25 week update

How far along? 25 weeks

Baby size: TW1 was 555g and TW2 was 622g at last weeks scan.
Babies positions:TW1 was head down and TW2 was lying across my belly (up near ribs), head on the right.  By the end of the scan TW1 was in same position as TW2, bunk bed styles :).

Total weight gain/loss: current weight is 59kg. So 6kgs so far.

Maternity clothes? Wearing maternity pants, tops and normal leggings these days.

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Sleep: Sleeping well although my back hurts a bit now. And it feels like it takes ages for me to roll over. and rolling over hurts :(Best moment this week: Julies dress fitting was a lot of fun. Dragged ma along too.
Movement: Feeling lots of kicks or little flailing arms, from both inside and outside. And occasionally feel a hard bottom or leg or head pressed up against my tummy.
Food cravings:  No real cravings at the moment.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing much :)
Have you started to show yet: Yes! No hiding it. Measuring about 4 weeks ahead at the moment.  
Gender: Uncle Steve has predicted girls, but still anyone's guess at this stage
Symptoms: Had another nosebleed at work, but only a little one. Need to pee alot. I feel a bit slower in general (physically, not mentally!). really sore in groin area which is making me limp. oweee.  and cramping in calf muscle argh. sounding like a whinger these  days.   

Labor Signs: No signs yet 

Things I miss:  sushi and alchohol. I pass a sushi place every day and it looks and smells so yum.  Drinking as much tea as I want. Sleeping on my belly. And missing water walking this week as my water walking buddy is currently recovering from hip replacement surgery.

Belly Button in or out? outie. No denying it now.
Wedding rings on or off? On

Looking forward to:  growth scan next Thursday

Let's go for a drive...

I decided to take mum and Josh on a quick "surprise" drive tonight. Just told them to rug up and hop in the car. Lots of speculation as to what we were going to see, but no-one guessed right.

About 10 minutes later, we pulled up in One Tree Hill, outside the cherry blossom lane which is in full bloom.  So pretty!

 Here I am, sticking my puku out. This shot is for you Shaza.

 Mum and me. I love how tall I look next to her haha

And Joshyyyy x

Babies health update

So we had our usual fortnightly scan yesterday and here is the latest:

1. twin 1 is still smaller than average. Actually measuring about a week behind. But the blood flow through the cord is normal this week, which is positive news.
2. both babies still have prominent kidneys. TW1's is measuring 6mm and TW2's is measuring 8mm. So TW1 is at the very high end of normal and TW2 is bigger than normal. They still don't know what is causing this.

So basically, things haven't changed and so we are all still concerned. But not enough to put me in hospital and pump the babies with steroids. So that's good. Seems like my womb is still the best place for them.

However, my OB does want us to start having weekly scans now so we can keep a closer eye on them both. I'm still feeling very looked after, and definitely not as freaked out as I was 2 weeks ago.  Just trying to keep them inside as long as possible and I just keep hoping that they grow as much as they can.

I've banned myself from looking things up on google as it just gets me worked up. Instead, I'm going to try and put my feet up, lie on my left hand side and try and increase my protein intake.  These are some theories that people have tried out for IUGR, but have never been medically proven. I guess they can't hurt though.

Grow babies, grow! Especially you, twin 1!

Two things

that I am very excited about.

My lovely friends T and S are organising my very first baby shower. Such fun! Will be happening in a couple of weeks.

AND

My mum is arriving tomorrow hurrah! I can't wait.

24 weeks update

How far along? 24 weeks

Baby size: TW1 is 555g and TW2 is 622g at yesterdays scan.
Babies positions:TW1 is head down and TW2 is lying across my belly (up near ribs).

Total weight gain/loss: current weight is 57.85 kg.

Maternity clothes? Wearing maternity pants, tops and normal leggings these days.

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Sleep: Sleeping well although my back hurts a bit now. And it feels like it takes ages for me to roll over.
Best moment this week: Coming home from work and finding my living room and dining room looking completely normal! No more desk/stools/baskets/speakers. Woohoo! Thanks so much Joshy x
Movement: Feeling lots of kicks or little flailing arms, from both inside and outside. And occasionally feel a hard bottom or leg or head pressed up against my tummy.
Food cravings:  No real cravings at the moment.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing much :)
Have you started to show yet: Yes! No hiding it. Measuring about 4 weeks ahead at the moment.  
Gender: Uncle Steve has predicted girls, but still anyone's guess at this stage
Symptoms: Had a nosebleed the other night. Need to pee alot. I feel a bit slower in general (physically, not mentally!). Bit achey around back and pelvic area.  But generally feeling great :)

Labor Signs: No signs yet 

Things I miss:  sushi and alchohol. I pass a sushi place every day and it looks and smells so yum.  Drinking as much tea as I want. Sleeping on my belly. And missing water walking this week as my water walking buddy is currently recovering from hip replacement surgery.

