Being Pregnant was a scary prospect as it was but finding out i was having twins was the biggest shock of my life. My pregnancy wasn’t planned but my partner and i were very excited. Twins don’t run in either of our families so it’s something we never considered could ever happen. After a week or so the news sunk in and i started worrying about all the things that could go wrong. I’m only 5ft1″ and i didn’t know if my body could cope with the stress of carrying two babies. I made the mistake of watching the channel 4 documentary ‘One Born Every Minute’ and seeing extremely ill babies on the neonatal ward made me even more nervous about what would happen if my twins made it through the pregnancy.
Luckily i had no problems apart from the exhaustion of carrying a huge bump everywhere and the constant need to go to the toilet.
At my 20 week scan i was told i was expecting two girls. I was delighted and started to feel more confident that me and my babies would be okay.
From 26 weeks i had fortnightly scans which are routine for a multiple pregnancy.
Once i hit the 33 week mark i stopped worrying completely until a scan revealed that one twins growth had slowed down. A scan the following week showed the same again and this continued for several more weeks and finally i was told i would need to be induced as soon as i was 37 weeks.
The big day arrived and i was induced at 1pm and began having contractions. At 8pm i was only 2cm dilated and was so impatient to get my girls out. Using only gas and air i gave birth to my girls at 12:24am and 12:36am and it was the most amazing feeling in the world.
We named our first twin out Lacey Madison and she was only small, weighing in at 3lb 9oz. She didnt even cry, she just lay there staring at her new world.
Our second twin we named Lexi Grace and she had trouble breathing so was taken to have her airways cleared.
They looked so perfect so when i was told they would have to go to the neonatal unit i was shocked. I’d had a smooth pregnancy and i just assumed that i would be able to take them home.
The doctors decided that due to their low birth weights they would need to be monitored until they could learn to feed and keep their body temperatures so the wait began.
Once they were taken away i didnt get to see them until the following day as i was not well enough to leave the ward. I had to use a wheelchair for days and was told that i needed two blood transfusions before i was fit enough to stay in a room on the neonatal ward.
Lacey was in an incubator for 4 days but lexi being the bigger of the two only needed it for 1.
Unfortunately Lacey wouldn’t breast feed so i expressed milk for her and bottle fed her. Lexi however did get the hang of breast feeding and after almost 2 weeks in hospital we were allowed to go home as a family.
My girls are now coming up to 4 months old and are coming on so well. They’re still small but have put so much weight on and i’m so proud to be their mummy 🙂