That was the week that was

A lot has happened since my last blog post. There has been joy. There have been tears. It’s amazing how quickly your life can change.

On 27 September, I became a dad to identical twin boys, Seth Sinclair and Jasper Percy, who weighed 6lb 2oz and 5lb 15oz respectively. It was the most nerve-wracking, overwhelming, wonderful experience and I am completely in love, twice over.

We’re now three weeks on and the boys are doing well, but those first seven days weren’t entirely straightforward. Being slightly premature, both Seth and Jasper struggled to get the hang of feeding and so lost a lot of weight. They also had jaundice, which is common for newborn babies, but can be dangerous if it reaches a certain level.

Though never truly serious, these problems meant that the boys had to stay in hospital for daily blood samples and monitoring. And of course, we had to stay there too. My wife Suzy, performing heroics to get them feeding despite having had a caesarean section, and me changing nappy after nappy, learning on the hoof and sleeping across three pushed-together chairs.

All of this alone would have made it the most challenging, emotional week of my life. But something else happened too. After six years at The Workshop, I was made redundant.

The boys were born on Thursday. The following Monday, I received an email to say that there would be redundancies. On Wednesday, I was called from hospital to attend a meeting, where I was told that my role would be one of those to go. I think it would do me no credit at all to elaborate further than that. So I won’t.

I drove back to hospital to tell Suzy the news. I’d always wondered how I would feel if this were to happen to me. An experienced writer and editor with good contacts and an online presence, surely I would be fine. But that drive. That drive. I’ve never felt so vulnerable. So incredibly guilty.

That was then and this is now. Our families have rallied round and provided support, advice and a whole lot of love. And we have our own family too. The timing of the redundancy simply couldn’t be worse, but Seth and Jasper have provided the most wonderful distraction. They’ve kept us busy and smiling, day and night.

And now it’s time to move on. In the short term, I plan to use my years of industry experience to try my hand at going freelance. I’ve already started updating this site to reflect the change and I’m going to spend this week working on a dedicated page that outlines what I do and how much I charge. I’ll also be updating my various social media accounts, including my LinkedIn profile.

The last three weeks have been life changing. In extremely difficult circumstances, I’ve tried my best to have as normal a paternity leave as possible. We’ve taken the boys to the park, they’ve been to their first museum, and me and Suzy have barely slept a wink. But it’s been brilliant. We’re so lucky to be parents to twins.

From now on, everything is different. I have a new family and a new job, all at once. It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m more than up for it. Because life only ever moves forward, and so must we. Together. The four of us.