'OUR DOUBLE MIRACLE'
THE BELOVED ACTRESS OPENS UP ABOUT GIVING BIRTH TO TWINS
Bonnie Sveen has undertaken the role of a lifetime.
Despite barely sleeping a wink for the past month, the former Home and Away star is happier than she’s ever been before in her new a role as mum.
“How could I have possibly earned this double miracle in my life?” she gushes to New Idea.
The 29-year-old and her partner Nathan Gooley welcomed identical girls Myrtle Mae and Emerald Lois SveenGooley on Sept. 29.
While the foursome is now safely nestled in their home in rural Tasmania, it was a bumpy start for the new family.
Bonnie – who played Ricky on the long-running Seven drama – spent four days in hospital after giving birth while her newborn twins spent almost two weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Royal Hobart Hospital after being born almost a month premature.
“Because of the distance we are away from the hospital we were able to stay at the Ronald Mcdonald House for that amount of time,” Bonnie explains. “It made just a huge difference. It was nice being so close to the girls and getting the maximum time with them in those critical first weeks.” Was it hard being apart from them for so long? It had its moments towards the end, of just craving that one-onone time, and I’m sure all parents feel that way if they go through special care. We were blessed with really incredible nurses and that extended stay meant we were able to soak up lots of tricks and techniques from the midwives and the NICU staff.
We felt so much more equipped as parents of twins. They showed us so much encouragement and positivity and support and that really helped us all recover and be able to come at it confidently. It made me want to do a hospital drama! Tell us about your labour. It was a roller-coaster. My waters broke in the wee hours of the Saturday. We were at a higher risk of complications with the shared placenta with identical twins so we were actually booked in to be induced on Oct. 2. Then, four days earlier, the babies had their own agenda and weren’t going to let anyone else determine their own birthday. Because they were premature they were whisked away to the NICU and I was taken to recovery. What was it like to meet them for the first time? It was amazing hearing both of their cries when each of them was born. They were just big forces of nature – big personalities. What were those first few hours like as parents? It was quite surreal. As soon as I was discharged from recovery we wheeled down to the NICU and we got to spend lots of hours with the babies bonding and cuddling until about 3.30am.
They were in NICU and special care for 11 nights after the night of their birth. They were definitely on the smaller side and that’s quite common with twins. How did you choose the names? We wanted to meet both the girls before we settled on the names. Both of our girls, at very early stages, seemed to be very aware of their surroundings and
Emerald to me, invokes the Emerald City from The Wizard of Oz and that sparkle, and she carries that in her personality. Nath being a Coffs [Harbour] boy, he spent a lot of his childhood at Emerald Beach and I think that’s one of the best beaches in the world. Myrtle is a bit of a family name. My Auntie Maree – it was her nickname growing up. It’s also my favourite Tasmanian tree species. Nath and I were enjoying them out in the Tarkine when we did the Tarkine Trail back in April, when I was 14 weeks pregnant. Who do they most look like? I’d have to say, baby photos of Nath. They have that little pixie nose. I think Myrtle is like a mini Nath, but then I kind of feel, even though they’re identical, that Emerald looks a bit more like me. Are they easy to tell apart? We can tell them apart. I imagine as they grow they will probably become even more
identical because at this stage there is a bit of difference in their weight gain. We can already tell in their mannerisms. Myrtle has a really steady gaze where she sort of looks straight through you and settles on that one focal point, whereas Emerald kind of drifts and maybe that reminds me a little bit of me as well. She seems to get a little bit distracted. How are you finding motherhood? It’s the best. It’s definitely far from perfect, but it’s the most heart-opening, profound experience I’ve ever undergone. The most important thing is to have some sense of routine. I most definitely would not be able to do it without Nath helping me and carrying an equal load. That’s the only way we’re really making it work. How have your first few weeks at home with the babies been? We’ve been home for a few weeks now and that made it all real. When you’re getting to two weeks in hospital … it starts to feel like you’re visiting [the babies] as property of the hospital because you’ve never seen them in the daylight yet. Coming home has made it real and that we are a complete family unit. It was hard to get that sensation while we were still in the hospital.
Being able to spend every waking and sleeping hour with them feels so much more natural and is awesome for everyone’s recovery and everyone’s mental wellbeing. Any plans to get married now the babies are here? I think that would be really beautiful. Mostly because I’d love for both of our entire families to have an opportunity to connect and meet each other to celebrate this love and moving forward as a complete family unit. I don’t imagine it will be for a few years, but that’s still quite sweet because it will be lovely for it to be a memory for the girls as well and for it to be their day as well. Are you planning on having more children? Yeah, yep. By 3.30 on the morning after I gave birth, I was like, “Yeah, I could do that again.” That was just my hormones telling me that reproducing is good! Are you planning to return to acting? Oh yeah. I’m particularly lucky with my work that it’s not a 9-5 office desk. I’ve been on set where mums have had breaks to breastfeed their babies and I imagine that’s just how it’s going to go when work comes up in the next six months – whether we base ourselves in Sydney or continue here.