Finding out that you’re expecting twins can evoke a whole host of different emotions. Elation, confusion, anxiety, happiness.
If you’ve had assisted conception you may already know that there is a possibility that you have two on board. For some people twins run in the family, for others it’s a fluke of nature; the egg splits or two eggs are released and fertilised during one cycle.
However it happens, when you find out that your ‘baby’ is actuallybabies nothing quite prepares you for how you’ll feel; during your first scan, when the sonographer confirms there are, in fact, two heartbeats.
When I found out about my twin pregnancy my boy and I had been trying for a baby for many years. We were more than ready to be parents and we were over the moon. That said, it had been such an arduous journey to get to that point that I almost didn’t dare believe that it was really true, until well into my pregnancy. The following 12 posts chart my journey from 17 weeks — when I started writing my blog diary — right up to when our twins arrived at 36 weeks.
For anyone reading who has just found out you’re pregnant with twins ‘Congratulations!’ Being a parent of multiples is an incredible experience!
It’s been ages since I last wrote my diary blog!! Three weeks since my last post — I am slacking!!
There’s such a lot going on though, to be fair. I am desperately trying to get my work tied up before you come along. My maternity leave is getting shorter by the day! At the start of every working week, I tell myself it’s going to be the last one before you arrive, but every Friday I seem to have more orders and my ‘to do’ list seems to have grown! This is the downside of running your own business; I suspect that if I worked for someone else, I’d be lying on the sofa now watching re-runs of ‘The Good Life’ or similar! ;)
Hurrah — I’m now 33 weeks pregnant with twins!
Asides from my to do list, another thing growing is my ENORMOUS belly! We had the 32 week scan last Monday and you are both —apparently— 4lbs each!! Not sure how scientific this ultrasound measuring malarkey is. I keep getting told by various people that it can be out by a couple of lb… which could mean that you’re only a very tiny 2lb each or a WHOPPING 6lb!!!
As the babies are still breech and transverse, I have now been booked in for a caesarian so we finally have a proper due date. I am a little sad that I’m not going to get the chance to go into labour and try and birth our babies myself without medical intervention, but que sera…
Ultimately I want them to be safe and, to be honest, so many ‘natural’ births can end with medical intervention anyway — be it forceps, ventouse, epidural, episiotomy — and that’s just for a single baby! As my consultant said last week, if both babies had been head down from the start, or at least for a few weeks, she would have let me try naturally, but the fact they’ve both been transverse since the beginning and now Twin A has turned breech, it makes sense to get them out the safest way. And that, sadly, involves cutting me open. I hope it will be OK. I am more scared of the recovery than the operation, but that might change as the date gets closer!! The date for the c-section is 22nd March.
4 weeks today.
My feet have started swelling up this week. I think that it’s down to the fact that I haven’t been drinking enough water, so today I am mindful of this and am on my 3rd pint!!
Looking forward to Monday’s scan!! I wonder how much weight these Twinkles will have put on!!
I’m now 28 weeks pregnant with twins! And yesterday we had the 28 week scan. What a great day!
Such a milestone as it now means that these precious babies have a 90% chance of survival, if they were born! I was holding my breath when the sonographer started the scan… as I haven’t felt the regular movement that I’ve been used to, I was a little anxious about what to expect, but they they were!! Limbs wrapped around each other and little hearts beating like a train :) Just lovely.
You’d think that as the babies grew and got older, the ultrasound scans would be clearer but, in actual fact, with multiples it makes things even harder! There is so little room and as they’re growing bigger and bigger, all that you can see is a tangle of limbs. Not even sure what belonged to which baby, but still a lovely sight all the same!
They are now 2lb 7oz and 2lb 8oz, so they’re growing beautifully. I have put on about 2 and a half stone, so I am clearly growing beautifully too!! I love my bump… I shall be sad when it’s gone.
I waited for so long to ‘look’ pregnant and now I do, it’s the best feeling in the world! I love the way that people stop to talk to you about your pregnancy and ask when the baby is due. And I love, even more, telling them that it’s not one baby, but two!! That starts a whole new line of enquiry and people are fascinated with the differences between a singleton or multiple pregnancy. I can’t comment on that though. Sadly my singleton pregnancies never lasted long enough for me to experience the gorgeous feelings that I am experiencing now.
