My Life's Ingredients

Today is Father’s Day, and because Doug is effectively already a dad – we just have to wait a little longer – I decided to get him a little present and card from me and the twins.   I started the card yesterday at the crop but didn’t have the right stamps for the tag (and it needed adjusting due to the “bespoke” text anyway) – and the fact that I only managed to finish one Thank you card yesterday has nothing to do with that. LOL. As for the present – we saw this book at the Twin Group meeting in June, and Doug’s borrowed it. I had a quick look and ordered for him online, and told him off for reading the book – he thought it was due to being a bit superstitious. But here you go … the present and card for the father-to-be… (absolutely funny book about babies … just like any electrical manual etc.). Stamps are all from Dimension Fourth Ltd ( F1 car and Flags - Doug LOVES F1 &), I also used one of the Spellbinder tags. Everything is embossed in “Blueberry Regular”...

I’ve seen the numbers going up on people checking out my blog, but hardly anyone comments on anything. Might be that they just don’t have anything to say to a particular topic, but still. I personally am guilty myself, as I’m reading blog entries via the Google Reader, and I’m bad with leaving comments. Another reason for less comments is probably Facebook with the comments on the walls. Ah well! However, I’ll now make sure that I’ll be commenting on topics I have something to say (even if it’s just a short comment). Let’s hope I’ll stick to it.

Not sure if that’s just a thing my body is doing, but whenever I have had bad news it feels like I am in a bubble, like my brain won’t let that come too close to me. Protection mechanism for the twins so I’m not getting too upset/change blood pressure etc.? Who knows. I had that back in April when my mum told me they had to revert her healed and closed tracheotomy due to her airways growing shut and she only had 30% air coming through. I just seemed to go into “robot mode” with it, just dealt with it and my head didn’t let it affect me. On Sunday evening I was told that one of our “graduated” Junior Wolves players, whom I expected to put on a senior Wolves jersey soon, has died. He was one of our junior players for 2 years, team captain, and as photographer, first aider and club secretary for the squad I had a fairly good contact to him. Can remember when he had his injuries (one of them being a fingernail being torn out of the nail bed…huh!). Now I’m feeling guilty, because that...

Do you have any shows you’ve hardly missed as a child? And I don’t mean children TV now, I mean entertainment shows. One program I ALWAYS watched when we were at home was the ZDF – FERNSEHGARTEN (celebrating 25 years this year!!) (big entertainment show with games, guests, music, cooking, DIY help etc.) They later added the ZDF – WINTERGARTEN which was really nicely built like a Christmas market and provided the same as the original, just with topic of Christmas). Definitely shows I LOVED as a child, and I am glad that they are doing live streams online now, so since our last family visit in Germany I’ve been watching it. Other shows were “ Wetten Dass ” (“Wanna Bet” in USA, “You bet” in UK) – a show with bets where the contestants have to decide whether the bet will be successful or not. Unfortunately, there was an accident in 2010 where one of the people doing the bet was paralyzed. The presenter of the show decided over that to leave the show – and I am not sure i...

And I haven’t even done ONE layout about the pregnancy, I haven’t taken weekly or monthly bump photos or done bump circumference measurements. THAT’S REALLY BAD!!! Not really a good scrapbooker, me, eh? I will try to catch up with stuff (well… I can start doing measurements and bump photos now) the coming week, and then make sure that I won’t make the same mistake once the twins are born!!! Still searching for non-pink nice paper stacks for a baby (girls) album that is not too cutesy.  Shame it’s really difficult to get scrapbooking stuff for twins. Feeling a bit calmer after yesterday’s outbreak of thoughts etc.

That seems the motto of my body as it seems. Given the length of time it took us to actually GET to be pregnant plus the amount of operations I had in between and injections and all that … After my first 2 laparoscopies I met Dr Ros Burns (anaesthetist at RIE) who diagnosed me with a “Grade 3 Throat, difficult intubation” – or in her own words: Nearly impossible to intubate. I believe they always had to use EVERYTHING in the book for the General Anaesthetics for the following 2 laparoscopies (ovarian cysts due to very severe endometriosis)!! Today I had an appointment with the anaesthetist regarding my options when it comes to labour, and while I knew that Ros was one of the anaesthetists for Simpsons (Centre for Reproductive Health at RIE), I was happy that I actually had my appointment with her. I think she was close to (happy) tears when she saw me, given that she’s been quite involved on our path through infertility. But back to my body … remember that “Grade 3” bit in the firs...

