5 November 2020

Moving from one part of the country to the other whilst pregnant with twins, caring for a sick husband then have your dream house fall through the day before you move, was exactly what first-time mum Anna had to endure. 

"I always thought I could cope with everything life threw at me" said Anna, who is a university researcher and lecturer.

“But it all started to get too much, and a few months after the boys were born in March 2019, I realised I needed help.”

Anna and husband Michael were looking forward to starting a new chapter of their life in Norfolk. But the day before they were due to move, their seller had other ideas.

This bombshell happened just two weeks before the boys were due, effectively leaving the couple homeless.

If that wasn’t stressful enough, Michael became increasing unwell with ME which he was diagnosed with in 2017 and needed extra care.

“I’ve always worked, consider myself well educated, independent and not always particularly good at admitting I was not coping. I would have difficulty accepting help from other people,” said Anna.

“When the twins were four-months-old we had to move house again. I had some support from family and Home-start before the move, but afterwards we were mostly on our own for six weeks.

“But with two newborns and my husband becoming so unwell, I needed support.

“I was expressing milk regularly as I desperately wanted to feed them but couldn’t, we had a limited but disrupted routine, they weren’t sleeping well, and I wasn’t sleeping.

So, Gemma from Twins Trust came in to help at just the right time; it was a godsend and made me realise how close I was to burning out.

“She made me realise I was putting everyone before myself, which is natural, but then I was not functioning well as a result.

“She helped me get the boys into a good sleep routine, which meant I slept. Whilst I was pushing myself to keep breastfeeding, she listened to me with understanding and empathy and that helped me to understand that it was OK to stop expressing.

“Her kindness, thoughtfulness and compassion gave me confidence. Her physically being here made everything OK and she looked at what I was doing already and just simplified the process.”

The family were then referred to the local Children’s Centre and assigned a support worker. Michael went into a care home for respite and the local council helped with installing a wet room at their home as he was now increasingly using a wheelchair.

If any twin or triplet family out there needs that extra support, I would encourage them to reach out to the Family Support team at Twins Trust.

"Even if they think things are not bad enough for them. The help is there. My Health Visitor referred me, but you can self-refer."