The first 6 weeks

Hi Auntie Sophie,

well, there simply isn't the time to write to you every week, we are very busy growing, eating, sleeping and pooping! and boy can we do all of the above!!

so we're going to try to do a monthly update for you and hope that we cover everything.

so to re-cap, we arrived early, 7 weeks to be precise, although now we know there would have been no way we could have stayed in those cramped conditions for much longer than we did.
we spent the first week and 2 days in neonatal where all the nurses looked after us ever so well. we had to have some help with getting air into our little lungs (mummy did have 2 massive steroid injections to make our lungs strong enough to cope outside quickly) and we had our formula and any milk mummy made for us delivered right into our tummies with tubes going in through our noses. for the first few days we were in incubators and gradually we moved into open bassinets, Noah first and then Florence the next day.

on our second Monday in the world we moved upstairs to Special Care, its a bit like neonatal only not so many nurses are needed as the babies there don't need as much attention as they do downstairs, and there are only ever 4 babies in there at a time. mummy came in to sit with us every day and daddy came in straight from work for cuddles and to take mummy home for dinner and sleepies.
On the Wednesday, Auntie Sammy came in with mummy and they had loads of bags and stuff. it turned out that mummy was coming to stay in with us, so that afternoon all 3 of us moved into transitional care for 2 weeks.
Auntie Sammy took some pictures of us that day, we hope she doesn't mind us showing you

Florence with mummy's hands

Noah trying to be a big boy and watching Auntie Sammy

Side by Side in our new room.

So we settled in to one big room (Room 3), there were 3 big beds but we didn't share for ages.the point of transitional care was to get us into a good feeding routine and off the feed tube, we did that on the Sunday and stayed off them, then all we had to do was put weight on. we had a good weigh in on the Sunday night and Emma with her baby Joe moved in  that afternoon and Alison and her baby James moved in a couple of days later.
unfortunately all of us babies lost quite a bit of weight and eventually ended up all being topped up with formula to help us all get bigger and stronger.
the mummys all went totally mental for a few days each, thank goodness they went on different days, so now they are all good friends and we're all going to meet in Ikea's cafe for coffee and baby cuddles.

we eventually got out on the Monday, almost a full 2 weeks, we think they'd have let mummy out anyway as she was quite scary having been in there for so long and especially as we'd proved we had gained weight, she was very happy to be taking us home with daddy.

so another move for us, we said we've been busy! we moved home. mummy and daddy took us on a tour of our house, showing us the nursery we'll sleep in when we're bigger, the cotbed in their bedroom which we sleep in, they showed us the garden we'll play in and the lounge we'll have movie nights in and then they introduced us to or Flashy cat. she doesn't seem to like us very much but mummy and daddy say she'll be our friend if we don't squawk at her!

mummy and daddy had a quiet first week with us, so daddy could get to know us properly, mummy could get some sleep in her own bed and we could all learn to be a family together.
we've had lots of cards and presents, thank you so much for our t-shirts, we can't wait to wear them and send you pictures.

the first weekend, grandma and grandad Booker came to visit with Auntie Vicky and Uncle Jack. it was very nice and we had lots of cuddles but that does actually really tire us out, we were pooped!
then over the next few days we had more visitors. by the end of the week mummy and daddy had worked out that we need to have visiting hours at home like we did in hospital, otherwise it gets too much for us and we become little buggers at night time.
the thing is, we have a little bit of colic because our tummies and guts are still growing it means we sometimes have troubles taking our milk and keeping it happy in our bellies, so we get sore tums and get grumpy and don't sleep, we just need to be cuddled by mummy and daddy. so being cuddled and passed around a lot in the day time doesn't give us time to charge our tummy batteries.

we've had 2 visits from different health visitors, mummy doesn't care for them much at all, she thinks they are a very silly breed and can't understand how these women even get out of the house of a morning.
first one was late and pretty much ignored everything mummy and daddy told her about us and then asked if we were identical, mummy wasn't amused. the second one was even later and mummy couldn't wait for her to go. but we've put on plenty of weight, Noah is now 7lb 5.5oz and Florence is 6lb 8.5oz. mummy and daddy are so proud of us.

mummy and daddy picked up the bump shoot picture, and we got to meet Julian and Sue who took the pictures. we all spent an hour there, doing absolutely nothing, just having cuddles!!
so this is the finished set of pics of our bump home which is going to go up in our nursery...

daddy says he can't understand how without even saying anything we both seem to be able to just hemorrhage money out of his wallet, the men he works with say that it gets worse when Florence wants shoes and Noah wants a bike!

tomorrow we're all going to meet the friends we made in transitional care. the mummy's are going to have coffees and talk a lot and all us babies are just going to be lovely!!!

so as we don't really have much of a pattern at the moment, it looks like we'll just be updating every few weeks or so.
for now here is a picture of us chilling out in our rocker chairs, it helps us to bring wind up and is a different chill out place than always going back in the cribs or our cot. mummy and daddy can't believe how much we've grown in such a short space of time.

