An Admission

Rewind seven weeks to a fancy boutique hotel in Salvador, Brazil. The sun is streaming into the bedroom, and I eagerly jump out of bed leaving the Boy sleeping on the morning of our second anniversary.

I head straight over to my suitcase, unzip the section where I keep my odds and sods that I want to access quickly, grab the stick, and rush into the bathroom. Seconds later, I am have a huge grin on my face and I am in shock, as two thick purple lines appear, bold and brass. I'm pregnant again.

We've kept it quiet as far as possible, though I seem to have a penchant for spilling the beans to Mexicans. Well, they keep trying to do things to jeopardise the pregnancy, i.e. climb up ladders and eat rare meat. Anyway, that's another story.

Flash back to the day we arrived back to the horror show that was our apartment after our holiday, and there was a slight omission to the story. Upon landing at JFK airport, I started bleeding. I was distraught and crying my eyes out when the cleaner came into the toilets.

Cleaner: 'What's wrong?'
Me: 'I think I'm having a miscarriage.'
Cleaner: 'But how do you... Oh, because you've had one before.'

We rush out of our apartment and straight to my OBGYN's office. She doesn't work at the weekends, and so we go to the other branch, which is more manic. I only come here when I have problems. The results of this first scan are inconclusive. A gestational sac, a yolk sac, but no baby because it's too early. We are sent away and told to come back in a week's time.

The last few weeks have gone by painstakingly slowly. I thought I was having a meltdown at one point, but fortunately, acknowledged it and made a conscious decision to stop Googling miscarriages. That's the trouble with miscarriage; it strips you of any innocence associated with pregnancy.

Two more ultrasounds go by, one at seven weeks and one at nine weeks. I am relieved both times that there's a heartbeat. 'It's not dead! It's not dead!' The relief is incredible.

Yesterday, at 11 weeks, I go to get my non-invasive tests done. Apparently, from 10 weeks onwards you have enough of your baby's DNA floating about in your body to calculate your risk for carrying a baby with genetic mutations. Isn't that crazy?

I bowl on down, Dr K is her usually chatty self, and we get down to it. I always hold my breath before I see the heartbeat on the screen. 'Thank goodness. It's there.' The baby has proper thrashy legs and is moving about like it's being tickled.

THEN...

Dr K: 'Oh my goodness...' She grabs my arm.
Me: 'Oh what is it? Can you tell that's it a boy?' (I ask this because obviously it's easier to tell that it's a boy than a girl, but am surprised, as it would still be early.)
Dr K: 'No. There's another one. I can't believe I missed it before.'

And that's that. I am carrying twins and potentially the future mother of fraternal twins.

At this point I want to point out that fraternal twins is hereditary on the mother's side (no twins in my family at all), it's least common amongst Asians and most common in women over 5 ft 6, and more prevalent in women over 35, Amongst Chinese women the odds are 1 in 300 births.

You are now caught up to speed. Oh, but maybe be incredulous for 24 hours and then you might be where I am.

It's Sinking in

I'm at 13 and a half weeks today. Trust me, you count in days in the early days of pregnancy, willing the viability to go up on a daily basis.

The last two and a half weeks have been crazy. We've had Christmas, we I was felled by fatigue after walking 6 miles. Pre-pregnancy that was standard fare. We also got the results back from our Harmony test. Totally freaky, but they test my babies' DNA, which is floating about in my blood. Totally freaky. In any case, we tested low risk for all the chromosomal abnormalities, which is a relief.

We went to the Met Museum, where I fell asleep on the floor against the wall of the Armoury Room. I could have slept there for hours.

On New Year's Day, we went to look at baby stuff. Mainly to scare the Boy into accepting we're having twins. One thing I've found amazing: double strollers are enormous. I mean, huge. It's quite incredible. They have the turning circle of gigantic lorries. How will I cope?

We've started telling family and I've been surprised by reactions. When we announced our last pregnancy, people were instantly happy and congratulated us. On this occasion, immediate reactions have been mixed. How will you cope? You're too small! It'll be so expensive. Were you on fertility treatment? From what I've read, this is only the beginning...

Today, I saw the kids on the ultrasound. They were hilarious. There's chilled baby and bossy baby. I have a picture of the bossy one right up close to the other twin, clearly trying to engage him or her. The other one has his/her hands over his/her ears as if to say, enough! The doctor said, 'I wish I could video this... The bossy one keeps kicking the other one's butt.'

