Author: Emilie Upson
Finding out I was pregnant with twins
I found out I was having MCDA twins at my first scan at 8 weeks. The first half of my pregnancy was uneventful. All my fortnightly scans went fine and I found out I was having boys at my 16 week scan. I had my usual scan at 27 weeks 3 days and everything was fine. both boys were still head down as they had been since 13 weeks.
That night I woke up with pains but put it down to the usual stretching pains in my stomach. I had a shower and went back to sleep, that went on for the rest of the night. The next afternoon after spending the whole day in pain I presented to the hospital. Here I found out I was having contractions and I was 2cm dilated. I was moved to the birth suite where I had my first round of steroids. I was hooked up to a magnesium drip for 24 hours, and after the 24 hours I got my second round of steroids and was moved up to the wards.
Born at 28 weeks. Our birth story
The day I hit 28 weeks I was moved down to the birth suites due to pain. When the doctor checked I was fully dilated and my waters burst right there and then. Within 5 minutes I’d given birth to Twin 1 and Twin 2. Both boys weren’t breathing at birth and needed to be resuscitated. They were rushed to the NICU where they spent 10 weeks and 3 days.
Twins born at 28 weeks – Our NICU journey
They were intubated for the first few days then on CPAP for 6 weeks. They moved to Hi-Flo for 3 weeks and on then on to Lo-Flo, which they stayed on while in Special Care. During their stay in NICU Twin 1 had a surgery for what they thought was a hernia in his groin area. However during surgery they found out he had testicular torsion and removed his right testicle. He also had 2 blood transfusions due to anaemia during his stay in the NICU.
Twins born at 28 weeks – Our SCN journey
The boys were in Special Care for 2 weeks. Here we continued to work on bottle feeding and turning down their oxygen in aims to get them off it completely. Finally the day came where we were given a discharge date! They were coming home on oxygen due to being diagnosed with Chronic Neonatal Lung Disease. But they were finally coming home after 88 days in hospital!
Since coming home we’ve definitely had some hurdles. The boys were both on oxygen until they were 7.5 months old. Twin 2 had Stage 3 ROP and had laser surgery to try and correct it which has caused him to need glasses. Both boys have been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and they both have hearing issues and will need grommets. However, even with all of this, I have two happy 16 month old boys who don’t let anything stop them.
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