Hello all. Sorry for radio silence, yesterday ended up being rather busy. We were originally told we’d be moved from the antenatal ward to central delivery suite around 7am to be prepared for theatre and then would wait there for my slot on the list - as it was a short notice booking the regular slots were filled and there were a couple of other emergencies as well.
We were still up on antenatal ward around 10:30am when the student midwife came to say they were sending for me and would be up in a few minutes. We went straight to the recovery area to drop off my bags and they took DH to change into scrubs while I went into theatre to be checked and prepped. It took them a while to do my spinal anaesthetic as I have long term back problems and arthritis so, in the end, they had to go 2 vertebral spaces higher than they usually would to be able to reach the space they needed - it was uncomfortable but done eventually. Then they got me positioned and drapes put up for the surgeons - there were at least 15 people in the room including 2 neonatal teams and 2 consultant obstetricians (sadly not my regular consultant as she was busy on labour ward) - but they were lovely and included a Greek lady which was nice for me as our IVF 2as done in Cyprus and our egg donor was Greek.
From the spinal being administered to both babies being born was approximately 20-25 minutes and then they had to sort me out. DH went over to take photos of both babies while they were checked over. Second twin was transverse so it took some tugging to bring the baby down to the right position to emerge - baby arrived in the caul which, to naval families, can be seen as superstitious (my dad’s side of the family were a naval family).
Anyway, onto the important information...
Twins delivered at exactly 34 weeks gestation. Decision for early delivery was SGA of twin 2, almost no increase in abdominal circumference over 6 weeks and worsening blood flow Doppler studies in comparison to the previous week.
Twin 1 arrived at 11:54am, weighing 4lb 15.5oz (had been estimated at 4lb 11oz the previous day on growth scan) a boy called Samuel Arthur. (in the photo’s he is wearing white hat)
Twin 2 followed at 11:55am, weighing 3lb 6.5oz (had been estimated to be 3lb 3oz the previous day) another boy - he is called Joshua George and is wearing the yellow hat in photos).
They were well and neither needed ventilator support and apgars were very good so it was decided we would all go to transitional care unit and NICU unless one or other did cope with temperature regulation, glucose levels or if their breathing deteriorated. DH went up with the twins while I was stitched up and then moved to recovery. By the time we got up to the ward, both twins had feeding tubes in place to allow them to rest and not use their energy feeding. They are both in heated incubators to maintain their temperature but are in my room with me so not separated at all. They are being fed 3 hourly and, due to dips in glucose levels, have both been started on specialist prem baby formula which has really helped maintain their sugars.
Joshua has already managed to pull out his feeding tube once last night so looks like he’s going to be my little pickle while Samuel is my chilled out boy.
I still have my catheter in and haven’t been out of bed yet - this will be done later this morning and then hopefully the catheter will be removed and I will be more involved with their feeds/nappy changes.
We have been told expect to be in hospital for probably 2 weeks, there isn’t a minimum weight for discharge home, but they must be managing at least 50% of their feeds orally before they can go home and, because of where we live, we can go home under the care of the neonatal outreach nurses so they can still have their feeding tubes.
The system via my iPad isn’t letting me post a picture so I will post this and then look for a couple on my phone app.