Scan on a proper machine on Thursday. Eek!

Three Weeks of Revelations

In the space of three weeks, I found out that we were having another baby, that they were identical twins, and we were having boys. And I was losing a month, as twins usually come a month early. I was pretty emotional last week, especially as the Boy was away. I was especially dreading telling my boss, which I did on Friday...

I prepped and prepped and knew exactly how the conversation was going to go. I had mapped it all out, and had a solution for all her reservations or questions. I started, 'The Friday before Christmas, I found out I am having twins...'

At this point, my boss screamed and told me how happy she was for me. Phew! That went way better than anticipated. I also told a colleague based here, who I see semi regularly. As I guessed, she already knew - there's no hiding this bump!

I'm getting more comfortable with the idea of telling people and with the idea that I'm going to be a mother (to twins). I hope I'm not jinxing things, but if things do go tits up, there's very little I could have done, so I'm trying to embrace it - being pregnant, I mean.

Today, I learnt the wee bairns can hear me now. I have no idea how you talk to unborn children. I think the boys are going to think the dishwasher is their mother at this rate.

17 Weeks Today

I am 17 weeks pregnant today. All week I've wondered whether I've felt the babies. Today, I was pretty certain. I was having lunch with my colleague when all of a sudden, I could feel this fizzing and popping.

'I'm sorry, J, but you're going to have to stop talking because I'm not listening. The babies are moving.'

It was so weird and tickly. It made me giggle and gave me momentary relief, as surely that must mean at least one of them is OK.

It's been over three weeks since my last scan at the hospital because my appointment was first cancelled to a mix-up over my scans and then because of Snowmageddon. Crossing fingers and toes that both little boys are OK and that Baby A has caught Baby B up a bit. We will find out on Tuesday.

17 weeks, 1 day

So long vagina. I can no longer see you. See you in months and months.

Weird Pregnancy Things

Some things I have noticed about my pregnancy:
1) I now officially have no belly button. I am gutted.
2) Apparently all women have the linea nigra, which runs down your abdomen. When many women get pregnant, it shows up. Mine has, which is fine. What is not fine is that the line doesn't meet properly. After the my belly button, it kind of loses interest and heads towards my hips.
3) I have amazing hair, which I don't think needs to be washed for about a week. I haven't tested this out yet, you'll be relieved to hear.
4) I've put on over 25 lbs, I reckon, making it really uncomfortable to sit at my desk. It feels like the seat part is made of wood and covered in cotton.
5) As my body has grown so quickly, I'm struggling to know what to do with it. I keep trying to light hobs with my stomach, and have trouble getting up off the floor. It's like someone's lent me a new body that hasn't come with a manual.
6) People look at me with fondness. I know that sounds weird, but people look at me differently now. It's like I'm a cuddly toy or a puppy or something.
7) These babies never seem to sleep. I think they team tag booting me.
8) I'm starting to freak out that impending motherhood might actually be real; I might actually have to bring home and look after two babies.
9) People say weird things to you. At my body rolling class last night, a woman who never speaks to me pulled me aside and asked whether I had thoughts on my birthing options. She said she'd like to discuss them with me as she has lots of ideas. Please note, this woman - as far as I know - is not a midwife, OBGYN, Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist, doula, or even works at Babies R Us.
10) I am less freaked out by the babies now that I know they look more like human beings. During the first trimester, I kept thinking about random alien creatures and tadpoles.

Anatomy Scan

I have been surprisingly calm that it's been 3.5 weeks since my last scan, about which I'm very surprised and proud of myself. I'm supposed to have scans every 2 weeks because the twins are at risk of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), which is where the donor twin gives too many nutrients to his brother, meaning that the donor dies because he has starved himself and the recipient twin dies because he is overloaded. Fortunately, TTTS has been kept at bay for now.

I think the main reason I've been calmer is because I've started to feel them every day now. It started about a week ago when Baby A kept booting me every time I tried to lie on my right side in bed. (I have to admit, I did it sometimes just to check he was OK.)

Today I had my 20-week scan. All is looking well (touch wood) and Baby A is weighing 13 oz and a day behind his due date whilst Baby B is weighing 15oz and a day ahead of his due date. I think I lost some momentum whilst I was sick, as all I was doing was sleeping and eating soup.

