3 Months

Didn't really think I would slack so much that I would only be posting month to month posts but things have been busy and I suppose fairly mundane which I'm guessing is the same with a lot of you since everyone else seems to be posting a lot less frequently, too. As I write, I have Evan crashed out in my lap, Sienna sleeping on the couch next to me and Calum and Mark have just gone out to lunch with his family.... Silence is bliss!

The babies have a viral infection which has made for awful tummies and lots of laundry and one trip to the A and E ( AKA ER) to make sure they weren't suffering from dehydration. This is after a trip there last week with Evan who had bronchiolitis and was given an inhaler, poor little guy. I guess since it's been awhile since I've had a baby, I forgot how awful it is when your kids are sick and it seems kind of relentless right now.

Otherwise the babies are growing into their own, I think the pics this month aren't so different from last although the size difference between the two (Evan is almost 2 lbs heavier) is more visible. Both babies are still super good, Evan started sleeping from 10.30-6 (when I wake him) a few weeks back and I'm hoping Santa will have Sienna doing the same in time for Christmas.

Calum continues to be a fabulous big brother, less interested in smothering the babies and even more helpful then before since he's become used to their routines and etc. He's also quite bossy, constantly reminding us of "the rules" and still super full of energy. On a whim we went into the Disney Store last week and I got him the Cars 2 movie, since then we've probably watched it about 20 times.... Nice to be able to enjoy some downtime with him though rather than go, go, go. Next week is his nursery Christmas play in which he plays a shepherd, really looking forward to it.

Mark and I had not one but two dates in a row this week-we've found a retired children's nurse to babysit so on Wednesday we went to dinner and a movie and on Thursday Mark's Mum watched the babies (Calum was at nursery) so we could go to the new Westfield Stratford (the biggest mall in Europe) which is at the new Olympic Park-amazing! Was nice to have some time together, although I couldn't get over how many people were out on Wednesday night (Mark reminded me that just because we go to bed early, doesn't mean the rest of the world does, too!) and how weird it is to go out and not be pushing a stroller....

Looking so forward to Christmas and the next couple of weeks leading up to it, have agreed to have Mark's family here which will be a total of 9 adults and 6 kids.... Also kind of talking about planning a visit Stateside, Palm Springs in April/May anyone? x

2 Months

Today the babies (as we call them, never call them "the twins" for some reason) are two months old. We had their 8 week check up on Tuesday (Mark's Mum came with me) and Evan weighs a whopping 10 lbs 5 oz (from 5lbs 3 oz at birth) and Sienna weighs 8 lbs 5 oz (from 4 lbs 11 oz). Evan is still very chilled out, only getting upset when he eats-he has 5 oz bottles where Sienna has 3 or4 and as the doctor said, he really can't handle the 5 oz which is why he gets sick after each feed and has gripe. Sienna is very much a girl, so dainty and sweet-everything about her is different to my two boys at this age and I can't wait to see her grow up.

The night nanny, Sue, started last week and it's been great to have 3 nights a week of uninterrupted sleep. You forget the noise babies make when they are sleeping (much less how hard it can be to get out of bed for that 2 am feed)! The first night she came I was reluctant to give up the babies, even though they were only upstairs I felt like I was going to be missing out on time with them which is already going by too fast. Although that has changed once I experienced 8 consecutive hours of sleep! The days after she is here I feel like I can do anything, I've even braved two public outings-to the mall and the library, with all 3 kids and am feeling much more confident about getting out and about.

Calum continues to be a great big brother, helping me feed the babies their bottles, getting me bibs and etc. when I am feeding them and showering them with lots of kisses and cuddles (well, Sienna mostly). He's loving nursery and they are getting ready for their Christmas play-so cute to hear him singing the songs, he will be a shepherd and I'm really looking forward to it. Feeling so blessed to have these 3 in my life, I honestly haven't begrudged for one minute my new role and the extra work-it's so worth it x

Big Brother

Big brother Calum, almost 2 and a half

Sienna 6 wks

Chilled out Evan

Well not only is that the name of my guilty late night pleasure, but also what Calum is proudly referring to himself as lately. When we got back from the hospital Calum announced that he was the "big brother" now, Auntie Rachel and Uncle Paul had done a great job teaching him about his new role in our household and he really hasn't disappointed in terms of doing the title justice.

Calum loves his new siblings to bits, introducing them to everyone we meet as See-enna and Eb-an, kissing and smothering them first thing in the morning, when he gets home from nursery and anytime we're out of the room it seems-always a bit frightening coming back in and finding him literally on top of one of the babies. Unfortunately the play pen is getting a lot of use these days as it's the only safe place in the house.... Maybe even more scary was me coming back into the living room yesterday after a nano second in the kitchen to meet Calum carrying Sienna to me-luckily his hands were around her waist and not her throat (seriously, toddlers have no concept of the pain they can inflict on others!). Sure, feeds can take a lot longer then necessary when Calum insists upon holding the bottle and maybe the babies are getting lots of extra air as Calum doesn't quite know how to hold the bottle the right angle, but it's been pretty sweet to have a little helper at home not only to keep me company but also to warm my heart with his new found love for his brother and sister.

