Author: Tracy White

19th May 2015, the day we found out we were not only expecting 1 baby but twins!!!

6 weeks pregnant with twins

We found out quite early as I suspected I was pregnant due to having similar tell tale signs as my first and I was starting to show already. We booked in for our scan after having confirmation from the blood test. This will be an ultrasound I’ll never forget!

The sonographer scanned my tummy with full force (not cool when u have a super full bladder and are hanging for a wee!). When she hit the right spot she turned the screen around to show hubby, I and our eldest daughter (just turned 7). My daughters face lit up but then she turned it back to her and kept moving over my belly, I looked at hubby with a worried look on my face and asked the sonographer if everything was ok? She paused and turned the screen back around to us with the response “and there is the second heart beat”!!!!! SAY WHAT NOW!

I was pretty emotional after finding out it was twins, knowing the financial position we were in and out lay of now having to buy 2 of everything.

First Trimester pregnant with twins

I never experienced morning sickness with my first so never knew what the mums that did went through, well let me tell u this twin pregnancy was a whole different ball game! I had nausea from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed, it got that bad my doctor prescribed me Ondansetron just to help me get through my working days.

16 weeks pregnant with twins

By this time the nausea was subsiding and I was starting to enjoy my pregnancy. We did a gender scan at 15 weeks because I was too impatient to wait till my 20 week scan which revealed we were having 2 more girls! My poor husband was now going to be in a house full of girls.

30 weeks pregnant with twins

Everything was travelling fine. I was feeling good apart from tired and swollen feet. I was helping my best friend put together the last bits for my baby shower which was that coming weekend. The week of my baby shower I had to take my eldest to the docs for a check-up and my GP commented how low the twins were sitting and if I had my hospital bag ready, my response was “I’m only 30 weeks, I have plenty of time”!

32 weeks pregnant with twins

2 weeks after seeing my doctor and my 1st week of maternity leave, things were about to get real! Friday night 13th November 2015 at 7pm I went into spontaneous preterm labour at exactly 32 weeks.

One of the twins had moved hard not once but twice. And the 2nd time was that hard she busted the plug and my waters gushed out. I had never experienced anything like it. By 7.30pm my contractions were in full swing so my mum called an ambulance because she didn’t want me risking it going by car as both girls were in breech position.

By the time I arrived at WCH I was 5cm dilated. I was told their NICU was full and will possibly be transferred to Flinders. However upon inspection I was dilating to fast and it was too much of a risk to be transferred so they made room in the NICU.

Twins born at 32 weeks

At 12:27 & 12:30 on the 14th November 2015 weighing 1.89kg (4lb 1oz) & 1.92kg (4lb 2oz) we welcomed to beautiful girls in to the world via emergency C- Section. Evelynn Olive & Aaliyah Mae. Both girls were taken straight to the NICU, so I didn’t get even get to see or hold them for the first time which was really hard.

Twins born at 32 weeks – Our NICU/SCN journey

Once the girls were born they were taken straight to NICU to be put on support. I was given the steroid injections before my emergency c section but I was too advanced for it to work.

I didn’t see or hold the girls till 12 hours after giving birth. Seeing the girls for the first time was heartbreaking. The sight of the machines, tubes, monitors were so overwhelming! T1 needed oxygen while T2 needed oxygen and a CPAP machine. Both were hooked up to monitors for their heart rate and saturation levels.

They progressed slowly and with 1 step forward there were always 2 steps back. T1 was improving well, while T2 had a few ups and downs. They suspected T2 had a heart murmur a few days after she was born. They ran some tests and thankfully it was only a valve duct that hadn’t closed properly.  This could be treated and closed with a dose or 2 of Ibuprofen. The Ibuprofen helped and the valve closed but her milk intake and saturation levels were up and down. Within a few days T1 had progressed to SCUBU & SCUBU 2 which meant she was in an open isolette with the monitors and feeding tube.

When both girls were stable enough we were transferred to Lyell Mcewin Hospital.  This was closer to home and the girls spent the next 3 weeks in the SCN. They were both released home at 36 weeks.

Beginning life with Twins born at 32 weeks

This is where reality really sets in! The twins are now home at 36 weeks with no monitors or tubes! While I was thrilled they were finally home with us I was petrified at the same time. These tiny little humans still only 36 weeks holding their whole life in my hands.

The first 3 months were bloody hard! From 3-4 hourly feeds and nappy changes to the no sleep all timed by 2! If it wasn’t for the support of my family, close friends & my husband & daughter I don’t think I would have gotten through it the way I did.

4 months in the girls were doing well and we had a great routine and mummy was getting much needed sleep! The only problem at this stage was that for Fraternal Twins we were having trouble telling them apart. There were no defining differences between them. And at this stage I thought we should be able to tell them apart.

Curiosity got the better of me and I ordered a home DNA kit which I sent back once I had done the mouth swabs. A 7 day turn around I was anxiously awaiting the results when they popped up in my email, opening the email and reading it confirmed what I had suspected….that our girls were in actual fact IDENTICAL!! Both girls had their own sac & placenta so were classed at DCDA Fraternal. What I didn’t know, and it seems like a lot of doctors still don’t, is that 30% of same sex fraternal twins are in actual fact identical.

Our life today with twins born at 32 weeks

The girls are about to celebrate their 3rd birthday! They are happy & healthy with no real health issues. They are smashing all their milestones and will talk the ears of a donkey. The twin bond they share is strong. I love watching it grow between them, they now have their own little personalities as well.

As hard a road as the last 3 years have been, I could not imagine life without them!

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