As a dad to a brilliantly fun toddler, Finn, we were keen to give him a brother or sister to play with, so my wife Dani and I were delighted when she started to feel constantly sick and look like a wife on carbs and cola who enjoyed a nap after Countdown every day... SHE WAS PREGNANT!
So, having done all this dad and birthing partner business previously, I was flippant to say the least about the scan for the new baby - half hour, quick scan, all OK and off to work I go, I thought.
Our scanning room at a Southend Hospital's excellent foetal medicine unit seemed so calm and nicely lit that I thought I was at a three-star spa break!
Quite quickly after that thought, I needed a spa break... the scanning machine was showing what looked like to my expertly trained medical eye two foetuses on the screen ... I pro-actively questioned this, half-jokingly asking the staff, 'is that the previous woman's scan on the screen?'
No, of course it wasn't ....it was TWINS.... A heart sinking, but emotionally brilliant moment (I think), that was until the junior doctor suggested she swap places with a colleague to ensure it wasn't triplets.... Excuse me?!?!
The moment you're told it's TWINS is one of those life defining moments (getting all serious now!!). For me, I am a little ashamed to say, lots of practical dad things went through my mind whilst Dani lay on the scanning bed crying with happiness...
I cracked the kind of smile a baby makes when they have trapped wind with my mind going into overdrive... how will we cope? Is our house big enough? Is our car big enough? Can we financially afford twins? Holidays aren't built for five - do we do all inclusive or self-catering?
Like I said, practical, irrational, and ridiculous thoughts. If I had my time again, I should have been in the moment of looking at the scan!!
Fast forward 35 weeks of pregnancy, 'one last holiday', a re-development on the house and 357 Google searches for a new car that can take three car seats for three children under three (I can offer a COMPREHENSIVE service on this for you dads!!), we are were ready for what was to be an early delivery of our twins due to 'TWIN 2' not growing at the rate you would expect for a baby on carbs and cola...
Dani was due to have a caesarean and the day had come for us to go on our three star, all-inclusive spa break at Southend Hospital, full board...or at least the luggage that we took reflected that. Naturally, a twin delivery is more complex and the stakes were higher with a three-year-old at home who doesn't really understand wholly that mummy might be in hospital for a while but we found that explaining and setting expectation with him worked well....
Of course, the day of surgery is nil by mouth and you can only hope for your wife that she gets an early slot.... after all, you want to maximise the lunch offering and minimise the parking fees right?
I was most looking forward to getting back into my scrubs for surgery, I had really enjoyed this with the birth of Finn and I really enjoyed the 'dress' and 'stockings' Dani was wearing....
Unfortunately, the morning dragged on and we were pushed back down the schedule - at one point Dani was even on the operating theatre table with the spinal block about to go in, only to be told there was an emergency that would need to go before her.... By the sounds of the noise from the room next door, it was a fair call....
What happened next? Well, If you want to see the outcome of the birth and follow our progress, please follow me:
https://www.instagram.com/themultidad/?hl=en