I'm really not sure where to begin with this post. In fact, I've been procrastinating writing it because I knew it would be a tough one.
These are photos of five people I care about dearly. Close friends of ours, Dave and Melissa, their 2 year-old daughter Kate, and their brand new 37-week, twin girls, Jane and Emily. Yep, 37 weeks – the girls were born 8 weeks early after a complicated pregnancy. Okay, I'm getting choked up already. Sheesh.
Dave and Melissa found out early on that they were expecting identical twins, and once over the initial shock, they were excited. But a few weeks later they were given some scary news – their babies were not only identical, but they were also sharing an amniotic sac, which is very rare. So adding to the other complications that come along with a twin pregnancy, there was now the risk of the cords becoming entangled (which is inevitable with a shared sac), and at some point becoming compressed. The following weeks and months brought along a roller coaster of emotions, all you can really do is monitor and wait, monitor and wait, monitor and wait. Alas, the twins reached an age where they would be viable outside the womb and Melissa moved into the hospital so she could be monitored more closely. Ultimately a decision would have to be made to deliver the twins early because it would be too risky to leave them inside as the cords became more and more entangled, or an emergency delivery would occur if there were signs of distress. Dave and Melissa were pretty much living hour by hour. We decided to make the most of the situation and did a mini-maternity photo shoot at the hospital.
And just four days later, after spending three weeks living at the hospital, Mellisa's baby girls were delivered at 32 weeks, weighing around 4 lbs each. I had the honour of visiting them at the hospital just a few days later. It was an amazing experience to visit the NICU, and they were beyond beautiful. Jane & Emily.
After four weeks in the NICU, the girls moved home and have been settling in to their new life quite well. Kate is loving her new role as the big sister and squeals their names "Janer-JANE" and "Emer-EM". I spent a lovely morning with the whole family last week – my first photo session of 2012 and I couldn't have enjoyed it more.
Emily has a bit more hair on top.
For more photos from Jane and Emily's shoot, check out their slideshow in the featured section of my website, here. And please leave some love for the girls in the comment section below.
All my love to five of my favourite people. xx