Twin Pregnancy Diary - 29 weeks 4 days

I went along to the hospital to see my consultant following last week's growth scan for the twins.  As always, finding a parking space was a joy except it wasn't and the whole fuss and bother of waiting and looking for a place to leave the car took longer than my journey to the hospital.  Still, I suppose if that is my only gripe then I shall consider myself lucky.

Clinic was running a little behind schedule but the wait wasn't as long as I had expected it to be.  I saw a new doctor yesterday, another on my consultant's team, who was once again ever-so lovely.  I feel so very lucky to be under the care of such pleasant and nice professionals who make me feel at ease.

All the checks for the babies were fine.  Both are growing well, my uterus now measuring 33cm and both babies have remained in a head down position since last week's scan.  The doctor looked over the scan results and stated how everything looked perfect, with no cause for concern at all.  Then we discussed how I have been feeling, to which I explained that I had been a lot more tired and feeling exceptionally unwell the last couple of weeks in particular.  I assume, I told her, that my hb levels had dropped but I wasn't sure as the midwife hadn't informed me of my blood test results.

The doctor left the room to find out and returned with the news that indeed they had dropped, from 9.3 in the first trimester to 8.5.  This is not a good level to be at and most certainly does explain why I have been feeling so dreadful and uncontrollably sick, tired and breathless.  We have four weeks of the maximum dosage I can take of folic and ferrous tablets and if there is no improvement it looks like iron infusions are a real possibility as these levels really do need to be brought up.

I'm not quite sure what the infusions will involve.  As far as I am aware they take a while to work through via IV and while I am not averse to having the infusion as I feel so awful, I am going to make a concerted effort to take my pills as prescribed and see what happens.  I'm not holding out much hope that my body will suddenly start absorbing the iron like we need it to though.  Wish me luck.


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Mind the gap - are bigger or smaller age gaps better?

I grew up with one brother. When my mum was pregnant with him she and my dad gave me the choice of a puppy or a baby brother or sister.

 I chose the puppy.

 I didn't get it.

 My second choice was a baby sister.

 No luck there either.

 I got the baby brother.

 Not one of my first two choices.

There were just over seven years between us. We had nothing in common. We went through our lives at different stages and were treated very differently as of course, our ages and abilities were very different.

The biggest gap between our children is between the two girls, Stephanie and Caitlin at 5 years and 4 months. The smallest is between children five and six, Eddie and Sid, at less than a year. Again, I noticed the same issues as I experienced first hand when I was younger. Ben and Stephanie were fourteen months apart. They were best friends and worst enemies. Always playing together yet an argument was never far behind. When Caitlin came along they loved her as their baby sister but she wasn't at the same stage of being able to join in the games or the things that they were interested in. The differences were more noticeable and so the restrictions were more apparent.

After Caitlin came six boys in a row who now range from 11 months up to 8 years. Yes, six boys stair stepping down over a seven year period. The largest gap between any two of them is 22 months. Many people recoil in horror at having so many children so closely spaced but me, I prefer it.

Between each brother and the next there is more in common. There isn't very much the eight year old can do that the six year old can't and virtually nothing between the six and the five year old's abilities. And even though the two year old can't keep up with the five, six and eight year olds as much, there is the link between them of the four year old who is almost able to keep up with the five year old yet not quite miles away skillswise from the two year old. So they all link up together nicely, each bringing their own talent, skills and ways to the table.

This also helps each of them deal with others of different ages and abilities. They become aware that not everybody has the same physical dexterity or logical way of thinking or doing something. They learn that the two year old might not be able to build a complex structure from K'nex but he's very able and keen to show off his row of cars in size order which he made all by himself.

So while there may be several children, all very young and all very close together in age, I actually find it easier this way than I did with the three older ones, when the older two were so developmentally different than the third and with such an obvious gap in between.

Are bigger or smaller gaps better? How long is a piece of string? Everyone will have a different opinion on this and I am keen to know yours.


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Twin Pregnancy Diary - 29 weeks 2 days

Twin Pregnancy 29 weeks

Well, we are now into the third and final trimester!  Quite apart from making it here, something I thought wouldn't happen in the early weeks when I was bleeding and worrying, I am also celebrating that we have reached this point with no major concerns or problems.  This week's belly pic looks considerably bigger than last week's to me.  What do you think?

I have been very blessed with good health, all in all, throughout this pregnancy.  Apart from my usual problems with low iron, and the expected tiredness and normal difficulties of being pregnant I have no real reason to complain.

