Twins- The Pregnancy

This post follows on from this one where I told the story of our first ultrasound and discovering we had been blessed with twins.

As I said in the previous post we found out that we were expecting twins at our 12 week ultrasound back in March 2008. At the time Ollie was 16 months old.

I found my pregnancy with the twins much harder than Oliver's pregnancy. I think it was the combination of growing two babies and looking after an active toddler. My mum who is a great help to me was also quite sick during the first 20 or so weeks of the pregnancy which made things a little harder too.

After finding out that we were having twins I decided to change from what is called "Shared Care" where I was under the care of a GP (who would see me at the beginning, middle and end of the pregnancy) and a team of midwives (who would see me for the other appointments) to the care of a Obstetrician. I wanted to see an Obs in case I needed to have a c-section so then I would "know" the person who was doing surgery on me. We saw the Obs for the first time at 16 weeks. I was disappointed with the visit. I heard that he had ultrasound machines in his rooms and I had been having visions of going and getting to see the babies again and make sure they were still OK in there. Or at least getting to hear the babies' heart beats. Instead he wrote me a referral to get an ultrasound done at 20 weeks in his rooms with a sonographer as he didn't actually do them. He explained that I needed to make it to 34 weeks or otherwise he would not be able to deliver the babies at the hospital we were booked in to as it isn't equipped to care for babies born earlier than 34 weeks. He also told us that he can only deliver babies at that hospital so he wouldn't be able to deliver them at all. So from that moment my goal was to make it to 34 weeks so I could deliver at the hospital we had chosen and use the Obs we were about to pay big bucks to.

Belly pic at 19w6d

I grew steadily and started to feel the twins move as we approached our 20 week ultrasound. We were all waiting in anticipation to find out what the sexes of the babies were. I prayed and prayed that there was at least one baby girl in there because the thought of three boys under two scared the living daylights out of me! Finally the day arrived and we excitedly went off to the rooms to get the scan done. The lady that did it was so nice, she had a little look to find out for us right at the start. I'll always remember the moment that she looked at twin 1 and announced we were having a little girl and then the complete and utter excitement when we were told that twin 2 was a girl two. I couldn't believe it, we were going to have twin daughters! During the scan it was discovered that there was only one placenta and that the membrane between the girls was very thin which led the sonographer to believe that the girls were in fact identical and not fraternal as they told us at the first ultrasound. The girls were measuring a few days behind but everything looked good.

We had another ultrasound at 24 weeks to check on the growth of the babies. They were both measuring a few days behind their dates but both growing perfectly. And they were both still girls! It was around this time that I started getting lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. I seemed to get them most when bending down to pick up Ollie or toys on the floor.

At 26 weeks we had a bit of a scare. One Saturday morning when Jared was at work I had some spotting followed by lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. When he got home we decided to go to the hospital to get it checked out, so we left Ollie with my parents and off we went. After a few uncomfortable procedures to check on things "down there" it was decided to keep me in overnight to keep an eye on things. I was almost out the door the next day when I had some more spotting and had to spend another night. The rest did me a lot of good as I had been busily looking after an active toddler but I did find the hospital visit hard as it was the first time I had ever been away from Ollie. The best part of being in the hospital was getting to hear the babies' heart beats every morning and night. It was then that I was really able to work out where each girl was sitting in my belly. Being in the maternity ward made me very excited to have my own babies and I spent a lot of time day dreaming of what it would be like when I came back to deliver the girls. After 2 nights in the hospital everything settled down and I was able to go home under strict orders not to do much or lift anything heavy, a very hard task for a mummy with 18 month old! I had another ultrasound that week to check everything, luckily it was all normal and it was put down to me trying to do too much.

After my hospital stay we upgraded Ollie to a big boy bed so I wouldn't have to lift him in and out of the cot. We also got him a mini table and chairs so I wouldn't have to put him in the high chair. My belly continued to grow at an alarming rate and every day activities got increasinly hard to do. My stomach was so stetched and the girls had limbs poking everywhere!

Belly pic at 29w1d

I had another ultrasound at 30 weeks to check on growth and also the position of the babies. I really wanted to deliver the girls naturally so the position of the babies was very important. Twin 1 (Lilly) needed to be head down. As I had an uncomplicated delivery with Ollie it didn't matter what position Twin 2 was in as long as Twin 1 was head down. I was very releaved at the ultrasound when it showed that Twin 1 had moved from the breech position she was in 4 weeks prior to head down. Twin 2 was still in the same postion as she had been since 20 weeks, transverse laying across the top of my belly getting all the kicks from her sister! It was such a relief to find out that everything looked good for a normal delivery. All I had to do for everything to be perfect was make it another month to 34 weeks so I could have them delivered by my Obs at our chosen hospital.

