Author: Thefirst6weeks

I know its been a long time since anything was posted; that's partly down to having a baby at home but mostly, I think, because we don't know what to say or didn't want to write anything simply based around the anger I suspect we both felt. This week, though, I have some good news … Continue reading Thank You

So, I'm four weeks on from my last post (sorry, I haven't committed to any regular times for posts) about going back to work and I've reached a conclusion. It sucks.  In case my boss is reading, it's not the work that sucks. I enjoy my job (most of the time) and I can't find … Continue reading I’m still at work

I managed 2 whole weeks and a couple of days back at work before the reality that I could lose one of my daughters really sunk in. I think the point at which it hit home was when the doctor took us aside seeking to confirm that we knew one of our daughters only had … Continue reading Going back to work again

Just Giving - The First 6 Weeks Weʼre raising money to buy equipment and improve parent facilities at the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Units at Royal Bolton Hospital and Birmingham Women's Hospital.  Without the specialist equipment supporting them and the amazing staff caring for them, my wife and I know that our daughters likely wouldn't have … Continue reading Help us to help others in the future

While perusing a local supermarket the other night for something to snack on, we picked up a share size bag of Heroes to give to the nurses doing the night shift.  When one of the nurses asked why we had brought them in, I responded simply with "because you are our heroes". Whilst this may … Continue reading To the NICU Heroes

It's strange. The first few days I spent in NICU feel like they were only a moment ago in my head, but emotionally it feels like a lifetime. To an extent, it has been a lifetime, my daughters' lifetimes. Perhaps even longer than that when I consider we'd been going through the worry of losing … Continue reading Spending time with my daughters

This last week has been very hard and on numerous occasions I've been very close to giving up hope. I haven't, and I now have a renewed drive to carry on and be strong for my girls. To provide some context for this post, here are the cliff notes: At the start of the week … Continue reading Don’t give up, never give up

Or at least I really wasn't okay the other day and for better or worse I chose not to write this until I had been able to reflect on why I was not okay. I suspect I also didn't just want to write what could have been considered a diary entry about why I felt … Continue reading I’m not okay

We had always anticipated our girls being in NICU, or maybe even SCBU, for at least a couple of weeks when they were born as this seems to be the norm with twins and we had a feeling that they would be born around the 32-34 week mark anyway. With this in mind, I had … Continue reading Going back to work

Aside from your baby being in intensive care, one of the things that makes NICU scary is all the beeping, bonging and other noises that resonate around the ward. Even worse is when you're sitting with your baby, your nurse is on a break and something starts alarming. You immediately wonder what you've done, perhaps … Continue reading The alarms…all the alarms