On the 12th of September Jennie and I became the extremely proud parents of identical twin girls; Sophie and Jessica. The pregnancy had not been an easy one, with complications throughout as a result of inconsistent blood flow from their shared placenta and the restricted growth that resulted from that. 

Despite that challenge, both of our little girls arrived, although they did so very early at just 28+6 weeks. Being so premature we knew that the start of life was going to be extremely difficult for both of them, especially Jessica who had been more significantly impacted by the restricted growth.

Jessica’s main challenge was to do with her lungs, one of the final things to develop in unborn babies, and therefore a common problem for premature babies.

She did show some extremely positive signs - she was the first of the twins to open her eyes and also the first to hold our hands, and she consistently showed huge resilience during a traumatic time where she underwent several procedures and varying treatments. 

Despite her resilience and the best efforts of all the medical staff, Jessica sadly passed away on September 27th, after just 15 days; her little lungs simply couldn’t cope with having arrived so early. 

Jennie and I were prepared for the fact that their early weeks and months would be very difficult but we are so pleased to have met our little girl and we made some amazing memories over the course of her short life.

What Jennie and I were not so prepared for was quite how amazing the level of care would be that Jessica and ourselves would receive along the way.

We were transferred to Bradford due to a lack of available beds in Sheffield, however once we were there the midwives, nurses, registrars and consultants were superb. The level of love, care, commitment and skill that they displayed each and everyday was incredible and made an extremely difficult experience far more bearable for all of us.

Luckily the work that goes on in neonatal wards like Bradford is only seen by a minority of people, however we cannot put into words how much we owe everyone that worked with Jessica. Therefore, if you can spare some money for this cause, so that they can continue to work with the tiniest of hospital patients in the most effective way, and so that no other parents have to experience the loss that we have, we would both be enormously grateful.

Thanks in advance for your generosity,

Rob and Jennie