I *might* have mentioned before that I am kinda a “Shimelle-a-holic” when it comes to her classes . I have checked today and out of the classes she’s offered over the years I only haven’t signed up for 4 so far – and due to life (in the past IVF and football) getting in the way I haven’t finished one yet (but am planning to finish maybe a few bits and bobs provided the twins stick close to their due date!!). Anyway, Shimelle is doing her bit for charity today. I’ve copied paragraphs from the e-newsletter I get from her below. Today, 100% of class registrations will be donated to The Girls' Fund from charity Plan-UK, to help educate girls who need our help. If you've ever thought about signing up for a class or gifting a class to a friend, today you can get all the advantages of taking a class with the big added bonus of knowing 100% of the class price is going to help girls go to school and break the cycle of poverty and abuse. As scrapbookers, we are pretty lucky gi...

Definitely not getting enough of that and wake up far too early on my days off. Yesterday it was a stupid dream of a prolonged Epidural procedure (still don’t know what that wooden hammer thingy was doing there! ) and pelvic girdle/hip pain doesn’t help. Today I woke up again after 7 hours (that’s with 2 interruptions during the night) – how am I supposed to “catch up on sleep” prior to the twins arriving? Near impossible. Also – suggestions in baby books are to catch up on sleep when the babies are sleeping once they’re here (provided they both sleep at the same time). Given that I am having trouble to fall asleep the best of times (usually between 30 and 90 mins for me to actually fall asleep – and I can be as tired as I like!) – any suggestions what I could try for a quicker “falling asleep” procedure???

Ok … what should I put on my list? For listening now and maybe in labour? My ideas so far are: “Butterfly Kisses” – Bob Carlisle ”L’incontro” – Andrea Bocelli feat. Bono "Wenn Du da bist” – Pur (well… have to have SOME German songs!) ”Wenn Du gross bist” – Pur ”Firework” – Katy Perry (not necessarily for the labour part though :)  ) There are some others in my mind but somehow can’t remember them…. Apparently some ladies have Salt ‘n Pepa’s “Push it” on their labour tape, which has me in giggle-fits every time I hear it now!! :D Yet another song I associate with something funny ( like “Torn” from Natalie Imbruglia because of this version !! LOL). So – if you have any suggestions as to what I can put to that compilation for our twins, that would be fab! :D

After a very dodgy tum yesterday and me having to skip the crop (*not nice!*) I’m still staying in bed for most today but am helping DH with the clearing out of the new study. How? I’m currently going through a huge lot of First Downs (the now defunct weekly British American Football Newspaper) which I got from a friend so I could get articles from the Wolves for the Scrapbooks. Right now I’m cutting out stuff about the Wolves, some about the Claymores and a few about the Clansmen.   Who knows when they’re getting scrapped, but at least the clippings will take much less space than the newspaper issues!!! (The picture shows only batch 2 out of 3!!) Also will try to post some things on eBay today, given it’s free listing day and I didn’t feel up for it yesterday.

Yesterday and today really struggling with the back pain/pain in the right hip. It’s now going that far that my back seizes up when I’m standing up/walking too long. Really weird, but probably linked to my lumbar lordosis . Not sure how pronounced it is but carrying twins is not really helping the matter. As for walking – geesh, I’m walking tiny steps, joined the slow walking brigade and had several older colleagues overtake me on the way to the printer/photocopier – fun day for them!   It’s quite scary, as if I cannot stride out much anymore, but that’s probably because of the pain etc. Got my antenatal physio appt on Monday after scan & Twin Clinic in the morning, so hopefully that will sort things out. I just want to know what it is (options are Sciatica – but don’t have the pain going down the back – and Pelvic Girdle Pain, me thinks) and what exercises I can do for it.  Last Wednesday I tried to do some laps in the pool before Aquanatal, but my body is definit...

that I experienced the first flutters during the night/early this morning. And Chip & Chap (well… my hips/back) didn’t let me sleep too long – was up at around 6:30am … on one of my days of!!!!

HUH! Just realised I haven’t posted on here since beginning of February… UNBELIEVABLE!!! Could have bet that I did post the odd update, but doesn’t seem so. Well… quick update right now (in between 2 courses of dinner) – I’m doing ok, so do “Chip & Chap”. Actually, they do better than me, I’d suspect. I developed lower back pain, which is due to my lordosis. And in the last 2 weeks I seem to have developed sciatica (well.. that’s what I guess – don’t have an ante natal physio appt until 11 April!!) which causes trouble when getting up from sitting or lying. So … not the most comfortable. Trousers get a bit tight and I need to get some maternity trousers for work and maybe another pair of maternity jeans. I *did* buy a pair of maternity trousers at Mothercare, but either the sizing is not working out (go for the normal size and then take the maternity trousers) or they use different sizing (which seems to be normal in this country that shops have different sizing!!). Ok … ho...

