As soon as I found out I was going to be a dad I vowed to myself that I wasn’t going to turn Crackunit into a dad-blog. That was about 6 months ago. And I’m still determined that this isn’t going to become a dad-blog.
But as of last week I’ve decided that I need to make an exception. Just once.
It’d be rather strange not to. Carrying on posting normal stuff as if nothing has happened would be odd. Because something has happened. Something amazing. Something wonderful. Something shocking. Something terrifying. In fact something that has pretty much whacked me and Sophie with every emotion going.
Last Sunday morning at 9am Sophie gave birth to our twins. Two amazing little girls called Eleanor and Josie.
It wasn’t a total shock – we knew there were twins on the way. But they decided to arrive 12 weeks early. So they’re very very tiny. Eleanor weighed in at 2lbs 11oz and Josie at 2lbs 13oz.
They’re in a special baby unit wired up with tubes and sensors and are being looked after by some of the most amazing wonderful doctors and nurses. There’s nothing like a difficult delivery in an operating theatre and a spell in an intensive care baby unit to make you feel like everything you do is worthless. Saving the lives of mothers and babies, that’s a proper job and no mistake.
Here’s a photo of Josie:
And here’s Eleanor – she’s under a lamp to help sort out a touch of Jaundice – hence the Kanye West style shades:
The girls are doing OK. Their breathing is good. All the vital signs are as good as they can be. And they seem to be getting stronger day by day. Having said that it’s a real rollercoaster – one minute things are great. The next something looks a bit scary and some new procedure or course of treatment has to start.
Sophie is doing well too. There’s nothing like going through something like ‘that’ to make you realise how much you love someone.
Our friends, families and random strangers have all been amazing. The congratulations, positive thoughts and promises of keeping things crossed have been amazing. Almost without exception every kind email or text message has in some way managed to make me cry (in a good way). In fact everything is able to make me cry right now. I’ve never cried such complicated tears before. Each one contains: pride, love, happiness, joy, fear, worry, relief and much more besides.
But we’re going to hold off on celebrating until we get a bit closer to the finish line.
As you can imagine blogging about social media doesn’t really seem that important right now. Maybe it never will again.
Bravo to you for making the exception! Miracles like these should be noted, talked about, celebrated.
They are beautiful. Life is beautiful. Congratulations to you both on a job well done! It is indeed the most important thing you will ever do.
Wonderful wonderful news. Bring on the dad blogging!
Congratulations Iain, enjoy them :)
That’s fantastic news! Congratulations, bud. I’ve got one due in a month so it’s great to see what’s in store! :)
woo-hoo!
all the best to all of you
x
Oh my God Iain. Amazing pics – big congrats and good luck.
Keeping everything crossed for the two amazing girls. And Mum and Dad of course! :)
Lots of Love,
Nicky
My word! I go on holiday and you go about having twins whilst I’m away. Just willy nilly. Congratulations to you all. Give in to the Dad blog part – your kids will thank you for the fact they’re in Google’s cache from birth. Mark my words, all their schoolmates will laugh at them if not. Don’t forget to bag the Twitter and Flickr account names now though eh?