When Melbourne couple Laura-Jane and Shaun Hargreaves decided 2020 would be the year they’d start a family, they never could have imagined what was in store. Not just one baby, but twins, and a pandemic.
But this eternally optimistic couple was determined to make the best of their journey to parenthood, even if it looked very different to what they’d imagined. This is a birth story of hope and pure joy.
Laura-Jane and Shaun had made the exciting decision to try for a baby and were thrilled when they fell pregnant straight away. Carrying their little secret, the couple were itching to have their first ultrasound and decided to get it done at nine weeks.
“We went in together and started the ultrasound,” Laura said. It was said that they were expecting twin babies on the way. They were all over the moon and in absolute shock when they could see two little babies on the ultrasound. The couple walked around in a happy baby fog, but their happy news coincided with the arrival of the global Cᴏᴠɪᴅ-19 pandemic. It was a time of overwhelming happiness and incredible stress for the mum-to-be.
On Monday, October 19, at 37 weeks, Laura-Jane went in for a scan, and the news wasn’t great. Twin A had decreased ꜰʟᴜɪᴅ around her, so they decided to be induced that night. At 3 pm, contractions got hectic and the epidural was placed. After about 40 minutes of pushing, the mom was overwhelmed by emotion when she got up on her chest with two full heads of dark hair. The parents could not stop staring at them.
Ayla Rose Hargreaves arrived at 5.57 pm, weighing 2.49 kg and measuring 47 cm. Her brother Levi Jack Hargreaves was born not long after at 6.16 pm, weighing 3.09 kg and measuring 50 cm.
The couple soaked up every minute of their baby bubble bliss, until Shaun had to leave, due to Melbourne’s lockdown restrictions.
“I cannot believe how powerful I felt in those moments delivering my two babies. it really is an out of body experience,” Laura said. “This first week has been the hardest week of my life. Juggling being a first-time mum, breastfeeding and everything seeming to take ‘double’ as long. It was harder than labour! But oh so rewarding when those two little faces look up at you!”