According to the pregnancy email I received yesterday, the babies can now open and close their eyes and they have eyelashes too!! The other thing it mentioned was that the babies are now the size of a Chinese Cabbage…
hmmm….
I don’t know what a Chinese Cabbage looks like, but also I can’t help thinking that that is a ridiculous reference point. What size of Chinese Cabbage?? Small, medium or large? Or are all Chinese Cabbages genetically modified so they’re exactly the same size?? Whatever. I like to think of the babies as babies, not cabbages — Chinese or otherwise!
The other brilliant thing that happened this week was that we had a 4D scan.
The 4D scan
It was extraordinary. When the sonographer flicked from 2D to 4D, all of a sudden the Twin A came in to full view and we saw the most beautiful little face. Perfect pouty lips and a button nose.
Sadly, Twin B was too shy to perform for the cameras :(
This little one faced my spine the whole time and, even with much poking and prodding from both me and the sonographer, and lots of jumping up and down and acrobatics from me, would not turn around. I am a little gutted, to tell the truth. I haven’t seen this baby’s face properly at any of the scans.
The 24 week scan showed Twin A’s profile — which was absolutely beautiful — but my darling Twin B was facing the camera full on, which for the 4D scan would have been absolutely amazing, but for a 2D scan shows no detail really. It just looked like a funny little alien, smiling back at us!
If Twin B had of been in the same position last Saturday, for the 4D scan, we would have —finally!— seen this elusive little Womble!! I guess I’m just going to have to wait until he/she is ready to join me and their Daddy when we welcome the babies to the world!
Not long to go now.
10 weeks more and I will see for myself :)
Holding thumbs that they don’t decide to make an early appearance! I want to keep them safe and sound in my beautiful bump for just a bit longer… 9 and a half weeks would do it!
Where, oh where has the time gone??? I’m 27 weeks pregnant with twins; and you are officially ‘viable’!!
Wooo-hoooo!!!
I have been desperate to get to the point of viability. The doctors use that term as though it were some magic charm. And I suppose it is. It means that if you were to be born early it would mean that there would now be a good chance of survival. And that has got to be the most magical thing you can hear when you’re expecting a baby. Especially ones that are so longed for.
I’m feel really cross with myself, not to have posted over the last few weeks. Although the lead up to Christmas is always a hectic one and this year was no exception. Such a lot going on that by the time I thought about writing my diary, it was always last thing at night before I was about to drop off!
It’s a brand new year — we are now a week into it and it’s been pretty eventful so far!
One born every minute…
Last Saturday was spent at the hospital, because I hadn’t felt as much movement as I had done previously. If this happens, they advise you to come in and be monitored. Well, we went in and had to wait over 2 hours to be seen. Hmmmm. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again, because the wait was sooooo painfully long, and boring, it would put me off going again.
The other thing about it, that was quite off-putting, was the fact that we were in the labour ward waiting room with — yes, you’ve guessed it — labouring women!!! Thank goodness for ‘One Born Every Minute’. If I hadn’t already been privy to this, via the power of television, I think I would have freaked out and left! It’s one thing to see women giving birth on the TV, but to hear them with your very own ears is something else entirely!! Animalistic noises that were otherworldly… coming from these poor women who were in the most unimaginable pain. But hey! At least it prepared me for what is to come!! Gulp. :)
We’ve got the 28 week scan next Monday. I’m so looking forward to seeing you again and finding out how much you’ve grown. Fingers crossed you’ve both been packing the weight on and are now well over 2lb each. I am praying that your growth is equal and the doctors say that you both look healthy.
I know that my little Twin B hasn’t got as much room as his/her sibling. The poor little mite has its legs all squashed up underneath my ribs and there’s not a great deal of room to manoeuvre. I’m hoping that this doesn’t affect his/her growth… you know, a bit like goldfish. Apparently they only grow to the size of the tank they’re in. It would be awful to think that the same happened with babies!!
I love you Twinkles. See you on TV next Monday XXX
Me 27 weeks pregnant with twins[/caption]