The other Big Brother around here is the ultimate reality show which is still running here in the UK and sadly motivates me to get out of bed for those 2 and 6 am feeds. The twins are feeding every 3 hours in the day and 4 hours at night, Mark and I do the 10 pm feed together and during the week I'm on my own with the 2 and 6 which in the beginning were pretty difficult but now have become a normal part of our routine-thankfully I'm so tired these days that I'm usually able to fall right to sleep after I get back to bed after the feeds. Our night nanny starts on Tuesday so 3 nights a week I will be able to have uninterrupted sleep from 10 to 7, something I haven't had since January (preggo with twins = bathroom visits almost hourly in the night!).

Hard to believe these two have been part of our lives for just over 6 weeks now.... Yesterday they were weighed and Sienna has gone up to 7lbs 3 oz (25th percentile for their adjusted age, technically they are term babies now as my due date was Oct 4th) and Evan is at 8lbs 5 oz, 50th percentile. Finally fitting into newborn size clothes although the 3 and 6 month stuff we have looks ridiculously big and I really do wonder if they will ever be big enough to wear it! Not that I am wishing them to grow, having babies around again is pretty special x

One month

So we made it past the first 4 weeks and we're still in one piece! I honestly couldn't tell you where time has gone, I really hope it slows down soon or else these babies are going to be grown up before I know it.

Admitedly the first month was always going to be the easiest, Mark had time off work for paternity leave, we spent a good portion of it in the hospital (Evan didn't come home until day 12) and because they were premature, the babies were likely to sleep a lot (even now they are probably sleeping 21 hours or so a day!). I think most nights I'm managing to get about 6 hours of (broken) sleep which is a lot more then I could have ever hoped for. Oh, and the wine I'm now able to drink has really made things a lot easier, too!

Babies are having bottles of expressed milk every 4 hours and pretty soon I am going to be switching them to formula as I just can't bear to spend 3+ hours a day attached to that pump anymore. Long term I knew it would be a challenge to keep up the breastfeeing so I'm happy that in the end they will have about 2 months of my milk and am not going to beat myself up for not continuing it for the 6 months they advise here in the UK-if I only had them I probably would, but it just isn't realistic when you have a toddler and things to do!

Evan is still the more chilled out one, although if you try to sneak a dummy (pacifier) in when it's time to eat he goes a little mental and has already shown that temper that Calum has.... Sienna is harder work but as the midwife said, nothing wrong with a strong personality. They were weighed last on Tuesday and Sienna is up to 5 lbs 4 oz, Evan is 5 lbs 12 oz so slowly she's catching up and with the way she eats, I won't be surprised if that happens soon.

We've managed to go up to London with the family, to Greenwich Park for a day and I have taken the twins out several times on my own. I have yet to go out with all 3 alone, that will be the real test!

Otherwise we're managing pretty well, Calum has been an amazing big brother which has really made things easier for us-he loves to help feed the babies and has kissed Sienna (his favourite) so many times he managed to pass his cold on to her, the first of many I'm sure!

So after all of this, I've probably jinxed myself and set us up for a nightmare in month two but all in all, I think I expected things to be much harder then they are-I'm even managing to make dinner most nights! Looking forward to my Mom's visit (she comes Thursday) and again, appreciate all of your calls, cards, presents and etc.-we're lucky to have you! x

PS-Sorry about the layout, still having issues with posting and moving pics from my laptop....

Spurs

Here in England "football" is a pretty big deal.... Some of Mark's best memories of his Dad surround the team they both followed, the Tottenham Hotspur. It's kind of a given that whatever team your Dad supports, you will support and Mark is dying to share his passion for the Spurs with Calum.

Several weeks ago Mark came home from work and told me he had bought Calum a present and he asked me to guess what it was. Well, turns out he bought Calum this year's new "kit" (uniform) and got a matching one for himself, with Calum's name on the back and the number 24 for Calum's birthday. Mark announced that he and Calum would wear the jersey's every match and so far, he's held true to it.

Pretty cute. Nothing like the love between a father and son. x

Sienna Rose and Evan Paul Verghese, 27-08-11

Well, by now most of you know that on August 27th Sienna Rose and Evan Paul Verghese made their entrance into the world and here is how they arrived....

The morning of Saturday August 27th my waters broke at around 6.30. Mark had taken his office out the night before for a few drinks and didn't get home until late (although was sober thank God!) so we had had about 4 hours of sleep when I came into our room to tell him it was time... I was 34 weeks and 4 days pregnant.

Thank God Rachel, my sister in law, got here in good time to watch Calum and thank God our hospital is a 5 minute drive from our house. We got there and met the midwife and her assistant at the maternity ward and were taken to our room where they took their time writing up our notes since my contractions hadn't really started. A team of doctors came to do an ultrasound to check the positioning of the babies again to determine if we would be going for a c-section or a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section). When they did the scan they couldn't quite make out twin 1's head and saw that whilst they were probably both head down, neither was positioned in the middle at the birth canal (fighting already!) so they informed me that in this instance I would have to have a c-section as no amount of time would change this and it could cause distress to the babies.

