Can I Control My Anxiety? Premature Twins Starting School: Traitor’s Leanne Quigley

Leanne Quigley is the winner of the hit BBC reality TV contest, The Traitors, but she faces her biggest challenge yet: her twin boys, born extremely premature at just 26 weeks, are starting school. Can she take this huge step and keep them safe, given all their medical needs?
To take her mind off her worries, Leanne invites fellow Traitors series 3 winner and expectant dad Jake Brown round for a cuppa. As a surprise, she has also gathered fellow contestants Paul Gorton and Leon Jackman, both parents of young children, to turn it into a "Baby Sprinkle", a mini baby shower for Jake. Talk soon turns to parenting, with advice flowing for Jake as a dad-to-be and for Leanne as her boys start school. Both find it reassuring, but there is one more surprise in store. The Traitors host and BBC TV personality, Claudia Winkleman joins the reunion with a special message, wishing Jake luck on fatherhood and reassuring Leanne about the boys starting school. Everyone is thrilled, and Leanne gets a little emotional.
As she gets the boys ready for nursery, Leanne opens up about the medical challenges they have faced since birth, and how many times she nearly lost them. Born at 26 weeks and two days, they were tiny and fragile, their eyes still fused shut and on breathing support from the start. The twins spent 91 days in hospital, across the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the high dependency unit and the hospital nursery. After everything they have been through, letting them go to school feels daunting, and Leanne knows it will take time to adjust.
Leanne catches up with nursery manager Sally, who reminds her how nervous she was about leaving the boys. "It was you we had to push out the door. The children came in happy and giggling," Sally says, adding how much the boys will be missed. We see them merrily digging in the garden, collecting eggs and enjoying every moment outside.
To test whether she can be hands-off, Leanne takes the boys to a soft play centre and vows not to intervene. Her sister Megan joins her, and Leanne admits how a frightening choking incident with one of the boys still fuels her worry about others caring for them at school.
In preparation, Leanne meets the boys' new head teacher to talk through their medical needs. The head teacher reassures her about the school's care and staff training, and explains the phased start that helps new pupils settle, though parents are encouraged not to stay. Laying out the new school uniforms that evening, Leanne feels ready to let them go.
On the first morning, the boys are visibly nervous, and there are a few tears at the classroom door as they ask their mummy to stay. But Leanne gives them the encouragement to head inside. While she waits, she practises the techniques the psychotherapist taught her to keep her own nerves at bay. When she returns at pick-up, the boys are happy and bursting to tell her all about their big adventure. The first day of school is a success.