The programme is filmed in a reality style format, and tells the stories of 4 UK families expecting twins and triplets interspersed with comment from medical professionals detailing the facts and figures (and risks) of having two or more babies born at the same time.
Firstly we see Caroline and Gordon who already have four children and were about to give up trying for a fifth when Caroline became pregnant with triplets, or as Gordon described it "lightning struck 3 times". We see the birth of their triplets, two girls and a boy, and while the girls emerge strong and healthy the boy has a worrying condition where you can clearly see his heart beating through his skin, and it emerges through the programme that his chest bone hasn't fused normally and he will need corrective surgery to fix this.
The story turned out well in the end as the boy went through the operation safely and is shown coming home at the end of the programme.
 |
| The Goodalls with their beautiful triplets, Freddie, India, and Freya |
We then meet Anna and Paul, pregnant for the first time, who are also expecting triplets. They are shown reliving their experiences of having the scan where they were told they were having triplets which resonated hugely with us as we remember vividly the day we found out we were having three babies.
They are referred to King's College Hospital, specialists at dealing with high risk pregnancies, for their important 12 week scan. This scan (delightfully called an "anomaly scan" by the radiographer when we had it done) looks for early signs of danger and checks that all the normal body parts are correctly formed. There we meet Professor Kypros Nicolaides, a fetal medicine specialist who is a bit of a hero in the multiple families community.
They are informed at the scan that 2 of their babies who are sharing a placenta were showing early signs of a risk of twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) which can occur with identical babies who share a placenta when one of the babies haemorrhages into the other which can lead to one or both not surviving.
We also had 2 identical twins sharing the same placenta in our triplets so this is something that was a real risk for us too so I really felt for the family when I heard their news. Happily a later scan showed that the risk had lessened and at the end of the programme the triplets were all born healthy with no complications.
The third couple shown are Beth and Shane who are expecting twins. They were informed during the pregnancy that their babies definitely had TTTS and that urgent surgery would be needed in the womb to intervene to separate the placenta or both babies could die. The operation was carried out and they then had a 2 week wait to find out if it the operation had been successful.
We next see them at the scan where they find out that tragically there is only one heartbeat left and one of the twins has died. This was heart wrenching to watch as they tried to take in the news and I really felt for them as we could easily have had a similar outcome. This was dealt with very sensitively and a great deal of explanation was given around what the couple could now expect to happen, and the better news at the end of the scan was that the larger baby was showing no ill effects and was still growing well, and was expected to survive.
The story moved on a few weeks and showed the couple dealing with the heartache of losing a baby, showing the plans they had made to bring twins home and the adjustments they had to make with just one baby instead. They were unbelievably strong, and I'm not sure how I would have coped in the same situation. The programme makers didn't show us an outcome but hopefully the surviving baby was born healthy and well.
The final couple shown were Sophie and Carlos who had already been through the multiple birth experience and were trying to cope with the premature arrival of their two daughters at just before 28 weeks who were now in neonatal intensive care.
This was something that was interesting to see as we didn't experience it as luckily our girls were all over 3 pounds weight at birth and didn't need help with breathing so they went straight from the labour ward onto the main ward and never needed further medical support after they were born.
Having 2 babies in the neonatal unit at the same time must have been very worrying for them but happily the programme showed both babies at 7 weeks doing well and ready to go home. There was a shot towards the end of the sequence of the 2 girls in the same bed cuddling and comforting each other and it was lovely to see.
Overall it was a great programme to watch despite the obvious feelings of sadness for the family who lost a child. Tess and I had a few tears while watching it as it was so evocative of our own experiences.
I was also keeping an eye on the twitter-verse and was pleased to see TAMBA (Twins and Multipe Births Association) were tweeting throughout, offering messages of support to families in similar situations to those shown in the programme.
Once the programme was over my twitter feed filled with positive stories of people who had watched the programme and who had then wanted to share their own experiences which were lovely to read.
I recorded the programme last night and watched it back this morning for this post and the thing that struck me was how often it was emphasised that triplets mums should not go past 34 or 35 weeks as the risk of labour increases and how it was much safer to have a planned elective surgery where all the specialists were on hand rather than it happening ad-hoc.
Our consultant at the time the girls were born gave us the opposite advice and encouraged Tess to keep the babies in for as long as she could and to try to delay the birth to 37 or 38 weeks if possible to give them the best chance of emerging strong and healthy.