Noah being a big wide awake boy and Florence dreaming about more food probably!

will write as soon as we can again
lots of love
from
The Beans xx

Week 1 (Should be week 34)

Hello Auntie Sophie,

mummy and daddy say we are the most amazing little beans ever.
they say that each time they see us, wether its the morning after last night or just a couple of hours of mummy being back in her hospital room, we seem to have made massive progress each time.

Saturday was out first day out. mummy got to meet us in the afternoon as she was still very woozy after the epidural and the operation to get us here. it was lovely to see her and daddy and we recognise their voices, so we all know we belong together.
we are spending all our time in incubators to help keep us warm and as part of the process to make us nice and strong so we can go home.
Florence is on a little machine that puts good oxygen into her lungs, but she can breath it in and out on her own, Noah is able to just breath the good clean air thats in his incubator. both of us have feeding tubes for milk to go straight down into our tummies. mummy is going to express milk for us to have but for now we're supplemented with preemie baby forumla to help us grow, grow, grow! And we both have littel cannulas in our arms to help get extra fluids into our bodies.
we both have little stickers on our chests and tummies with wires to tell the nurses how we're doing.

On Sunday mummy and daddy came down to the nursery to see Florences Face! she doesn't have her oxygen mask on any more. mummy and daddy say that we are the most handsome and beautiful little Beans they ever did see. they thought it was just because we're their beans but even the nurses tell them how lovely we are, so it must be true.
mummy has started expressing milk for us, it's much nicer than the formula and hopefully it won't be long before we're only have milk from mummy's tanks as she puts it. that will make us big and strong!
must be working as Noah was moved to Nursery 1 today as he's getting so much better.
we met Auntie Amy and Auntie Sammy this afternoon, we thought we knew their voices, but couldn't really tell as it sounded like they were crying, maybe we'll recognise them a bit better when they're happier, although mummy says they were happy, how strange.

on Monday, we met grandma Booker and Auntie Vicky (daddys sister). it was a bit difficult as Noah is in Nursey 1 with his blue lights on as he has a little bit of baby jaundice and Florence is all the way still in Nursery 4 as she's much smaller and needs a bit more looking after but she did have her  cannula removed as she is getting enough fluids from her feeds now and both of us are doing well. Auntie Vicky said she could stare at us all day and said we're like watching Bean TV! Florence got to have some lovely skin to skin cuddles with daddy this evening.

on Tuesday mummy had her weepy  day. the midwife Katy, who delivered us, said it was the baby blues and she'd been expecting mummy to get it. she gave mummy some pain killers and a cup of tea, they had a nice chat for an hour or so before mummy went back to sleep
later on mummy and daddy had abit of a surprise, they went syraight down to Nursery 4 to drop off some milk for Florence only to find she wasn't there. She had caught up with Noah and was in Nursery 1 next to him, hooray!! they spent all day with us, it was so nice and we got to have skin to skin cuddles with mummy and daddy, thats our favuorite. we get to smell them and their skin keeps us nice and warm and snuggly. Daddy has to go careful if he has Florence in the mornings though, she's a little piggy and snuffles his chest for milk! she settles after a while and then pulls out his chest hairs whilst she's sleeping, mummy thinks it's hilarious and wonders if she'll pluck the whole lot!!

Wednesday was mummy's morning rest. she came down to see us before the nursery ward is closed for the big doctors rounds every wednesday. mummy helped to give Noah his milk in his feeding tube and worked out that if she stroked the side of his face, he stops frowing which makes him look much more handsome, his blood sugars are a bit high but the nurses are going to check him before every feed and see how he progresses. mummy changed Florences nappy as she was grumpy, she was a much happier Bean afterwards though. mummy promised us cuddles when she came back, and off she went to her room for some more sleepies and to relax for while.
in the afternoon Noah had another surprise for daddy, he was out of his incubator and in an open top bassinet, like a proper baby, mummy knew when she came in this morning but we decided to leave it as a suprise for daddy!! we had more cuddles with mummy and daddy when he came in after work. Noahs sugars are fine so he can stay on his feeds. we're both on 2 hourly feeds now, how good are we!!
mummy has to go home tonight, we don't really like that, neither does she, but we know she'll be back tomorrow.

