We're home and just about coping...

Well we have had three nights at home with the twins now and it is fair to say that I had not anticipated anything as difficult as this. It is certainly nice to be home and out of the hospital and to have two healthy babies but at the moment it is 100% a full-time job. Thankfully we have the help of my Mum in the afternoons and now also Marla's parents - who arrived from the USA this morning and will be staying with us for a couple of weeks.

Maddie and Morgan are seemingly well. Although Morgan does appear to suffer from wind problems after nearly every feed, which makes putting him down a bit of a hit-and-miss affair. Maddie, by comparison is quite well behaved - although feeding them both takes a long time.

Marla has recovered very well from the Ceasarean and is almost entirely back to her full strength. Considering she has not been sleeping well (for obvious reasons) and eating regularly is also a challenge, I think she has done remarkably well.

I have taken more photos and will post them sometime soon - haven't had a lot of time up until now.

We proudly present to you...

Madeleine Lee (left) and Morgan Wynn (right) Loughborough were born on the 14th of September at 5:02 and 5:04 respectively. This photo is from today, which was the first time we have been able to have them together like this - Maddie is in the special baby unit because she is quite small. Both are healthy and seem to be doing very well.

Final word?...

One final change... Marla's Caesarean has been moved forward to Wednesday (Sept 14). This is only because Wednesday was slightly less busy for the hospital than Thursday. So, assuming that things don't become more urgent for us when we have the scan tomorrow morning "B" Day will be Wednesday.

Tick tock tick tock...

OK, so here is the latest: We met with the doctor this afternoon and she told us that, although everything seemed fine on the scan we had on Tuesday, because Marla's blood-pressure is slightly higher than it should be she will be having a Caesarean next week. It is scheduled for Thursday but could be either Tuesday or Wednesday if there is an opening or if our situation becomes more urgent. We have another scan on Tuesday morning and we will know by then what is actually going to happen.

This is actually the sort of news we were hoping for. We have made a lot of trips to the hospital over the last few weeks and it has all been surrounded by considerable uncertainty. At least now we know what is coming - even though we don't know quite what to expect!

It is also good because the extra week (we were thinking that delivery might even be this week) means that Marla will be almost 37 weeks along by the time they are delivered, which is about average for twins. Also, Marla has become increasingly physically uncomfortable with the fact that she has two little people growing inside of her - there is less and less room for them and all of her inside bits and she occasionally finds that she has problems doing simple things like digest food or breathing without feeling the babies - so at least she knows there is a definite end to her discomfort in sight.

So anyway, if all goes well by this time next week we will be parents. Pretty crazy!

Incidentally, Fi and Andy will be having their baby about the same time (assuming it arrives approximately on time) - what an interesting time it will be for us all.

Another update...

We had an ultrasound scan on Thursday and it seems that the growth of the smaller twin is still a little concerning to the doctor, so they are continuing to keep a close eye on things. One thing they do is a "doppler" check on the cord to that twin to make sure there is adequate blood passage through it. For a couple of reasons they were not able to get more than one decent doppler reading (the one they did get was OK, but one is not enough apparently). One reason for the difficutly is that the twin keeps hiding the cord with its leg, the other reason is that there is only a small amount of fluid surrounding that
twin (which is also a concern it seems).

Anyway, we will be going back to the hospital on Saturday to have the heartbeats monitored, again. Then we have another scan on Tuesday. If, on Tuesday, things have not changed (i.e. they still can't get satisfactory doppler readings) they will try to deliver the babies next week!

Obviously, at just over 35 weeks, it would be a little early so they would have to be looked after in the special baby unit. Marla has already had a shot of steroids to help the babies' lungs grow if they are delivered early. The doctor seems quite confident that all will be fine, hence so are we. Most likely mode of delivery would be C-section - also not a problem for us.

Things are still uncertain at the moment, but all the heartbeat monitorings we have had have been good and the babies are quite active, so they seem healthy apart from the size issue.

One more, non-baby-related thing. Given the terrible situation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the completely hopeless response from the authorities (not to be confused with the tremendous work that I'm sure is being done by the aid workers on the ground) I would like to point you in the direction of this open letter by Michael Moore to George W. Bush and this less scathing but no less insightful article on the BBC website.