I counted down the days to 34 weeks. I had a feeling that I was going to go early with the babies but just wanted them to hold on long enough to make it to the magical 34 week mark. On the day I made it 33 weeks I was so happy, only one more week, 7 more days. I could do that. Easy! I even had enough energy that day to take Ollie along to our Church Mother's group to get him out of the house and have some fun and tire him out. That night I went to bed thinking it would be like any other night and telling myself that I really needed to get the hospital bag sorted out. After about an hour I woke up to find my waters had started leaking! I couldn't believe it, one week short and it looked like the babies were on their way!.....

Last belly shot at 32w5d

To be continued......

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...well not so much around here. I love Christmas and decorating the house but this year I just can't seem to find the motivation. I'm worried that the kids will get into everything and I have visions of them eating ornaments and munching on or getting tangled in Christmas lights. I really should pull out the tree, hopefully the Christmas spirit will come along with it! Although the fact that a friend of mine with twin boys found tinsel in a dirty nappy yesterday doesn't instill me with confidence!

Surviving twin toddlers

Two toddlers (well almost toddlers, they aren't quite walking yet) are completely stressing me out! I am so relieved at night when they are tucked safely into their beds as it means we made it through another day and everyone is still alive and breathing. Keeping two almost 16 month olds safe and out of trouble as well as the preschooler is proving to be a full time job.

The girls just seem to be in everything at the moment, pulling things out of cupboards, pulling books and DVDs off the bookcase and in the bathroom draws busily finding things to put in their mouths. I'm constantly worried that they are going to choke on something or swallow something dangerous. The kids have all manged on seperate occasions to fit into the clothes dryer, the clothes dryer! Oh and we have all seen how much they like the toilet, which is oh so fun when trying to teach their older brother to toilet train.

Then there is the climbing, oh the climbing! They can both get onto the kitchen table by first climbing on a chair. They table is quite high and the floor is tiles. I'm dreading the day that someone falls from there. We already had a close call last week when Lilly was rocking on a chair near the big glass sliding door and it tipped backwards, Lilly clung on for dear life and missed the window by about an inch. I promptly swallowed my heart as I'm sure it came out of my mouth. We are also having lots of tumbles off the couch. Poor Charlotte fell head first this morning, luckily she seems fine but I think it shaved a few months off my life.

I don't really see this twin thing getting easier. Their first year was a blur of breastfeeding, nappy changes and sleepless nights but at least they stayed in one spot and they slept a lot during the day. I even manged to get all three of them to nap in the afternoon, at the same time! I used to get at least an 1.5 hour break (which I used for napping!). Now the girls pretty much sleep all night but are awake for most of the day, are in to everything and climbing on everything. I barely get a chance to sit down when they are all awake. Ollie doesn't sleep during the day anymore so I don't get any down time. It's hard but I am trying to enjoy it because I know they will be 21 in the blink of an eye but goodness me it's stressful!

And to teach me for blogging while babies are awake, someone got into the cheese better go see to that...

Spare Ribs Shoakers (Cloth nappy/diaper covers)

I have just finished making the girls a pair of Spare Ribs Shoakers each to use as a cover to go over their cloth night nappies. I have to say that I LOVE this pattern, it truly is bullet proof at night for my two as it is made with 12 ply or aran wool. Wool makes a fantastic natural nappy/diaper cover as it is antibacterial and can absorb two times it's weight in liquid before it feels wet. All you need to do is wash it is a lanolin rich wool wash prior to use and you are good to go. This pattern is a one size fits most although it would probably be too big on a newbie unless you bake them big! I have known people to knit the pattern on 4mm/size 6 needles and 8 ply or DK weight to make newborn sized ones- too cute!

The wool is Bluefaced Leicester and I hand dyed it myself in pink and green using Landscape dyes. I just love pink and green together!!

If you would like to have a go at knitting this pattern up yourself you can find it here. (You will have to join Ravelry in order to view it but it is worth it as a whole world of knitting patterns await you there).

Ollie's kinder letter

Ollie will be going to 3 year old kindergarten next year. It is two sessions a week for 2 hours. I must say that I am really looking forward to the small break it will give me! Two of his little friends from church are going to be attending the same kinder too. Yesterday he got a letter to say that we have an orientation visit on the 8th December. I can't wait for the visit, I just know that he is going to love it, he is such a social little boy and loves other kids. Getting the letter yesterday made it all so real, he really will be a kinder boy next year. I just hope the teachers are ready for him!

Twins - Finding out we had two on board!

I thought I would go back memory lane and do some posts on the my twin's pregnancy, early arrival and first year. I'll start off with the day we found out we had TWO babies on board.

