11+4

Well, what a busy week we've had! Back to school on Monday and got to tell everyone at work the news which was lovely. Everyone was really pleased for us. On Tuesday we celebrated our first anniversary, went out for a delicious meal at the Clifton Sausage and instead of buying each other a 'paper' present, we planted a tree...

Anniversary plum tree!
On Wednesday we went to see star trek and last night we had our scan!

So we got to Bath RUH with plenty of time to spare (nice and quick, only 15 minutes in the car). Despite going for a wee twice before we left, I was absolutelty desperate by the time we got there and had to go again! A nurse came out and said to Robin, "She's not going to the loo is she?" He just shook his head, sighed and replied, "Yes." Oh well. (You are supposed to have a full bladder for the scan but we were half an hour early so I figured I had time to drink another pint of water before we went in!) Half an hour of anxious waiting outside the examination rooms and then it was our turn. The sonographer spent ages talking to us about what she was going to do but I just wanted her to get on with it because I couldn't wait to see they were OK and also I was really desperate for the loo again!

They had a big screen on the wall again which was lovely and they dimmed the lights to see it all nice and clearly. I held Robin's hand and then the picture came up and we could see the babies straight away in their bunk bed positions again. She confirmed the top one's heart beat and then went to the bottom one and confirmed that one. RELIEF! She looked to see which one would be easiest to measure first. She said they call the lower twin TWIN 1 and the upper twin TWIN 2. She started on the upper twin as the lower one was curled up comfy on a curve and the upper one seemed to have more room to stretch out. It was so so so amazing seeing them move around, kicking and turning over!

The sonographer said the CRL (Crown Rump Length) needed to be 45mm+ to do an accurate NT (Nuchal Translucency) measurement and give more accurate dates and that measurement is between 11weeks 3 days and 14 weeks so we were right on the edge. She tried lots of times to get the measurement but every time baby moved it seemed to change and was very borderline on the 45mm measurement. She measured the translucency a few times and it was around 1.3, which she said looked well within normal range. Twin 1 was in a little dip so that one was hard to measure aswell. She suggested emptying half my bladder to see if that would drop them down a bit. How you're supposed to judge what half your bladder is, I don't know!? When I came back and she had another look, she said it was still quite full so to do that again and a little bit more! Off I went to pee some more (which was a relief as I was still desperate haha!). She had another go when we got back but still no joy and said we might have to come back next week to have another go. We said that was fine...another opportunity to see them again :-) Once she had checked with another sonographer that that would be OK, she said we could go and they would arrange another appointment for next week but that there didn't look like there would be anything to worry about, the lab just needed to get these measurements accurate to process the results properly.

So we get another chance next week to see our babies!!! :-) We are so lucky :-) Also they gave us the pictures for free this time and said to pay for the ones next week. The lady said, "You have these ones for free, you're going to have enough to pay for now!!" Feel so much better now I've seen them again and the first trimester is nearly finished! Mum said she thought twin 1, being the lazy one is a boy and the little mover and shaker on the top is a girl. We shall see indeed! Anyway, here's some more pics of our babies. It really is amazing to think they're there inside my tummy!... :-)

10+4

Cough is almost completely gone now so feeling lots better. Tiredness is epic still though! Naps are my new best friend...I slept most of the day on and off yesterday and have had a nap this morning too! I'm hoping for a surge of energy to get me through work next term!

We had a celebratory meal last night with the future grandparents :-) It was really lovely. 6 sleeps until our next scan and seriously cannot wait for a number of reasons...
1) Firstly and most importantly to check both babies are OK obviously. It is still really hard to believe there are two actual real life human beings growing inside me. It's so hard to believe still because I can't see or feel them. I find myself looking at my scan pictures every day to remind myself it really is real!
2) I can't wait to tell all our friends...we are so excited and want to share with everyone now!
3) I'll be that much closer to the second trimester and I'm hoping that I can relax then and stop worrying about every little twinge (maybe!?). People say no point worrying about things now, you'll be doing enough of that for the rest of your life once they arrive!

