Author: Anonymous Twin Mum

Identical twins were definitely not on our radar when I fell pregnant in October 2016.

My obstetrician, who I had with my daughter was very relaxed about the whole situation and sent me to find out the type. Who knew! Different types of twins!

At 9 weeks we found our babies were monochrionic di amniotic, layman’s terms. Shared a placenta. Different sacs. Middle of the range risk.

20 weeks pregnant with twins

At 20 weeks I started my fortnightly scans. Nothing was out of the ordinary. A was slightly smaller but no one was concerned as long as he followed the growth trajectory.

I was finishing work at the end of the school term, Easter! Perfect. A few weeks to get my things organised and rest. The last week of term I felt huge but hey, I made it to the end. My parents visited over Easter and I made my mum stay for my routine scan.

Come Tuesday. My mum, my husband and my little girl in the room. Questions about my size “yeah I feel a lot bigger”. About the movements “I feel them but …”

The radiographer came to see me “I think you need to prepare yourself to meet your babies in the next few days”. Mind blown. Cue all of the emotions. My OB had flagged it as a possibility but there was no indication that it would end up like this!

Twins born at 28 weeks

What followed was a whirlwind. Admission to hospital. Steroids. Meeting with Neonatal team. Continuous monitoring. Magnesium drip. Fasting. Finally at 8.52pm on Wednesday 19th April I met my boys.

Baby A – 915g and Baby B – 1100g

Both crying, a quick hello and off to NICU.

It all happened so quickly. Baby B had managed to get himself a bigger share from the placenta and was happy as Larry in his bigger amniotic sac. Baby A was struggling with absent flow and a smaller sac. It went downhill very fast for my boys inside and the decision was made that the environment outside was better than in.

Life today with Twins born at 28 weeks

My boys are now 16 months actual/13 corrected. They’re 10kg and 9kg. We had one bump in the road with baby B, on day 3 he got a pneumothorax. By day 7 that had resolved and both boys went about their NICU journey. However, it was also flagged he has a PVL (peri ventricular luekomalacia)- a brain injury- it looks more and more likely he will have Cerebral Palsy as time goes on.

Both boys are happy, gorgeous and loved. If I could change the circumstances of their arrival, I would but I’m so very grateful that my doctor picked up on the signs of TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome) really quickly and enabled us to have both my boys.

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