Lollie
02-09-2009, 22:16
Been a while since I have logged into bub hub and I saw this section and thought...yeah why not?!
Start from the beginning I guess, it's always a good thing :)
My name is Lollie, I am 25 years old and I have 4 children to my ex husband. I have a 7yo DS, 3yo DS & DD twins and a 2yo DS and I would like to share my story of surviving one of the toughest and proudest times in my life and it's something I wish to do in detail if it's okay.
PART ONE
XDH and I decided to try and conceive our second and final child. 11 months after we were on our TTC journey we were finally successful and I was excited that our family would be complete. I had had a triplet pregnancy when I was 16yo which I miscarried, so the thought of another multiple pregnancy was always in the back of my mind. I grieved every year for the angels I lost but I never thought that I would get the chance to experience a multiple pregnancy again until a week after I found out I was pregnant with our second bub. The inkling wouldn't budge from my thoughts and so I went on the hunt to find me a GP who would order me an early scan, but none would allow me to get it done. One night I travelled to the hospital because I was in extreme pain and feared that I would lose my baby and it was there that I had a short scan done. I could only see the one baby but after I had dressed myself, the doctor said that she thought she saw 2 babies and booked us in for a scan as early as possible that morning. I had barely slept since getting home after 3 am, I was excited about the prospect of there being twins in my already expanding belly. When I received the phone call to come in, I was full of nerves. I was sure that the doctor (and my intuition) were right but I didn't want to get my hopes up. I looked away from the sonographer so that she couldn't see the tears when she told me that there was only the one. I would be happy with 1 baby but the yearning was still there to experience another multiple pregnancy, hoping to reach the 'full term' gestation and I just knew that I would have felt a little bit of disappointment. The scan was probably one of the best moments of my life. Seeing my twins for the first time on the screen was magical. I did cry but the tears were happiness. I had absolutely no idea what I was in for but I was excited all the same. Bring it on!
It was a great pregnancy until braxton hicks contractions became a part of the package. We had 1 premature labour incident in which thankfully the progression could be stopped, but the prelabour struggles were constant. I lost count the amount of times I was up at my local hospital, just in case. My last antenatal appointment revealed that both babies were breech and I was informed that I would be having a caesarean. I had done my research, I also knew from family how hard dealing with a caesar was but this little duck had no choice - I had 2 breech babies. I participated in a special twin birthing study and part of the research involved me being contacted at 36.6 wks to find out when I would have my babies. The midwife entered my details into a program and the birthing date would be selected automatically. The program selected immediate delivery, which meant I would be having the twins the following day. I was excited and nervous. I couldn't sleep much that night, woke up extra early to ensure that everything was ready and arrived at the hospital with still ten minutes to spare. I had no idea what would happen, all I knew was we had to book in and go from there, but when I closed the car door, twin one's waters had broken and it wouldn't stop flowing. I had to walk all the way to the birth suite with a terry towel in between my legs, but it didn't help in the slightest. I left a trail from the car to the birth suite. :rolleyes:
At the birth suite they examined me (which is how I found out it was twin 1's waters), placed the CTG monitor on me (not one contraction in the ten minute block mind you) and gave me a quick scan (confirmed it was twin 1s waters and to see if at least one of my stubborn babies had turned). Nope, still breech and that made me burst into tears. The fact is I am a sook and petrified of surgery and I didn't want to have a caesarean. Just the thought of it made me want to pass out cold. However, like it or not I had to suck it up and the only way I could do that was to remind myself that it was the only way either of them were getting out! Being in there was strange for me. I could feel tugging and pulling and I glanced at the ceiling but saw silhouettes in the blurred metal ceiling and I knew what was going on. That just made things worse, I looked around the room trying not to pass out but the only thing that stopped me from fainting was the surgeon's words that baby one was coming. All of my little dramas melted away. I wanted so badly to hear my baby, to see it for the first time, to hold it close to me and the feeling I felt when I heard the first cry was exhilarating. Baby one was my little boy - Ethan and he was taken away to be assessed whilst they worked on getting the second one out. Barely a few moments later, I hear my baby girl's cry and I feel happiness in its purest form. My babies had arrived! I was a mum to twins, I mean I had 9 ish months to prepare for this but it now actually felt real. What now?!
I had some idea what I was in for from experience with my eldest and months leading to the twin's birth I had crossed everything that these two wouldn't be two of him. I barely slept for the first 3 months of my eldest's life, I was such a zombie that I ended up co sleeping him in bed with me because I was just too darn tired to keep tending to him every 2 hours. And that habit took me 3 and a half yrs to break him out of.
The first week of the twin's life I was running on adrenaline. I couldn't walk at all after my surgery, in fact it took me days to get walking again. I had a cathetar in for 2 and a half days because I could barely move. I could just reach into the bassinet to get the twins out but anything else I had to call in a midwife to assist me. I would breastfeed one twin at a time because I was having a hard time getting one latched on, and then the other latching only to find that the first one had come off the breast. It was a struggle to get them both on so I just fed them separately. I would feed each twin for around 45 mins each and then I would wait an hour or two and then express to help with milk production. After expressing and sterilising I would drift off to sleep and before I knew it, it was feeding time again. I was barely sleeping but it wasn't bothering me. I knew it would catch up with me, it was only a matter of time. One midwife had the gall to tell me to give up breastfeeding but I was determined to make it happen. I was glad when I left the hospital because in their presence I felt like I was treated like a child.
