Charlie James Kite & Jacob Oliver Kite 

On 21st October at 11:15am Emma’s waters broke whilst at home, as Emma was only 24 weeks pregnant, we imagined the worst as we made the emotional journey to the Maternity Ward at the JR Hospital. 
On arrival Emma was checked over and they confirmed she was in labour and that she needed to be moved into a delivery suite, arriving into a delivery suite with over 12 doctors preparing for delivery of 24 week old twins was daunting but our minds were put at rest when we got to see both Charlie & Jacob were alive and kicking on the ultrasound scan. 

We then was told they would be looking to hold off any delivery for at least 12 hours so they could inject Emma with a 2nd lot of Steroids which would give Charlie & Jacob more chance of survival, Emma was high on gas and air at this point when I was told there was a 40%-60% chance of them both surviving so I knew we had to be strong and cross our fingers we fell into the % of survivals. 

Both Charlie & Jacob were monitored every 45 minutes to ensure they were still ok and Emma was being pumped with Antibiotics to help with any possible infection that may have spread to Charlie & Jacob which may have caused the waters to break. 

At 7.45pm we heard the best news yet, both heartbeats were pumping away but had slowed down, the midwife said this is a sign the antibiotics were doing their job and was great news for our little boys. 

That was the last time we heard Charlie’s heartbeat, at 8.30pm the night shift midwife couldn’t find Charlie’s heartbeat and said he may have moved further down so will get a consultant to do another ultrasound scan to see what’s happening. Minutes later we had it confirmed that what we was seeing on the Scan was the truth and that Charlie had passed. 

Nothing can explain the feeling we went through when receiving confirmation, knowing that one of our boys had passed just 45 minutes after hearing he was doing better. Heart-breaking. 

Within minutes the tables had turned and the consultant advised that we now need to get Jacob out ASAP to give him any chance of survival, Emma was induced to speed up the contractions knowing she had to deliver Charlie before they could get Jacob out. 

Charlie James Kite was stillborn on 21st October 2019 @ 11:24pm weighing 705 Grams (1.55lb). 

Jacob Oliver Kite was born on 21st October 2019 @ 11:28pm weighing 740 Grams (1.63lb) 

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Shortly after Jacob was born, he was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Ward (NICU) which would be his home for the next 94 Days.  

Daddy came back once Jacob was stable to see Mummy & Charlie and to say our final goodbyes, what felt like minutes at the time was probably hours but we wanted to cherish every last moment together before we had to say goodbye. 
 
After a couple of hours rest, we headed down to the Neonatal ward to see Jacob who was being looked after by Lizzy, who then decided to look after Mummy and Daddy too!  
 
We had told Lizzy we had said to our final goodbyes to Charlie as we thought that’s what people do in this situation.  
 
Lizzy shared with us that we can spend as much time with Charlie as possible over the coming days, even having Jacob at Charlie’s Bedside.  
 
If it wasn’t for having to travel up to level 7 of the Womens Centre every 4 hours for Emma to be checked over and receive her medication we would have spent every minute possible with our boys before having to say our final goodbyes.  

Those times when we had both our boys with us was behind screens on the Intensive Care Ward, Families surrounding us experiencing similar yet different emotions made it difficult for everyone with no one to blame.  

Within our 94 Day Tenure, another hero without a cape Ali had made us aware they have finally been able to convert a storage room into a Bereavement Suite for families who are/have experiencing the loss of a short lived loved one.  
 
The suite will now allow families to spend those final days/hours as a family away from the ever-busy intensive care ward whilst being able to sleep, eat, wash, grieve within their own comfort and be supported by their families and friends during their difficult time if they wish to do so.  

This facility is tailored for families as a whole and due to our experience of loss we would love for this facility to be as amazing as it can be for those who are having to step out of the room without their loved ones at some point.  
 
Any donation of any size will go a long way to improve and maintain the facilities of the Bereavement Suite due to its infancy, we have always wanted to do something to honour Charlie and for him to make a difference in some way to other families going through this traumatic experience. 

Charlie was finally laid to rest on 12th November @ St Peters Church, Hanwell.