We would like to say a huge thank you to Davina from Stevenage for sharing her experience of having beautiful twins in the Diamond Jubilee Maternity Unit at Lister Hospital in September 2020.

Davina is supporting our Better Beginnings for Baby appeal to fund items such as a new multiple birth cot to improve the birthing experience for local parents.

After having my first child at Lister Hospital, I knew I was in safe hands for my second pregnancy even though this time it would be a very different experience as I was having twins!

"I was assigned specialist midwife Pam Langford, who deals with all multiple pregnancies and she was brilliant from the offset. She made me feel at ease, explained that no question was a silly question, and the fact I saw the same person for every appointment just made the experience feel very personal. She was so lovely that I still enjoyed my pregnancy journey even though my husband couldn’t be as involved due to the Covid situation.

"My pregnancy itself was good and by the end I was all ready to go with a natural labour. Due to having twins, and each having their own water and own placenta (DCDA twins), I was induced at 37 weeks. My body took a bit of time to respond to the induction, meaning I had to stay on the consultant-led unit alone until labour got underway. However, I honestly cannot praise the midwives and staff enough for their support and company while I was there. I know many would be anxious of being in hospital alone, but they really made me feel comfortable, and I didn’t feel alone at all.

"The birth itself was a long process. At various points my contractions stopped, however, I had my waters broken (my husband was allowed to join at this point) and I was also eventually put on a hormone drip to help get things moving. It was within a couple of hours of this that I was dilated enough to start pushing.

"I can’t thank the midwives enough for their support and encouragement throughout this time. I was getting tired, exhausted, and went through the motion of “I can’t do this”, but I could – and I did! I delivered my first little girl safely at 10:03am, and my second little girl 49 mins later 10:52am. There were no major complications that caused the delay: it was just because my contractions between the babies had stopped. Therefore I had to have my bladder emptied, two examinations, the waters of the second sac broken and a hormone drip to get baby number two out!

"It's incredible to think I delivered two babies naturally, and something I couldn’t have done without the help of the amazing midwives! I could sing their praises all day, especially senior midwife Dawn, who stepped in and said everything she needed to, to give me the strength and the “I can do this” mindset which is what I needed at that point to get both babies out safely. I had two midwives on the night shift that started the process and two on the day shift who delivered my twin girls who were just brilliant. One of the midwives was a student and this was her first delivery of twins which made it feel very special.

"I honestly cannot thank Lister Hospital enough for everything they have done for me throughout my pregnancy, and especially for getting me through a natural labour of twins. I still can’t believe I did it, and as brilliant as my husband was, I couldn’t have done it without them. My little girls Paisley Rae and Denver Rose were born on 25 September 2020 weighing 6lb 2 and 6lb 3."

Thank you, Davina for sharing your lovely story and congratulations on your gorgeous babies!

If you would like to say thank you to Lister’s Maternity Unit you can make a donation or set up a fundraiser in support of our Better Beginnings for Baby appeal.