Author: The Wee Family Blog

I feel so lucky to have made it to 37 weeks of a twin pregnancy. I’ve read that 60% of twin pregnancies result in spontaneous birth before 37 weeks so when our twins were delivered at 37 weeks + 2 days of pregnancy, we had a nice, relaxed day. They (nearly) always deliver twins before 38 weeks and with a breech Twin 1, ours came by planned c- section.

I was nervous and excited in the waiting room on the morning of the delivery. When we arrived, I gave all the other couples a cheery “morning!” as we came into the room. No one said anything. I had hoped to strike up some small talk about how great it was that we were going to meet our babies today. Nothing.

We twiddled our thumbs for ages in our single room, waiting to be called to theatre. Quite a surreal experience knowing that we’d finally get to meet our twins. The gown I put on over my huge bump hardly covered my bottom and Rhuaraidh had to put on blue scrubs. We’d assumed he’d be given some Crocs to wear in theatre but he wasn’t so he had to wear his brown leather brogues with his scrubs and looked like a bit of a tit!

I passed my time sitting looking like a “pun a mince” as the nurse who came in to fill in all the paperwork called me. The surgeon came to meet us and if I hadn’t been so excited to meet the babies, I’d have been worried by his extremely dull, unenthusiastic manner.

We were finally called to make our way up the corridor. Rhuaraidh had to wait outside until I’d been anaesthetised. It all went smoothly. But I was worried by the number of people in the room, the two resuscitator tables at the ready and whether my anaesthetic would work properly or whether I’d feel everything.

The anaesthetist was sitting with me and Rhuaraidh had been allowed to come in and sit on a stool at my head. At 11.46, after what felt like someone digging around inside me and a lot of pushing and pulling, S was born, feet first and taken for a quick check. He weighed in at a healthy 7lbs. They quickly stuck a nappy and a wee knitted hat on and brought him round the curtain and positioned him on my chest as I’d requested immediate skin to skin. A very different experience to catching E in the birthing pool after my first delivery! It was tricky to keep S on my chest as my hands were out to my sides and he was slippy and I was sweaty.

Two minutes later, Rhuaraidh stood up and looked over the curtain to watch as R was born. He weighed 6lb 13oz. Rhuaraidh shot me a worried glance as he registered my previous “if it’s two boys then I’d maybe like to have a 4th to try for a girl” comment. We’d agreed that if I wasn’t able to give skin to skin then Rhuaraidh should. So he took R and stuck him down the front of his scrubs.

Once I was stitched up and had been rolled on to a bed, I was given S&R (unnamed at that point) to hold on my chest and that is how I spent the first few hours through in the recovery ward; soaking up their smells, attempting to latch them on to feed and enjoying bonding with our two lovely wee boys.

On this day last year;

I weighed 100kg.

I looked like I had a basketball up my top.

I could only waddle slowly.

I had a painful pelvis.

I was bored of eating Rennies.

I had newly painted toenails courtesy of Rhuaraidh.

I had outgrown my maternity clothes.

I was roasting in the summer sun.

I needed to wee all the time.

I had two very active babies in my womb.

I was exhausted.

I had predicted the babies sexes and weights.

I was feeling lucky to have made it to 37 weeks.

I had my hospital bag ready.

I was excited to meet our two babies.

I was worried about E’s reactions.

I was nervous.

I couldn’t sleep.

I was ready.

I’ve written about E eating everything before but now it’s really starting to get over the top. It’s not random things he’s trying to eat, it’s just more, more, more of everything. Here’s what I mean…

His new favourite activity is to “help” in the kitchen. He drags his wee chair through and stands up while we’re preparing meals- hoping to snatch a piece of whatever foodstuff we are chopping/ mixing or cooking.

My Mum and Dad were up visiting today and they kindly brought lunch with them for us- soup, bread, cheese, humous and we added some bits- salad, olives, gherkins, last nights’ left over pizza… This kind of lunch is the most challenging for E. While shovelling what’s on his plate into his mouth, he can’t resist requesting (shouting for) more of the same or for something else- making sure he has a bit of everything on offer.

