My journey to becoming a twin dad

Panic set in quickly!

How would we cope?

The pregnancy was fairly trouble free until about 30 weeks in, when we found out that Twin 2, M, had stopped growing.

The next three to four weeks were some of the toughest of my life. I lost count of how many times I turned to Google in the hope of finding some answers.

There were constant hospital visits for scans, which in truth never made me feel any better. In fact they made feel even more nervous. Strange I know as you’d have thought that they would have made feel better. Reassured even, but they didn’t.

Finally when my wife was 34 weeks pregnant, our consultant said that it was time. Our girls needed to be born.

Whoa!

Every emotion I ever had came pouring out there and then at that very moment.

The following Tuesday at 8am we found ourselves waiting for our turn to meet our babies. It was a sunny February morning in 2012.

Three hours later and were still waiting. We were told by our consultant that the neo-natal unit had been closed because there were no cots available.

This wasn’t good news. We knew that our twins would need to spend some time in special care due to their premature birth.

We told that we would be transferred to another hospital as the consultant was keen for our twins to arrive that day. It was a leap year too, so my wife wasn’t keen on having them born on the 29th February! Although in hindsight a birthday every four years would save me a lot of money!

I find it strange that men are supposed to be strong inside, but I never felt strong. Inside I felt like an emotional wreck. Perception is a funny thing, but as a man we’re not supposed to show weakness.

Anyway, off we went to the hospital and a very stressful three hours started. Lots of doctors and nurses were running around my wife getting her ready for the c-section.

My involvement was minimal, which I understood as I wasn’t the one about to undergo a c-section! I still felt a little left out though.

Whilst my wife was walked into theatre, I was left in a room and asked to ‘gown up’. This was a very strange situation as I really didn’t know what to do with myself. I remember pacing around the room for what seemed like an enternity. In reality though it was probably less than 10 minutes.

Finally someone came to get me and they led me into theatre.

I’d never seen so many doctors and nurses in my life. My wife was lying there ready for the c-section.

It all happened so quickly Five minutes later our beautiful little twin girls were born. R was born first weighing 4lb3 and two minutes later M arrived weighing 2lb11.

I remember looking over the top of the sheet and watching our girls being brought into the world. My wife was worried I would pass out and leave her own! She begged me not to look in case I fainted!

Thankfully I didn’t faint and I was lucky enough to see the exact moment that they were born.

Both girls were whisked away quickly to a side room and time seemed to stand still for what like forever. I had only ever seen tiny babies on TV, so seeing my own children so small and fragile it was surreal.

I was called into the side room and I could hear them both crying and breathing. I got to hold them and take them to my wife so that she could kiss them and see what they looked like. It was the most magical, beautiful moment of my life.