One Born Every Minute

This week features the uplifting stories of two courageous mums, both overcoming their worst fears. Sophia is having twins - but a scan has shown up a problem with one of them meaning it will have to go to Special Care as soon as it’s born. And mum-of-one Hayley is about to give birth for the fourth time, having experienced the trauma of a newborn baby dying and then a stillbirth. Both mums are now waiting to deliver their babies, and are hoping for the best. First time mum Sophia (20) met Adam (22) at school when she was 13 and he was 15, and they’ve been together ever since. After being very ill for two weeks, Sophia took a pregnancy test which came up negative – until she read the instructions and did the test at the correct time of day. The first scan showed they were having twins, “the biggest shock of the whole thing” Sophia says. A further scan showed one twin has a condition called Gastroschisis causing the stomach to grow on the outside of the stomach. It means that the baby will have to go into special care immediately after birth. Hayley (37) and Norm (36) both agreed they wanted a large family. Hayley says they were really lucky when she quickly fell pregnant with Rio, now 3. But their second baby Phoebe was born with a rare brain condition and despite fighting for her life for five weeks, she died. When Hayley fell pregnant for a third time, with Cooper, she says she didn’t worry about the brain condition that claimed Phoebe’s life, as it was so rare. But at 29 weeks, Cooper stopped moving. Hayley’s placenta had failed - “still birth has to be my worst nightmare. You’re pregnant and then they’re gone.” Understandably pregnancy is an unbearably anxious time for her and her husband. Hayley says she sees it as a “clinical procedure”, adding: “it must be nice to be pregnant and worry about swollen feet and back-ache rather than, is my baby going to die.”