(#Ad - This post has been commissioned by
Rennie®)
This summer my girls turn twelve and that means it is twelve
years since I was last pregnant, I can’t quite believe that if I am honest, it
feels like it was only a couple of years back; the memories are so vivid.
Despite not having the easiest pregnancies or best birth experiences either
time, I absolutely loved being pregnant as I felt so special. Growing a small
human is an absolute privilege that not everyone gets to enjoy.
I so clearly remember being at work in 2003 and this veil of
tiredness fell over me as I sat at my desk. I immediately went out to buy a pregnancy
test and recall sitting in the loo silently screaming and thumping the air with
elation when the two little lines appeared! My pregnancy with JJ was a good one
generally, I was a model student, attending all the classes, reading all the
literature, chatting to other pregnant women and mothers, and I think I knew
nearly as much as the midwives.
As I’d had such a good pregnancy and done all the things I
was supposed to do, I truly believed that I’d have this idyllic water birth.
We’d been encouraged in our classes to write a birth plan and mine was full of
ideas of soothing music, easing the pain in the warm water and my husband by my
side. The reality was quite different; I was forced to have an induction as I had
pre-eclampsia, that then failed and my baby getting distressed, so I was
whizzed through for a C section, but the spinal blocks and epidural didn’t work
so I ended up with a crash section under general anaesthetic.
I wasn’t awake when JJ was born and I was left with a lot of
trauma and lost dreams about this for many years afterwards. You can also read the
fuller story on my blog if you’re interested.
 |
| Me with JJ at one day old, in hospital |
The healing started when I had a much better birth
experience with my twin girls in 2007. Of course, at the start of that pregnancy, I was fearful as JJ’s birth had been distressing for me, but my Christian faith
helped me enormously to trust again. Just a few weeks into being pregnant I had
some bleeding and was sent up to the hospital for a scan to see how things were,
and this revealed we were expecting twins.
I had the normal symptoms in the first trimester of my twin
pregnancy; morning sickness (or more correctly all-day queasiness) up to about
fourteen weeks and feeling incredibly tired and wanting to fall straight into
bed when I returned home from work but not being able to, as I had a toddler to
look after.
 |
| Twin bump at 23+3 |
The second trimester was a joy as I felt absolutely
blooming, I wasn’t (yet) too big and I looked pregnant, rather than just fat.
If I had to go back to being pregnant again this is the stage I would choose,
you get to hear your baby’s heartbeat, can feel them fluttering and moving
about and I even got the (much coveted) bigger boobs!
It was in the last trimester that pregnancy really started
to take a toll on me, I had put on a lot of weight in my twin pregnancy and I
was again suffering from oedema, but this time it was to the point that I could
hardly move my ankles and my skin felt tight and uncomfortable. Thankfully my
husband became an expert at massaging my lower legs and feet to help the excess
fluid dissipate.
Another joy was the heartburn, as the babies got bigger and
pressed more on my stomach my indigestion got worse and I took Rennie® to help
ease that feeling of discomfort you get with heartburn during pregnancy. Around 72% of pregnant women (1) experience heartburn and indigestion in their last
trimester, so it is a common side effect of pregnancy and thankfully one that can
be relieved with some indigestion medication like Rennie®.
 |
| Twin bump at 36+5, not long before I had the twins |
Despite drinking a lot of water and having a good amount of
fibre in my diet I still managed to spend most of this last trimester
constipated and the doctor prescribed medicine to help ease this.
I ended up being diagnosed with pre-eclampsia again with the
twins at 34 weeks pregnant and I was admitted to the hospital. This time I had to
stay until the girls were born by planned C-section at 37+1 weeks. The tablets
they gave me to maintain my blood pressure knocked me out and I spent a lot of
time sleeping. When I chat to people about my three weeks in the hospital most
think they will have been the worst of my pregnancy, but actually, I really
needed that rest. I got to spend time with JJ each day, either in the hospital
café/ garden or I was allowed home for a couple of hours if I promised to just
watch a movie in bed with him.
My husband, parents and friends all came to sit with me and
I made friends with a few other pregnant women who had issues that meant they
couldn’t go home either. It really was a time of just focussing on me and being
well for the good of my precious cargo. When the girls were born it was a
completely different birth experience, my epidural worked, I’d been prepared
for what would happen and they were both well and pink when they arrived.
The rest, as they say, is history, I now have three strapping
children, who are all well and as cheeky as anything. I love how different each
of them is and I enjoy watching them grow and change every day. Here is to the
future!
 |
| My twins at one hour old |
Sources: (1) NCBI Statistic