About TwinSprout

Hi, I'm Rebekah. And this is the honest version.

I was 34 when I became a mum. What I didn't expect was that I'd be doing it alone — or that I'd be doing it twice simultaneously.

I found out I was expecting twins at six weeks. It was an early scan I’d asked for because the sickness was so severe. For a few minutes, the sonographer couldn’t rule out a third.

It was two. I was still petrified.

At five months pregnant, he left. In the space of nine months, my life did a complete 180: from ten years in a relationship, married and without children, to being alone with two.

Becoming a twin mum when my heart was broken was truly one of the worst things I have ever felt.

My boys arrived prematurely at 34 weeks. Around 60% of twins arrive early. The birth was traumatic. I woke up from an emergency c-section not knowing what had happened, with no babies beside me. I’ve told the full story on the Twin Pregnancy page.

What I didn't speak about for a long time was the postnatal depression. Looking back, it's hardly surprising. Two premature babies, recovering from an emergency c-section, no sleep, and the relentless pressure of keeping two tiny vulnerable humans alive. All at once.

My PND was severe. Being completely honest with my GP and getting treatment is what finally lifted the fog enough for me to start functioning, and to start being the mum my boys deserved. I’ve written about it properly on the PND & Mental Health page.

If you’re there now: it isn’t weakness, and there is help that works. Please ask for it.

I am acutely aware that I am privileged. I come from a family with the means and the love to support me. My brother, a doctor, took time off work to help me get back on my feet. I genuinely do not know how women do it without that support — my heart breaks for them. If my experience was that hard with all the help I had, the system is catastrophically failing the women who have none.

So I built TwinSprout: the place I wish someone had handed me at that first scan. Honest about the hard parts, and about the breathtaking ones too.

My boys are three now — fraternal twins who look so alike people constantly ask if they're identical. They are chaos and joy and exhaustion and wonder in equal measure every single day.

TwinSprout is for every twin mum. The ones with partners and the ones without. The ones whose babies came home straight away and the ones who sat in NICU willing their babies to grow. The ones who are coping and the ones who absolutely are not.

Wherever you are in it, someone here has been there too.

Say hello any time at hello@twinsprout.co.uk, or send me a message on Instagram. New here? Start with what you can claim, or work out your own dates.

— Rebekah