my twins. I was privileged to have had a dedicated team of doctors and nurses who did everything possible to hold off the birth and I remained in hospital under strict bedrest for the following three weeks…until our baby boy became engaged, necessitating an emergency C-section. There were two teams of surgeons and nurses in theatre that day, ready to start working on each baby as they were born.

My babies were born at 25 weeks gestation on 25 May 2012. Their birth weights were 880g and 740g proving that they are our true miracles. Although my son was not breathing on his own when he was born, he proved to be a tenacious little warrior. He was weaned off life-support after 9 days. His (really little) sister washaving issues of her own. She stopped breathing on her own after 10 days in NICU because she had a hole in her heart. A second tenacious little warrior emerged, she was weaned off life support after 4 days and she then went on to not only breath on her own but over the next two months she would also drink from a bottle despite a massive hole in her heart. She underwent heart surgery at the age of 3 months, weighing a mere 2.4kg. The definition of feeling traumatised and helpless at the same time is being an NICU mummy to twins who experienced everything from lung infections, jaundice, low iron and frequent bradycardia – being twins they would take turns, as a consideration to their poor