My little boy was born in 2014 and I absolutely loved being a mum.
I took to it like a duck to water and I loved getting out and about with him, going to so many baby groups and setting out a different activity for everyday. I would go so far as saying it was easy, a real “doddle”. My husband and I had always wanted more children so in 2016 we decided that now was as good a time as any to try for a 2nd baby (oh how naïve were we!?)
Around the same time we saw that a perfect cosy cottage had become available in the village that we grew up in, so, rather spontaneously we also decided to move. It would be perfect, close to family, childhood friends and it would mean that our little boy would go to the same primary school that we went to, everything would be just as it was when myself and my husband grew up.
Of course, this would be too easy and my ovaries clearly had other ideas!! In May 2016 we found out we were expecting a baby and rather foolishly I got straight into decorating what would be the nursery. I remember the moment perfectly, during this time my husband was working away up to 5 days a week and with him not being around when I took the test, my little boy was the first person I told, I should of know it would go down like a lead balloon as his response was full on tears.. with him being only 2 years old, this can be excused.
Fast forward a few weeks and there were very few tell tail signs that it could be twins, yes I felt a little but more nausea than with my first and I was showing quite early but, both of these things were not uncommon in a second pregnancy. Looking back, the only thing that could of raised a few suspicions was during my 8 week home visit I remember a comment my midwife made regarding my HCG levels, she told me they were “through the roof”, which could indicate a multiple pregnancy and that was that! I didn’t take any notice though as I didn’t understand.
Our first scan was in August and off we went, I was always so nervous before scans and also really uncomfortable given the lake full of water I had resting on my bladder. Whilst our sonographer was doing all the usual checks, I noticed the tone of the room change, cue me panicking slightly. “Is everything ok?” I asked. Our sonographer turned to face us and said “Would you like me to show you what I can see?”. Myself and my husband turned to look at each other “Yes” we both said sheepishly, having no idea what was in store for us. We were both staring at the screen completely oblivious for what felt like an eternity, when all of a sudden something clicked with me. I could see what she saw, two heads, 4 teeny tiny arms, and most importantly 2 hearts beating. I started to well up and burst into tears. I didn’t realise that my husband couldn’t see what I could. He was quickly asking if everything was ok. Through my blubbering I managed to tell him that we were having two babies and not one. At first, he didn’t believe me and kept saying “no, are you sure”. My first comment to the sonographer was that we were going to have to move house, after having only just moved into what we thought would be our ‘forever’ home.
After what felt like an eternity our sonographer talked us through what she could see and what it meant for us. She informed us we would automatically be consultant led and the home birth that I was hoping for was going out of the window. When we walked back into the waiting room to sort out future appointments it felt really surreal, we went in expecting to be told we were having one baby only to find we were having two and for that I am extremely grateful. I had no idea at all that this would even be a possibility, not once did I even give twins an ounce of thought. WOW.
We decided to ring our family and tell them on the way back from the hospital except for a few people we told in person. I remember being so frustrated because my mum wasn’t answering her phone and she was the first person I couldn’t wait to tell. Safe to say she thought we were joking. My nan on the other hand said “she knew it” and couldn’t wait.
When we got home we sat down with our little boy and we told him that mummy and daddy were going to be having two babies at once. He didn’t understand it at all, but, it was more for us to process it and it felt like we were imagining it. We had been living in our new ‘forever’ home for 9 month and already we knew we would have to move as it was too small!
We decided that we would look to move closer to my mum as she was retired and would be able to help us with the babies more and it also meant we would be closer to the hospital. It seemed that moment came quicker than we thought as during my 16 week scan a perfect house popped up on right move and before we knew it we were moving in, I was 4.5 months pregnant! We were clearly CRAZY. Two house moves in one year.
Our little boy was amazing at adapting even though his whole world as he knew it was being turned upside down. As he was getting older he was gradually beginning to understand having two babies. We were enjoying spending as much time as possible with him before the chaos would commence. Daddy was still working away a lot during this time so for the most part it was just me and my son together which was lovely but very very tiring being heavily pregnant with twins.
I went into labour naturally at 35+1 at around 4am in the morning. It all seems like a blur looking back. I rang my mum and step dad to let them know, I don’t think they were pleased with the timing (haha) and within 30 minutes we were on our way to hospital on what felt like the coldest day ever to exist.
The last thing I remember before leaving for the hospital was hearing my sons tiny little voice from the top of the stairs (we didn’t know he was awake, as we wanted to keep it as normal as we could for him) saying “have you had the babies mummy”. He all of a sudden seemed so grown up, and life as he knew it was about to change, in fact everyone’s was.