Lottie King & Simon Feasey, Yarm

After a healthy and normal pregnancy with my twin boys my waters ruptured around our first twin – Leo – on New Year’s Day. I was 21 weeks pregnant and scared out of my mind. I was told that if I delivered both the boys that day they wouldn’t make it. I spent the next 18 days on bed rest at home, drinking loads of water and eating every super food I could find to try give my boys the best chance. I found out I had BV and that’s what burst my waters. I had become very very poorly and so had my babies despite being on various antibiotics. On the 18th of January I went into labour at home and rushed to the hospital, I was told I was very sick and after 24 hours delivered our first twin Leo. He was 24+3 weeks gestation. The fantastic doctors and nurses from the Neonatal Ward worked tirelessly for four hours to do all they could for Leo but sadly he was just too poorly to be saved. We spent precious moments with him – although fleeting – and he grew his angel wings with his family around him. I spent the next four days pregnant with our other twin boy Oska who arrived at 25 weeks gestation. He spent 107 days in the Unit, he battled pneumonia, weighed less than a bag of sugar, spent the first month of his life in ITU, he fought off a grade 3 brain bleed which miraculously disappeared, he had a PDA which managed to close on its own and had countless blood transfusions. His strength teamed with the marvellous work of the nurses and doctors means we now have Oska at home with us. The staff on the ward not only saved my other twin, they saved my family and they saved me. I made friends for life with the doctors and nurses who I now class as family and cannot wait for Oska to be old enough to understand what an amazing bunch of people they are. Without them, we wouldn’t have Oska – our very own rainbow baby and we wouldn’t have had the moments we did with Leo which we hold very close to our hearts. They are simply the most incredible group of people I have ever met in my life and I’m still thinking of ways to show them just how grateful we are for all they did for us. We finally brought Oska home on May 7 2015 and he’s the most beautiful little boy.