... and they've grown a little

Just after their 8 month birthday the boys were weighed at the doctors. Fraser was 10kg or 4 times his birth weight. Campbell was a mere 9.5kg.

Here's some photos taken in March and October that show how much they have grown.

Milestones

Ok, it's been ages since I've put anything on here so here's a quick summary:

- first to crawl - Campbell at around 8 months followed by Fraser a couple of weeks later. Both boys are now standing up on the furniture and beginning to cruise around along table edges etc.

- first tooth - Campbell while on holidays in Cyprus. Luckily he dealt with it like a brave man and made hardly any fuss. He's now got two teeth and Fraser has one.

That's all I have time for now but I'm going to try to upload the lastest video of our trouble makers onto Facebook now.

Breakfast

Fraser and Campbell are enjoying all sorts of foods now and have taken to solids with great gusto. Unfortunately, their enthusiasm is equally matched by the amount of mess they can make. The following pictures from their breakfast this morning tell the tale.


Luckily, they both clean up ok afterwards!

Five months now

Time is flying by with the twins celebrating their "five month birthday" a week ago. June has seen them continuing to grow, not only in size but also in personality. Both Fraser and Campbell are very happy little boys (most of the time!) with beautiful smiles and the occasional giggle. They love watching Isabella and have started sharing baths with her in the evening. She loves it as much as them.

June saw the boys first swim in the local pool. Both boys were very happy in the water although the following week they both developed fevers for a few days. We can't be certain that the two are related but they haven't been back to the pool since. Getting all three children in the pool with only two adults is a bit too much of a challenge at this stage!

Anyway, here's the photos for the month. Click on the slide show to see bigger versions of the photos.

And we're rolling ...

Well, one of them is anyway. Fraser rolled from his back to his tummy for the first time yesterday while Campbell looked on.

While this is a great milestone for Fraser, it has its downside, particularly when he decides he has had enough of being on his tummy but can't roll back!

Aside from that, both boys are doing really well. They had their four month immunisations this week and both weighed in at around 6.25kg which is somewhere between the 25th and 50th percentile so they are moving up the charts. They babble away with goos and gaas and are starting to reach out for toys and hold things. Campbell seems to have a particular liking for playing peek-a-boo with his bib. Both the boys are working on their head control but are definitely not as strong as Isabella was at the same age.

The one they'll hate me for!

I guess I'll have to delete this entry before the boys get big enough to be embarrassed but for now you might find it kind of cute. Campbell looks happy enough but I think Fraser is a bit stunned!

The first three months ...

I can't believe that it has already been three months (well almost) since the twins arrived. It has had its ups and downs but mostly the boys are wonderful babies who sleep and eat pretty well. Isabella is getting used to having them around although she still alternates between kissing and hitting them. We are all settled into a bit of a routine and even the dreaded 5.30 - 7.00pm dinner, bath and bed time passes smoothly most days!

We have had a few outings with the boys, including an Australia Day picnic at a palm plantation which introduced them to the joys of Cold Chisel, Men and Work and other such musical gems. They have been shopping at several of Dubai's main malls and have travelled up to Abu Dhabi to visit their twin friends Wilson and Finn.

At last weigh in the boys were both around 4.3kg although they are probably over 5kg by now. They will probably go for another weigh in next week so we'll update then.

The link below will take you to a selection of photos from the first three months. Click on the photo for bigger versions.

What a difference a week makes!

Well, they are finally here! Simon and I headed out from home just after 7am on Saturday 24 January. I made sure we had a last belly shot for posterity. I have to say, while I felt pretty huge and uncomfortable for the last couple of weeks, I think I got off pretty lightly compared to some of the photos of twin mums I have seen.

After arriving at the hospital, I was taken off to pre-op where Simon was left sitting out in the waiting area wondering what was happening as no-one bothered to explain anything to us. I was then wheeled out on a trolley to the theatre with Simon left to get into his scrubs before joining me. I had the spinal block which was not as bad as expected, aside from the anaethatist saying, "Now if you could just get your knees a little closer to your chest!". Yeah, right!!

The operating theatre seemed to be filled with a myriad of people including two doctors to look after me, one for each baby and a raft of supporting nurses. Heating stations were set up for each bub and it all looked a little serious. I was pretty relieved when Simon turned up to distract me from it all. With my legs feeling like leadweights, the doctor popped out from behind the screen to ask if I could feel anything. When I said "No" she replied, "Good, because I just did something that would be incredibly painful".

After that, everything happened quite quickly and the babies arrived a couple of minutes later, within 47 seconds of each other. Both bubs offered hearty wails before being taken to special incubators where they were checked and wrapped up. They were brought to me for a quick kiss before being whisked away for shots, weighing and all the other things they do to new babies. I sent Simon off with the babies to make sure that Fraser (Baby 1) and Campbell (Baby 2) didn't get mixed up.

After the long process of stitching me back up I was taken to recovery and popped under a nice warm air blanket to counteract the shivers which hit half way through the op. Fraser and Campbell were brought to me for their first attempt at breastfeeding and then headed off to our room.

Once I got up to our room, I found out that poor little Campbell had been having some breathing difficulties and was taken off for observation in the NICU unit. Fraser and I had a chance to have a cuddle and get to know each other.

I didn't get to see Campbell again for about 24 hours when I was finally allowed down to NICU to try to feed him. He rejoined Fraser and I on our second morning in the hospital and I finally felt like the mother of twins.


We had a four night stay in the hospital. Unlike my time in hospital with Isabella, I didn't freak out at the idea of the bubs getting a taste of formula so I happily left them in the nursery each night to skip a breastfeed and allow me some rest - something I think I needed much more after the c-section than after my natural delivery last time. My little men got the hang of breastfeeding very quickly and I even managed to get them both feeding at once.

The nursing staff were generally pretty great, especially some of the Filipina nurses. They were incredibly helpful especially as my buzzer would be going off all the time as I strugled to feed, burb and change two babies at once. One nurse was hysterical as she said that she wanted to have twins too and could I please tell her what position we used to make them!

Anyway, after five days it was time to head home and get used to our newly expanded family. More on that in the next entry.

Nearly there

Well, another week and another trip to the obstetrician. The babies are continuing to grow and have just about hit the 6lb mark which is great. Unfortunately, neither baby is now in a head down position and there is pretty well no room left for them to move so it is going to be a caesarean delivery. We're waiting for confirmation but have a tentative booking for 25 January which was Isabella's original due date. Of course, there's nothing stopping them deciding to arrive earlier so we have our fingers crossed that Isabella won't get a couple of siblings for a birthday present on Saturday!

Anyway, no belly shot this week. We don't own a wide angle lens!

... and getting bigger

We have reached the 34 week milestone now which means that the private hospital here will accept me if the babies decide to come early. While the public hospital has a great reputation I am pretty pleased that we no longer need to contemplate going there.

The twins continue to grow at a rapid rate. At 33 weeks they were approx 2.1kg each, well in line with the norm for single babies. Just when I think I can't get any bigger, I do. I think you know you are carrying twins when you start to not be able to fit in to your maternity clothes any more! Not only that, but while out for dinner last night I was told by my friend that I really might need to use the disabled toilet as she didn't think I'd fit in the normal cubicle. The sad thing was that she was nearly right!!

Anyway, there's still another 3 weeks or so to go so by the end I'll probably be lucky to be able to haul myself off the couch.