The very next day I was home I felt the postnatal blues set in. I was very uncertain of my future and it was because of that, that I would start bawling my eyes out. I hated feeling like that but at the time there didn't seem to be any way to see a positive future. I was on my own with newborn twins and a 3yo and I was still finding it difficult to recover from my operation. And this is the time you need to find your ground. Listen to people’s advice, take what you want from it and try things your own way until you find what works for you. Many mistakes were made along the road but when the babies were 8 weeks old, I was certain that I had found it.
A twin mother needs a routine. Without one you seem to be chasing your tail. When I was home from hospital I bought an excellent electric breast pump designed for my needs. My breastfeeding routine would vary. Sometimes I would breastfeed one baby and feed the other EBM, wait 2 hours and then express for the next meal. Then the twin who had the EBM would go on the breast at the next feed and the other twins would have EBM. Or I would BF both babies and top them both up with EBM. There were lots of different combos that I did but one thing I was sure about was that expressing was my thing. It was extra work but I was confident that the twins were getting what they needed and that was one problem I could wipe from the list.
My daily routine consisted of the following;
Feed babies
Express Milk
Breakfast for DS 1
Wash dishes and bottles, sterilise bottles and expressing equipment
Bath babies
Feed babies
Put babies to sleep
Have a short nap with babies whilst DS 1 was playing with my siblings
Lunch for DS 1
Feed babies
Express milk
Wash and sterilise bottles/expressing equipment
Wash and hang out baby clothes
Feed babies
Express Milk
Dinner for DS 1
Bath babies
Wash dishes and equipment
Give babies top up feed
Put all kids to bed, then go to bed myself until the next feed then do it all over again.
When the twins were 3 months old we moved out of the place we were renting and stayed with family until another house became available, in the meantime XDH and I were having problems in our relationship and we separated for a few weeks. The twins had decided to wean off my milk and it devastated me but I tried to persevere with it before totally giving in. I decided that now I wasn’t in demand anymore that I would start to do something for me. I wanted to lose the pregnancy weight I had gained and had a few ideas of how I wanted to kickstart my new regime, however, I walked past the HPTs in the shopping centre and I was drawn to buy one. Wouldn’t hurt, right?!
To be continued later tomorrow (I is tired) :thumbsup:
Start from the beginning I guess, it's always a good thing :)
My name is Lollie, I am 25 years old and I have 4 children to my ex husband. I have a 7yo DS, 3yo DS & DD twins and a 2yo DS and I would like to share my story of surviving one of the toughest and proudest times in my life and it's something I wish to do in detail if it's okay.
PART ONE
XDH and I decided to try and conceive our second and final child. 11 months after we were on our TTC journey we were finally successful and I was excited that our family would be complete. I had had a triplet pregnancy when I was 16yo which I miscarried, so the thought of another multiple pregnancy was always in the back of my mind. I grieved every year for the angels I lost but I never thought that I would get the chance to experience a multiple pregnancy again until a week after I found out I was pregnant with our second bub. The inkling wouldn't budge from my thoughts and so I went on the hunt to find me a GP who would order me an early scan, but none would allow me to get it done. One night I travelled to the hospital because I was in extreme pain and feared that I would lose my baby and it was there that I had a short scan done. I could only see the one baby but after I had dressed myself, the doctor said that she thought she saw 2 babies and booked us in for a scan as early as possible that morning. I had barely slept since getting home after 3 am, I was excited about the prospect of there being twins in my already expanding belly. When I received the phone call to come in, I was full of nerves. I was sure that the doctor (and my intuition) were right but I didn't want to get my hopes up. I looked away from the sonographer so that she couldn't see the tears when she told me that there was only the one. I would be happy with 1 baby but the yearning was still there to experience another multiple pregnancy, hoping to reach the 'full term' gestation and I just knew that I would have felt a little bit of disappointment. The scan was probably one of the best moments of my life. Seeing my twins for the first time on the screen was magical. I did cry but the tears were happiness. I had absolutely no idea what I was in for but I was excited all the same. Bring it on!
