why it's great to have twins

1. Knowing that you are only going to have to go through the birth process once to end up with two children. 2. Enjoying the fun of choosing two baby names that fit together perfectly. 
3. Being able to hold one baby in each arm while feeling a huge rush of love and pride. 
4. Watching your babies sleep peacefully, side-by-side. 
5. Only having to establish one routine. 
6. Getting all the sleepless nights over and done with in one go. 
7. Watching them carve out their own identities as they grow. 
8. Knowing that they are going to have a best friend in each other for life. 
9. Enjoying the attention that twins inevitably attract. 
10. Feeling confident that they can help each other on their first day at school. 
11. Discovering all their amazing little differences. 
12. Watching them create their own secret language and games. 
13. Knowing that they will never be lonely. 
14. Loving the fact that they are constant playmates and can entertain each other. 
15. Feeling special because you've joined the exclusive club of twin mums. 
16. Only having to buy one of every must-have toy and not having to give baby number two (by a few minutes!) hand-me-downs. 
17. Only having to bake one birthday cake and throw one birthday party a year. 
18. Seeing them learning and encouraging each other to reach their milestones. 
19. Watching them taking care of each other when one is upset or hurt. 
20. Knowing that their shared history means they have one of life's most unbreakable bonds. 

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a1019490/20-reasons-why-its-great-to-have-twins#ixzz2ciQT8jCi

22 Weeks

Last week we went away to Edinburgh for the Fringe festival. We had a brilliant time but I was certainly feeling the strain from all the walking around. Even sitting was a bit painful. I have had numbness in my leg for a few weeks on and off but it was alot worse on holiday with all the walking and felt burning and stinging. By the end of the days my right leg was in agony and my feet were both swollen! Anyway, seems to be better now I'm home and not having to walk about much but it may be interesting to see how I cope with a day at school with it. I tried to speak to the midwife about it but they are a nightmare to get hold of. From looking at the information on the internet, I think I'm suffering with something called parasthetica which is caused by extra weight compressing the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, which is below the pelvis. Swollen feet is pretty standard for walking around all day when preggers! 

Anyways, not much else to report really apart from feeling some kicks now and I've even seen some jumps and felt from the outside a few times so very exciting!

Robin said I'm looking really preggers now hehe!

21 Weeks

We changed our 3D scan to 21st September so both our mum's could join us so that will be brilliant. Think the babies are having a growth spurt since the last scan...definitely feeling the difference more and more! Here's what I turned the hats into, more hats and my bump pictures!

20 Weeks babycentre

Here's babycentre's view on 20 weekers! Also, just booked our 3D/4D scan for 15th September! Cannot wait for that! :-)

20 Weeks

Had our scan on Monday! I was so nervous about everything being OK with them that when she got them up on the screen and she said they were there and she could see their hearts beating, I just started crying with relief. Then she went on and did all the checks and they are both looking really healthy and growing perfectly so far so that was fantastic news. It is really starting to feel real now! So excited! I've started making a few more things...having a go at crocheting now -think I'm going to make them little santa hats next :-)

Here are the things I've made - (the hats turned out a little pointy but might be good for elf type bobble!) Bear modelling my hat...

 Little booties...

Patchwork quilt mats...

Here's the scan and bump pics. Definitely grown this week - it's getting a little uncomfortable now - I was surprised how high up my uterus is at the scan - I now know why it feels like one baby is up in my ribs - twin 2 is up really high!