PAIN IS TEMPORARY

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong.

Cycling is my passion so when I heard my wife and other mums put together the ‘Pushing it for Prems’ cycling team and enter in the Taupo Cycling Challenge I decided I would also take part to help raise funds for the Neonatal Trust. I’ve been training for a few weeks now with the goal of finishing the 160km event in under five hours. I’ve found it’s been great getting out on the bike with a purpose and it’s been a nice opportunity to reflect on our time at Neonates. I feel extremely fortunate to live in New Zealand and have access to such amazing healthcare that ultimately gave our twin girls what they needed to survive and thrive after a rough start.

On December 11 2007 at 2am we woke to the shock of Nicola going into early labour at 29 weeks. I remember clearly some of the thoughts going through my head as we drove to Wellington hospital: This kind of thing doesn’t happen to us; we wont have the twins today - it will be a minor tummy upset; everything will be alright; if they are born we will have all kinds of complications.

Several hours later after attempts to slow contractions we were told it was time to go in and have the twins by emergency c-section. Overcome with emotion we went in to the theater scared, not knowing what was about to happen. Nic showed her strength all the way through the birth and while scared was positive throughout.

What felt like a few moments later Holly and Sophie were born, then in a flash they were whipped into incubators, wired up and I was told to follow them upstairs. The next thing I remember was walking into a room full of other prem babies and that’s when Anna Bolitho, another mum in the Pushing it for Prems cycling team, said ‘congratulations‘ with a big smile as she hugged little Greer for the first time. Next it was time to report back to Nic who had not yet seen her little girls, I had the fortune of being able to explain that although the girls were small they were doing good and fighting hard.

We were in the Neonatal Unit for two months, in that time we got to know most of the nursing staff on a first name basis and gained a whole new respect and understanding for all the dedicated and hard working nurses and doctors. I think like many people I had a rather negative view of premature babies and the experience changed my views completely.

So this is a chance for me to give something back and help raise funds for the Neonatal Trust. Look forward to seeing you all out on the bike soon.

Angus