I am finally on maternity leave now! Yippee! I was given a lovely send off by my work colleagues and the boys were thoroughly spoilt with beautiful gifts. At 29 weeks I am definitely ready to slow down and have some ‘me’ time. I have become a lot more uncomfortable over the past couple of weeks and the babies are struggling for space. I’m sure they have shifted some of my organs in order to accommodate their swiftly expanding bodies! I seem to constantly have a head in my bladder and two heads in my ribs – ouch! Everyone keeps saying how compact and small I am considering I’m carrying triplets, but I certainly don’t feel particularly compact. I’m a right sight trying to get off the sofa or put my socks on. I’m sure John could make some money if he videoed me and sent it into “You’ve Been Framed”.

One of my first jobs to get sorted once on maternity leave was to contact a local charity called Home Start, who have very kindly agreed to arrange for a volunteer to come and help me for a couple of hours a week. They are a fabulous charity that provides practical and emotional support to parents to multiples, single mothers/fathers, mothers who may be suffering from depression or domestic abuse, and many other worthy parents. You can find out more on their website http://www.home-start.org.uk/homepage. I have also contacted our local college who have said that they may be able to place a student nursery nurse with me for a couple of days a week, which would be a godsend.

Our scans are more frequent now and we are going to Addenbrookes every 2 weeks. At our most recent scan they confirmed that the boys are still growing at the rate of normal singleton babies and range from 1.2kg – 1.3kg. This means that if they were born now they would stand a very good chance of having minimal initial problems and should go on to be normal, healthy babies, so I am just paying close attention to their movements and also keeping an eye out for any signs of pre-term labour. I have been given steroid injections now too to help develop their lungs and I’ll have another dose before the C-section. I feel like a walking pin cushion these days, but at least my needle fear seems to be getting easier to cope with!

One piece of information that I was less than pleased to hear was despite our original hospital choice referring us to Addenbrookes in Cambridge, we actually should have been referred to Oxford or Leicester (which would have been a logistical nightmare)! We were also told that when the boys are healthy enough, they will be transferred to our “local” hospital instead of our original choice (which is closer and nearby to where our family live). I couldn’t believe they were telling us just six weeks before we are due to deliver!

With all the uncertainties that come with this pregnancy, we hoped we could rest in the knowledge that the babies and I would be cared for, and we could rely on the support of our family, nearby. They have now agreed to deliver us at Addenbrookes, but we still don’t know where the boys will be transferred to. I don’t really understand why they give you a choice of hospitals when you first find out that you’re pregnant, but then they take that choice away from you later on!

However, on our last hospital visit we were also given some very exciting news too! Our C-section date has been booked for 21st December, when I will be 34.5 weeks pregnant. We are so very excited! Christmas is my favourite time of year so we couldn’t be happier! If we can get the boys to this date then they should need very little special care and they should be home fairly soon after – a huge relief for us.

I’m a bit scared about the C-section, but all the women that I have spoken to have been really positive about the experience and have given me lots of advice. They’ve shared stories on everything from getting mobile after the operation to the essential “apple catcher” knickers that are apparently, a must! Any other advice would be very welcome!

John has been working hard to get the nursery sorted and it is looking less like a bomb site and more like a baby room every day. We made our last big purchase at the weekend – the car seats! The guys

at Kiddicare spent half an hour trying to find three seats that would fit across the back seat of the C-max Grand, but we got there in the end.

We went for the Graco junior range, which are lightweight and very reasonably priced – just as well, really, when you have to buy three! It looks so funny having all their little seats strapped in and makes it all feel very real. Thankfully, I have finally stopped doing emergency stops in the middle of the road thinking that the brake is actually the clutch. This automatic car thing is a whole new experience for me and I LOVE it!

Our “to do” list is getting smaller and smaller, but the one thing that is still undecided their names. We are constantly asked “Have you thought of any names yet?” The answer is: “No!”I struggle to

decide whether to have Shreddies or Weetabix in the morning. Trying to agree on three names that we both like, that work with our surname and don’t sound daft together is really hard! I was told by one of the consultants at the hospital that one set of twin’s parents called their boys Brian and Ryan…I just don’t get why you would do this. If the names pass the shouting up the stairs test (where you only get the child that you require answering) then I think we’re on to a winner. John and I have three names that we are toying with, but I can guarantee that they will change by the end of the week.

So, my jobs over the next few weeks are to continue baking babies, sleep, watch lots of Christmas movies and sleep a bit more! Happy days.