It was a great pregnancy until braxton hicks contractions became a part of the package. We had 1 premature labour incident in which thankfully the progression could be stopped, but the prelabour struggles were constant. I lost count the amount of times I was up at my local hospital, just in case. My last antenatal appointment revealed that both babies were breech and I was informed that I would be having a caesarean. I had done my research, I also knew from family how hard dealing with a caesar was but this little duck had no choice - I had 2 breech babies. I participated in a special twin birthing study and part of the research involved me being contacted at 36.6 wks to find out when I would have my babies. The midwife entered my details into a program and the birthing date would be selected automatically. The program selected immediate delivery, which meant I would be having the twins the following day. I was excited and nervous. I couldn't sleep much that night, woke up extra early to ensure that everything was ready and arrived at the hospital with still ten minutes to spare. I had no idea what would happen, all I knew was we had to book in and go from there, but when I closed the car door, twin one's waters had broken and it wouldn't stop flowing. I had to walk all the way to the birth suite with a terry towel in between my legs, but it didn't help in the slightest. I left a trail from the car to the birth suite. :rolleyes:
At the birth suite they examined me (which is how I found out it was twin 1's waters), placed the CTG monitor on me (not one contraction in the ten minute block mind you) and gave me a quick scan (confirmed it was twin 1s waters and to see if at least one of my stubborn babies had turned). Nope, still breech and that made me burst into tears. The fact is I am a sook and petrified of surgery and I didn't want to have a caesarean. Just the thought of it made me want to pass out cold. However, like it or not I had to suck it up and the only way I could do that was to remind myself that it was the only way either of them were getting out! Being in there was strange for me. I could feel tugging and pulling and I glanced at the ceiling but saw silhouettes in the blurred metal ceiling and I knew what was going on. That just made things worse, I looked around the room trying not to pass out but the only thing that stopped me from fainting was the surgeon's words that baby one was coming. All of my little dramas melted away. I wanted so badly to hear my baby, to see it for the first time, to hold it close to me and the feeling I felt when I heard the first cry was exhilarating. Baby one was my little boy - Ethan and he was taken away to be assessed whilst they worked on getting the second one out. Barely a few moments later, I hear my baby girl's cry and I feel happiness in its purest form. My babies had arrived! I was a mum to twins, I mean I had 9 ish months to prepare for this but it now actually felt real. What now?!
I had some idea what I was in for from experience with my eldest and months leading to the twin's birth I had crossed everything that these two wouldn't be two of him. I barely slept for the first 3 months of my eldest's life, I was such a zombie that I ended up co sleeping him in bed with me because I was just too darn tired to keep tending to him every 2 hours. And that habit took me 3 and a half yrs to break him out of.
The first week of the twin's life I was running on adrenaline. I couldn't walk at all after my surgery, in fact it took me days to get walking again. I had a cathetar in for 2 and a half days because I could barely move. I could just reach into the bassinet to get the twins out but anything else I had to call in a midwife to assist me. I would breastfeed one twin at a time because I was having a hard time getting one latched on, and then the other latching only to find that the first one had come off the breast. It was a struggle to get them both on so I just fed them separately. I would feed each twin for around 45 mins each and then I would wait an hour or two and then express to help with milk production. After expressing and sterilising I would drift off to sleep and before I knew it, it was feeding time again. I was barely sleeping but it wasn't bothering me. I knew it would catch up with me, it was only a matter of time. One midwife had the gall to tell me to give up breastfeeding but I was determined to make it happen. I was glad when I left the hospital because in their presence I felt like I was treated like a child.
The very next day I was home I felt the postnatal blues set in. I was very uncertain of my future and it was because of that, that I would start bawling my eyes out. I hated feeling like that but at the time there didn't seem to be any way to see a positive future. I was on my own with newborn twins and a 3yo and I was still finding it difficult to recover from my operation. And this is the time you need to find your ground. Listen to people’s advice, take what you want from it and try things your own way until you find what works for you. Many mistakes were made along the road but when the babies were 8 weeks old, I was certain that I had found it.
A twin mother needs a routine. Without one you seem to be chasing your tail. When I was home from hospital I bought an excellent electric breast pump designed for my needs. My breastfeeding routine would vary. Sometimes I would breastfeed one baby and feed the other EBM, wait 2 hours and then express for the next meal. Then the twin who had the EBM would go on the breast at the next feed and the other twins would have EBM. Or I would BF both babies and top them both up with EBM. There were lots of different combos that I did but one thing I was sure about was that expressing was my thing. It was extra work but I was confident that the twins were getting what they needed and that was one problem I could wipe from the list.
My daily routine consisted of the following;
Feed babies
Express Milk
Breakfast for DS 1
Wash dishes and bottles, sterilise bottles and expressing equipment
Bath babies
Feed babies
Put babies to sleep
Have a short nap with babies whilst DS 1 was playing with my siblings
Lunch for DS 1
Feed babies
Express milk
Wash and sterilise bottles/expressing equipment
Wash and hang out baby clothes
Feed babies
Express Milk
Dinner for DS 1
Bath babies
Wash dishes and equipment
Give babies top up feed
Put all kids to bed, then go to bed myself until the next feed then do it all over again.
When the twins were 3 months old we moved out of the place we were renting and stayed with family until another house became available, in the meantime XDH and I were having problems in our relationship and we separated for a few weeks. The twins had decided to wean off my milk and it devastated me but I tried to persevere with it before totally giving in. I decided that now I wasn’t in demand anymore that I would start to do something for me. I wanted to lose the pregnancy weight I had gained and had a few ideas of how I wanted to kickstart my new regime, however, I walked past the HPTs in the shopping centre and I was drawn to buy one. Wouldn’t hurt, right?!
To be continued later tomorrow (I is tired) :thumbsup: