I don't like Thursdays!

Wednesday was a good day. Even though we went out in the morning and disrupted the boys schedule a bit, by 2pm they were back in routine.
Feed at 2, bed by 4.
Feed at 6, bed by 8, back up at 10 and straight back to bed.
They were asleep by 11 and didn't wake up until 5:30. Perfect!
I even got some scrapbooking done in the afternoon.
However yesterday was one of those days.

I had an appointment at the bank in the morning and was back home for their 2pm feed.
They self settled themselves to sleep pretty quickly because they were so tired and I thought "Ahh, another good day"

Well, Manning was up at 3, Lincoln was up at 4 so I ended up feeding early. We had a play, they grizzled through their baths (which they normally love) and after an hour of rocking the cot they finally fell to sleep at about 9, a hour before their goodnight feed.
So, I do some dishes.
I just start to fill the sink when I hear Manning let out a wail so off I rush.... "Please, Please don't wake Lincoln." By the time I get in there they are both crying so I pick up Manning and pat and rock him while I rock the cot with my foot. Then I swap and continue to do this for 40 mins at which point it dawned on me I hadn't turned off the tap. I put Lincoln down and run into the kitchen. It's flooded.
The floor is covered with hot foam covered water. The drawers and cupboards both have water spilling from them. Everything is soaked and both the boys are screaming again.
I wade through water and make up Manning's bottle and Lincoln's top up. I try and clean some of the water off the bench and get a big zap. Adam had left his phone charger plugged in and it had been sitting in the water on the bench.
I turn that off, take both bottles in to the boys, do a quick change and feed them. Manning over eats and vomits but doesn't spit it out. He holds it in his mouth until I lean into to clean him up, at which point he coughs and sprays puke all over my face.
After finally getting them to sleep at 11, I go into the Kitchen to clean it up. I ring Adam and ask him to bring take away home with him from work because I haven't had a chance to cook tea.
By 1 the mess is cleaned up and I'm falling into bed dead. As my head hits the pillow I hear another cry. They both wake up for another feed.
They were unsettled all night and had 2 more feeds over the course of the night.
They are exhausted to and so is their Mummy.

The discovery of a star

We have discovered a new favourite song.
No more only settling for Metallica music and Mummy humming Smoke On The Water.
They become fascinated by Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. They both stare blank faced at my fingers twinkling above my head, and when I finish singing they look at me as if to say, "What the hell happened to the star?!"
I'll see if I can get a photo.

In other news, Adam discovered the joys of fatherhood on the weekend while playing with Lincoln. See below - The saying "A picture is a thousand words" is very very true.

8 things I've learnt in the 8 weeks of being a Mummy.

• Bathroom break when you can - Do not wait until you need to go because that will be the exact moment the baby/ies cannot live without you.
  
• Spew will come when new clothes are applied - They need to be christened.
  
• Poo happens, anytime, anywhere. - Get used to it.
  
• You may be everything to your baby/ies but you will be invisible to everybody else - From complete strangers to the father of your children. I mean they may talk to you, but it will be about the baby/ies and they won't be looking at you at the time.
  
• Willies like to be free to pee - Be ready and alert.
  
• 2 hands are never enough - They can't even get around yet and 2 hands are not enough.
  
• Clothes prices are NOT directly proporitional to the amount of fabric that goes into making them - It's not logical.
  
• You can not please everyone - Please yourself and your baby/ies and be confident.

My Birth Story

Manning Paul and Lincoln Anthony were born on 8th January 2009 at 8:34am and 8:36am respectively.

Their last few weeks on the inside were packed with activity and drama at the finish line.
I spent from 34 weeks in and out of Pregnancy Day Care with high blood pressure. It all came to a head on early in the morning of the 6th when I slowly made my way out of bed to go to the bathroom. I was waking down the hallway and realised I felt really queasy. By the time I made it to the bathroom door I was trying to decide whether I could pee before I was sick but the decision was taken out of hands when I started vomiting all over the floor. I couldn't move bar for the retching shaking my body. I felt lightheaded, had a drink of water and slowly made my way back to the bedroom.
"Adam," I said, "You need to call the hospital."
"What?" he said jumping up, "Why?"
"I was just sick everywhere."
He called the hospital and of cause they said to come in straight away. I cleaned up the vomit and thought about the boys. I realised I hadn't really felt Manning move in quite a while.
When we got there they took my blood pressure. It wasn't the worst it had been but it was up. They put a drip in and gave me some maxalon to help with the nausea and headache. Then they put me on the CTG.
They found both heartbeats initially, and then lost Manning's and were struggling to find it again. I wasn't too worried at that stage. Their heat beats dropped out quite often in the Pregnancy Day Care because they didn't like the noise it made.
They couldn't find it so decided to rush my upstairs to the birthing suite. They loaded my into a wheelchair and doctor was tell me they'd probably be delivered that day.

In the birthing suite they picked up Manning's and Lincoln's heartbeat fine. My blood pressure had gone down and everything was fine. I was then moved to the postnatal ward. I got a double bed and they told Adam and I to have a rest and the doctor would be around later to discuss were we go from here. Meanwhile they continued to take my blood pressure and monitor the boys’ heartbeats with a doppler.
They took more bloods and I had to do my 3rd 24-hour urine collection. I wasn't going home.

On the 7th I went down for my scheduled 36-week ultrasound. It was hard to get the measurements and there was really no room and I had a huge amount of fluid collecting behind my belly button.
She estimated Manning at 8lbs 3oz and Lincoln at 7lbs 13oz. Manning was still breech and now so was Lincoln.
Adam went to work for the first time since the 23rd of December. He'd had from the 23rd - 5th off and had taken the 6th off when they advised us hey thought the boys would be born when I was admitted.

After he'd left the doctor came in and told me since I was almost 37 weeks, I had a c/section booked for the 12th, the boys were good sizes, my blood pressure wouldn't stablise and there was a fair bit of protein in my urine, I would be having a c/section the following morning. I would be 3rd on the list so approximately 10 -11am. I was officially diagnosed with mild pre eclampsia. I rang Adam and announced, "By this time tomorrow you'll officially be a daddy!"
"Tomorrow? no I'm not ready" was his response.

During my days frequenting the Pregnancy Day Care I'd agreed to participate in a study of pre eclampsia and in the morning of the c/section the lady came to visit me to make sure I was all prepared. She casually mentioned that I was first up.
"No," I said, " I'm third"
"On my list your 1st," she said, " but I can double check"
"What time does the first c/section happen?"
"8am, I'll just go double check for you."
I looked at the clock. It was 7:10am and I knew Adam hadn't even left home yet.
I rang him, "They've moved me to first, I'm going in at 8"
"I'll be there in a minute," he said and hung up.

It was 7:35 and I was standing at the elevator in my scrubs, waiting to go to the operating theatre when Adam came bursting out of one. He had made it. The epidural took hold quickly and Adam was led in with the camera. He looked really nervous and kept making silly jokes.
When the anesthetist said to him, "You may recognise this lady."
He said " No that's not my girlfriend."

Adam saw Manning's feet first. While he was being born, I was vomiting into a kidney dish and could not summon the overjoyed emotion I should have been feeling.
He peed and pooed almost as soon as he was born. His APGAR score was 8 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes.
Lincoln had managed to turn overnight and was actually head down. He did wee as soon as he was born, all over the doctor and my face. His APGAR was the same as Manning's, 8 and 9.
Manning weighed 8lbs, measured 49cm and had a head circumference of 34cm Lincoln weighed 6lbs 10oz, measured 48cm and had a head circumference of 34cm.

They took to breastfeeding really well and I couldn't wait to be on my feet again.
We were discharged (pushed out the door) on the 11th.

I'll be back soon with more updates.

New beginnings

As the boys are finally here, I thought it would be a good time for a fresh blog start so instead of using my old Spaces blog for Nemo family updates, I'm going to us this brand new blog!
And starting from the very beginning, with the boys' Birth story, which I'll move over from Spaces.