On Thursday we had another all day mummy and daddy day, we love those. they had a surprise from Florence today, she's in an open bassinet too! mummy cried when she saw us both being so big and strong but daddy told us she was really, really happy and not at all sad, we think this is most strange.
Noah is on a heart rate monitor just to make sure he keeps it nice and level, it goes quite high when he has a poop, so they nurses need to keep an eye on it. and Florence is on a little apnia monitor for her breathing. she is a bit naughty like mummy and takes a few regular breaths in and out and then every now and then forgets to do another one properly, so the little alarm goes off as a reminder to make her breath again.
Grandma Warland and Auntie Nicki (mummy's sister) came to see us today, mummy kept having to tell them to shush as they were talking ever so loud.
mummy and daddy bought us new cardigans, this is us wearing them...

Friday Auntie Clare came to see us with mummy, she's bonkers and loves us ever so much. mummy stayed in with us and then daddy came by after work. we can't wait until we can go home with them and see Flashy cat and our house, daddy says hes going to get his friends round to help put lots of stuff in the loft as mummy can't lift anything more than us until her scar is healed in about 6 weeks. this is us wearing the hats from the outfits Aunti Clare bought for us.

 
Saturday and Sunday mummy and daddy both got to spend all day with us, we love it when it's all day time because we get lots of cuddles, none of us do much else but cuddle, it's great!
Saturday afternoon we were moved to the other side of nursery 1 to bays 14 and 15, it was all twins on Saturday, and a bit of a change around on Sunday.
On Sunday it was Fathers Day, we got daddy some cards from us and 2 different blends of his favourite whiskey.  Florence was a very clever girl and breastfed for a whole ten minutes, she had so much that she didn't need all of her tube feed. Noah was a little bit more sleepy so will try tomorrow. mummy is making us enough milk so that we get to have 2 whole feeds just of mummy's, which is much nicer than the low birth weight formula we have to help us.
Noah got a bit upset in his bassinet on his own this morning so we are now in one together, it's much nicer and we're both much happier in here, although mummy and daddy said because we looked so cute they didn't want to disturb us and take us out for cuddles, Tanya the burse who has been looking after us today told them to just get on with it so they picked us up and cuddle time began, yay!

This is us on Fathers Day (Sunday)

we hope to have more amazing things to tell you next week.
Write soon
lots of love
from
Noah and Florence
xx

33 weeks

Hey Auntie Sophie!
Well, this is a very late blog from us, but all will become clear as we have a very good reason....

another exciting week in Beanville this (last) week. (we did actually start writing bits of this blog on a few days last week as we knew we wouild be doing so much, so there is a lot that reds day to day, bear with us, it'll make sense next week, promise!)

on monday mummy had a nice sleepy day and finally her poor feet got to deflate a bit so she has been much more comfortable since then, they still swell up but not as much as they did at the weekend. She just knows now that she has to put her feet up when they get bad, we try to tell her but we can't speak yet.
Flashy cat tried her best to sleep on mummy's lap and she took a photo because it looked so funny..

which is bigger? Bump or Flashy Cat?

Tuesday was a busy day for everyone. mummy's friend Jo came by and they went for a lovely coffee and a catch up. then mummy met daddy at Romsey Hospital to see the consultant. he was happy with all mummy's readings and said that we seemed quite comfortable in our bunk beds position. he also said we don't have a lot of room left in here, like we needed telling! so mummy has to see him again in 2 weeks and we might all have to go for another scan to see if we need to be hatched a bit earlier. it's not good for us or mummy if we get too big in here.
after the consutlant mummy and daddy went to see the pictures from last weeks bump shoot. they picked their 4 favourites and daddy will pick the big print up as soon as its ready.

on Wednesday mummy and daddy went to the hospital in Southampton for our latest scan. mummy didn't see us as she wasn't facing the screen this time, but daddy said he could see us and we look very squished in here but he got to see our feet wiggling about lots. good news is.... we've moved! both of us had quite a busy night and moved round so we're both head down now. we're going to try very hard not to kick mummy's ribs lots, but it might not work out that way. so, in advance.. we're sorry mummy.
mummy said she's glad we moved because it exlpains why she had such a horrible and uncomfortable nights sleep and felt completely rubbish in the morning. so our bump is a bit of a different shape now, mummy has 2 bottoms where Bean 2 used to lie across at the top of the bump. and the bottom of our bump is all pointy (ish) where our heads our.
they didn't get any pictures this time as they don't come out very clear now we're so much bigger, but Bean 1 is down mummy's right hand side and Bean 2 is on the left with feet and legs a bit snuggled over to Bean1's. so unless the consultant sends us for an earlier scan, we have to wait until 6 July for the next one.
the sonographer lady told mummy and daddy that she thinks we'll be 7lb babies when we hatch.. mummy said no thank you!!