So I've crossed a major milestone as all the subsequent fortnightly scans from now on will be growth scans. Maybe this means it's really going to happen; I'm really going to become a mother to twins.

Anatomy Scan Report

Baby B is fine. No curvature of the spine that the Boy had supposedly heard the doctor saying to the technician. (This totally freaked me out when he casually threw it out there.)

Baby A is fine although he has a light spot on his heart. This can be a soft marker for Downs, but apparently is common amongst Asians, so they're not worried. Plus I had the non-invasive blood testing and the nuchal fold scan done, and there are no other markers, so I'm not worried either. Fortunately, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the heart, which is a relief.

For once Dr Google corroborated these feelings. There were a lot of posts on fora saying that people's babies were find after having the same thing happen to their babies. Also, one woman saying that it was actually only in the States that it is even a marker for Downs, as apparently only 20% of Downs babies have light spots on their hearts.

All in all, a fine report. Baby A has turned head down. Baby B has flipped over, but is still chilling, lying horizontally. We had a good shot of his head right by Baby A's butt today.

In other news, the cab driver asked whether I was due soon and a man in my building asked if I were 8-months pregnant. No, just another 3.5 months to go.

Twins Birthing Class

The twins birthing class was about as enjoyable as you can imagine. There was lots of groaning when the video of the mother of twins giving birth  came on - without any medication, including gas and air, which apparently isn't given in the States.

It was great to be with other people in the same boat, though strange that I wasn't the 'special' one in the room, as people normally have loads of questions for me. It seems like most of the mothers in the room were going for placenta encapsulation, i.e. where they dry your placenta and put it into capsules so you can enjoy it for years to come. Not sure how I feel about that.

We have a reunion on September 13th when there will be 10 screaming babies in a room together. Oh Lord.

My Baby Brain

Some of the things I have done recently:

- Left the front door ajar even though I was chanting 'shut the door, shut the door' to myself on the way in.
- Turned up to the prenatal yoga class one day early. I ended up going to the Basics of Back Herniation yoga class.
- Emailed a whole list-serve of people rather than just my friend. How mortifying!
- Set fire to the oven mitt and didn't notice for five minutes.

The last four were all yesterday. The lady at the birthing class reckoned we should start getting baby brain at 29 weeks with twins (rather than 34 with a singleton). I'm only 24 weeks. How much worse is it going to get?

Dem Boyz

The boys have now been in utero for 25 weeks and 3 days.

I had a mini scare last week when the technician carrying out the ultrasound had trouble finding very much fluid around Baby A. This can be a sign of twin to twin transfusion syndrome, so they have asked me to go back in again tomorrow (a week later rather than my usual two). Fortunately, the doctor came in and did manage to find a pocket of fluid and thought it was just the position of they boys are in, i.e. Baby B taking up all the room leaving Baby A with none. My OB also found some fluid when I went to see her two days later, so I'm not so worried.

Baby B has also moved onto making more alien movements. Before it was little jabs and prods, but now it's feeling him brushing past my stomach, which means I can feel actual body parts. The other night, I'm sure I could feel fingers jabbing into my side as if to say, 'Oi! No! Don't sleep like that!'

Baby A has on the whole been more subdued, but he seems to be psychic. Whenever I worry that I haven't felt him in a while, he gives me a wee bump to show he's OK. Having said that, he did go off last night and was having a crazy party in there. Maybe the boys aren't so dissimilar after all.

We've started amassing stuff now. I have about a million bottles, a bouncer, a couple of other activity things, a formula maker, a million newborn baby clothes, and a stroller frame. All were free or bought secondhand. We've also bought two cribs and mattresses new, though they are still in the boxes along with the babies' new dresser as I'm still a bit scared to be tempting fate.

The apartment now looks like a creche.

I Should Move Down to Chinatown

Unfortunately, this isn't a food post. Well, I guess it kinda is...

I had my routine, fortnightly scan at the hospital near Chinatown a couple of weeks ago. All was fine except that the fluid pocket around Baby A was difficult to find, which can be a sign of Twin to Twin Transfusion. They got me to come in again the following week to check on the boys and sure enough, all was fine.

'So, I'll see you in two weeks' time then.' I asked as the technician was wrapping up.
'Oh no. That was an additional screen. You still need to come back in again for your growth scan next week so we can measure the twins.'

Fine.