People always ask, "WOW, twins! How did that happen? Do twins run in your family?" There doesn't seem to be an easy answer to that. Reading up on the technicalities of it all, there are two main types of twins...

Identical twins

Identical (monozygotic) twins happen when a single egg (zygote) is fertilised (Not by two sperms as some people seem to think!) The egg then divides into two, creating identical twins who share the same genes as one another. Identical twins are always the same sex, so if your twins are identical you'll have two girls or two boys, and they'll look very alike.

Non-identical twins

Non-identical (dizygotic) twins happen when two separate eggs are fertilised and then implant into the woman’s womb (uterus). These non-identical twins are no more alike than any other two siblings. Non-identical twins are more common. The babies may be of the same sex or different sexes. One-third of all twins will be identical and two-thirds non-identical.


They think ours are diamniotic dichorionic (top right) at the moment, which is the kind with least risk of complications so that gives me some reassurance but they will confirm that next Friday hopefully.

Some research suggests that a certain enzyme in a male's sperm is responsible for the egg splitting for identical twins but others suggest it is just a fluke. Non-identical twins are said to sometimes run in families because there is a genetic predisposition to hyper-ovulation (releasing more than one egg each cycle) although most of this research says it can only be passed down the maternal line.

As there doesn't appear to be any twins on my mother's side, and the twins on my father's side are identical or distantly related, and no twins on Robin's side either, perhaps the answer to the question is,  "No twins don't run in my family." I (and some other speculators) personally think it has more to do with a 'hormone balancing herb' I was taking called Vitex Chasteberry, bought from Holland & Barratt. I was concerned about ovulating late in my 32-34 day cycle (about day 23 according to the fertility monitor) and had read this helped sort this kind of problem out naturally.  You know me, no patience to just go with the flow and like to be in control (that's going to have to change haha!) The label said to take 2 tablets in the morning and 2 at night, which is quite alot but I thought give it a go, see what happens!

Here's some more information about it... http://natural-fertility-info.com/vitex The only thing I know for sure about the effects of these pills, having took it for only 18 days, is that it brought my ovulation forward by 6 days, which may have been the key to me getting pregnant, but perhaps I always pop out 2 eggs (have to bear that in mind if we want a third one day!) or maybe it made that happen too. I guess we will never know for sure.

However it happened doesn't really matter...we don't care, we're just happy it did! :-)

10+2

Just a quick one today! Went to the docs and I don't have a chest infection so that's good. I do feel like it's on the mend so yay! Anyway, been having some twinges and pains but google says it's round ligament pain from uterus stretching which is normal so hopefully nothing to worry about. It's hard not to worry about every little pain! Nausea has been horrible again today...looking forward to that finishing!

Christine, mum and I have been looking at the baby names books...honestly there are some wacky names out there! Am not into all these wierd names at all. Have a few picked out which I really like but keeping options open and secret for now. Had a vision last night that it was two little girls and they were running through a meadow giggling, one with long curly blonde hair and the other with dark hair, then we were back home and Auntie Yas and I were sat with the girls infront of us French plaiting their hair :-) Obviously I'll be happy with any combination but the two little girlies were so so cute, it was a lovely dream!

10 Weeks

So I'm still suffering terribly with my cough...absolute rubbish. Think the sickness is getting a little worse, have been sick 4 times now and feeling nausea, especially in the evenings. Also I'm off work this week so it's probably making it worse as I'm not distracted. Have been doing the wrong thing looking at information on the internet about twins and worrying myself about all the things that can go wrong but I've spoken to the midwife now and I also realise that if there is nothing wrong with the babies, the chances are everything will be fine, and if there is something wrong with how they're developing then there's nothing much I can do about it so I just have to carry on as normal and concentrate on taking care of myself, starting with getting rid of this damn cold!

I googled some twin images just for fun...which is a much happier thing to google about twins than all the depressing worrying stuff. They think the twins are dichorionic diamniotic, which is the kind that is non identical with least risk of complications so that's good, but you never know until they're born!

Here's some happy pictures!

