Tiny Turtle Hatchlings

[Figaro]

It’s so frustrating. I can’t believe they didn’t even tell you they were coming at all today! Mine used to tell me the day and if I phoned in the morning they’d let me know if I was likely to be am or pm. That said, sometimes that was even more annoying, because they often rearranged their schedule during the day and would say morning and then come at 4pm. The HV appointments are just routine visits whereas the midwives are essentially on call for any problems etc in anyone less than 2-3 weeks postpartum, so they often end up going to see someone who ends up needing to be readmitted for whatever reason and spending two hours sorting that out etc. And if someone phones them mid morning to say they think they’ve got X problem then they get added in as an extra visit and may be deemed urgent and put in ahead of everyone else. But not telling you which day they were next coming at all is unacceptable!

[Leap]

M is walking! She finally got it yesterday, or at least she’s got the confidence to let go. I’ve been to buy her some shoes today, they’re half a size too big as it’ll be a little while before I’m happy to actually let her roam outside. I also bought her some bright yellow wellies.

I had meant to reply to this earlier - congratulations M! How is she getting on with it now?

Ken, I get that devastation at a missed nap so much - especially under those circumstances. Throughout this whole process I’ve found in all walks there are people who consistently act like you should know what comes next, even though it’s their job to regularly work with women for whom this is all utterly brand new.

I have Hop chat but I’m too tired so here is a picture.

[Figaro]

Sam has learnt to walk too! About 3 weeks ago. He only walks indoors though and still crawls if he’s in a rush!

Look at Hop’s cheeks

[Rhodonite]

Hop is such a wee doll!

Oh Ken, I'm sorry you have such a crap MW. The missed nap would have seriously pissed me off too. I hated never knowing what time they would be visiting, but I'm sure I at least got told what day they'd be round.

And well done to all the walkers! No stopping them now!

[Kenickie]

Hop is beautiful.

Walking must be such a lovely stage.

BIL, SIL and nephews 2 and 4 arrived shortly after my last post so they were greeted by me being a weeping mess which is pretty embarrassing but I guess is maybe a good way to warn nephews off getting anyone pregnant for a good few decades. ;) nephews (aged 11 and 14) were really sweet and spent ages cuddling the babies. It was a bit strange though as after about five minutes I was internally thinking 'give me my children back as I want to cuddle them'.

Tonight has been better so far as there's been some cot time so some sleep for me, although Topsy has been quite angry for no discernable reason.

[Kenickie]

Oh and my breasts seem to have settled a bit and been a lot less leaky. I have been trying the reverse pressure stuff.

[Kenickie]

And one good thing from the midwife visit was that they got weighed again. Tim has put in two ounces and topsy one ounce since Friday. Once they're back at birth weight I might knock the three hour schedule on the head and just see when they're hungry at night which I think might make things a bit less stressful.

[Kenickie]

Definitely spoke to soon about the leaking getting better!

Also, with putting them down on their backs, I do this, but they then kind of twist their bodies round a bit so they're facing each other more. Is that OK from a SIDS pov?

[Leap]

But also, twisting to face each other .

This!

I co-slept a few times with Hop on her side, and felt comfortable because I could position her in a way that felt like if she rolled it would be onto her back and not her front. I’d ask the MW but hope they’ll be realistic about it because I think the official advice is very rigid (at least wherever they have it written down). My HV was quite relaxed about discussing rule bending in my case while saying eg ‘...but I can’t officially say that.’

I just wear breast pads round the clock - I find the pressure of the nursing bra or top usually stops them from leaking, but ‘usually’ isn’t always, and I find pads easier on sore nipples anyway.

[Scooter]

And one good thing from the midwife visit was that they got weighed again. Tim has put in two ounces and topsy one ounce since Friday. Once they're back at birth weight I might knock the three hour schedule on the head and just see when they're hungry at night which I think might make things a bit less stressful.

Once the monsters were gaining and not quite so sleepy during the day I stopped waking them at night. I figured they would shout when hungry. They did and they quickly settled into a 4ish hour first stint from 7pm which was nice as a had a bit of an evening then a bit of a nap before the 3 hourly shouting started. Cluster feeding, although an utter ball ache (2 babies cluster feeding for 3 hours ) it did help their sleep stretches go for longer.

Leap! Look at how big Hop’s got! She’s so sweet.

[Kenickie]

4 hours would be great! That's reassuring that feeding to hunger in the night worked for you.

I'll ask the midwife /health visitor about the side sleep thing. Hopefully they will think it's OK because it's really hard to stop! Strangely it's mostly Topsy that likes to do it, obviously she's keener on her brother than vice versa. ;)

We had to come to the hospital today for a hearing test (all fine) so have come their to Costa to take advantage of some hot food cooked by someone else. And I have done my first public feeding (one at a time though).

[Leap]

I just saw the pictures, you’re doing absolutely amazing! Well done!

[rosy]

You are doing so well, Ken!

[Kenickie]

Just had my first terrible parent moment. Topsy fed at about eleven twenty, and Tim at 11:45. Topsy then woke for another feed at quarter past one.

At about ten to three, just before the alarm, I was woken by a screaming Topsy who wanted feeding. But I was a bit concerned that Tim had gone three hours, and that it would be well over that by the time she'd fed if I let her go first, and she'd not long fed before. So I decided to wake him up and do him first. He was really sleepy though, despite stripping him off etc, and just refused to feed at all. Topsy was quite unhappy by this point, so I decided to feed her and then give Tim a try. I did this, but he still was refusing a feed. We googled how to wake a newborn to feed and tried about a million things and nothing was working. I was getting quite worried at this point as he'd now been waiting close to four hours and I didn't want to leave it any longer. As a last resort, I asked P to try changing his nappy. Which he did, and was then like 'errr, you know this is actually Topsy and not Tim?'. So we'd spent ages trying to wake a sleepy baby who wasn't hungry because she'd fed recently, and made the baby who was hungry and had woken up right on schedule wait for no reason. :eek:

Thank god they're not identical eh. I guess this is also another argument for tandem feeding.

Obviously as my punishment I'm still awake as Topsy is now hungry and feeding.

[Cerise]

That’s got to be easily done in the middle of the night!

[Leap]

Oh Ken! I’ve always wondered about twins so it’s quite humanising to realise it’s possible, even with boy/girl. You won’t have done any harm and it’s just another stop on this learning curve. The thing I find hardest about doing midweek nights alone is being the one who has to make the decisions, as it can be so hard in the small hours on little sleep even if they are objectively simple, e.g. change her or feed her first? Just last night I put her on the wrong boob and then just stared at her for the longest time trying to decide if I should switch her over or not.

[Kenickie]

Yeah, in my defence it was quite dark. Also Topsy is much more of crier normally so it just seemed logical that the one screaming baby must be her. I totally know what you mean about the decision making and second guessing, Leap. How is Hop doing generally?

[Smunder Woman]

Oh Ken

[Blondiejude]

Oh ken bless you, I’ve often wondered how parents of twins manage when they’re that small, S has friends who are identical twins and I have to get the mum to tell me which is which if they come round to play. She usually puts a different jumper or something on them but obviously now they’re older they find it hilarious to change them.

[Jet]

I had literally just been wondering how you don’t mix them up I had a hard enough time remembering which boob we used last with one child* let alone which child was last!

*I had an app