Well I'm writing this 4 weeks late as our identical twin girls were born bang on schedule according to plan at exactly 37 weeks by c section!  Needless to say, these little bundles of joy take up a large amount of time and blog writing has been relegated behind reheating the same cup of tea many times!  

Late pregnancy woes!

To say that I was ready to meet my little girls by the 37 week date is a complete understatement.  I was "over" being pregnant!  The last couple of weeks were tough ... I found it very difficult to sleep despite having my trusty pregnancy 'sausage' pillow or "Berlin Wall" as my husband used to call it, supporting between my knees, under my bump and head. Turning over in bed was a mission and not as easy as it sounds and frequent visits to the bathroom became a real chore. My heartburn h...

Nasty Steroid injections at 35.5 weeks pregnant

identical twins share a placenta and research shows that the placenta starts to deteriorate at 37 weeks. Hence we are booked in for an elective C section at 37 weeks exactly.  This is actually considered full term for twins so its nothing to worry about but the last thing to mature in a baby is their lungs so as a precaution in the UK most consultants will want to ensure you have had 2 steroid injections normally given 24 hours apart to help mature their lungs. As over 50 percent of twins arrive around the 35/36 week mark they like to give these injections a little earlier hence my hospital visit yesterday and today.

The injection has to be given intramuscularly, so I chose to have it in my bottom as there is ample padding and the injection itself isn't too painful. It does have a nasty sting afterwa...

I've finally hit a wall! 

Hmm where do I begin?  I still have horrendous heartburn, my feet no longer resemble feet because they are so swollen and by the end of the day they are so painful ... and when I have to do bathroom trips in the night (very frequently) it takes me a while to walk properly because the skin is stretched so tight that my ankles dont bend properly! And two late entrants to the race .... lower back pain and rampaging hormones! 

I suffer from lower back pain anyway and to be honest I'm surprised that its taken until 34 weeks to really feel bad pain and I think that is mainly in part to the fact that I've been having McTimney Chiropractic treatment once every 3 weeks.  Its a tiny minor adjustment caused by just flicking - or that's what it feels like - and because the ligaments/tendons, muscles are so much looser, that's all tha...

Weight gain

Well, I have now put on 15 kilos in weight - I think that's normal for twins (I've read that it should be between 15 and 18 kgs) but I feel absolutely huge!  Mortifyingly I now weigh more than my husband and he is 6ft 3!

Recent scan

We had our 32 week scan and meeting with consultant yesterday and I definitely had one of the largest bumps in the waiting room!  All seems to be well with the babies - Twin 1 was 3lb 11 oz, and Twin 2 was 3lbs 15 oz.  So not much between them which makes me worry about how on earth I'm going to be able to tell them apart when they are born.  Twin 1 has a slightly bigger head and Twin 2, a slightly bigger tummy!  Hmm - think we are going to have to use nail polish to be able to tell the two apart if there aren't any other distinguishi...

Third Trimester time

Wow - I'm entering the 3rd trimester!  We had our scan and consultant appointment yesterday and all went well.  Twin one very difficult to measure as they were head down and face towards my spine.  Twin 2 was posing!  Face up and half way between transverse and head down. They are doing very well weight wise (would explain my rapidly increasing size!).  Twin 1 weighs 2lb 6oz, Twin 2 weighs 2lb 8oz.  I'm so pleased that they are so close together in weight, although slightly scared that because they are identicals, I'm not going to be able to tell them apart when they first arrive!  The consultant is still recommending a Csection, mainly because they share a placenta but I also think because of my age!  (I could tell she didn't want to spell it out but that is a concern for them!). So we've been provisionally booked in for 29th July.  I have a hunch that things will happen naturally before then but t...

I think one word sums up this week and its 'Expanding'!  My tummy seems to have hit overdrive and I'm wondering how on earth its going to be able to keep stretching until the end of July! People are still saying I'm very "neat" - which is lovely to hear but I do think they are just being nice!   I'm liberally applying my Simply Pregnant Body Lotion as it really helps with the itching! (which I think is caused by the rapidly expanding skin).  

The other things that are continuing to expand are my feet - as per last week - its the left foot that's the culprit.  I'm drinking lots of water to try and compensate which has the net result of frequent bathroom trips (generally in the middle of the night).  Epsom Salts baths are my solution to this and when it gets r...

Well my tummy seems to resemble a football more and more.  From behind I don't look pregnant at all but from any other angle its unmissable!  I still have good amounts of energy as long as I don't push it and pregnancy yoga this week was good as I avoided doing any of the exercises that involved lying down so managed to keep the pesky heartburn away. 

Things that are becoming more noticeable: Swollen legs/ankles.  For some reason this affects my left leg more than my right - but if I sit at a computer all morning, by lunchtime my ankle has ballooned so I'm making a concerted effort to put my legs up (ideally higher than my heart) in order to minimise this happening.  Its common at this stage to have swollen legs but its also a sign of pre-eclampsia so I need to be aware.  Drinking water will help as well which I'm rubbish at but making myself do it!

Horrible hormones! ...