Twins Feeding Times as Babies, (0 to 7 Months) Dad

After doing lots of reading on Twins and how they should be fed we decided that we would feed the twins them separately, it may seem at first that this will take twice as long, believe me that everything will take a least twice as long as there is 2 of them. The reasons for feeding them individually was practicality, there will not always be two of us around 24/7, and you can not always rely on help (family & friends). Even if there was 2 of us at home during feeding time only one of us would feed them, at first yes they did cry when the other was being fed but we knew we had to stick to it for the long term. We tried to make sure as often as possible (if they were asleep) to wake one and feed whilst the other was asleep. This was bliss when it worked, sometimes when they were both awake it was so stressful it was like it would never end, scream, feed,change, scream feed change.
HOORAY eventually they did get into the routine, one would be fed and the other one would wait their turn, it was worth all the effort, sleepless nights and tantrums in the end

Birth of the Twins Dad

Dad :Its the end of January, time for my company conference in London, entertaining customer all week until the early hours of the morning (The Wife just thinks it just a long party) Everything is planned, 5 star hotel, trains (managed to blag first class) diner reservations for every night of the week, peace at least for a week. Until I get a phone call from the wife telling me they want her back in the hospital (after a routine scan) as the Twins don't seem to be growing much so she will be having them as soon as possible, I have enough time to get a train ticket back home (and a quick smoke) and then it back on the train home ,, the fun is only just beginning

Birth of the Twins Mum

Mum: It is the 25th January 2010 and I am off to hospital for a routine scan just to check if they have grown or not. Guess what the twins grown!! I have until one 1pm to get myself sorted. It is at this point I think daughter number one is at school age 3, husband is on a train to London for the week to attend a conference, both set of parents don't live here and have no way of getting here so where do you start. Right phone husband who had just stepped off the train at Euston who confirms there is another train to bring him back and would be with me by 3!! Ring school inform them that I am being admitted and that a friend would be picking up Lily. Ring best friend who lives an hour away and organise her to pick up lily. Guess what I haven't even packed my hospital bag yet well they are not due until march!!!!! Throwing everything in a bag and back into hospital at midday. I have got to say I felt fine tried of course but other than that great.

Naming the Twins , How hard can it be ? Dad

Dad :Before any baby is born I am sure that you all go through that stage with your partner of "what shall we call the baby" this can go on for days, weeks, months, and at any time of the day, first thing in a morning and just as you close your eyes at night.(where do you hide)
Well if you thought that was a chore for a singleton try it for TWINS, the permutations are mind boggling (well they are once a female gets involved)
Simple Options
2 girls
2 boys
1 boy & 1 Girl
Complicated Options
1 Girl & 1 boy
Yes I know it looks the same as above but believe me its not quite the same because if the son is born first it will have one name, lets say we call the baby "Jack", but it the daughter is born first then the son is the second born and then he should be called something different (women's logic) so lets say we should call him "Ralph".
Carry on with the permutations
Different Names for different days of the week
Who's parents or grand parents names do you include
Do you include one of the godparents names ?
Royalty
Luckily we are not rich or famous so we don't have to include the ridiculous names that embarrass them for the rest of their life
But if the rich or famous have a baby do you go with that ?
Religious names ?
We don't overly support any football team so we didn't follow that
For myself (MAN) it was a simple process I hear a name, I like it we use it !
I have forgotten the many hundreds of suggestions of names by my partner because this is only the start of things to come. TWINS

In the end we settled for quite "normal" names, as it happens our daughters name is in the top 10 for 2010 and our sons is not. Hopefully the names actually suit our twins and ultimately as they get older they will actually like the names we chose them.

I hope there is little help below

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/naming/

Top Girls' Names 2010	Top Boys' Names 2010
1. Sophie	1. Joshua
2. Isabelle	2. Jack
3. Emily	3. Harry
4. Olivia	4. Oliver
5. Lily	5. Charlie
6. Chloe	6. Thomas
7. Isabella	7. Daniel
8. Amelia	8. Ethan
9. Jessica	9. Noah
10. Sophia	10. James

For the male of the species out there GOOD LUCK and I always found when the name game became too much a little glass of wine made it pass a little quicker

Free Stuff if your planning on having a baby http://www.freestuff.co.uk/go-huggiesasda

20 week scan of the Twins Mum

Mum : Its our twenty week scan and I think in my head I am thinking it might not be twins. It is twins and they are so clear now you can see them, four feet, four hands you can see where this going. Anyway they are not identical we had been told this and they are in separate sacks. we are now under a consultant and we are going to be scanned every four weeks. Our first meeting with the consultant was very emotional we were informed of the dangers of having twin births and also the % of risk of twins and all the things they are looking for when I am being scanned. They also asked us to think about what we would do if one or both of the twins were at risk of downs. I left the hospital that day heavy hearted and sad, what would you do? You play it over and over in your mind what would you do. I have a week to wait for the results of the blood test to check for downs and the relief I felt when they said we were low risk I cannot explain I am not even sure I ever had a decision in my head. At the next scan I was told they were very small and hadn't put on any weight so now we are being scanned every two weeks we are 26 weeks at this point. At week 28 they still hadn't put on any weight so now I have to steroid injections to ensure their lungs were developed enough just in case they need to come early. Oh did I say we have also sold our house and should be moving just before Christmas!!! Our four year old daughter is asking why all our stuff is in boxes and where is our christmas tree and will santa know we have moved??? all these questions were answered with a delay on the sale. A couple of days before Christmas due to the stress and delay to the sell of our house I start to bleed.

20 Week Scan of the Twins Dad

Dad :Its time for the 20 week scan, still a little scary and a little excited at the prospect of twins, We can now actually see both of the twins quite clearly. Every looks normal (apart from there is 2 !) Reality is a little closer now, not sure what to expect (can see a visit to the book Twins The Survival guide was a big help, store coming on). The Nurse ask if we want to know the sex of the twins ?.
We have already spoken about this before and we have decided that we do not want to know and would rather wait until the day. we will say what brought us to this decision later in the blog (what did you decide and why)

9 1/2 weeks!!!!!!! Dad

Dad : Busy at work as usual, must dash home and go to the scan (its not our first, we already have a daughter) as I am driving there I'm think do I really need to be here ? as this is really only a scan to tell my wife she has her dates wrong and that she is really 12 to 14 weeks.
I am sat in the hospital scan room trying to look interested in the fuzzy pictures on the screen and the wife nattering on and on, I hear her say to the nurse ,,something along the lines don't say it twins! as I look at the nurse I notice her expression changes, so I squint really hard at the monitor like I know what I am looking for AND then time stands still "yes its TWINS" I look at the wife, the wife looks at me and we look back at the nurse and she confirms yes TWINS, We are speechless, all the way back to the car and all the way home, totally SPEECHLESS