Belly Button in or out? outie. No denying it now.
Wedding rings on or off? On

Looking forward to:  my mum arriving this weekend yippeee!

23 weeks update!

How far along? 23 weeks

Baby size: TW1 was 400g and TW2 was 430g at last week's scan. Their sizes were not measured this week as the Professor thought it was too soon to look at that (even though I thought that was the whole point of this weeks extra scan...apparently not).
Babies positions: both babies are head down, lying head by head. Legs up near my rib cage :) So all those kicks that I've been feeling down there must have been hands or some serious  head moshing

Total weight gain/loss: current weight is 57.7 kg.

Maternity clothes? Wearing maternity pants, tops and normal leggings these days.

Stretch marks? Nothing yet.

Sleep: Sleeping well although my back hurts a bit now. And it feels like it takes ages for me to roll over.
Best moment this week: Going for the extra scan this week and being told that the babies kidneys are still "prominent" but within normal range now woohoooooo!
Movement: Feeling lots of kicks or little flailing arms, from both inside and outside. And occasionally feel a hard bottom or leg or head pressed up against my tummy.
Food cravings:  No real cravings at the moment.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing much :)
Have you started to show yet: Yes! No hiding it. I'm 23 weeks, but measuring same size as if I were 27 weeks with a singleton.
Gender: Uncle Steve has predicted girls, but still anyone's guess at this stage
Symptoms: Need to pee alot. I feel a bit slower in general (physically, not mentally!). Bit achey around back and pelvic area.  But generally feeling great :)

Labor Signs: No signs yet 

Things I miss:  sushi and alchohol. I pass a sushi place every day and it looks and smells so yum.  Drinking as much tea as I want. Sleeping on my belly. And missing water walking this week as my water walking buddy is currently recovering from hip replacement surgery.

Belly Button in or out? outie. No denying it now.
Wedding rings on or off? On

Looking forward to:  Next weeks scan and finding out how much T1 has grown. Hopefully he/she has caught up to his/her brother.

Today was a good day

We had the follow up scan today with the Fetal clinic instead of with the Maternity clinic.  The difference is that my current clinic deals with mothers that have health issues (ie., me and my heart), whereas the fetal clinic mainly deals with fetus' that have issues. 

The professor and radiologists were lovely people, totally put us at ease. The only weird thing is that they told us that they weren't going to check the babies growth as it has only been a week, and that will be done during my usual scan (happening next week).  Instead, they were mainly keen to check out the kidneys.  I thought the whole point was to check their growth but oh well.

And hurrah, both baby's kidneys are within normal range! Still prominent (i.e. on the big end of normal), but NORMAL. We still don't know why they are so prominent, and so we will keep checking this at every scan and probably once they are born. But in some cases it just corrects itself. So hopefully we fall into that category.

The best news of all though is that the professor is pretty certain that the babies don't have Twin to Twin Transfusion syndrome. Which I actually didn't think they had, as I've been researching it all week and the babies don't seem to have any of the symptoms except that T1 is smaller than T2.  What I am now worried about is IUGR, which the doctors haven't mentioned yet.  But I'll ask them about it at next scan and fingers crossed that T1 doesn't have it, and is just a slow bloomer.

So there we go. Feeling a bit better, but still a bit worried about T1.  I can't wait for next weeks scan and hopefully its just all good news.

The hardest thing about the past week is that I'm starting to really understand what being a mother is really like. And I so don't feel ready. It's just heart-wrenching to think that something could be wrong and that I can't really do anything to fix it.  So much fear and worry and all this weight of feeling responsible for two little people.

But all in all, today is a good day.  After our scan, we went to visit my m-i-l who just had hip surgery yesterday. And she is doing awesomely!  Wiggling her toes, been for a little walk/shuffle and looking great! She'll be up and running in no time :)

And then we drove to the bach at Tindalls. One of my fave places in the world. And ate take away thai in the sun and walked on the beach and lounged on the deck.  So yay for the positive stuff and hopefully it keeps on coming our way :)