The last pregnancy update! Eeeek!

by Bex

Oh my goodness!  If you're reading this, we've made it to 37 weeks - full term, particularly for twins!  Since this is week 37-38 we will be meeting the babies THIS WEEK!  OMG!  Obviously I will update you all when there is news and I am feeling up to it, I'm not revealing which day we're booked in for as it could all change if things start happening earlier or if we're bumped due to emergencies.

I've actually had quite a few more unpleasant symptoms this past week but considering we're so close to the end now, generally I've been pretty lucky.  Especially if you read this post by Cara when she was waiting for her twins' arrival Kirsty sent me via Twitter this week!  (Cara's hilarious Nursery post also made me feel VERY organised despite still having quite a long to do list.  At least our house is pretty much all finished with the builder, plasterer, tiler, plumber and painter all finished and gone as of Thursday.)  More details below on the symptoms BTW!

I've been doing a lot of reflecting these last couple of weeks as I sat working on little, fun, untaxing projects like hand sewing felt hearts, painting our homemade cloud shelf and cutting out rainbow coloured raindrops for a cushion cover (which is STILL to arrive after ordering it from H&M 10 days ago and them saying it was dispatched 8 days ago, very annoying as I probably won't have time to finish it now).

When I think about how convinced I was at times that this would never happen, it makes it even more surreal that we are about to have two actual babies placed in our arms very soon!  I find it hard to express how grateful/relieved/happy/excited I am that everything worked out for us after the preceding difficult couple of years.  I have thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant and all of the things I have been able to experience as a part of that (with a few exceptions - see the new symptoms below and not forgetting those 4 months of sickness!) and I am SO excited to actually double Team Olive Dragonfly next week!  There is just so much for us to look forward to and despite the inevitable challenges of two brand new babies, I'm sure we will be utterly full of love and awe when we finally get to meet our babies!!

Bump all wrapped up (JUST) after another tiring shower.
I often feel quite pathetic these days with my lack of energy!

It helps that I'm not the only one who gets tired ;)

How far along: 37 weeks!  FULL TERM, well done babies!!

Size comparison: As long as swiss chard (bit of a rubbish one to finish on really).  Oh, I found a better one on The Bump rather than my babycentre app.  They're the size of a winter melon (apparently some kind of gourd):

Weight gain: 18.4 lbs.  I am now 203.4lbs and pretty pleased with that.  I still feel I haven't put on any weight on the rest of my body other than the bump.  The bump, however is particularly heavy now with these huge babies (apparently 6lbs 6oz and 6lb 3oz last week!) and making sleeping difficult as well as generally being up and about!  Enforced rest after every little burst of going somewhere or doing something is essential.

Mum and I went for our spa day treat this Thursday and oh wow, it was utterly blissful.  I would have been happy just floating around in the quiet pool all day - it felt like the babies had taken a wee holiday and I was able to lie on my back in the water.  Mum supported my head and began dragging me round the pool, it felt lovely and soooo relaxing!  It was quite a shock walking up the steps out of the water as I suddenly felt the full weight of the bump again!

At the spa - 17 weeks and 36 weeks!

Cravings: Various liquids - Skimmed milk, fizzy water, orange juice, even non-fizzy water which I usually hate!

Signs & Symptoms: Major thirst these last few days which we're putting down to my steroid injections.  I had to have these most stingy steroid injections to prepare the babies' lungs since they won't be squeezed through the birth canal which helps get rid of any liquid.  We think this is why I suddenly have a HUGE almost constant thirst and resultant excessive peeing (hoping it's not late stage gestational diabetes).

We're also blaming the steroid injections (I had to have two jabs 24 hours apart) for my sudden very bad reflux and heartburn.  Again, I was extremely lucky not to have this earlier as plenty of ladies on my Twitter feed warned me about it or were suffering after the horrendous morning sickness stage but I have managed to avoid it until recently meaning I've been able to really enjoy food again for the last few months which I've definitely indulged in :)

I also developed PEP (Polymorphic Eruption of Pregnancy - a rash over stretch marks) this week, luckily in a small round area under my belly button and not all over as I have rather a lot of stretch marks now!  I've been in the hospital a lot this week anyway for various checks, the twin clinic and prep for the section next week so have been able to ask about most of my symptoms and confirm that google is correct ;)  Unfortunately, despite it being a small area, when it itches it is insanely itchy and drives me mad, especially in the evening and in bed at night.

