twins_daddy
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- Jan 13, 2011
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Hi all,
First post and as you can see I'm a daddy
I thought I'd post as I've been reading the forum for the last couple of months and it's been amazingly helpful. Our story:
Like most couples we were delighted that we had been lucky enough to be pregnant - something that we wasn't sure would ever happen. Our doctor wanted a scan ASAP (nothing serious) so at eight weeks we popped along and had a look at our little boy/girl, all was fine. At 12 weeks we had a precautionary scan due to some bleeding, again all was fine except......someone had decided to join the party! We had twins. Not sure I'm still over that initial shock
At that scan a difference in size was noticed but nothing to be worried about, in fact it was explained that it is very common especially in girl/boy pregnancies (hint hint). As we had twins the scans were quite often, all was fine though the size difference was noticeable. The 24 week scan came round and we could sense something wasn't right as the Sonographer told us she wanted the Consultant to have a chat. Sure enough, the size difference was massive - our daughter was half the size of her brother (see, hint hint). Our local hospital couldn't deal with anything complicated so we were referred to the nearest hospital that had the capabilities and an appointment was booked for the next growth scan at 26 weeks.
The 26 week scan was soon upon us and we were summoned by a Consultant Sonographer. What followed was a truly awful few hours; the Consultant bluntly told us (whilst my better half was still covered in gel lying down) that the little girl was very poorly and she didn't think she'd make the next two weeks. The problem seemed to be with the blood flow (as many have had on here), it was rubbish to use her medical term. So, we had a problem. I must say after the horrible Consultant the specialist midwife and Obstetrician (who we actually saw at the other hospital) were fantastic. The facts were simple; our girl was under 500g and only 26 weeks, our boy was over 1kg and 26 weeks, if they came out there and then the girl had little chance and the boy would have a fight, what to do?
Not much as it turned out! Steroids were given and a scan every few days ordered. No one really gave our girl (now named Aimee) a chance (except us, we knew she would fight), we were really looking to give the newly named Ethan a better chance. Anyway, the weeks ticked on and somehow managed to get to 30 weeks, however Aimee had progressed little so it was time to take them out.
I wont go through the whole process of the caesarean, it took nearly 48 hrs after initially been booked in to get everything together, what I will say is that our Obstetrician was simply amazing and pulled many many strings to get us two spots on Neonatal. The delivery went well, Ethan came out screaming, Aimee sort of screaming. Births weights came in at 1lb 11oz for Aimee and 3lb 8oz for Ethan.
That was four weeks a go. Ethan needed the ventilator for 24 hrs whilst Aimee was fine with CPAP, in fact she was quickly doing 6 off 4 on. Ethan went on to CPAP after the initial help and quickly took the EBM. It wasn't long before Ethan was on full feeds and got rid of his main line. Aimee took a while to take EBM, it was about four days before she passed anything solid but once she did things started moving. She took about 2 weeks to get the main line out. Ethan has really kicked-on, he came out of the incubator just after xmas and other than a reaction to the eye test has been fine, he's now approaching 5lb, which at 35 weeks is quite a size!
Aimee is taking her time. She is still very small and has recently started desating so a transfusion will be carried out. She's about 2lb 8oz but is quite long, I can see some fat building up but it all seems to be going to her limbs! The eye tests went well and scans have been fine so far. She is jaundice which is showing in her stool so hopefully the transfusion will help. The staff also feel that the extended stay on TPN could be causing her liver to be sluggish so again, the transfusion might help.
So, that's us! a roller-coater ride indeed. We take every day as it comes, my better half spend most of the day with them whilst I go over after work and of course spend more time at the weekends.
I hope my ramble makes some sense!
First post and as you can see I'm a daddy
I thought I'd post as I've been reading the forum for the last couple of months and it's been amazingly helpful. Our story:
Like most couples we were delighted that we had been lucky enough to be pregnant - something that we wasn't sure would ever happen. Our doctor wanted a scan ASAP (nothing serious) so at eight weeks we popped along and had a look at our little boy/girl, all was fine. At 12 weeks we had a precautionary scan due to some bleeding, again all was fine except......someone had decided to join the party! We had twins. Not sure I'm still over that initial shock
At that scan a difference in size was noticed but nothing to be worried about, in fact it was explained that it is very common especially in girl/boy pregnancies (hint hint). As we had twins the scans were quite often, all was fine though the size difference was noticeable. The 24 week scan came round and we could sense something wasn't right as the Sonographer told us she wanted the Consultant to have a chat. Sure enough, the size difference was massive - our daughter was half the size of her brother (see, hint hint). Our local hospital couldn't deal with anything complicated so we were referred to the nearest hospital that had the capabilities and an appointment was booked for the next growth scan at 26 weeks.
The 26 week scan was soon upon us and we were summoned by a Consultant Sonographer. What followed was a truly awful few hours; the Consultant bluntly told us (whilst my better half was still covered in gel lying down) that the little girl was very poorly and she didn't think she'd make the next two weeks. The problem seemed to be with the blood flow (as many have had on here), it was rubbish to use her medical term. So, we had a problem. I must say after the horrible Consultant the specialist midwife and Obstetrician (who we actually saw at the other hospital) were fantastic. The facts were simple; our girl was under 500g and only 26 weeks, our boy was over 1kg and 26 weeks, if they came out there and then the girl had little chance and the boy would have a fight, what to do?
Not much as it turned out! Steroids were given and a scan every few days ordered. No one really gave our girl (now named Aimee) a chance (except us, we knew she would fight), we were really looking to give the newly named Ethan a better chance. Anyway, the weeks ticked on and somehow managed to get to 30 weeks, however Aimee had progressed little so it was time to take them out.
I wont go through the whole process of the caesarean, it took nearly 48 hrs after initially been booked in to get everything together, what I will say is that our Obstetrician was simply amazing and pulled many many strings to get us two spots on Neonatal. The delivery went well, Ethan came out screaming, Aimee sort of screaming. Births weights came in at 1lb 11oz for Aimee and 3lb 8oz for Ethan.
That was four weeks a go. Ethan needed the ventilator for 24 hrs whilst Aimee was fine with CPAP, in fact she was quickly doing 6 off 4 on. Ethan went on to CPAP after the initial help and quickly took the EBM. It wasn't long before Ethan was on full feeds and got rid of his main line. Aimee took a while to take EBM, it was about four days before she passed anything solid but once she did things started moving. She took about 2 weeks to get the main line out. Ethan has really kicked-on, he came out of the incubator just after xmas and other than a reaction to the eye test has been fine, he's now approaching 5lb, which at 35 weeks is quite a size!
Aimee is taking her time. She is still very small and has recently started desating so a transfusion will be carried out. She's about 2lb 8oz but is quite long, I can see some fat building up but it all seems to be going to her limbs! The eye tests went well and scans have been fine so far. She is jaundice which is showing in her stool so hopefully the transfusion will help. The staff also feel that the extended stay on TPN could be causing her liver to be sluggish so again, the transfusion might help.
So, that's us! a roller-coater ride indeed. We take every day as it comes, my better half spend most of the day with them whilst I go over after work and of course spend more time at the weekends.
I hope my ramble makes some sense!
