"They were born at 27 weeks, and I was so scared for my babies.” Faine and Finola’s story #NeonatalVoices

Back in 2004, I found out I was pregnant with twins; I had two daughters at the time. My twins were due in August 2005, and I was so excited to meet them.

When I was 26 weeks, I had a bleed, I went to the hospital and came home a few days later. The following week at 27 weeks, I had another bleed, so I took myself to the hospital. I was blue-lighted up to a more specialised hospital 10 miles away. I was given steroids to strengthen the twins' lungs and was ready to go home in a couple of days, but on the evening of 5th May 2005, I felt mild pains. I didn't think much of it. A few hours later, a midwife came round to check on me and said I was around 5 cm dilated, but the twins were in a transverse position, so a natural birth wasn't possible. I was prepared for a C-section and taken down to the theatre.

I was so scared for my babies. At 2:25 a.m. and 2:28 a.m. on May 6, 2005, my twin girls were born, very small at 2 pounds 4 ounces and 2 pounds 6 ounces. They were worked on straight away, and I didn't see much of them. I was taken up to the ward, and it was 9 hours before I was allowed to see them.

They spent two months in the hospital before being transferred to my local hospital, where they stayed until their due date.

My other daughters were only 2 and 4 years old when the twins were born. My twins are now aged 20.

I'll never forget how worrying a time it was and all of the hurdles they had to overcome, but they did and are both doing really well with no health problems.

I remember following the work Bliss did back then, and I've followed them since.