I've also started having Braxton Hicks contractions, something I never thought I'd experience since we were told we'd need a section but then it's always been a risk we could go early so that was a bit silly of me!  (And we've since heard from a twin mum who had Braxton Hicks' regularly from as early as 21 weeks and carried on for another few months!)  Mine started on Friday as I was driving myself to the hospital (Mum left at home waiting for parcels and Nik at work) so I was able to ask the midwives when I arrived if I was correct in thinking they were Braxton Hicks'.  I only felt them in my lower back and for just a few seconds but it was a pretty intense pain (luckily not too bad as I managed to keep driving through the two I had in the car) and I had 3 over a half an hour period every ten minutes - the third being while I was sat talking to the lovely two midwives who had made it possible for me not to miss my spa day with Mum (as I hadn't known about the second steroid injection when the 1st appt was made).  They agreed it sounded like Braxton Hicks contractions and just said if they became more intense, travelled to the front and more frequent then I was to obviously phone triage and go back in.

After that I was actually fine and just had a couple more twinges later that day but it was a weird sensation and a bit scary that it could have just built up into full on labour!  They reassured me I'd still have a section as the fact is, babies can't come out sideways via the usual track!  The problem is, being a planner and having a date in my head, I'd feel even more unprepared than I already do to have these babes out in the world with us before the plan now!

There are still some fun signs & symptoms too though, we love seeing and feeling various heads, bums and limbs sticking out in various places all over!  I still love my (usually) round bump despite its hefty weight and  I will miss the squirms and watching the babies moving around the bump but I'm definitely ready to say goodbye to the discomfort of the bump now and hold the twins in my arms!

Things for babies: I can finally say the nursery is officially finished!  (Minus that cushion mentioned above, grrrr.)  The rainbow rug arrived early, yay!  In the end we went for the slightly more expensive one than the £50 ebay bargain as I decided that one just had too much red in it compared to the other colours.  We bought the £175 Festival rug and love it!  The quality is great with a good soft pile and lush colours!

I've also just finally finished the cloud shelf with Nik's help which should be on the blog in more detail this week if all goes well timing wise ;)

And of course, my felt heart garland (all that essential resting time means plenty of time for fun hand sewing of rainbow items) will also be making an appearance - I love it!

We received an amazing parcel yesterday from my cousin FULL of fantastic things for the twins!  We had SO much fun unpacking it - lots of rainbow toys and some super cute clothes in the bottom and I love the elephants on on the burp cloths.  Such lucky babies!

As for other things, we've been stocking up a bit more on various things as advised by TAMBA following their brilliant Practical Parenting course we all went on last weekend.  It was only £5 each and Mum joined Nik and I since she will still be here to help for a couple of months after the babies arrive.  It's run by twin parents who can speak from their own personal experience and know exactly what having twins is like.  Our speaker was fantastic and very helpful with increasing our understanding of what we might expect life to be like when the twins arrive.  Since we were unable to get on any antenatal course after moving down here (NCT was fully booked and there are no NHS courses in our area!), this certainly helped make us feel more prepared!

I'm also finalising bits in my hospital bag after receiving advice from the midwives preparing us for our section too.  Eeek, it's so close now!

Last Minute Babymoon!

by Bex

I'm hoping I'll have time to write about this after the fact as well but we've just booked a little babymoon night away!  With so much going on over the last few months - coping with sickness, house hunting, Nik moving down to start his new job, us both moving hundreds of miles, sorting our new house, preparing for babies.... a babymoon wasn't a priority or an expense we could really afford.  I'd have loved a long weekend in Paris or a week in Italy enjoying the food after my sickness wore off but it just wasn't to be.

