#Twinning: "The moment this 'preggo' went belly-up"

In a split second, I thought it all might be over - the pregnancy, the little lives of twin girls growing inside me, the excitement for a new chapter.

I'd stupidly rushed down the front steps to get something from my car, turned left toward the driveway and just as I stepped out, one of the dogs darted beneath me and down I went. 

READ MORE: #Twinning: 'How a Saturday night ambulance run forced me to finally accept help'

As my body hurtled toward the ground like a flying sack of potatoes, it all flashed before me. Luckily, as the gravel drew closer my brain sent a message to my body to twist and land on my side so as to protect my stomach.

I landed with a thud and proceeded to tearfully freak out. What damage had I done? Were they OK? The most frustrating thing about pregnancy is that without an ultrasound, you have absolutely no way of knowing for sure. 

Not long later, there I was back in emergency, in the same room I’d occupied the weekend before when I was having heart palpitations. By sheer luck I got the same ED nurse who joked she was taking me “to my bedroom”. 

After hours of tests, speculums (worst instrument in the entire world, bar none) and finally a quick ultrasound, the good news was the babies were OK. In fact, the ultrasound showed them literally boxing each other in the head with their little fists, which brought some relief after an afternoon of high tension. 

LISTEN: The latest episode of our Honey Mums podcast is a must-listen for parents and parents-to-be. (Post continues.)

It’s not an easy transition for someone accustomed to the high intensity of a newsroom to suddenly find the most immediate pressure is coming from the vast list of Netflix series to binge on. There really are high stakes involved in investing yourself in a few hours of a new show, only to find it’s a dud. 

But with biscuits in one hand, remote in the other, there's another kind of pressure eating away at me, too. I can’t help feeling bad that at 20 weeks pregnant, I’m suddenly couch-bound. This wasn’t my plan. I wanted to last much longer than this.

It got me thinking; I’m sure there are a lot of other women in my position who were forced to make the decision between body, baby and career during pregnancy. How did you cope? Did you feel career-related guilt? How easy was it to switch off?

And please, someone give me some Netflix suggestions! 

You can read Laura Turner's first #Twinning column here, and follow Laura on Twitter and Instagram.