Twice as nice.....

Having twins has turned my whole life upside down.....would I change it, heck no! 

They drive me nuts, 

They egg each other on (I'm sure they just enjoy seeing the look of horror on my face when I think they are about to hurt themselves.) 

I get double hugs, 

I get to see them interact with each other which is adorable....yep even when they are plotting to do naughty things. 

I can't help but smile even when I'm pulling my hair out over them!

When i was pregnant the most asked question I got asked was "will you dress them alike?"

My answer was always oh no way! I hate that.............oh foolish foolish me! 

When they were babies it was easier to dress them differently because they couldn't talk back or scream at me for not putting the right T-shirt on the right body!!

I got drawn in pretty quickly to dressing them alike though! Gosh how cute was it to see two tiny babies dressed in matching outfits!?!? 

As they grow and become more and more vocal and opinionated I really have no say in such matter. If I dress one differently to the other 10 X out of 10 it usually ends up with a screaming fit. On occasion Alex has been known to try and take the clothes off Oscar and put them on himself as apparently that his current favourite top! 

I have learned the hard way It's just safer and easier to dress them alike. 

I really have to pay attention to what treats I have given to one and make sure the other has exactly the same Orr I'm done for!

I'm constantly on my toes! The twins are defiantly the boss of me and I am just their play thing! 

My pregnancy story.....

My twin journey started when I was 10 weeks pregnant, we had previously been for an early scan when I was about 6 weeks and we saw a ONE tiny egg clear on the screen, we were told to come back in a few weeks for a dating scan. 

The night before Jon and my mum both had dreams that it was going to be twins.....I laughed this off and told them no chance it was going to be twins and beside we had already seen it was a singleton! 

As soon as the image popped up on the screen in the darkend room I saw it....... Two little dots! 

It went quite and then my sonographer went " oh Hannah!!!!!!! " before she could say anymore I was said " it's twins isn't it! " " yep " after that I don't remember much, my mum came in and screamed I knew it!!!!

Jon was as white as a sheet!! 

I ended up laughing in disbelief for the next few days. 

My dad's response was ha you're joking and it wasn't until he saw the scan that he believed me. 

We were growing little identical babies! I was a super baby making machine! 

The pregnancy started strong and didn't really have any problems.

It wasn't until I reached about 18 weeks that I started to feel uncomfortable and it was painful to touch my belly. I was reassured all was fine. We had two week appointments by now, so our next scan was when we would find out the sex! 

I was sooo excited!

Jon couldn't get the time off work so I had to go alone, my mum was working at the hospital so she came in with me. 

My consultant always took his time measuring and checking and measuring and checking. 

I could see straight away they were boys, there was no doubting that! 

My consultant was more concerned about other things. 

He then gave me the shattering news that I may have TTTS! (Twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) )

Also sometimes known as 'FFTS' (Feto-Fetal Transfusion Syndrome), and as 'TOPS' (Twin Oligohydramnios-Polyhydramnios Sequence), TTTS is a disease of identical twin fetuses caused by abnormal connecting blood vessels in the twins' placenta, resulting in an imbalanced flow of blood from one twin to another. The implications of this are very serious for the survival and health of both twins. Once thought to be extremely rare, TTTS is now believed to affect as many as 1 in 1000 pregnancies.

There was far too much fluid in one sack and very little in the other. One of my babies was drowning and the other was starving! 

He phoned up st George's to get me seen! They said I could go in the next day and I was sent home! 

I got out the car park and my mum was phoning me, telling me I had to get to at George's straight away!!

I phoned Jon and told him to get to my mums if he could and I'd meet him there and all 3 of us would drive there together.

We all arrived back at mums at the same time. Jon was worried, mum was worried, I was blank!!!!! 

Mum drove us as she knew the way. 

When we arrived we were taken to have a scan, and here the consultant confirmed it, the twins had TTTS and we only had one option ....... Laser ablation surgery (where they do keyhole surgery to blast the veins and vessels in your placenta to stop them from sending more to one baby and not to the other)

 this surgery only had a 1/3 chance of both surviving! If I didn't go ahead they both would have died! 

The only tears I cried throughout this pregnancy were now! 

I knew I had no other choice than to go ahead and try to save my babies.

We went back the following day, I was given drugs to make me sleepy, not to knock me out but just sedate me a little, and in we went. Jon was at my head end watching everything. They went in with a little camera and a laser, we saw everything on screen.......their tiny little faces, their tiny little hands, their little button noses! It was amazing! 

Our very own inside the womb documentary!!

(My lovely consultant went on to send me this video on a memory stick to keep forever!)

After they had finished lasering my placenta they then went on to draining the excess fluid in twin ones sack! 

By this time I could feel Jon's strong grip on my shoulder loosen, then all of a sudden the nurses were shouting oh catch him!!! 

Jon fainted! 

When I was told this being the loving girlfriend I am started to laugh! 

Bless him!

We then we sent to the ward to wait a few hours before we could have a scan to see if it had worked! 

I had my first ever cup of tea on this ward and questioned myself to why I had never had tea before! 

We went for our scan around 4 o'clock, by now my mum had joined us to hold my hand whilst we found out the results.

They had survived! Now I had to be careful and see every day being pregnant as a blessing!

We had scans every week now to keep an eye on them and to see how they were doing. 

Every oz they gained every lb target they reached was amazing, every day that went by that they stayed inside was a miracle! 

We were booked in to have my final scan on the 6th June, we then had to go back on the 7th to book in my c section date! 

C section was book for the 28th June! Perfect they were going to get to 38 weeks!!!!

Just before we left my consultant told me if I got any pains I must come in straight away, I nodded and off I went! 

He knew!!!!!

7am 8th June I woke with pains, I was just going to ignore them but Jon made me phone my mum and tell her ( my mum is a midwife btw) she popped over and felt my tummy and just watched. It only took her a couple of minutes to know I was in labour! She called up labour ward and told them I was coming in.

We got there about half ten, I was prepped and ready to go into surgery in an instant. 

My gorgeous boys were born at 11:42am and 11:45am 7 weeks early.

Twin one - Alex weighing 5lb13

Twin two - Oscar weighing 4lb14

Alex was having breathing problems so I never saw him, my mum quickly showed my Oscar but then they were both whisked away to the icu. Noah and my dad were both outside the theatre so they got to see them and travelled form in the lift with them.

I was stiched back together and taken to the recovery ward!

I stayed there for 9hrs!

It was 11hrs before I got to go and see my beautiful little babies!

4 days before I could hold them

9 days before I could try and feed them

14 days before I could take them home!

Only that one time did I cry for what was happening, 

Not one time did I worry what could happen. 

I had to stay strong and focused if I didn't my babies wouldn't stay strong and fight their fight!

I know things could have been a lot worse and I don't look back and cry and sob over what could have happened!

My babies survived and I know many don't or some lose their twin. 

I am very lucky

They are very lucky

I am very thankful for them

I don't usually talk about their story as I don't want to bring up old memories but sometimes it's good to share a personal journey!