Izzy’s story

What was the pregnancy was like and how did you feel about having twins? 

I was pregnant with our little ones, and it was at six weeks when we found out they were twins. We were actually then told at eight weeks that one or both of the babies had died. This was a massive shock, and having lost a baby before during pregnancy, we couldn’t believe it was happening again. We booked in another scan and it turns out that they hadn’t checked properly, and our babies were absolutely fine. 

Because of this, we almost didn’t even expect that we’d be taking our babies home eventually. But we are so glad that we were able to. Once they were born, it was such a whirlwind. We don’t have any other babies in our close family, so all of a sudden having two babies was overwhelming, but amazing.  

My sister is a midwife so it was really helpful speaking to her at the beginning. She stayed with us for the first two weeks after they were born which was a lifesaver. Our friends supported us too. We’re so grateful for how flexible people were.

Did you use the Baby Check app? 

As soon as I saw the Baby Check alkalmazás advertised, I downloaded it immediately! It was so useful, because when it came to signs of illness and infection, I didn’t know what on earth to look out for. These were our first children, so I felt very uneducated. I did some baby first aid classes but in the moment, with a sick baby in front of you, it’s so different.  

When our son Alo was seven weeks old, he had sucking in of the ribs. I went straight to the Baby Check alkalmazás, which I was really familiar with at this point having used it a few times before. The app clearly guided me through simple checks, which meant I didn’t panic about what to do in the stress of the moment. After I’d completed the checks, it flagged Alo had an issue and needed to see a health professional. Because of the app, I called 111 and found out exactly what to do. We ended up going to A&E and getting the necessary medication. Since we caught it early, Alo was absolutely fine and we could come straight home.  

I find that when I call 111, they often tell me to go to A&E, which sometimes makes me reluctant to call, because I don’t want to go there unnecessarily. But the app is so useful at letting me know when it’s necessary to get my babies checked.

Did you use our safer sleep guidance too? How do you sleep your twins?  

At first, we had no idea what to do. We found The Lullaby Trust’s guidance about how to sleep twins more safely really useful. When we saw there’s the option to sleep them together in the same cot, we thought that sounded great. Alo and Jovie had been in the hospital for a week when they were first born, and they were put in the same cot the entire time. We were then able to replicate that set up when we got home. 

The only problem was they started rolling quite early on, at about three months. So we had to separate them at this point as the guidance says they should sleep separately when they can roll. We followed the other safer sleep guidance with them too, like keeping the cot clear, and sleeping them on their back without a pillow. When they were old enough, we introduced a pillow and a blanket, it almost felt a bit odd to me. It was so engrained into me to keep the cot clear!