9+3 HAPPY SCAN DAY! :-)

Today was the most amazing day of my life I think! I was so excited about my scan but also a little nervous obviously. After going the wrong way and nearly not making it to our appointment, we were cutting it so fine that when we got to Bath City Centre, I had to jump out of the car and run down the road frantically looking for the clinic and hoping Robin could park and get here quickly too!

I rang the clinic and they directed me there and made it just by the skin of my teeth. They told me on the phone that the sonographer had to leave at 2pm so I just told her to get started and hopefully Robin would arrive soon. Little did I know that he found a car park, then had no money to buy a parking ticket, couldn't unlock my phone (we had swapped as the sat nav was going on mine) and then asked a lady if he could borrow her phone to ring me and she said no. He was having a nightmare while I was getting jelly rubbed on my belly. Luckily, a guy gave him an old ticket he still had an hour left on so he put that in the car and ran down the road looking for the clinic.

Meanwhile, the sonographer was busy rubbing the dooda over my stomach and I could see on the big screen some lines but everything was moving about. I just wanted her to tell me everything was OK but I was also thinking about Robin finding the place too. Then she told me she sees TWO babies. Yes TWO! TWINS! I said something like 'no way, are you serious? Are you joking?!' And then she said, "You need to get your husband here." So I'm trying to ring him from the room and he's shouting that he can't hear me, no signal. So I go outside with no shoes on (after wiping the gel off me) and he had no idea where he was (and nor did I, not knowing Bath at all). Thank GOD the lady on reception was amazing at directions and within about 5 minutes he was running down the street and I was so thankful he made it and we could see more. The whole time I'm thinking, she said twins, are they both OK, are they both growing right, are the dates right etc? I'm such a worry wart! Anyway, Robin didn't know that I already knew something he didn't know, so the sonographer asked him if he was ready for a shock and then said it's twins. I think he was in a bit of shock, but smiling. I asked if they were OK and could she point out the hearts beating and we could see them both there on the screen, really beating right there! It was amazing. She measured them and it came out 9+3 which is pretty much exactly where I put my ovulation as the date so they were bang on track. Amazing. I'm so happy! I actually can't believe I am going to be fitting 2 babies in there when I'm only 4ft11" tall. Where on Earth are they going to go!?!

On the way home, I texted my mum "all good news at the scan, see you later" but then she rang me and asked me questions...one of which was "only one baby?" Obviously that was the cat out of the bag and she was screaming down the phone again, then running around her office telling everyone 'my daughter's having twins...ahhhh!' Shortly after that, we visit my gran and granddad and tell them the news about being pregnant and that it's twins. They were so happy too. My gran kept saying how 'well' I look, which in my book means 'fat'. I definitely have a bit of podge going on and boobs growing by the day so maybe it's fair to say I do look 'well' haha! She said I have a glow about me already...isn't pregnancy glow kind of sickness sweat?! Still suffering with my cold and have a horrible cough coming on too so it could be that!

We then told Robin's parents and his Auntie when they got home. They were really excited for us and shocked as well too. We went on to tell my dad, brothers (my brother actually didn't believe me at all when I rang him up) and some of Robin's parents friends who we were out with. Went to a cider tasting tonight but didn't enjoy it much as so so tired and cough is so bad that I was sick for the second night running, which is especially not great when you are throwing up in a pub toilet. Also could only have a sip of the ciders! I text my boss to tell him the fab news and he was really pleased for me too. Can't wait to tell more people! Here's some pictures of my our babies!

8 weeks

Have managed to catch a cold...booo! Sent home from work on Friday afternoon, was so sweet, feeling really looked after. Decided not to go in yesterday either as still feeling really rubbish. I think it makes me notice nausea more when I'm at home though so I'd rather keep busy really. Also being stuck at home is boring! Had a lesson observation today, which was fine but since I am not feeling well, I wasn't too worried about it...feeling very clogged up and hazy :-(

7 weeks

Not much else to update on...we've told our brothers and a couple of close friends now so it's starting to get really real now! Booked our first scan though for 24th...can't wait!