As it happens, now we're feeling more settled and the big jobs are done (house and baby related), I thought it would be nice to just have a wee night away from home to really relax and enjoy a lovely meal and maybe have a wee relaxing spa treat.  I think with everything that's been going on, a night away is the perfect idea for the two of us just to have some us time together before we forget what that's like in the deluge of nappies and feeding!  Obviously we are rapidly running out of time to do this and given how close we are to the birth, it makes sense to stay nearby.

I initially looked at hotels in Brighton as Nik could meet me there straight from work giving us maximum relaxation time together but the timings for that fell apart after he was offered a lucrative day of work that weekend.  Plus I found out the hotel didn't have a pool in the spa meaning all the spa facilities were off limits to me (thermal rooms and the like) and I just really fancy a float about in a nice pool with this heavy bump!  In the end it was getting tricky to find something (Nik only had one other day he was off before the final weekend pre-babies) and I didn't want to leave it too late so tonight we are off to a very old hotel in a nearby village (half-way between us and our chosen birthing hospital, the car will be well packed of course!) which we're assured by locals does VERY nice food.  All of the rooms have four poster beds and are very traditional and the hotel has quite an interesting history.  I can't wait to review it.

Image Source

Nik wasn't that bothered about the spa part so rather than trying to squeeze that in when he's not working, Mum and I are going for a spa day instead!  She's been so helpful and is doing so much for us so it'll be nice for her to have a chill out break too :)

We've booked a place 15 minutes away in Ashdown Forest which looks lovely, has a pool (as well as thermal rooms for Mum to enjoy) and we're having the Afternoon Tea Spa Day package with a 50 minute treatment each.  I can't wait!  (Unfortunately due to leaving this all so late, there was no availability until next Thursday so I'm hoping I'm still feeling generally OK by then!  I certainly could use the massage on my aches already!)

Maternity photo shoot by Laura Aziz!

by Bex

So, we had our 3rd and final maternity photo shoot on Sunday, this time with Laura Aziz (baby, picture this).  I was first introduced to Laura by Kirsty via email as we were both pregnant and both moving to Sussex!  When I mentioned a few months back that I'd be looking for a photographer down south to capture the bump when it's properly big (if the babies stayed inside long enough!) and Laura was instantly recommended to me.  It was great to have an excuse to meet up and Laura was so helpful in fitting us in as she had her daughter just over 4 months ago!  It was so relaxed which was just what I needed at 35 weeks with twins as I am obviously pretty tired and immobile after a certain point these days.  It helps to have someone who understands that and is happy to be flexible.

We've actually booked Laura's Bump-Newborn package so we'll be seeing her again in a few weeks to take some photos of us with the babies on the outside too!  Again, I'm so pleased as we don't need to worry too much about when that will be until the babies are here and we have an idea how we're managing.  We're hoping to do it within the first 2 weeks after they're born if I'm feeling OK and will obviously communicate with Laura as soon as we know when will be the best time for us.  The best thing is that she comes to us, just what we'll need a couple of weeks after a caesarian and with two babies!

So, as I hoped, we got some great photos of us waiting for the babies in our new home and new local surroundings.  It's lovely having some photos taken in Glasgow previously where so much happened for us, particularly in our wedding park but I'm also glad we got some taken down here where life is changing way more than it ever has or probably ever will.  A proper grown up house, complete with garden and we're about to become parents to two babies at once.  Eeek!

Anyway, as for the photos, I am delighted with them - Laura has really captured the gorgeous autumn surroundings as well as our happiness and excitement.  This time I did my own make-up and put my hair up with plenty of hairspray in case of rain.  Luckily the rain held off although so did the sunshine but the photos are just stunning.

There are a few here taken in the nursery but I'm keeping most of them back until I blog about the whole room (after the babies are born).  Laura has captured some lovely details and I can't wait to share them all with you but only after we've announced the babies' arrival and their names ;)

Seriously, LOVE THEM ALL!

I wore a New Look maternity top (borrowed from Roz) with my MAMA from H&M overbump jeans before changing into my MAMA teal tunic dress from H&M over leggings with a good old Bex style statement beaded necklace (from a craft fair years ago).  I also wore my comfy new boots from Clarks (bought with a TAMBA 20% off code) which only just fit now as my extremities are starting to swell!

