“I can’t see a white light but I know I am about to die.”
That’s how Tova Leigh starts the story of the dramatic arrival of her twin daughters.
Tova, mama of three, and creator of the Tova Leigh – My Thoughts About Stuff blog and Facebook page (which has a cool half million ‘likes’) recently shared the story of the arrival of her twins. As birth stories go, it is absolutely not for the faint hearted.
The worst news
At her routine 28 week appointment, doctors diagnosed pre-eclampsia. Tova recalls a concerned nurse and a urine sample, then an immediate admission to hospital. She stayed there in bed for two months, till the arrival of her twins.
Due to her blood pressure being so high, there was talk about delivering both babies ASAP. Somehow, Tova manages to hold out till 35 weeks when she has a c-section and delivers two teeny, tiny little girls.
Dina weighs exactly 2kg and Ally, only 1.9kg. Recalling the first time she set eyes on the girls, Tova remembers the tears and the shock.
“When I first saw the twins I started to cry. They are so small. I do not expect them to be so small, especially after all the hard work I put in to keeping them in for as long as possible! I love them both and I am so relieved the ordeal is over.”
After almost two months spent in hospital on daily tenterhooks, separation from her two-year-old daughter Bella (something Tova describes as ‘the hardest bit’ of the whole ordeal), you’d think the story would end then. Except it doesn’t.
Shit gets real
After delivery is when, to put it mildly, s**t really gets real. Tova shared the experience and what happened next with the Love What Matters Facebook page and her account is below:
“That night as I lay in intensive care, I wake up to a feeling something is not right. I call the nurse and ask her to check my blood pressure,” Tova writes.
“My husband who is asleep in a hospital chair by my bed wakes up and is surprised by all the commotion in our room. Within minutes I am surrounded by doctors and there is a lot of noise.
“I am about to enter the world of eclampsia which is a condition in which one or more convulsions occur, often followed by coma and sometimes death. Just then the shakes start. I have lost control. My whole body is jumping on the bed and I am scared.
I think to myself ‘this is it’. I look at my husband and I can tell he has no clue what is going on and I suddenly panic! I mean, how the hell am I going to leave my three girls with this guy who can’t even tell I am about to die?”
A happy ending for Tova
We’re extremely happy to report that the medical team stepped in and saved Tova just when it was looking rather dire. WHEW! Hand up if you were holding your breath till the end? Just another example of how us mamas are, to be frank, tough AF.
Fast forward to today and Tova Leigh and her girls are kicking butt left, right and centre, despite their (very) dramatic entrance into the world!
For more amazing birth stories, check out this incredible story of the birth of Stephanie’s son at 32 weeks.
