Tracey shares her experience of having twins - and breastfeeding
them!
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We were in our obstetricians' office doing a dating scan when he
joked to us about twins (I am a twin and twins are on both sides of
our family). Our little then 2 year old was having a tantrum
so daddy went to deal with that on the other side of the office
while I was getting a scan and saw straight away two little blobs
... my heart stopped and I started to laugh. Our OB (Paul
Robinson from Origins a legend if anyone is looking!) looked at me
and said opps shouldn't have joked ... famous last words! My
husband came over and said what's up, Paul pointed out look one
heart beat nice and strong and here is another nice and strong to
which my husband responded "our baby has two hearts?" in a panic
stricken voice. Imagine Paul and I passing looks of - will
you can tell the idiot or shall I! Needless to say when we
left the office we didn't speak. We were going thru a kind of
emotion that is hard to explain, happiness and fear combined with
disbelief.
We discovered we were having identical twin boys at our 11 week
scan and then began the long journey of twin pregnancy which
involves a lot of scans and check ups. Near the end of the
pregnancy I was seeing the OB once a week, the hospital for
monitoring once a week and a growth scan once a week ... that's 3
visits a week with a 2 1/2 year old in tow.
We were very lucky to have a straight forward pregnancy until we
reached 36 weeks and it changed in a matter of days. Harry or
Twin A as he was known by the medical staff had decided that he has
enough of growing thank you very much and no one was going to
change his mind. We found out on a Wednesday at the weekly
growth scan, were as they were always a few grams within weight all
of a sudden there was a large difference. We had an
appointment with our OB the next day and I had a feeling I knew
what was about to be said. Paul was fantastic explaining the
options, we could have me on bed rest at the hospital with
monitoring three times a day (because I hadn't had enough of
monitoring already!!) or go in the next day for a csection with the
understanding that the boys would most likely have to transfer to
NICU straight after the birth. To say it was a hard decision
is a lie, with a toddler already bed rest was not an option and
considering the boys were a decent weight for 36 weeks we decided
to deliver.
It was about now that mother nature decided to play a sick joke
and put me into labour. Contractions all night long meant a
very broken sleep! We arrived at National Womens at 9.30am
ready to go and because I had started labour they bumped us up the
queue and we were in theatre just after 11am. Funny moments
happened when they give me a pillow and asked me to bend over the
pillow so my back would curve and allow access for the
epidural. Needless to say my large LARGE twin belly made
bending with a pillow impossible and it was after a few minutes
they suddenly clicked and told me to bend over my belly
instead. The delivery was straight forward and Paul delivered
Harry first followed 1 minute later by Tom. Harry was perfect
and both apgars very high. Tom however decided he did not
enjoy evacuating the mother ship and had a dusky episode which was
very scary as I could not see them but could hear them reviving
him. He was fine within minutes thank goodness and both were
breathing on their own (most likely the contractions exercised
their lungs and taught them to breath) so no NICU or SCBU care was
needed!
I truly feel the success to breastfeeding is latching bubs as soon
as possible so that was the mission as soon as we wheeled out of
theatre. Luckily they did and all dignity goes out the door
with three nurses helping hold the babies to me to tandem
feed! Luckily I had purchased a twin feeding pillow from
Breastmates and it was the best money I ever spent as soon as we
were back in the ward I started using it and wow it was an amazing
aid and helped so much. All twin mums to be get this pillow
it is oh so brilliant!!!!!
The midwives were amazed at how I tandem feed so easily but
seriously it was the aid of the pillow they were positioned
correctly by the pillow and it just felt easy. I tried
without the pillow once and never again it was far too hard without
it!
Another key to breastfeeding is to always remember it does get
easier. It is not easy in the beginning and babies seem to
feed forever but as they grow they become more efficient and it
actually becomes second nature and easier.
Also remember if it doesn't work, don't sweat it there is enough
mummy guilt out there so if you need to or want to bottle feed do
it without guilt. I breastfed my daughter till she self
weaned at 9 months. However with the boys I breastfed till 3
months and switched to expressed and bottle then straight formula
only, as I found it was hard keeping up with a toddler while
feeding two and I did suffer mummy guilt and wish I had someone
tell me its ok. Obviously I know it is ok because my boys are
thriving and happy wee chappies, but the emphasis out there is
"Brest is best" well I think that should change to "What works for
YOUR family is best".
Breastmates a massive thank you for your support and products that
have helped me with both breast and bottle feeding. You're
always so fast with your deliveries and I love how you care so much
about all your customers. THANK YOU THANK YOU!
