A lot's happened in the last two weeks and most of it hasn't been good.
On the positive side, my parents visited for a week and decorated the twins' room which was great. It's a dark beige colour with curtains and (as of yesterday) a rather spiffy sink unit for bathing the girls when it comes to bedtime.
On the negative side, our big fat white and black cat Rasher had to be put to sleep after we found he was suffering from cancer and one of our close friends lost her baby girl to PROM, the same time Matthew suffered at around the same time and in almost the same way.
I think it's impossible to describe how that feels, unless you've been there. It's a curious mixture of terror, anger and hurt - there's nothing you can do to change the situation and no way to make the baby safe. It's awful and it feels like someone is cutting your insides out with a blunt knife.
Our thoughts are with Tracy, Adam and Noah right now.
There's probably a lot more I could write, but to be honest, I can't think what it might be right now.
So, Mr Rash and little Florence, we'll never forget you. x x x
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Thursday 15 October 2009
Back-handed compliments
Finally, I've found five minutes to update this blog. For once, we've been so busy there hasn't been time to even think about it.
Last week was a whirlwind of hospital visits, Tuesday was the 20 week scan, Thursday was the Consultant appointment and Friday night was "Twins Night" at the ante-natal unit - one of a number of planned evening sessions where we meet with midwives and discuss the processes involved in having twins.
The "highlight" of the week came from Neil Elkington, our consultant, who told us on Thursday that Elly has the worst obstetric history he's ever seen. Given that the medical records for normal pregnancies are nice slim volumes about an inch thick and that Ell's is the size of War and Peace it's not *that* surprising, but still ... as back-handed compliments go it was right up there!
The twins night didn't really teach us much that we didn't already know but it was nice to go and meet up with other couples having multiples and to have some of our questions answered. It looks like Ell will be hospitalised for a couple of days post-delivery but at least they'll try and get her in one of the private rooms just off the maternity ward - as a mother of twins she qualifies for special treatment.
The hospital stay is currently my least favourite part of the whole procedure. Once the girls are born I really want everyone at home so we start being a family together in our own surroundings - I realise there may be good reasons why they have to stay at the hospital for a while (premature delivery, looking after Ell etc etc) but if there's no reason for them to be there I'd rather we were all home. Luckily Elly feels the same (if not more so) so I know that as soon as it's possible for me to break them out of Frimley Park we'll be introducing the kids to the cats!!
Elly's had a lot of growing and stretching pains this week as the bump gets bigger - almost daily it seems to be increasing in size now - and we've ended up going to bed really early a couple of nights as she's more comfortable in bed then anywhere else. I don't mind at all, if it's what she needs, it;s what we'll do but bed at 8.30pm is fantastically early - if it wasn't for my Xbox 360 (now nestled under the bedroom TV) I don't know what I'd do :) Thank you EA Sports and John Madden!!!
Oddly, as we get further into the pregnancy, time seems to be accelerating. The last week has shot by and next week we're at a baby show, a first birthday party and then my parents are visiting to help decorate the nursery - before you know it, it'll be November, then Christmas, then we can really start to gear up for the big day :)
Last week was a whirlwind of hospital visits, Tuesday was the 20 week scan, Thursday was the Consultant appointment and Friday night was "Twins Night" at the ante-natal unit - one of a number of planned evening sessions where we meet with midwives and discuss the processes involved in having twins.
The "highlight" of the week came from Neil Elkington, our consultant, who told us on Thursday that Elly has the worst obstetric history he's ever seen. Given that the medical records for normal pregnancies are nice slim volumes about an inch thick and that Ell's is the size of War and Peace it's not *that* surprising, but still ... as back-handed compliments go it was right up there!
The twins night didn't really teach us much that we didn't already know but it was nice to go and meet up with other couples having multiples and to have some of our questions answered. It looks like Ell will be hospitalised for a couple of days post-delivery but at least they'll try and get her in one of the private rooms just off the maternity ward - as a mother of twins she qualifies for special treatment.
The hospital stay is currently my least favourite part of the whole procedure. Once the girls are born I really want everyone at home so we start being a family together in our own surroundings - I realise there may be good reasons why they have to stay at the hospital for a while (premature delivery, looking after Ell etc etc) but if there's no reason for them to be there I'd rather we were all home. Luckily Elly feels the same (if not more so) so I know that as soon as it's possible for me to break them out of Frimley Park we'll be introducing the kids to the cats!!
Elly's had a lot of growing and stretching pains this week as the bump gets bigger - almost daily it seems to be increasing in size now - and we've ended up going to bed really early a couple of nights as she's more comfortable in bed then anywhere else. I don't mind at all, if it's what she needs, it;s what we'll do but bed at 8.30pm is fantastically early - if it wasn't for my Xbox 360 (now nestled under the bedroom TV) I don't know what I'd do :) Thank you EA Sports and John Madden!!!
Oddly, as we get further into the pregnancy, time seems to be accelerating. The last week has shot by and next week we're at a baby show, a first birthday party and then my parents are visiting to help decorate the nursery - before you know it, it'll be November, then Christmas, then we can really start to gear up for the big day :)
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Scantastic!
Another milestone passed this week, and another slight lifting of the worry blanket. We were at the hospital yesterday for the 20 week "anomaly scan" where the girls are checked to make sure they have the right number of fingers and toes and no signs of brain or physical abnormalities.
It's always fantastic to see them doing their thing at scan time but there's always a worry that the sonographer will spot something out of the ordinary. Happily, all was OK.
Twin 1 (she's at the bottom) is slightly bigger then her sister but to date has been the quieter of the two - we put that down to the fact that Twin 2 (from here on known as "wriggler") has more space up top and exercises herself enough for the both of them!
Twin 1 also seems to be a little camera shy - it took two scanning sessions to get her into the right place so her spine and face could be measured properly. No such problems for Wriggler who was as good as gold when she needed to be then embarked on an extended aerobics session so we could see every limb, digit and other body part - it's so good to see the girls moving.
Even better was the close-up when we got to see Twin 2 swallowing!! She was gulping for England bless her - apparently it's a very significant act as it encourages breathing and digestion :)
So, all-in-all it was a really good day. Twin 1 comes off a little worse from the deal as she's packed in tight and doesn't have as much free movement as wriggler but they're both OK which is fantastic news.
We're back at the hospital tomorrow for an appointment with the consultant to go over progress and then on Friday night we're back *again* for twins night - one of a series of sessions designed to help parents of twins prepare themselves for what's to come.
I can't wait :)
It's always fantastic to see them doing their thing at scan time but there's always a worry that the sonographer will spot something out of the ordinary. Happily, all was OK.
Twin 1 (she's at the bottom) is slightly bigger then her sister but to date has been the quieter of the two - we put that down to the fact that Twin 2 (from here on known as "wriggler") has more space up top and exercises herself enough for the both of them!
Twin 1 also seems to be a little camera shy - it took two scanning sessions to get her into the right place so her spine and face could be measured properly. No such problems for Wriggler who was as good as gold when she needed to be then embarked on an extended aerobics session so we could see every limb, digit and other body part - it's so good to see the girls moving.
Even better was the close-up when we got to see Twin 2 swallowing!! She was gulping for England bless her - apparently it's a very significant act as it encourages breathing and digestion :)
So, all-in-all it was a really good day. Twin 1 comes off a little worse from the deal as she's packed in tight and doesn't have as much free movement as wriggler but they're both OK which is fantastic news.
We're back at the hospital tomorrow for an appointment with the consultant to go over progress and then on Friday night we're back *again* for twins night - one of a series of sessions designed to help parents of twins prepare themselves for what's to come.
I can't wait :)
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