Later that same week, I take the routine glucose screening at my doctor's office in Chinatown. You fast for two hours and then neck a flat orange Fanta type of drink and then they test your sugar levels after an hour. Uck.

The following day, I get a voicemail saying that I've failed the screening and will need to take the full three-hour glucose test. And so began my dilemma. I had arranged to meet a friend for the 'best pancakes in the world' in Carroll Gardens on the Saturday, so two days before the full glucose test.

I succumbed and went to brunch anyway, vowing to have the omelette, which is also meant to be delicious. But pah! I wanted pancakes! I could see them through the restaurant window as we were waiting (salivating). Two fluffy pancakes on a plate with a delicious crust. I passed on the maple syrup in atonement.

Fast forward to Monday and I'm back in Chinatown at the doctor's office for the dreaded three-hour glucose test. They give you the same drink with twice as much glucose in it. Except this time, they take blood four times. And if you throw the drink up - which I thought I was going to as I still had a large mouthful left to drink before the allotted five minutes was up - you have to rinse and repeat. Cue massive sugar crash in the afternoon.

I failed. Again.

Another dreaded voicemail the following day, received whilst I was at the hospital down near Chinatown for my growth scan. My chubba bubbas are measuring 2 lbs and 2 lbs 5 ozs, respectively and are already naughty boys. They wouldn't stop moving around and hiding each other. Then right at the last minute, Baby B flipped right over and went from breech to head down. The technician was hovering the tranducer over Baby A's head when all of a sudden she said, 'Oh, wow. Now there are two heads!'

After laughing my head off at the boys, I was absolutely crestfallen with the gestational diabetes diagnosis. I felt like the worst mother already. What set me off was reading that it meant that the boys had a higher chance of being diabetic when they were older. They weren't even born and their own mother had doomed them to a life of injections and needle pricks.

Today, with a bit more sanity, I drag myself to the doctors again and was sent out immediately to a pharmacy to pick up diabetic paraphernalia. I feel that I'm going to leave New York with an expanded Chinese vocabulary of medical terms, as Chinatown only operates in Chinese. I never thought I'd have to learn how to use a glucose monitoring machine let alone in Chinese.

I was good last night and read up on what I should and shouldn't eat. It seems to have paid off as on day one as a diabetic, my numbers have been good. I didn't fail the tests horribly, so the doctor is letting me just modify my diet for now. No delicious white pasta or sushi rice or ho fun for me for a while. Not fun but not the end of the world that I had predicted yesterday as I cried down the phone to the Boy.

So long Chinatown, I don't want to see you for a good fortnight.

These babies don't take any shit

From about 19/20 weeks, Baby B has let me know in no uncertain terms if he's not happy. This is usually when I'm in bed. As a pregnant woman, you're only supposed to sleep on your sides, and preferably your left side.

Baby B will kick if he's awake and I'm trying to sleep on whichever side. A few weeks ago, I had to get up and rock side to side until he went to sleep because he just was not having it. It continues.

Yesterday, at the Basic Back Herniation yoga class, I was on trying to do a downward dog whilst in a sling that hung from the wall. The sling sat around my groin, but I slipped and it moved up and squished Baby A a bit. I was worried, but when I stood up, Baby A gave me an almighty boot as if to say, 'Oi, that's not cool.'

These babies know what they want.

A Baby Shower

I was an ungrateful cow and basically had a baby shower, kicking and scream. The Boy said I was a curmudgeon.

My friend, J, had been asking for weeks and weeks whether she could throw me one. As a Brit, it seems weird to have a party so people can essentially bring you gifts, but J was cajoling and had promised it would be low-key. (Her husband also said that J would die if I didn't let her host one for me.)

And what a shower it was. There were games - chugging competitions using baby bottles, the Price is Right with baby merchandise, and a diaper cake. It was just lovely, wholesome fun and importantly, J didn't make me open gifts in front of everyone.

Fun!

Hitting the Go Button

I woke with strange pains in the middle of the night the other day. It freaked me out, but didn't feel like contractions. The Boy and I spent ages googling what it could be. For a while we toyed with the idea of whether I had the start of pre-eclampsia but quickly dismissed that.

In the end, we decided to try and call my OB to be on the safe side. Unfortunately, the office numbers just rang and rang, so we gave up and went to sleep.

It did freak us out though and we realised we were totally unprepared. If I'd have had to have gone into hospital that night, I'd have had to send Phil back later to grab me a few things.