P.S. Nik's matching teal jumper wasn't actually planned but being me, I do kinda like that we match ;)

As with our shoot with Lauren, we paid for our package with Laura, I'm so glad we managed to have a shoot towards the end of this pregnancy with the BIG bump too.  I'm clearly just obsessed with maternity shoots!!  I wanted to share all the gorgeous photos here for obvious reasons and again would highly recommend Laura's services if you're down in the South East!  

Pregnancy/home update - 35 weeks!

by Bex

Wow, 35 weeks already - these last few weeks have gone by SO fast!  I seem to have a never ending list of things to do and knowing the babies will be here in just a couple of weeks is pretty daunting now!  Most of the proper important things are done so it's just wee jobs and extra crafty bits I wanted to get done before they arrive.  If I can tick off the boring ones I should be able to spend the last few days chilling out hand-sewing felt hearts together to make a garland for the babies' room.

Obviously we are still at risk of early labour before our planned caesarean but the great news is that if they are born now they have an excellent chance of surviving and doing well.  YAY babies, well done for staying inside for so long!

As much as I feel we need these last couple of weeks to feel ready, I'm not sure the 'ready' feeling will ever come.  I am SO excited to actually meet the twins but that doesn't take away the anxiety of how we'll cope with TWO brand new babies at once!  I think the fact it was such a  journey to get here, (the IVF more than anything as I've generally had a pretty good pregnancy after I got past those horrendous few months of sickness at the start), has helped us feel less scared about actually having the babies.  We spent so long worried it may never happen that anything that's thrown at us (or projectile sprayed...) will be just fine.  We'll cope.

Anything is better than the alternative.  All of those things I was worried we might never get to do can happen and the parts that are hard will be worth it.  I cannot wait for what comes next!  I've thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant, despite my current aches & pains and a few moany days, I am so happy we were able to experience these few months.  I think you can tell I've tried to make the most of it :)  I only hope those I know still going through the tough times of IVF are as lucky as we ended up being.  I still remember those feelings of hope and despair, ups and downs but I hope they fade as we spend time as a family and embracing these twins we've been blessed with.  It's certainly not an easy thing to go through and neither will suddenly becoming parents to twins but we've survived this far together!

What I really hope will happen before the babies arrive is for the decorating to be finished - our fab painter has finished the living room, bedroom feature wall and the upstairs landing and will be finishing off the hall & stairs as well as the kitchen/dining room this week.  We do now want to change the rest of the walls in our bedroom though as they don't go as we thought they would with our new wall colour.  As much as I want the work finished asap, I also think it would be better to get it ALL done now than have a painter in again post-babies.  Luckily he does have a couple of days free next week so if we can choose our colour and get the paint then he can get that done for us too.  Plus, I don't mind having him around, he's from Glasgow (actually Pollokshaws really near where we lived in Pollokshields!) and it's nice to hear the accent again!  ;)

 I should really have made the bed but I'm far too tired for that nonsense at the moment!  ;)

(I'm sleeping with the giraffes so that they smell like me for the twins.)

The big hole through to the dining room is now looking like a proper opening, it's beautifully plastered and will be dry enough to paint now.  I can't wait to see it finished!  We have to find some tiles which match the kitchen floor to fill the space where the wall was before our builder can come back to finish it off by repositioning the skirting he saved from the old wall.

All in all, the work we've been getting done hasn't been too stressful as we've been lucky with tradespeople.  When I write up the before & after posts of the rooms, I'll be writing about both our builder (+ his team inlc. electrician, plasterer & building surveyor) and our painter as they've both been fab and the loveliest workmen I've ever come across.  I've been pleasantly surprised at how friendly, chatty and super tidy they all are as well as charging reasonable prices of course!

Anyway, as for the pregnancy at the moment, here's the latest news:

How far along: 35 weeks

Size comparison: Honeydew melons!

