And then there were two

About two years after lying on the operating table while having a c-section with my first, and swearing I would never have any more children, I fell ill with a mysterious sickness bug! I know, it sounds obvious already doesn’t it, but I went along, naively complaining that the bug was lasting longer than 24 hours, and why was it only affecting me? After some gentle persuasion from a friend (Lisa, will you please do a bloody pregnancy test!) I finally bought a test and did it early one morning, I was so confident in the result, as I knew I was definitely NOT pregnant, that I even went back to sleep before looking at the results, then when I woke about 20 minutes later and blearily looked at the stick to see the word (yes, you guessed it) pregnant I was sent into a mild panic. My friend who had persuaded me to take the test received an early morning phone call over the result, because obviously it was her fault!

You see, it wasn’t that I didn’t want any more children, but after spending three months in the NICU with my first, it wasn’t an experience I wanted to repeat, which the doctors had done a good job at persuading me would happen if I had anymore children. So off I went to see my consultant, only to be faced with another doctor, someone who did a fantastic job at sending me into even more of a panic, he declared that the baby would definitely be born before 27 weeks and smaller than 2lbs, he then asked why I was looking upset! After some serious foot stamping and tantrum throwing on my part I saw my consultant, who managed to undo the panic that his colleague had sent me into.

The pregnancy wasn’t the easiest, and I had several stays in hospital, at my 34 week appointment (by this stage I was seeing my consultant and having weekly scans) I was told that I was having the baby now, and to be honest, I was so pleased to get that far I felt quite happy with that, or maybe it was because the consultant looked a lot like Derren Brown, so I may have just looked into his eyes too much. So I went up for my second c-section, which this time I had under general anaesthetic, and several hours later I was wheeled down the corridor to meet baby number two, and have take two at the NICU.

It was a slightly bizarre feeling to be going there again, but made easier knowing that this baby would be a lot healthier and need a lot less help than my first. Elsie Rose weighed a hefty 5lb 13oz and required a day, just one day, on cpap.  She stayed on the unit for just under 4 weeks, and then the hard work really started, two children at home, what had I let myself in for!