So that little episode hit the go button for us. I have had a baby registry ready on Amazon for the last few weeks, and the day after our scare, I basically bought everything we need. $800 later and several packages later, our apartment is no longer minimalist and chic, but decidedly creche-like.

We're not completely ready, but at least we're closer.

Admitted to Hospital

On Tuesday, I went in for a routine growth scan. The boys are measuring fatty bum bums at 2 lbs 10 and 2 lbs 15. No wonder they feel so heavy. I then had another scan to check my placenta previa, which is basically where the placenta is blocking the exit. The good news was that it had moved up (as it's attached to your uterus, meaning it grows and moves upwards), the bad news is that my cervix was shortening considerably.

They sent me straight up to Labour and Delivery to check that I wasn't going into preterm labour, hooking me up to a machine that measures whether I was having any contractions. Unfortunately, it seems I was having painless contractions every 3-7 minutes to my utter shock.

Rather than heading home after a quick 20-minute routine scan to have my lunch, I was admitted to hospital for two nights. The first 24 hours I was on constant monitoring, which the babies hated. They kept wriggling about and kicking off the monitors, as they didn't like being squashed. Baby B in particularly wasn't have any of it and the nurses had to get out the sonogram quite a few times to see where he'd squirmed off to.

The hospital also managed to screw up my meals giving me normal rather than gestational diabetes ones. Nothing is more annoying than getting a sugar spike after eating crappy hospital food. I could have saved those spikes for something delicious like ramen. Mmmmmmmmmmm

So from the tone of this post, it's obvious that all is fine for now. I was released on Thursday night and have been taking it easy. I just want the babies to stay in for as long as possible, so I'm taking myself out of action for the next week at last. After my appointment on Monday, I'll have a better idea of how I'm doing and how great my threat of going into labour is.

It feels weird that whilst the specialist had been warning us about problems with the boys, it has turned out that the problems have been to do with my body. First the previa, then the diabetes and now the silent contractions and the shortening cervix. I feel like my body is failing my boys. Motherhood and twin pregnancies are no joke.

Twin Mums on my Birthing Course

I have been totally blase with this twin pregnancy. I knew I was high risk, but I don't think that registered really. I thought a twin pregnancy would be tougher because of the additional weight, but it's much more than that. There were five women on my birthing course, with whom I've kept sporadic email contact. One, I know very little about. Here are the problems we have collectively have that I am aware of:
- threat of preterm labour x 2
- admission to hospital for contractions x 2
- gestational diabetes
- placenta previa (where the placenta is covering the exit)
- sciatica
- carpel tunnel syndrome
- modified bedrest x 2
- pre-eclampsia leading to early birth and emergency C-section x 2
- 40 hours of labouring followed by emergency C-section

There have been three births and nobody has gone past 35 weeks. I don't think our bodies are made for multiples!

A Non-Eventful Two Weeks

After being discharged from hospital, all I did for two weeks (apart from feeling elated that I was home in my own bed) was to lie or recline on the sofa. We have saved a ton of money, I reckon and the Boy has been boning up on his cooking skills - under vocal supervision from yours truly.

Four days of doing nowt, I went back to the doctor's and happily, the resting had improved the situation. I was instructed to do more of the same. The bad news was that I tested positive for the fetal fibronectin test, which tests for the presence of a protein, which indicates that you might pop in the next two weeks. Yup, I tested positive. To be fair, it's a better indicator that you're not going to go into labour (98% accuracy) whilst the chance of a false positive is high (20-40% chance it's right). So far I'm on day 13, so I'm hoping it's wrong!

This past week I had my second scare. Both the boys are transverse/breech, i.e. lying diagonally across my belly and Baby A hasn't 'engaged' yet, i.e. plugged the exit with his head or butt. So when I had my ultrasound, the umbilical cord was lying uncomfortably low for Dr K's liking.

'This really doesn't look good.' She says. 'Because you're at risk of preterm labour, there's a danger of the cord coming out first if you dilate. That'd mean calling an ambulance, not moving, and having an emergency C-section. Come back in tomorrow, and if it's dropped any lower, we're going to admit you to hospital until to give birth.'

The Boy was amazed by how well I'd taken it, as I was kind of laughing when I told him. It all does seem comical now, the number of issues I've had. The main thing for me is that I'm past 30 weeks. There was something psychological about that. The next milestone for me is 32 weeks when most babies have an excellent chance of survival and without long-term issues. Just five more days.

