When I put up my last post it was on the Sunday before my daughter was due to go to hospital for a planned caesarean section to deliver her twins. Only family knew about it and so, although I was bursting with excitement, I managed to refrain from announcing it to everyone via this blog.
On the Monday morning (January 25th) I drove the 30 miles or so to pick up my very weary 37 and a half weeks pregnant daughter and her excited husband and drove them to hospital along with various bags of baby paraphernalia of both pink and blue as we knew the twins were one of each, a changing bag full of nappies, wipes etc and my daughter's bits and pieces.
They were welcomed onto the ward, observations were done and then my son in law changed into his scrubs and my daughter put on her gown. They were off.......or so it seemed.
From there on everything slowly ground to a halt. There was obviously some kind of emergency going on in the operating theatre. After a wait of over an hour the anaesthetist came and spoke to my daughter and her husband to say that all remaining planned maternity surgery for the day had been cancelled following an incident and we would all have to go back the following morning.
You can imagine the disappointment that was felt. However, the expectant couple got re-dressed into their 'day' clothes, we repacked the bags and I took the weary couple home where my disappointed daughter went to bed to try to get some rest before going through the routine of the previous night again. She had repeat pre op meds and preload drinks to take and, again, nothing to eat from 10 pm.
The following morning, Tuesday 26th January, I retraced my journey of the previous morning, picked up my passengers and their luggage and went to the hospital. There was an hour or so of waiting where we didn't have contact from a single member of hospital staff and then, all of a sudden, things started happening. The obstetrician came in, then the midwife, then the anaesthetist and then, at about 10.45am my daughter and her husband, re gowned and re scrubbed, walked around to the operating theatre where she had an epidural sited before she underwent the surgery.
She had asked me if I would wait in her room just in case anything went wrong and she had to have a general anaesthetic as her hubby wouldn't be able to stay with her under such circumstances and she didn't want him to be on his own. That, right there, tells you everything you need to know about my eldest daughter. She is undergoing surgery and carrying twins and she is worried about how her husband is going to be.
Anyway, the longer my son in law didn't appear the more likely it was that everything was going to plan. I put on some music, did a little more knitting and drank a few cups of water before starting to get a little anxious. I went along the corridor to get yet another cup of water and saw my daughter being wheeled along towards me with a bundle wrapped up in her arms and with my son in law giving me the thumbs up and grinning from ear to ear. I'm not sure that I have ever been so happy to see my daughter. She looked shell shocked but was well. She had, of course, been sick during the surgery. She has been plagued with sickness throughout the whole of her pregnancy so she sort of expected it!
The bundle in her arms was their son Samuel. He weighed 7lbs 1oz and has blonde hair. Samuel was born at 11.22 am just 2 minutes after his sister Phoebe who weighed in at 6lbs 12ozs and who made her entrance at 11.20 am. She is different in every way to her brother and her head of dark brown hair is quite spectacular!
Phoebe, as we suspected, was born with an inherited genetic condition called Stickler Syndrome. Previous ultrasound scans had detected some possible complications but we wouldn't know how the baby would be affected until she was born. In Phoebe's case, Stickler Syndrome has affected her facial appearance and she has a small cleft of her soft palate. Because of her condition, Phoebe was taken to SCBU (special care baby unit) where she could be monitored. Initially her breathing was very laboured so she was given antibiotics which made a big difference very quickly.
As I type this I am delighted to say that Phoebe is making great progress. She has been able to take milk from a bottle alongside being fed through a nasal feeding tube which is quite something for a baby with a cleft palate. Her brother Sam is thriving. He is doing so well that Mummy, Daddy and Sam are going home this afternoon. Phoebe will need to stay at the hospital for a little while longer just to make sure that she is stable and that everything is in place for her when she does go home.
This past week has been quite incredible for me. To have been just a little part of such a life changing event has been a total privilege and one that I didn't expect. My son in law has been an absolute star and has been by my daughter's side every step of the way. He's changed nappies, he has bottle fed his son and has learned how to tube feed his daughter! He is, undoubtedly, my daughter's rock and he is already beyond proud of his new family. He's going to be a super Daddy. As for my daughter, well I can't really begin to put into words how very proud we are of her as a family. To have carried those twins whose combined birth weight was just under a stone, to have endured almost 9 months of sickness, to have continued to work for as long as she possibly could, to have remained active and positive throughout her pregnancy, to have kept the worry of Stickler affecting her babies to herself and a few trusted people for the whole 9 months, to have endured a nasty epidural and major surgery and to now be the mum of twins and to be going home as well as she is is totally inspirational to me. Just when I think that she can't surprise me any more she does something amazing and I have to stand back and look at her with immense pride. Pride in her resilience, pride in her optimism and love of life, pride in her as a human being and pride in her because she is my daughter. I'm not sure what I ever did to deserve her!
On that note, the proud and happy new parents have given me permission to share a few photographs of their babies with you. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome Phoebe and Samuel.
These two little treasures are going to enrich our lives and the lives of many, many people I feel sure and the extended families and friends of my daughter and her husband are going to give them and their Mummy and Daddy all the love and help that they need.
xxxxxxx
No comments:
Post a Comment