Weight gain: I'm now 202.6lbs having put on 5lbs in the last 3 weeks.  I still feel comfortable with my weight and body and was actually more worried that I hadn't put on enough weight for someone growing twins!  Total weight gain is now finally over 1 stone at 17.6lbs and I'm still enjoying eating lots of yummy things!  ;)

34 weeks

33 weeks

Cravings: I've become a little obsessed with coke.  The last thing I want to be drinking lots of due to not only the caffeine content (although it seems you're allowed quite a few cans in a day according to NHS choices) but the acid and sugar being horrendous for my teeth!  Luckily being very aware of this, I am managing to avoid too much damage and I never have more than one can in a day!  (Was relieved to get registered at a dentist down here a couple of weeks ago and had the all clear, still no fillings, phew!)

I've been eating fairly healthily because Mum & Nik are taking such good care of me and doing all the cooking (and other chores) so I have proper meals.

Mum brought me this awesome bacon & hard fried egg sandwich for breakfast in the bath the other day!

I did chop myself up A LOT of fruit recently though and thoroughly enjoyed munching through the massive bowl after my veggie sausage wholemeal sandwich.  We did have a nice greasy chinese that night mind ;)

Mango, strawberries, pear and passion fruit.

Signs & Symptoms: Lots of stretch marks now but they're still pretty localised.  Mostly on the right side which if you saw my instagram is easily explained by this:

They like to curl up on the right in the evenings!

Other than that, just the usual you would expect at this late stage - major waddling, lots of waking up to pee in the night, sore bump, sore hips, always hungry, always thirsty, always hot and too much excitement and anxiety about what's coming next.

Middle of the night snacks! 

Even snacking in the bath
(Admittedly I always do this anyway but usually with wine!)

Things for babies: I think we pretty much have everything we need now although I still only have one carrier and I've decided to buy a Moby wrap too as hopefully I'll manage to carry them both myself in that at first (I'll be practising with teddies!) so I'm still bidding away on ebay!  I just need to finally choose their coming home outfits (and mine - bearing in mind my section wound!).

We received some lovely gifts at my baby shower last week as well and Caroline sent us some more of these fab Funky Giraffe dribble bibs!  Great minds and all that ;)  I'm assured you can never have too many and she'd bought them before I blogged about them, she obviously knows my taste very well!  Nik went through them telling me I should have ordered those designs too (which I had to point out wouldn't be a good thing as we'd then have doubles!), lol.

And my Auntie Ali sent us these gorgeous outfits from France where she lives:

I've been working on some pretty fripperies to get the nursery finished but we have all the essentials now, I'm just concentrating on the last few crafty projects I wanted to do before I have no time to do them anymore!!  This hot air balloon mobile being one of them:

Various paints for another project you'll hopefully see tomorrow (if I get done editing the pictures)!

And just on Sunday we had our final photo shoot with Laura which was so much fun!  I'm so glad we arranged one for after we moved towards the end of the pregnancy and in our new home.  The lovely Laura has actually edited them already so I'll be sharing my favourites (almost ALL of the 44!) very soon but for now, here's one of my ultimate favourites:

My baby shower!

by Bex

As I mentioned last week, Gemma & Bella threw me a baby shower this Saturday and boy did they put in a lot of effort!  They had arranged an olive green and yellow colour scheme to match the invitations, organised baby vest decorating with stencils and fabric paints, an amazing afternoon tea spread which everyone brought along some baking for and basically spoiled me rotten!

Unfortunately a lot of people couldn't make it due to various illnesses, distance/cost issues and poor sick babies but we didn't let that spoil the day and I had a thoroughly amazing time with those who were able to make it!  Plus is was quite nice having a small group as I was able to chat with everyone easily.  My in-laws had driven down for the weekend to join in and see the house for the first time, my Mum is obviously still here (and arranged the most amazing favours which I had no idea about either!  Sneaky!), Bella & Gemma came early to banish me while they decorated the house and then Laura and Katie turned up (with the most adorable and youngest guest, Megan)!  Nik and his Dad had planned to go out but since we had so much cake and plenty of spare everything, they decided to stay and join in the fun :)

I wore the purple Seraphine maxi dress Dani so kindly sent to me a few weeks ago.  Roz was devastated to not be able to make it down so I thought wearing an abundance of purple would help add her spirit to the occasion ;)  I added gold accessories for a bit of glitz.