So You're Lady with the Foot in the Vagina! Part 2

As all mothers, I am totally biased and think that my wee nenezinhos are the cutest things on the planet. There's something about seeing tiny preemies who are super feisty but frail at the same time.

The C-section and birth was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. I had to have emergency anaesthesia, as it was too late to have an epidural. I was cold and shook the whole time I was on the table. There's something quite surreal about feeling what is going on but not feeling any pain. The anaesthetist kindly walked me through it as my body was either being cut up or being sown back together - I forget which. Apparently, it's all to do with nerves and blocking the senses to pain but allowing other feelings to go through. How strange is science?

I was stuck in the Recovery Room for about 10 hours before they could allocate me a bedroom. During that whole time, I just wanted to know when I could go see my boys. The boy would bring me back videos and pictures of them but it just wasn't the same. Until I could stand, I wasn't allowed to see them. That's incentive for you.

I still can't really believe that I am a mother to twins. I know I have a son, Henry, and a son, Parker, but I haven't pieced them both together yet. Until I see them in a picture together or hold them both in my arms, I don't think I will believe it. They might be identical, but I think of them as two separate babies.

Recovery has been slow progress and I stayed four nights in hospital, as I was having trouble with gas and they ended up doing an X-ray to check that I didn't have an obstruction in my bowels. I still look pregnant with twins even now! The first time I walked to the bathroom, I was just in a world of pain. I will never be as vulnerable as when I was trapped in this tiny toilet, holding Brenda, my nurse's hand, as I tried to relieve myself for the first time. I thought I'd collapse or at least my insides would if I let go of her.

One way to pass gas is to walk as much as possible. Having paced all of post partum and NICU, I trundled over to labour and delivery, where I saw Sandra, one of the nurses who had looked after me whilst I was admitted for threatened preterm labour. She said she'd seen my name and asked what had brought on my labour. I began to tell the story when I got to the vaginal exam when one of the other nurses yelled out, 'Oh, you're the lady with the foot in the vagina!' I love feeling special.

So You're Lady with the Foot in the Vagina! Part 1

The Boy and I have been getting into the Wire. I know, we're a bit late, but I've only just become an 'Amazon Mom', which gives me access to Amazon Prime, meaning that we could finally see what all the fuss is about. In any case, I digress...

It was 11.15 pm at night and I had asked the Boy to fill me a bowl of water so I could soak my feet. I don't know why I did, as I never soak my feet. Ever. I just quite fancied it. As he placed the water in front of me and helped me up, I felt a little bit of wee escape. Uh oh, best get to the loo! Unfortunately, the water never stopped flowing and turned into a Niagara gush. I assure you that it's quite a memory to be straddling a bowl of water to which you're adding additional fluid at an alarming rate. And all on a Saturday night. How very rock and roll. 

So we hot-footed it downtown in an Uber, as we had no idea where the squirmy monkeys were positioned. Our Uber driver seemed to have left his brain at home that night and ended up taking a wrong turn and travelling over the Brooklyn Bridge. Just what you need, a detour to Brooklyn whilst in labour with twins!

The dramas continued during my various exams. It took the Physician's Assistant forever to find both heartbeats. I kept asking if everything was OK, but she continued to be vague and I remember looking at the Boy with total fear. I could see the same thing in his face. All was well, however, and they managed to find both heartbeats. 

Next came the vaginal exam followed again by awkward silence. 

'Is everything OK?' I ask. 

'Ummm... Yes.' She replies nervously. 'It's just that you're 5 cms dilated and I can feel a foot and five toes.' 

Then in the distance I hear, 'We need to get Jenny in the operating room right now...' as I try and compute what she is saying. I later find out that the good news was that the operating theatre was ready for another patient, who I bumped and also, she ended up having her kid vaginally. All's well that ends well. 

Henry Beck arrived at 2.05 am on Sunday 24th May weighing 4 lbs whilst Parker Chan arrived at 2.06 am weighing 4 lbs 5 oz. We had always thought Baby A would be Henry and Baby B would be Parker, as Baby A was always so calm in utero and a little bit harangued by Baby B. We always felt Baby B was the more restless younger brother and that's how they came out at birth. The Boy was trying to confuse me though by saying they were the other way round. He still maintains the bigger one came out first so maybe the hospital got it wrong...