I know that I have gained quite a bit of weight again this time.  I am looking forward and planning on getting back on Weight Watchers once the babies are safely here.  I am determined (again) to lose the extra load I am carrying.  It doesn't look good and it doesn't feel good and I don't like it.

One more symptom of pregnancy which has been making itself known lately is that of nosebleeds.  Apparently, the increased bloody supply makes them quite common, although I have never had the misfortune of experiencing them in my previous pregnancies.  This time is different.  Last week alone I had four.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with the consultant to follow up on last week's growth scan.  As far as I know the scan went well and I was told there were no problems.  The consultant will be raising any concerns she might have and checking on me and the babies.  I will follow up with you later this week.

If you are a new reader (please do leave a comment and say "hello!") and would like to catch up on this pregnancy diary from the start you can go back to where it begins with the Twin Pregnancy Diary - The First Nine Weeks (Part One). 

If you've caught up, or you've already been following to date you can continue to keep up with our journey by subscribing to a full feed in your reader.

And don't forget, if you'd like to chat with me or keep up to date with all the little stuff in life you can leave a comment after any post or join Larger Family Life on our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter too.

(You can also share posts on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble them or Digg them too so don't be shy! It's good to share, after all!)


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Could it be you?

Thank you to everyone who entered our competitions to win a copy of "Love Another Child" by Chris and Wendy Jeub, and for those who joined in my virtual baby shower to win a copy of our book, "Larger Family Life".

Now, to pick the winners for "Love Another Child" I used the Random Number Generator.  However I had difficulty copying the image showing the winning number so instead I took a photo.

Here is the first winner...

Commenter number 32 aka JennaKeller!

And winner number 2 is...

.... commenter number 10, aka Gen D'Orleans!

Well done to both of you!  You each win a copy of "Love Another Child".

As for the virtual baby shower, choosing a winner was very difficult.  You could not get away from the selection of t-shirts though and even though I am definitely not a fan of shirts with slogans on, I did actually quite like this one.  So Abba12, a copy of our book will be on its way to you!

Can the three winners please email me at family@largerfamilylife.com as soon as you can with your full name and address details?

Thank you to everyone for entering the giveaways.  Don't forget you have one more chance to win a copy of my book here but hurry, it closes on Monday.


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Twin Pregnancy Diary - 28 weeks 6 days

Yesterday was the first growth scan to check on how the twins are doing. Mike had taken the day off work to stay with the younger children and Caitlin came along to the hospital with me.

Never knowing whether we will be able to find a parking space we left an hour before our appointment time. The hospital is only a ten minute drive away and we unusually found a space straight away. This meant that we arrived approximately 40 minutes before our allotted time. It didn't matter as it gave us a chance to have a natter with the lovely receptionist there for twenty minutes.

We then sat in the waiting room and waited. Our appointment time came and went and we finally went in just half an hour after we were scheduled to. Not bad going, really!

Anyway, the scan took a fair while to do. As it wasn't an anomaly scan the extremities and organs were not checked. It was only a case of measuring distances and entering them into the computer to calculate whether each baby was growing as it should.

I had a little worry when I saw that one twin's heartbeat was only typed down as being 103bpm... way too slow for my liking. However, this was not noted anywhere and the sonographer didn't mention anything. In her opinion, everything seemed fine and dandy and both babies are measuring as they should for their dates.

Before I went to the hospital a few of us over on the Larger Family Life Facebook page had a guess at the weights of the babies. We're a fun loving bunch over there don't you know? If you haven't joined us yet, why not? Anyway, I'm not sure that anyone got both the weights but all the guesses came pretty close. The babies are estimated to be 2lb 11oz for Twin 1 (the twin on my left) and 2lb 8oz for Twin 2. Both babies are lying head down at the moment - not that it makes any difference to us really and no, we didn't find out the sexes!

Unfortunately the sonographer couldn't get a picture of Twin 1's face. Here is Twin 2's profile though:

Twin 2 profile at 28 weeks 5 days

... and we also watched him/her puckering up and blowing kisses.  Here is one for you...

Twin 2's puckering profile at 28 weeks 5 days

So there it is. I now have a follow up appointment on Tuesday with the consultant so we will see what she says about the results of the scan. As I understand it though, there are no concerns and nothing to worry about, so it's all good.


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Today I'll be deciding which of my children I would rather not have had

And I'm going to the USA too.

