My SO has pointed out that I never mentioned what the problem was with the pregnancy. Just so you know, the diagnosis was twin to twin transfer syndrome.
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Considering the circumstances surrounding the run up to their births, both boys were doing really well. I have only recently started catching up on other blogs again and have now realised just how many things could have gone wrong. Thankfully our doctors and nurses chose to only tell us what we needed to know so we were blissfully unaware of many of the issues that others in our situation had to deal with.
The NICU staff were fantastic. Even more so when they began encouraging us to get involved with the boys care. At first I was terrified at the though of handling their frail little bodies but with some practice I relaxed and became more confident. Sometimes a full term baby would have to spend a night or two in the NICU unit and we would be shocked at how big they seemed.
When I look back at the pictures from those early days I can see how premature they looked but at the time they were just seemed small and perfectly formed.
There are a lot of things about those first few weeks that I wish I'd been more prepared for. The 3 day blues hit me hard and stuck around for longer than I would've liked. Also, the moment that the milk came in I thought that I was having a heart attack I was in so much pain! The midwife thought it was very funny and offered a hand pump to take away some of the pressure. Can I just say that if you're reading this and you think that you may need to express at some point, please be kind to yourself, hire/rent/buy an electric pump. Those hand held ones are agony (although they are slightly less revolting, but I'll take speed over revulsion any day)and should be used in emergencies only!
After 3 weeks of (what I now know to be minor) issues, we were finally able to get the boys ready to go home. It was a bitter sweet departure from the unit. We were looked after so well and the nurses treated they boys as one of their own. Thankfully, my sister had flown over from South Africa to live with us and help out - which I think is what saved the SO and I from complete meltdown in the end.
On June 27th, 2007 our boys made their first car journey to the place that we call home and we began our first journey to parenthood.
A
Nathan (left) and Thomas (Right)
29 days old
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