They're here!

Far too much happened today to record here, but what a day! What a range of emotions.

Chris checked into the postnatal ward at 7.30 and made herself at home. No window bed. Never mind. I’d bought her an orchid which gave her cubicle a personal touch and went down well with the midwives. Chris was prepped and was second in line for the theatre. We were led in around 10.15. All was much as we’d expected. Bustling with staff, all very light-hearted and welcoming and we put a Gypsy Kings cd on to help Chris relax. She was great – the spinal was straightforward and she lay back, nice and calm, to wait for the surgeon to set to work. 10.47am, a gentle cry from behind the screen, and a wriggly, bloody, waxy Sophie was laid on Chris’ chest before being quickly replaced by Matthew looking almost identical but somewhat heavier. Both went off to their resuscitaires for assessment before returning a little scrubbed and well swaddled to both of us to hold. Sophie weighed in at 2.28kg (5 pounds), small, but larger than we'd expected and Matthew at 3.14kg (6 pounds 15 ounces). Bliss. Here's Chris with Sophie, eyes open (unlike her brother):


The bustle around us died down as the surgeon sewed Chris back together again and she was transferred to a trolley to head for the recovery room. However, she turned out to have a bleed that was not easing off as it should have done and after a little while was put back on the operating table. In short, Chris was opened up again to find and tie off the leaking vessel, which was successful, but she lost about three quarters of her blood in the process and needed a major blood transfusion. I’d been ushered outside while this was going on and, for both of us, it felt like the longest 90 minutes of our lives.

Unsurprisingly, Chris went off to intensive care for some very close monitoring, which sadly meant that she could not spend the night with the twins, who camped out in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU).



I flitted between intensive care and SCBU, keeping tabs on the babies and relaying info to Chris, but I always felt I was in the wrong place. Happily, I was able to persuade a SCBU midwife to print out a photo of the twins for Chris.

Very weird day – such joy and such concern wrapped up together. I went home in a bit of a daze and fed the cats.