Actually, today I will be getting ready for a photoshoot which is taking place this weekend and then I'll be off to the hospital for the twins' growth scan, so I won't really be in America.

I will be blogging from there though.  Later today I'm going be guest blogging over at www.jeubfamily.com where I'm going to be making a tough decision and trying to work out which of my children I would rather never have had.  Sounds harsh, does it?  Click over to the Jeub's website a little later to see what in the world I am on about.

In the meantime don't forget that there is only one day left to win a copy of Chris and Wendy Jeub's latest book, "Love Another Child".  I'll be picking two winners this time tomorrow so make sure you get your entries in fast.

And while you're here you can also enter to win a copy of our book, "Larger Family Life", which was only released this week and is still on its way to becoming available globally.  Both giveaways are open to entrants worldwide.



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Lego is a mum's best friend - Review

I was asked if I had any boys who might like Lego.

Like that was a hard question to answer, I don't think.

So when Lego sent over a box each from their new Alien Conquest collection the boys couldn't wait to get started.

Eddie set up his workstation at the kitchen table and looked over the plans for the Tripod Invader...

Harry and Sid broke away into the playroom and started work on the UFO Abduction set...

#

They worked for the best part of the morning...

... and well into the afternoon...

... diligently making progress...

... until the task was done...

They loved it.  In fact, they loved it so much they took everything apart again as soon as they'd shown their handywork off to dad when he came home from work, and started all over again.

Eddie has done that for four days in a row now.  

So while they wanted to say "thank you" to Lego and wanted to tell them that they think Alien Conquest is "brilliant!" and "cool!"  I would like to add a thank you of my own for the otherwise unusual peace and quiet that has descended on this house for the last few days.  It is very, very much appreciated!

We were sent the Lego Tripod Invader (srp. £18.99) and the Lego UFO Abduction (srp. £25.99) free of charge for the purpose of this review.

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Our book is out now! (& I'm giving one away this week plus an extra chance to win)

After much planning, typing and beavering away, our book is finally completed and making its way into shops all around the world as I write.

We decided to take the questions we've been asked the most as our family has grown, and put them all into one book.  We explain how our convictions regarding family planning changed over the years through our spiritual and personal journeys.  We talk about how a mixture of determination, work and sacrifice has enabled us to carry out our beliefs.  We also share the things we learnt along the way, such as budgeting tips, planning for a large family Christmas, homeschooling and how we prepare to introduce a new member into the family.

This book isn't just for large families but it also appeals to those who are simply curious about them.  We wanted to share our story and our journey of where we came from and how we ended up as we are.  Through our story we hope we can encourage others to accept children into their lives if that is what they feel called to do, while also answering the questions that many people have when they discover that you're not an average sized family!

"Larger Family Life", the book, is being rolled out worldwide over the coming weeks and within the next couple of months will be available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com and other online retailers as well as all brick and mortar bookstores for the list price of £10.99.  (If you don't see it in stock at your bookstore or library please do ask them to stock it by quoting the ISBN 978-1-4478-1320-0).

However, it is available now for immediate purchase through Lulu.com, with the Larger Family Life paperback version at a special discounted price of £7.69 or as a download for £4.79.  Larger Family Life is also available on Kindle both at Amazon.co.uk and at Amazon.com.

To celebrate I am going to give a copy of the book, Larger Family Life - Living life the large family way, to one lucky winner.

What I ask is that you write a post on your blog about the book and link back to this post. I'd like to know why you'd like to read it too.  Leave a comment below linking to your post.  That is one entry.

For extra entries you can become a Twitter follower or a Facebook friend (and leave a comment to say you're following or that you already do), plus you can gain an extra entry when you  leave a comment below for every time you tweet about this post or spread the word on Facebook (and linked back to this post).  Leave a link to your Twitter/Facebook mention.  They constitute another separate entry each (one comment to be left below per entry method).

This giveaway will close on Monday, 29th August at 5am, GMT.

Here is an extra chance to win for those of you who just can't wait to read it.

If you are keen to buy the book you can go ahead and buy it and when you've read it, write a review over on Lulu.  Leave a comment below to say you have done so and link to your review.  If you are picked as the winner I will reimburse you the cost of the book.  Because this will take some time for you to purchase and read the book, I'll pick one book reviewer as the winner on Friday, September 9th.

I am aware that some people are having difficulty leaving comments using Blogger.  If you cannot submit your comment please email it to me at family@largerfamilylife.com and I'll comment on your behalf. 



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