As I was signing the consent papers my contractions were definitely getting stronger and when it came time for them to put in the IV lead and take blood samples, I felt really faint and nauseous. They had done an examination about 20 minutes prior and I was barely dilated. All of the sudden my blood pressure dropped really low and they lost the trace (heart monitor) on twin 1 so they decided to examine me again and I was fully dilated, twin 1's head was making it's appearance.

I hadn't had any pain medication yet and they barely had time to get the hospital gown on me to wheel me into the operating room where they told me they would give me a spinal injection (due to the limit on time) and try to deliver twin 1 with the ventouse and twin 2 with forceps although it was likely twin 2 would come out via c-section.

Sienna Rose Verghese was born at 10.31 a.m. (4 hours after my waters broke!) with the assistance of the ventouse weighing 4 lbs 11 oz. Evan Paul Verghese was born at 10.36 a.m. with the assistance of the forceps weighing 5 lbs 8 oz. Whilst they were stitching me up (episiotomoy, yikes!) and delivering the placentas, I could see both babies being checked by the pediatricians (there were 16 people in total in the delivery room!). Sienna was handed to Mark straight away but Evan's breathing was really labored and awhile later while we were in recovery they went to hand him to me and noticed he was very blue so he was sent straight to the special care baby unit (SCBU).

I was up and showered by 6 p.m., but had yet to see Evan so Mark wheeled me down to the unit to see him. Initially he was put on a CPAP machine to breathe for him, fed by IV and we were told he would probably be in until his due date.... He then got jaundice and was given photo therapy. Each day was up and down but it looks like today Evan might finally be sent home as he's feeding on his own (bottles of expressed breast milk).

Sienna stayed with me on the maternity ward for 6 very long nights... She also had jaundice and was put under the lights two different times. She's a strong girl though and we both came home on Friday night/Saturday morning at midnight.

The whole time I was in the hospital I wasn't able to have Calum come visit because he had developed a tummy bug that could have been dangerous to Sienna so in addition to being torn between the twins, I also felt especially sad about missing Calum having never been away for him for so long. We arranged a dinner for him and I at the hospital cafeteria which was a disaster and I really dreaded what it would be like when I got home but Calum has been amazing-not only is he a gentle and loving big brother, but he's also seemingly forgotten about me abandoning him and all is going really well so far.

Having premature babies has been a very different experience to having Calum. I've been reminded several times that these babies should still be in my tummy, they are very difficult to feed and sleep pretty much all of the time. It's stressful worrying that they aren't getting enough food and watching them closely to make sure their jaundice doesn't come back. Even holding them is different, they feel so delicate and tiny and have to be kept really warm since they didn't have a chance to develop much fat in the womb.

Regardless, the challenges we have faced since they were born has made me forget about my concerns over how I would cope and focus more on how excited I am to have them home and begin this next phase in our lives. Bear with me over the next few weeks (months, YEARS?!) as I settle into a routine with the babies and thank you all for your cards, thoughts, prayers and etc.

x

34 weeks

33 wks pregnant with the twins

34 weeks pregnant with Calum

Yep, huge-and this pic was actually taken at 33 weeks. Huge as is none of my "maternity" clothes cover my belly anymore (would love to say I chose this top again for consistency but really it's one of about two that cover my ass right now). Huge as in it takes me quite awhile to get up from the couch or out of bed which is especially inconvenient considering I have to get up literally every hour during the night to go to the bathroom. Huge as in I now can't leave the house without getting questioned as to when I am due and in fact even when in the house (think grocery delivery man, postman, etc.), I get the same questions!

I don't have another appointment now until Sept. 5th which will be my last scan, the 36 week scan to check on how big the babies are and reconfirm their position (which will hopefully be the same as they have been, both head down). Depending on the weights of the babies at that stage, we will then make a more concrete decision as to whether I get to go for a "regular" birth or if we are going to schedule an elective c-section. If the babies are 7 lbs or more (which is pretty realistic if I make it that long), we are definitely looking at a c-section. If twin 1 (girl) is in any position other then head down, we're also looking at a c-section.

I'm really hoping for a normal birth this time but realise things are pretty much out of my control at the moment. Feeling very much like I am stuck in a zone, waiting for the next stage of our lives to start and looking for any hint that labor might be coming, in short-driving Mark nuts and probably not being the most amazingly patient Mom to Calum. The hot weather here hasn't helped, you can't imagine how excited I was to see rain today!

The care package from my Mom last week helped though-think two massive bags of Jolly Ranchers, Slim Jims, a couple of nice maternity tops from Nordstrom and a battery operated fan for the hospital (the maternity ward isn't air conditioned and they only allow fans that have been approved by their electrical department so when I was there last, I literally almost died from heat exhaustion!).

All along I've said that if I had to predict, I would say that the babies will arrive on Aug. 30th so we shall see..... x