On Thursday there was lots of noise! mummy picked up grandma and they drove down to a place called Fareham to meet with Richard and Lin, mummy and Grandma have known them since mummy waas only 9 years old... thats almost forever!
they all drove out together to Port Solent and had a lovely time catching up, eating lunch and drinking coffee.
then Auntie Hayley arrived. mummy went to school with her and hasn't seen her in a few years so it was lots more excited noises, laughing and chatting. they all went for a walk around but there wasn't much to see and mummy had to get home quite quickly as she was seeing another friend, busy busy.

so Thursday evening, mummy's friend Rachael arrived. she is the lady who owns Mollie Fish in the kicthen. mummy and daddy have been looking after her whilst Auntie Rachel and Uncle Steve travelled all around the world for the last 2 years. when they settle here again they will have Mollie Fish back as there won't really be room for all our stuff and a fishy, plus mummy says it takes 'chuffing ages' to clean the fish out.
they all had a nice time chatting and hearing about the travel stories, mummy was feeling quite uncomfortable and very tired so she went to bed a bit early and went straight off to sleep.

and this is where the fun starts...

at 3 am on Friday morning mummy woke up with tummy ache, she thought it was probably the naughty cheese baguette she had a lunch time, silly mummy isn't supposed to eat cheese. after a couple of trips to the bathroom she didn't want to keep daddy awake so went to sit downstairs until she felt better. daddy checked in on her and she said she thought she might be having some practice contractions too which didn't help on top of a poorly tum, so she will stay downstairs and go back to bed when she feels better.
ten minutes later daddy went back down, mummy told him she didn't think it was the baguette or practice contractions so they phoned the midwife. the midwife told them to phone the Princess Anne hospital (the one where they film 'One Born Every Minute'), one phone call later and they were loading up the car with mummy's bag, leaving a note for Auntie Rachael who was still asleep and off they went to the hospital.

mummy said  there was a beautiful sunrise that she could see through the trees which made her feel better.

they got to the hospital a little after 5am, thats about our usual waking up time, but we were already well awake by then. they got us all in very quickly as they were a bit worried as mummy was only 33 weeks and there are 2 of us. there weren't any big rooms but we still had a nice room to stay in.
mummy was given a hospital gown to wear, and then another one as the first one didn't do up around mummy's bump!
after the midwife had been to see mummy she said that mummy was already 3cms dilated and that the babies were coming wether she liked it or not!!! mummy had to have a whacking great big shot in the top of her left leg, it was a big steroid injection to help make sure our lungs were strong enough to cope on the outside as we might be coming soon.

after 22 hours in labour, (inlcuding the 2 hours mummy was apparently fidgeting and moaning in her sleep before she woke up) gas and air, some other pain killers but not pethidine, and finally an epidural mummy thought she was on the home straight. The midwife said everything was progressing nicely and we should be delivered normally. then we got naughty!!
mummy had a few big contractions which she could still feel at the start of the epidural, we didn't like that at all, not one little bit, so we dropped our heart rates, lots, every time there was another one.
the doctors, midwives and nurses all started running around and making phone calls and generally making a lot of noise and off we all whisked to theatre. at 8cms they were going to try to get mummy to deliver us, and then they realised that Bean 1 was holding onto the umbilical cord up at the side of its head, so no natural delivery for these Beans.

at 0022 on 11th June 2011 Bean 1, now known as Noah Philip Stephen arrived by emergency cesarean, weighing a dinky 4lb 2oz followd up very quickly at 0024 by Bean 2 who is now known as Florence Jane Ruth weighing an even dinkier 3lb 15.5oz.

SO WE ARE HERE!!!!!!

we have to spend at least the next 3 weeks in hospital as we're so little. we will be in the neonatal unit where the nurses will make sure we get nice and strong. to start with we're going to need a bit of help getting oxygen in, but we can breathe ok, and we'll probably need to have help feeding as we were only just starting to work properly on our sucking reflexes this week.
these are our first outside pictures, it looks a bit scary as we're so little and there are a lot of tubes and wires just making sure we're ok

Noah Philip Stephen, 6 hours old

Florence Jane Ruth, 6 hours old.

we will send outside updates next week on how we're doing. but mummy and daddy are ever so pleased we arrived well and pretty safely in the end, even if we are 4 weeks earlier than they expected to meet us. we love them very much and we're ever so glad to be their Beans.

so it's very nice to meet you and mummy said when we're home we can talk to you on Skype and say hello, we're looking forward to that.

