Welcome Tiny Humans

Asher Wilson 2.244kg 

Born March 26th at 7:19am

 

 Milo Judah 2.022kg

Born March 26th at 7.20am

It's taken me until today...fifteen weeks and one day, to have some time to sit and write this. My babies take up ALL OF MY TIME...ALL.OF.IT and when I *do* get a few minutes to myself, I shower/eat/try to nap.

The caesarian happened without any hiccups and before I knew it, I had TWO babies.

My long awaited dream had finally become a reality. One day these tiny people will call me Mummy.

The babies were perfect but small and had to spend time in the Special Care Nursery (SCN). Once they lost their birth weight - approximately 200grams (as all babies do) - Milo weighed a tiny 1.8kg and Asher 2kg. They were like newborn puppies and had to be nasal tube fed.

I'm planning on elaborating on much of what's in this post but want to bring it up to date first...then will go back with details when I next have time!

The boys came home on April 8th. Home being my parents house. I moved there a few weeks before I gave birth because I had to sell my apartment...too many stairs to be able to carry two babies.

Now all these months later, whilst I'm grateful for all the help and support from my parents and family, I'd love my own space.

They were circumcised when they were 8 weeks old. In my religion they should have been done at eight days, but they were too little and my paediatrician recommended I wait. That was not a fun day for anyone involved, especially my brothers, who are the boys godfathers and held them during the procedure. I presume it's an image that gets burned into your brain and can never be erased!!! I wouldn't actually know because I, along with Mum and my sisters in law, waited in the hallway.

I've "written" a dozen posts in my head in the shower or in bed but none have made it past my fingers. Now, of course, I've forgotten a lot of them. Anyhoo...I now know to jot down all my ideas to come back to later.
I want to tell you about the birth, the wonderful midwives in the SCN, breast feeding/formula, the things people say and much more...

In the past weeks, the babies have brought so much joy to my life. It's incredible what time suckers they are! One minute it's 6am, then, without me doing much at all, it's suddenly 5pm. I don't know where the days go and I seem to get nothing achieved (a perfect example is right here) but I figure if everyone's alive and happy at the end of each day...it's been a good one.

Now they're 15 weeks, my paediatrician told me I could start them on solids next week. I cannot tell you how excited I am to introduce my boys to REAL food.

Yesterday I separated the babies into their own cribs. They've been sleeping together since coming home from the Hospital but they wake one another up when they cry.

I'm posting this TONIGHT, otherwise another four weeks will go by without anything from me.

N x

Last Day

Today is the last day of my pregnancy. The whole 37 weeks of it have been so very surreal. I think I've over-used that word but I'm not sure how else to describe this feeling.

I've wanted this SO badly for SO long but as the months, then years passed, as much as I kept at it, the reality of me actually being pregnant and having a baby was getting further and further from fruition.

That's why, every time I look down at my ever growing belly, I think to myself
"this can't be me"
"I don't look like this"
But it *is* me and tomorrow the belly will be gone and in it's place will be two baby boys.

MY BABIES

When does this start feeling real???

Week 36 (all my tops are totally stretched out now)

Week 37 - last pregnancy selfie

So Very Nearly There

I've written half a dozen blog posts in my head but haven't had the energy to actually post one!!!
I'm now on couch rest, which is like bed rest but I don't have to stay in bed.

The babies were underweight a couple of weeks ago, so my Obstetrician told me I'm now not allowed to move. The less I do, the more they'll grow and as I don't want them spending weeks in the Special Care Unit after they're born, I have heeded his warning advice. It seems to have worked...two weeks ago, they weighed 1.6kg and 1.7kg each. I had another growth scan is week and now they're approximately 2.1kg and 2.2kg!!!
I will say how grateful I am that I haven't blown up during the pregnancy and have put on a total of 10 kilos. 

As long as they don't decide to make an earlier appearance, my Caesarian date is booked for March 26th...ELEVEN DAYS from today.

In the past week, I've sold my Fiat 500, which was beginning to feel like a clown car. I was having trouble getting into and out of it, and have taken delivery of my Mummy Car - a Nissan Dualis. It's great to drive and I love that I'm higher up. I need to get the baby seats fitted sometime next week.
Shit's getting real now...

I'll be on the couch if you need me x

Week 33

Week 34

Week 35 - not sure how much more my belly can stretch!

9 Things to NOT Say To Me

I adore my friends and most acquaintances but sometimes they either don't think about what's coming out of their mouths, or think it's witty/hysterical/I've never heard it before.

In the past few weeks, since I've become VERY pregnant, there's no denying, hiding (not that I ever did that) or mistaking my giant belly for having eaten too much. People who I see on my morning walk, around the hood, or FRIENDS who have known about this since day 1 are making eye-rolling comments...well, *I* think they are anyway...

