Author: Anonymous
We found out we were pregnant with twins at 12 weeks. Our original scan only showed one bub so finding out it was twins later on was a complete surprise. But we were also filled with pure excitement having always wanted twins but never thought it was possible as they don’t run in either of our families.
My pregnancy went pretty smoothly compared to some. I had no morning sickness however did end up with gestational diabetes. Which was very disappointing considering the life I lived before falling pregnant.
Twin 1 (Lexi) hadn’t grown in a couple of weeks
At about 33 weeks my husband went away for work somewhere. It was extremely remote to the point there is no phone reception only a satellite phone. I remember saying to him “something is going to happen, I can feel it please don’t go” and of course he thought I was being silly so off he went!
A couple of days later I went in for one of my fortnightly routine scans. Then found the Twin 1 (Lexi) hadn’t grown in a couple of weeks. So I was being sent to Perth to be monitored and birth at King Eddy. So my mother in law drove the 4 hours to pick me up and my mum drove the 1.5hrs down to say goodbye. We were to leave on Monday morning. The 2 days that followed that scan I was sent to have an injection that would help the babies lungs develop. Looking back now was a god send.
The Saturday night which would have been 34 weeks my left leg swelled up like a balloon
I had never had any swelling my whole pregnancy. Which I thought was very strange but didn’t think any more of it. 5am Sunday morning my waters broke, so I called the midwives and explained our story and I was told to come in. My husband was unreachable till 7am. When I was admitted I was already 3 cms. I was given tablets to try and stop labour – they didn’t work. I was then given an injection which also didn’t work. Then I had jumped from 3-7 cms in about half an hour. So we were admitted the RFDS was cancelled and we were staying put.
I was then given an epidural which worked so well. Twin 1 was trying to exit but I felt absolutely nothing. So didn’t know and I wasn’t really being monitored that well. When my doctor came back everything went from 0-100 in about 2 seconds. Lexi had been pushing and her head had turned sideways which ended up in a forceps delivery. Zara (Twin 2) arrived 15 minutes later and took what felt like forever to start breathing, hearing her cry was the most amazing thing I could have heard because it was touch and go for a while.
Twins born at 34 weeks
We spent three weeks in hospital. 2.5 of which were in the SCN, both girls needed feeding tubes, which eventually transitioned to bottles of EBM and both had jaundice at one time or another. I was expressing and getting up to feed them every 3 hrs around the clock. I was determined to give them the best start to life after arriving early. They reached 2.5kg and we were allowed to go home.
Once home I was determined to exclusively breastfeed. It took time but we got there and I fed them for 8 months, before bottles were easier and they no longer wanted me. I ended up with post natal depression, from having no family or close friends nearby and not getting out of the house. My life was my babies and that was all. We are just over the moon we now have the most beautiful, healthy and happy girls we could have ever asked for.
Have a look at this fascinating story about a twin mom who also gave birth at 34 weeks and 2 days.
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