Gemma and Bella banished me from the house in the morning and did an amazing job decorating our half-finished dining room using the paper pom garland I'd kept from my wedding (albeit a bit squished after 3 years in the attic) as well as some fresh gorgeous ones they'd made themselves and some fab green chevron paper straws!  They bought me a beautiful cabbage bouquet as well as roses for the mums!!  They then utilised my many (still homeless - a dresser has been ordered!) platters and cake stands to display all of the amazing food and baking people brought for our lovely afternoon tea.

Mum had sneakily bought loads of individually boxed bone china dragonfly mugs to use for the tea and for people to then take away as a party favour which I thought was such a sweet idea!  She even bought me a special green one!

I used my green one for tea and switched to the other when everyone had pink fizz (I had Melonade).

Since there were only 4 guests including Bella & Gemma, it means there are loads left so it looks like I have a fab new dragonfly mug collection!  :)

As for the baking, Laura's macarons and cheese scones went down a treat and Mum's lemon drizzle cakes (one with blueberries) were also very popular as was the fancy Maison Blanc chocolate cake MIL brought (as she couldn't bake close enough to the day).

We actually tucked into all of the delicious food last after catching up, pressies and then a tour of the new house of course, including the nursery which meant they all got a special secret sneaky peek at the twins' top secret initials as they'd just arrived that morning and I couldn't wait to add them to my newly designed gallery wall!

The twins and I are extremely lucky and although I had made sure that the girls knew no presents were required nor expected (as per American style showers), everyone brought us some truly beautiful gifts and I had a lot of fun opening them!!

Laura gave us some beautiful limited edition prints she felt would 
look gorgeous in a nursery/playroom.
Plus, check out the fab chevron wrapping and cute card!

I think I love the trampolining one best but I keep changing my mind!
They'll definitely be up in the playroom (the nursery walls are full now!)

Katie gave me some lovely bump treats and the twins a super cute bunny called JoJo and some cute (& very soft) 'Born in 2014' outfits!

(I forgot to take a picture of the bump products as I already put them in the bathroom!  

The sleep mist smells lovely!)

And Bella & Gemma MADE the most gorgeous little bowl set with dragonfly designs
 and 'The little dragonfly' written in French and Spanish!

I am SO impressed with Gemma's drawings!

I even received some gifts from some of those who couldn't attend.

Linsey (aka the queen of crochet!) sent some beautifully crocheted booties and hats in
olive green & cream with the most adorable wooden dragonfly buttons!

Roz has bought us the most beautiful print (which hasn't arrived yet but she sent me an image of it) which is just perfect and made most of us misty eyed!

This will also be in the playroom :)

And the wonderful Penski sent a huge Lavender tree which smells amazing and came with such a lovely message!

It's currently on the front step so we smell it as we brush past into the house :)

Katie and Laura had to leave around 5 but Bella and Gemma were able to stay on a bit longer to take part in the baby vest decorating!  I was honestly SO impressed (watching from my chair of exhaustion as I was) with everyone's designs!  Bella made an Elmer vest, Gemma a colourful parrot and MIL a bookworm inspired by the ones in the Nursery.  Mum was in her element helping everyone with crafting ideas and using her special machines/supplies but we have loads of vests left over too so I'm sure Mum and I will have fun designing some more ourselves over the next few weeks!

And finally, I have to mention the most popular guest - Megan!  She was an absolute dream (seriously, I hope my babies are as happy, sociable and chilled out as she) and I was concerned that Katie might have a fight on her hands to get her daughter back off my Mum before the twins arrive!!

As you can see, we all had an absolute ball and I am so grateful to these amazing ladies for throwing such a special party for me and the twins!  Thank you so much!!  xx

Not such a neat bump when I sit down!!  ;)

Thanks also to Gemma for taking LOADS of photos on my camera!