The beautiful exhaustion of new twin babies was coupled with multiple hospital visits for Liz Buckley-Stokes. Bellyful meals helped ease the pressure.
Liz, her husband and toddler had moved to a new North Canterbury town just two weeks before they welcomed their gorgeous twins. Her midwife first referred her to Bellyful Waimakariri.
“We had only just got back from hospital from having being admitted the day after being discharged, due to one twin not drinking as her tongue tie had ulcerated from where it had been snipped – so we were discharged when the twins were four-days-old, and were back in the following day! Not what we were planning!”
Liz says to have meals delivered was bliss.
“It just meant that my husband didn’t have to think about cooking for us and our toddler, and that we had a few meals to last us for a couple of days.”
However, rather than hunkering down at home enjoying her new babies, Liz ended up back in hospital in a 3am ambulance, with the twins in tow, when her C-section scar burst open.
She reached out to Bellyful once more when she returned home, rendered “a prisoner on the couch” using a negative pressure wound machine to assist with closing the wound.
“It [took] six weeks for us to get from having to have a machine to just standard dressings – and in that time – having the peace of mind of ready-made meals in the freezer has been a godsend – especially for our son – who also loves the Bolognese mince and lasagne.”
The whānau is doing well, with their lasagne-loving toddler growing like a weed. “And the twins are awesome – we actually get pretty reasonable stretches of sleep these days – which really helps. The first few weeks with twins and a tornado toddler were mental and a complete blur.”
Liz encourages others to ask for and accept Bellyful’s help. “I mention it on mothers’ pages that I am on … what you do is just amazing and an incredible resource, and for us – a lifesaver!”
And Liz adds, “the lasagne was better than mine according to my hubby!”
Words by Jacqui Stanford
Photo supplied
