Each year Heartlands and Good Hope Hospital cares for thousands of babies, some of whom are born early. The neonatal Unit provides 24 hour care for these babies using dedicated breathing machines, incubators and state of the art monitoring machines. The hospital charity aims to support the unit in providing the most advanced medical equipment, over and above NHS Funding. The Charity also aims to provide mothers and families with the added extras that they need to ensure that their stay on the ward is as comfortable as possible by providing soft furnishings such as comfortable feeding chairs, and plans to refurbish the parent overnight room and feeding room.

Our Story:

On 12th August 2020 I went into Heartlands Hospital less than 6 months pregnant with what we initially thought was a urine infection, only to discover it was very early labour. I had been told twin pregnancies were more risky and that most were born around 35 weeks, but at just 26 weeks we were massively unprepared and extremely frightened.

When the doctor told me I was 2cm dilated I thought it was game over, they would be too small and it was just too early. However the amazing medical staff all assured me that they take care of  babies born this early every day and did everything they could to keep me calm. While in labour, one of the doctors from the NICU came down to prepare us for the likely long NICU journey ahead. He told us babies born at this gestation had an 80% survival rate, but that they would be in hospital for months and would need to be ventilated and tube fed for some time, and that they would potentially need ongoing support for years to come.

Our boys arrived the next morning weighing around 2lbs each. They were tiny but perfect and both cried coming out which was a huge relief. They were taken straight to the NICU and I couldn't see them for 6 hours following on from my c-section, it felt like an eternity. Going down to see them for the first time was overwhelming...They were under blue lights and had tubes coming out of everywhere, lying in their incubators wrapped in bubble wrap.  We couldn't hold the boys for the first week of their lives, but the nurses made sure we could be as involved in their care as possible.

The boys were in separate rooms to begin with purely due to space and capacity, so we shuffled between the two rooms to split our time evenly with them. After 12 days there was finally space for them to be next to each other, and I held my boys together for the first time. It was absolute bliss! We worked with the nurses to learn to tube feed the boys, change their tiny nappies and wash their fragile skin. The nurses who cared for my babies were the most amazing and hardworking people I have known. They worked crazy long shifts, religiously monitoring the babies and answering endless questions from parents. They hugged and cried with me when it all felt too much and kept me going through the really tough times.

After a  few weeks Luci became really ill with NEC. He was so poorly he had to be intubated again and was nil by mouth. His whole body was swollen and having read endless horror stories about NEC online we feared for the worst. Once again the nurses and doctors stayed calm and tried to relieve our panic as best they could. They monitored him and made minor gradual changes to his care and meds to get him back on the right path.

Luci turned a corner after a few weeks and we felt like we could breathe again. By this point his brother was in another room to him and doing really well. They both had some ups and downs from this point. They'd be on and off oxygen and feeding tubes as they had good and bad days. After 9 weeks Jules was looking almost ready to leave their care, so we prepared to take him home. Luci was doing better but still a way off home time, so it was agreed he would move to Good Hope now that he was stable so he could be closer to us.

After 9 weeks and 6 days we took one of our boys home. Leaving the hospital with one of your twin children is bittersweet... We were so happy to finally have him home with us but the guilt and sadness that his brother wasn't coming with him was almost physical. I took  Jules to Good Hope every day so we could see his brother. He was doing really well... The illness had set him back a little and affected his breathing, so he was still on oxygen but bottle feeding well.

It was decided that Luci could come home on oxygen, and on 12th Nov (still 3 days before their due date!) we were all finally able to leave the hospital. Luci was on oxygen for a month at home and we had regular visits from the nurses to ensure he was ok. It was a nerve wracking time and we panicked about everything, but having both our boys home together with us was the best feeling in the world.

The boys spent a combined 160 days in NICU. It costs the NHS £1-2k a day for each baby... so you can see we racked up quite the bill! We are so grateful for the support and care we received and continue to receive from the amazing nurses and doctors at Heartlands and Good Hope. Both boys are doing incredibly well. They've just turned two and are doing exactly what they should be and are absolutely thriving. This is only possible because of the wonderful nurses and doctors who cared for them and because of our fantastic NHS.

I know I can never repay the NHS or the amazing people who saved my boys, but I hope that this small gesture goes some way to help another family like ours. Anything you can give will be so welcomed, and anyone who knows me knows I am no runner, so please support where you can to spur me on!