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    Two of Everything: That Twin Thing

Monday 7 May 2012

That Twin Thing

There is something special about the bond between twins.  I think its inevitable really, growing and developing together from the size of a grain of rice (and smaller - my twins spent a year in a freezer at embryo stage!)

6 weeks old
My babies were born at 34 weeks and were quite tiny - Little Man was 3lb 14 and Little Miss was the whopper at 4lb7.  He was perfectly healthy, he just needed to grow.  But my baby girl was quite poorly - only for a few days, but it felt like an eternity at the time.  She had a pneumothorax (a tiny hole in her lung) which made breathing really hard work and it was getting progressively worse.  Luckily they spotted it and were able to put a chest drain in and ventilate her.  She got better incredibly quickly.  But because there weren't enough spaces in the intensive care unit, Little Man had to be moved into the high dependency unit instead - he just wasn't poorly enough to be in ICU.  They apologised profusely and said they normally do whatever they can to keep twins together, but they were having another very poorly baby admitted and could do nothing else.  I remember following the nurse as she pushed Little Man's incubator through to the room next door, every step we took being the furthest apart they had ever been.  The next few days were incredibly hard as I had to split my time between them in different rooms and it felt horrible they couldn't be together.  But a couple of times they were able to put Little Man in his sister's incubator for a little while.  The effect it had was amazing, they were both so calm and content, and it lasted long after he had been taken back to his own room.  Very soon they were reunited properly and shared a cot for the rest of our stay in the hospital.

When we got home we had to continue this - we tried putting them in separate moses baskets but they were quite unsettled at night.  They shared a cot until they were 6 months old and their heads were nearly touching the sides of the cot!

Our last day in our cot in mummy and daddy's room!
Now they are older their bond continues to grow.  Even with all the space they have to move around the house they can often be found playing with the same things (even if it sometimes means taking things off each other!) and they love waiting at the top of the stairs for the other one to climb up so they can share a kiss!  The other week I had to take Little Man to the doctors, alone - he asked for his sister all the way there and back, pointing at her empty car seat.  When we got home they just fell into each others' arms for cuddles and kisses - I had tears in my eyes!

Cuddles in the supermarket trolley

Sometimes, adult twins stop me when I'm out and about with "I'm a twin!" and go on to tell me how much they loved growing up as a twin, and that they still love it now.  I am so glad my Little People will be able to share this as they grow up, its an amazing thing to be part of.


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