1. "Wow, you're pregnant. I didn't know you are married"
    Last I knew, you neither have to be married nor in a relationship to get pregnant

2. "Do you know what you're having"
    "two boys"
    "TWINS?"
    "yeah"
    "You'll have your hands full"
     NO SHIT

3. "You're having twins?"
    "yes, that's what I said"
    "You're life is never going to be the same"  
     REALLY? I hadn't thought about that.

4.  "Twins? I hope you have lots of support"
     I do...otherwise I wouldn't be in this predicament!

5.  "I hope you're getting a lot of sleep now because you won't have any for years"
     Thanks for the positive chat

6.  "Are you moving?"
     "I'm selling my apartment and moving to my parents until I can drive again"
     "You have lots of stairs. How will you get the babies from the car?"
     ARE YOU NOT LISTENING TO ME? I said I'm moving

7.  "No way will you still be eating as healthily as you were before you got pregnant. You
     won't have any time to prepare healthy food plus your boys will want to eat McDonalds
     once in a while and you will let them because it's easier"
     Healthy food is just as easy to prepare as crap. It's how I eat. It's MY choice. The boys
     will NOT be eating fast food. It's not the only way to bring up kids. If they don't have it
     they won't miss it.

8. "Wow, look how big you are. Do you have stretch marks?"
    Yup...look at me. I'm cooking TWO humans in my belly. It's BIG. You don't have to point
    it out, I SEE IT. Also, I've never asked you whether you have stretch marks. Between
    you and me...I don't yet and am hoping they stay away.

9. "A Cesarian? You can't have them naturally?"
    I'm SO fed up having to justify to some people why I've elected to have a Cesarian.
    *There are too many things that can go wrong with a twin birth.
    *I have lots of friends who wanted to have natural births (with singletons) and ended
    up having an emergency C-sect after hours of labor...NO THANKS
    *I just want healthy babies and am not that attached to how they arrive

There are more and I may do another post on this topic but these are the ones that topped my list.

Here are my last four weeks of selfies...

Week 28

week 29

week 30 - mood lighting

week 31 - how much bigger can my belly stretch???

    

Happy New Year

It's 2013 and this is the year I'm going to become a Mummy. I have wanted this for SO long but after all this time and so many failed IVF cycles, never thought it would actually happen.

I'm now 26 weeks and still growing daily. I can't believe changes in my body over these weeks. When I look back at photos from when I was 12 weeks and thought I was HUGE, I knew NOTHING!!!

Mt diet is still not where I'd ideally like it to be, but the sugar cravings I had in the first trimester have gone, thankfully. My appetite is still small...I can really only stomach a smoothie in the morning, a sandwich or salad for lunch and rice crackers for dinner. My social life is a tad scarce seeing as going out for dinner is not on the cards and during the holidays, most of my friends are either away or doing family stuff, so lunches are out.

it's now the middle of summer and most days are quite hot. I can go out at 6am for a walk with my dog, but after about 8am, I need to be out of the sun. I cannot believe how much it affects me now. I feel positively nauseous if I stand in the full sun for anything over about a minute. I haven't been a fan of the heat for a number of years and would much rather be in New York's winter right now!

This week I'm having my Gestational Diabetes test (fingers crossed I won't have it). The fact I'm having twins PLUS my age are strong markers for GD. I really don't want to have to give up bananas seeing as I have 1/2 a one in my smoothie every morning. Oh well, it'll only be 12 weeks and I'm sure I'll cope. No use pre-empting something until I know the results.

Week 23

week 24

 

 

 

 

week 26

Tried to add week 25, but my technical skills aren't up to scratch. It kept ending up in the wrong place and then I couldn't fix it. But you can see the difference in my size. My belly is getting higher, as opposed to rounder!

Weeks 21 and 22

The weeks are plodding along. I now look back on photos from a few weeks ago, when I thought I looked big, and laugh!!!

Here I am now...apologies for the hair!!!

Week 21

week 22

I'm feeling better, still wanting/needing a nanna nap around 2:00pm.
Cooking babies is hard work.

My niece, who turned 7 this past week, has been busting to come to a scan with me, so I took her on Friday. It's a bit hard to see exactly what the babies look like, seeing as they still resemble aliens but she loved it and that's what counted...also the fact they're healthy and growing well.

Half Way

I'm now 20 weeks!
More than half way for my pregnancy, seeing as I'll be having a c-section between 37 and 38 weeks.

My belly is growing an inch a week which is fabulous because I know the twins are also growing, but bloody scary knowing I still have 18ish weeks to go and at this rate, another eighteen inches to GROW!!!

19 weeks

and bigger again at 20 weeks!

I also did a Q and A on Mamamia last week which you can read here. I had some negative comments, whaich are always to be expected but the majority were very positive and a few women have contacted me wanting to know