will write soon and tell you all the amazing things we've done, although you'll have to wait again a bit as mummy says the blogs might not be written on time for a while, but they will still be for a week each time.

lots of love
from
Noah and Florence (we're still the Beans)
xx

32 weeks (and 2 days) a much better week indeed

Hey Auntie Sophie,

well this week has been much better.
Flashy cat is feeling better too so mummy and daddy are happier which means we are as well.
we have been layering on more squishy fat and are about 4lbs each now. mummy's middle is 127cm!
we can regulate our own body temperature too, so with each week we are stronger and stronger and if we arrive before too long, we should be ok and not need much help. we have been doing lots of moving too and mummy says its nice that she can feel Bean 1 moving about more now, especialy at night when the feet stick out by mummy's right hip and kick daddy!
this is our bump this morning...

on Monday mummy did some more laundry of all the baby stuff they've been given and a few of the new bits mummy and daddy have bought. mummy says she's not sure when the washing will ever end, and perhaps it won't until we leave home in a gazillion years!!

Tuesday mummy had her groceries delivered. she likes that very much as it means she doens't have to go to the supermarket ever again and daddy gets to have his weekends too. After mummy put everything away, she was strangely excited about doing it too, we went over to see Jess and her baby Lucy.
mummy used to work with Jess from HQ but both of them are on maternity leave now, yay! mummy liked Lucy a lot and Jess says she can't wait to meet us. it will be nice to meet her too.

Wednesday was mummy's pampering day, she had her hair cut which was nice and relaxing, then went and met Grandma W in Romsey for some general mooching about the shops and some lunch. mummy bought another different packet of nappies for her and daddy to do the soft test on... they want to make sure that we have the comfiest bottoms possible for the first month or so before we get to wear the nice soft reusable nappies. mummy also printed off a lovely picture of Jessy cat which is now in a nice frame in the lounge. when mummy got home she was pooped, so we all had a little afternoon sleepy with Flashy cat.

on Thursday we went to the doctors and saw the nurse so she could take mummy's blood pressure, it's back to where is should be now. and the nurse said that the high reading the week before was actually the same as mummy's normal reading 2 years ago. as for mummy's huge swollwen feet, well she's just going to have to put up with them until after we hatch. then they'll got back to normal, but she gets to paint her feet in calamine lotion every night which stops them from getting too hot and itchy. mummy says 'thats nice but it doesn't stop them bloody well swelling up though does it'! daddy says he's happier as he gets to sleep at night because mummy isn't all scratchy.
mummy went into Winchester for a starucks with Auntie Amy whichshe said was lovely, and she only misses cathicng up with Amy and not actually being at work. mummy then met Kate and Annie for a picnic lunch for Kates' birthday. it was very nice to sit in the sunshine with mummy's friends, and then go home for another afternoon sleepy!!

Friday was mummy's excited day... she had another delivery which was the big twin feeding pillow for us...

it's huge, but we'll be able to snuggle in for feeds together to make a bit more time for mummy. she also got some care planners for us, a book about caring for us and some free bibs, again for us, although both mummy and daddy tried them on the big sillies! mummy packed the hospital bags, one for her and one for us.
on Friday afternoon, daddy came home early and they went off for a bump shoot. mummy and daddy had lots of pictures taken with our bump as mummy says a set of nice pictures will be much much nicer to look at in years time than her great big maternity pants!! They get to see them and pick the ones they want on Tuesday.

on Saturday Grandma & Grandad Booker and Auntie Vicky & Uncle Jack came over.  Auntie Vicky bought mummy a paddling pool so she could put her hot fat feet in it, mummy said it was absolute bliss...

daddy and grandad took the old bike shed down and put up a shiney new one which daddy is much happier to keep the bikes in. Uncle Jack cooked the food on the BBQ and us, Grandma B and Auntie Vicky all sat in the sunshine watching all the boys do all the work. Mummy had to go upstairs and put her feet up as they were lovely and cold but swelled up so much she almost couldn't walk...whoops!

On Sunday we went into Southampton for a coffee with Auntie Sammy, it was very nice to see Sammy and hear her talking to us. mummy bought some more bits for our hospital bags, she just needs some lovely soft baby towels for us and we're set. Daddy needs to pack his bag too now.

so thats our week this week.
we've got a busy one coming up with visits to the consultant and a scan too. Auntie Rachel is coming to stay on Thursday, mummy hasn't seen her for 2 years because she's been travelling all over the world with Uncle Steve, we're excited to meet her.

can't wait to show you our pictures from the bump shoot and the scan...
speak soon
lots of  love
from
The Beans xx