Still struggling with sleep deprivation from Superbowl on Sunday, but hey … maybe I’ll get finally to sleep BEFORE midnight. And since 11am this morning the “little secret” from the Adamsons is now not a secret anymore. WE ARE PREGNANT WITH TWINS!!!!  The IVF run in December was positive (typical, the one we thought won’t do anything and we’ll have to go down to London to get immune issues checked out), and we had our official 12 week scan today. Both Chip and Chap are doing fine, are moving about, have all limbs and noses and chins and heartbeats. And I’m feeling as if a big rock’s been removed from my shoulders … have been reading too many horror stories about twin pregnancies resulting in just one baby born or even losing both. Think with 5 years IVF in the bag we know far too much about the medical background and are more likely to worry about what COULD go wrong instead of “enjoying the pregnancy”. But there you go – all going ok, tests were normal as well (don’t ha...

I have to deal with that heartburn … will have to search for the Gaviscon liquid sachets and have some with me all the time. Following items causing problems: Chocolate (humm!!!) Shortbread biccies (hohumm!!) Citrus fruit Chocolate Fybogel!!! (and I have to drink that twice per day because of other reasons … cannot WIN??) Else – me feeling bad must mean Chip & Chap are doing perfect … mmmh? Fortunately the 12-week-scan is Tuesday morning, as things that come up on the internet are really scary for me. Big sis said during telephone call today that I shouldn’t read that stuff, I’m now at the stage to read up how to handle the nappy changing etc. LOL. Ah well… skipping Gym today (haven’t been at all this week as I started to feel slightly dizzy and nauseous last week Sunday) but will have to go back tomorrow. Now searching for that elusive Gaviscon liquid in my rucksack and then will take it after dinner …

Not scared about what happens in August or end of July … but scared about things that don’t fall into the “normal pregnancy” situations. Like – I didn’t have any nausea or “morning sickness” until week 9 with a bit of a bigger bout since Sunday. Bit late, eh? And that’s not “sick sick” but just feeling a bit funny tummy wise, not that I have to hug the toilet bowl any time soon. Or then the fact that I am not ravenous with 2 beans in there? When I told DH this today when he phoned to say he’s leaving work, he totally went panicky thinking things are wrong, we’re not pregnant anymore etc. So … while people are being told to "enjoy pregnancy” (as far as you can … with all the sickness, nausea, constipation (sorry TMI), HEADACHES etc.) WE CAN’T! Not just yet. Not until at least week 12. Think that’s normal for people who went through IVF 5 times and nearly decided to switch clinics after the 6th attempt … and then it works. And for couples who had only 1 positive result which en...

3rd day in a row where I am not 100%, but fortunately first work day … All ok, “just” Tension headaches at the neck and feeling a bit dizzy/nauseous. Should be ok for work tomorrow. Otherwise things are ok, time flies and DH and I are looking into holidays for this year (Germany and London and maybe something else). Still no crafty stuff done, but there’s still hope … SOMETHING at least on Friday … or Saturday… or maybe Superbowl Sunday while DH and BIL are playing Lasertag? Currently planning 2 things for scrapbooking (one of which a CJ we will do at our crop) and a mini-album which I really should do asap (but mojo is missing). And then I’ll have to look into cross stitch or knitting small things while watching TV. Instead of spending that much time on Facebook, really. I HAVE already deleted some of the FB games, mind. And maybe quilting a bit, but that is for a weekend or so where I have NOTHING planned. And I’ll have to check for fabrics first really.

That’s far for me … and feeling ok. No bleeding or anything else, and so far I have no real morning sickness either – maybe a bit nausea sometimes, and my taste buds decide after 1 cheese toast when nibbling on No 2 that I suddenly don’t like Emmental Cheese anymore! One of my favs!!! Seen the Doc today as the midwife measured higher blood pressure last week and although she wasn’t worried she thought better to check with the GP. Baby brain here totally forgot to check for the MRI results, so currently waiting for a call back from Dr Ewing. Been to the gym and will speak to Stewart (one of my instructors) on Friday because I am not sure my core stability workouts are working (30 secs max for me to hold the plank and the bridge with bosu!). Upper body strength? Non-existent as it seems! Had actually planned to scrap today – but somehow I’ve lost my Mojo a couple of months ago. Not sure if that’s because I’m soooo tired (and Dr Ewing said that being tired and not sleeping well is...

… and that’s on all crafty levels … I haven’t done much scrapbooking/card making/knitting/crochet or quilting over the last couple of months. Somehow just not feeling like it. But I’m planning to do something crafty this weekend… So, there you have it!!   Can’t say WHICH craft it will be mind…

No emotional TV allowed for me I think – been watching “Don’t tell the Bride” earlier and nearly was in puddles!!! WEIRDO!!! Not sure what that is about. Else doing ok, bit headachey, and felt a bit nauseous this morning, so who knows, maybe morning sickness comes late for me. Although … I really could do without that. Got order to get some German baking today, so will see what the girls have on offer later. Oh … and it’s QVC Craft day, so getting maybe my Mojo back that way. Who knows.