As a result Tess did go into labour (while shopping in John Lewis) and the girls ended up being born in the early hours of the morning 5 days before our elected date. Happily it all worked out fine, the birth was completely routine with no complications and we had all the girls home within 5 days of the birth without having to go into a special care unit.
The programme also highlighted the amazing work done by the healthcare specialists involved in the day to day issues brought up by multiple births. The were shown as compassionate, caring individuals trying to get the best possible outcome for the families involved.
The pregnancy and the birth of our triplets was an amazing experience, and we were so lucky to come through it all with 3 beautiful girls who were so healthy and strong during the process. This has happily been the case since they were born too as they are full of life and rarely ill which considering they were born premature is remarkable.
They are informed at the scan that 2 of their babies who are sharing a placenta were showing early signs of a risk of twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) which can occur with identical babies who share a placenta when one of the babies haemorrhages into the other which can lead to one or both not surviving.
We also had 2 identical twins sharing the same placenta in our triplets so this is something that was a real risk for us too so I really felt for the family when I heard their news. Happily a later scan showed that the risk had lessened and at the end of the programme the triplets were all born healthy with no complications.
The third couple shown are Beth and Shane who are expecting twins. They were informed during the pregnancy that their babies definitely had TTTS and that urgent surgery would be needed in the womb to intervene to separate the placenta or both babies could die. The operation was carried out and they then had a 2 week wait to find out if it the operation had been successful.
We next see them at the scan where they find out that tragically there is only one heartbeat left and one of the twins has died. This was heart wrenching to watch as they tried to take in the news and I really felt for them as we could easily have had a similar outcome. This was dealt with very sensitively and a great deal of explanation was given around what the couple could now expect to happen, and the better news at the end of the scan was that the larger baby was showing no ill effects and was still growing well, and was expected to survive.
The story moved on a few weeks and showed the couple dealing with the heartache of losing a baby, showing the plans they had made to bring twins home and the adjustments they had to make with just one baby instead. They were unbelievably strong, and I'm not sure how I would have coped in the same situation. The programme makers didn't show us an outcome but hopefully the surviving baby was born healthy and well.
The final couple shown were Sophie and Carlos who had already been through the multiple birth experience and were trying to cope with the premature arrival of their two daughters at just before 28 weeks who were now in neonatal intensive care.
This was something that was interesting to see as we didn't experience it as luckily our girls were all over 3 pounds weight at birth and didn't need help with breathing so they went straight from the labour ward onto the main ward and never needed further medical support after they were born.
Having 2 babies in the neonatal unit at the same time must have been very worrying for them but happily the programme showed both babies at 7 weeks doing well and ready to go home. There was a shot towards the end of the sequence of the 2 girls in the same bed cuddling and comforting each other and it was lovely to see.
Overall it was a great programme to watch despite the obvious feelings of sadness for the family who lost a child. Tess and I had a few tears while watching it as it was so evocative of our own experiences.
I was also keeping an eye on the twitter-verse and was pleased to see TAMBA (Twins and Multipe Births Association) were tweeting throughout, offering messages of support to families in similar situations to those shown in the programme.
Once the programme was over my twitter feed filled with positive stories of people who had watched the programme and who had then wanted to share their own experiences which were lovely to read.
I recorded the programme last night and watched it back this morning for this post and the thing that struck me was how often it was emphasised that triplets mums should not go past 34 or 35 weeks as the risk of labour increases and how it was much safer to have a planned elective surgery where all the specialists were on hand rather than it happening ad-hoc.
Our consultant at the time the girls were born gave us the opposite advice and encouraged Tess to keep the babies in for as long as she could and to try to delay the birth to 37 or 38 weeks if possible to give them the best chance of emerging strong and healthy.
As a result Tess did go into labour (while shopping in John Lewis) and the girls ended up being born in the early hours of the morning 5 days before our elected date. Happily it all worked out fine, the birth was completely routine with no complications and we had all the girls home within 5 days of the birth without having to go into a special care unit.
The programme also highlighted the amazing work done by the healthcare specialists involved in the day to day issues brought up by multiple births. The were shown as compassionate, caring individuals trying to get the best possible outcome for the families involved.
The pregnancy and the birth of our triplets was an amazing experience, and we were so lucky to come through it all with 3 beautiful girls who were so healthy and strong during the process. This has happily been the case since they were born too as they are full of life and rarely ill which considering they were born premature is remarkable.
 |
| 7 years on, 3 happy smiling girls at a friend's birthday party |
No comments:
Post a Comment