I always had a feeling that twins were in store for me and my mother did too. When I was pregnant with Oliver everyone was convinced it was twins, after all my great grandmother had twins and my husband had a twin who unfortunately didn't make it passed the first trimester. I was so happy at Oliver's 12 week scan when one healthy wriggly baby was revealed, I was going to be a young new mum and I really wanted to be able to enjoy my babies separately.

Roll onto my second pregnancy. This time I had a feeling something was up. I remember talking to mum on the phone when I was around 8 weeks and telling her that I was popping out so quickly and wondering to her if was twins this time. I was extremely tired all the time and had been napping in the day and then going to bed at 8pm (but put it down to having a todder) as well as suffering from constant nausea and headaches all of which were worse than my pregnancy with Ollie. I also felt some "flutterings" around 10 weeks which added to my suspicions.

My husband felt we may be expecting twins too, he didn't tell me at the time but the Sunday before we had the 12 week scan he was sitting in church and had the thought come to him that there needed to be more babies in the congregation and that we would soon be adding two babies to the fold.

I was so nervous the morning of the 12 week scan. I remember my heart beating loudly and my palms sweating as Jared drove us there. I was convinced that they were either going to tell us there was no baby there (I am a massive worry wort) or that there were TWO babies there. I couldn't decide which was more horrifying!

Finally we were called in and I got comfy on the ultrasound table while Jared found a good spot to stand while holding Ollie who was 16 months at the time. As soon as the ultrasound wand was put on my stomach she gasped "That's not normal!" and quickly moved it away but it was too late I had already seen two babies squirming around inside me. "Did you see that?" she asked "You're having twins!". By this point Ollie had wiggled his way out of Jared's arms and was climbing through cords, he was a still is a really full on child and the thought of having him and two newborns flooded my mind. I started to freak out. I started to cry. We were asked if we would like a moment alone and the ultrasound tech took Ollie for us so we could talk. I remember looking at Jared with tears in my eyes telling him I wasn't strong enough to do this, we were going to have 3 kids under 2 and I just couldn't do it. I wouldn't be able to give birth to two babies. It was all too much. Jared was so kind and loving and told me how strong I was and that I would be able to do it and that Heavenly Father wouldn't send us twins if he didn't think we were up to the task. I had some water and settled down so we could get on with the scan.

Twin B (Charlotte) was in a great position to be measured so she was done first. Every think looked perfect. Twin A (Lillian) was lower down so I had to have an internal scan for her which was really the last thing I felt like getting done at the time. We were told that they both had their own sacs and palcentas (although later scans only showed 1 and there was only 1 at their birth) so they were most likely fratenal. The scan ended up taking an hour and by the end Ollie was well and truly past it and was being horrible.

Jared only had an hour off work so had to quickly leave as soon as he dropped us home. I needed to talk to someone about it all so I rang mum up and when she answered the phone I blurted out "there is two on them in there!". Mum began to laugh and cry at the same time. I arranged to go over to her house after Oliver's nap and we spent the afternoon getting our heads around it all.

After the initial shock wore off the excitment began to sink in. There was so much to prepare! We needed to find a bigger car, second cot, lots of clothes and tiny cloth nappies need to be made. Was I going to get it done in time? And could I at least have one girl please?

Ok, I'll leave it there for now. Stay tuned for the next installment- My twin pregnancy.

Chicken/Turkey Burgers

There is something about homemade burgers that is just better than fast food restaurant ones, well to me anyway. Probably the fact that they aren't swimming in grease! I love nothing more than a homemade burger with fresh crisp salad, mmmmm! Definitely a perfect dinner heading into the warmer months here in Australia. When we feel like a bit of a change from the traditional beef burgers I like to make the patties with chicken or turkey mince and use cranberry sauce instead of tomato sauce. They are a real hit in our home so I thought I'd share the recipe with you all today.

500g Chicken or Turkey mince
1 egg
Handful of bread crumbs
Few sprigs of Rosemary

Hamburger buns
Cheese slices
Lettuce
Tomato
Cranberry sauce

Place the mince, egg, bread crumbs and rosemary in a bowl and combine. Shape the mixture into 7 equal patty shapes and place in a fry pan.


Cook both sides until they are a golden and cooked through. This is normally about 5 mins side.

While the patties are cooking prepare the salad.


Cut the buns in half and assemble the burger by placing the cheese, then chicken/turkey pattie, tomato, lettice on top of the bottom bun and spread the underside of the top bun with cranberry sauce.

Next time you feel like making burgers give these guys a go! I'm sure your family will love them as much as mine does!

I am pleased to list this post at 11th Heaven's Homemaker Mondays