At dinner time, he guzzled his stir fry but once he’d finished, he was leaning across to try and scoop more up off S and R’s plate on the other side of the table. As is a daily occurrence in our house just now, he soon jumped down and started scrabbling around on the floor and eating any bits that he, or his brothers had dropped! (There is always plenty there thanks to S’s current desire to decorate the floor with his portion.)

We’re really struggling with this one. Attempts to disallow excessive eating, to take no notice of pleas for more and more and to discourage scoffing off the floor are met with screaming and wailing. Are we not feeding him enough? Is he actually hungry? We’d find that hard to believe as he has three good meals and snacks in between. He always has plenty of energy, doesn’t wake up in the night hungry and is a ‘chunky’ wee (big) boy!

It’s all R and I seem to discuss these days and we can’t work out what to do about it. R even resorted to dousing the floor left overs in Sriracha hot sauce last week but even that didn’t do much to put him off!

Short of restraining him in his chair with reins for the whole mealtime, we’re fast running out of ideas to break this cycle.

We decided today that we’re going to try and let him gorge one day to see whether he’ll stop when he’s full or whether he’ll just keep going and going until he makes himself sick!

Watch this space…

I know it’s a common complaint that children are fussy eaters or don’t eat enough. Should I just be grateful that he has such a healthy appetite?!

Answers on a postcard please!

Rhuaraidh had once said, when we were up in the middle of the night with a wailing E, “can you imagine having twins?!” And honestly, I couldn’t. We thought we might have three children but having three in the space of two years wasn’t really part of our plan! It had never even crossed my mind that I might have twins so the day we found out was the biggest shock of my life so far!

Someone asked me about the day we found out today and I had to fight back the tears…its a very emotional memory.

We went along to our local hospital for our 12 week scan. Rhuaraidh had managed to take an hour or two off work to come too, thankfully! I had a bit of a bump. I was showing more than I did with E but I just put that down to it being my second pregnancy. I hadn’t been any more sick than the first time but I was exhausted. I assumed that was just being pregnant while running around after a toddler! Turns out growing two babies is doubly exhausting.

Just before Christmas in 2017 we, unknowingly, waited in the hospital chairs, desperately trying to distract a grumpy E with leaflets about dogs, multiple snacks and the bagful of toys and books I had begun carting to antenatal appointments.

I was nervous, I always was before scans. Desperate to see a healthy baby, dreading the potential for bad news. The first scan was always the worst for nerves- pregnancy symptoms, yes, but never any real proof that you’ve actually got a tiny human growing inside you until you see it on that screen.

Lying on the bed, I flinched while the sonographer put the cold jelly on my tummy. E was already getting restless on Rhuaraidh’s knee to my left hand side and the screen was on my right.

The sonographer told us that she always started the scan with the screen facing her just so that she could have a first look to check everything was ok. My heart dropped and stomach did a somersault as she had a brief look and said “oh.” Every possible bit of bad news ran through my head for that split second. She quickly turned the screen towards us and announced “there’s baby 1…and there’s baby 2!”

I definitely made some sort of weird noise in response…half a “what??” half an “aaaah.” TWINS?!?!?

I looked at Rhuaraidh who also had a panicked look on his face while trying to stop E climbing onto the bed or escaping out of his arms.

As tears rolled down my cheeks, all I could think of were the practical implications- we’d need a new pram, a new car to fit three car seats in, a new house with more than two bedrooms, would I be able to have a water birth, would I be able to breastfeed them, would we manage with a not-even-two year old and baby twins with no family support nearby? The sonographer even felt the need to apologise- she thought she’d given us the worst news in the world. I barely even looked at them on the screen as I was in so much shock! Of course I was happy really, it was just all a bit too much to take in there and then.

Rhuaraidh went back to work after that. I don’t think he managed to concentrate and came home soon after to pace the sitting room and swear under his breath every couple of minutes in disbelief! I drove home, sat in the driveway and cried, feeling sorry for E. I’d already felt guilty enough that we were having one baby so soon, never mind two!

Once the reality had had a chance to sink in, after a sleepless night and after sharing the news with family and friends, I thought about how amazing it was that my body was growing two babies. Our life plan had changed but we would adapt, make things work as best as we could and enjoy as much of it as possible!