COUPLE ‘HEARTBROKEN’ AFTER LOSING TWINS WITHIN WEEKS OF EACH OTHER
RACHAEL and Kirsty Hoyles were overjoyed when they found out they were expecting twins. A successful sperm donation from a private clinic in Cardiff had allowed the pair to fulfill their dream of starting a family.
But tragedy was to follow when complications with both babies brought their parenting journey to a devastating end.
Now the couple are sharing their heartbreaking story so they can support other families going through similarly arduous times.
“We are heartbroken and would give anything to have our boys back,” said Rachael, 32. “But we know that’s not going to happen, so we decided to do the next best thing – help anyone else who has to go through this and try to make it more bearable.”
Rachael, who has been married to Kirsty since June 2017, fell pregnant at the first attempt following a sperm insemination at a clinic in 2018.
“We were allowed to choose a donor with similar characteristics to ours,” she added. “We decided to pick someone with similar eye and hair colour to Kirsty.”
After going through the procedure privately, they were then referred back to the Welsh NHS nine weeks into the pregnancy.
However, during the 12-week scan at Ysbyty Ystrad Mynach it was discovered that one of the twins was very small. A rescan four weeks later revealed that the baby had a very rare birth defect called encephalocele.
It meant the baby’s skull had not formed properly and had caused part of the brain to protrude out.
Around one in 10,000 babies are struck down with it, but the cause remains a mystery.
“They [the hospital staff] just kept saying ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ over and over again,” said Rachael, from Cwmcarn, near Newport. “We were told that the survival rate was not good.”
Just days later, their care was transferred to Bristol Children’s Hospital where the diagnosis of encephalocele was officially confirmed.But while they were there, further scans picked up anomalies with the other twin.
“They said they couldn’t find the stomach,” Rachael added. “We were now at a crossroads as to whether to continue the pregnancy, but we decided to let it run its course to see what happened.
“We had many, many scans in Bristol and we were also being seen in Newport too. It was a really horrible time. Neither of us could work while this was happening. At every appointment we would just sit there crying in the waiting room.”
The second twin was found to have a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, known for short as CDH, which meant the baby’s stomach had gone up into
his chest, had crushed one of his lungs and pushed the heart to one side.
However, doctors said his life could be saved with an operation if he could hold on for a few weeks after birth.
“We were told he would survive in the womb as I was giving him all his nutrients through my placenta, but he would have to fight for himself for a while once he was born before they could put the stomach back where it should be.”
Rachael admits that the complicated pregnancy really tested their marriage.
“We were very supportive of each other. We just wanted what was best as a family. We had a lot of friends reach out to us who had disabled babies about how hard, but rewarding it all was.”
At the 22-week mark, just before Christmas 2018, Rachael and Kirsty were given the news they dreaded.
The twin with encephalocele, who they went on to name Bayden, no longer had a heartbeat. But to give the other twin the best chance of survival, Rachael would need to try to get to full-term with both babies still inside her.
“We had my mum, Kirsty’s mum and
my stepdad all with us in the car [after the news] and we just sat and cried and cried,” said Rachael. “Nobody knew what to say to each other. It was horrific.”
One of the risks of continuing to carry both babies in the womb was the chance of Rachael’s body could reject Bayden and go into early labour.
But against the odds, she managed to get to 39 weeks and have a C-section at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff on April 18, 2019.
Their son, Jude Hoyles was born alive and breathing.
“As soon as he was out they took him straight away to be intubated, so I wasn’t able to have skin-to-skin contact,” Rachael said. “I had to wait hours for the feeling to come back into my legs before I could be wheeled up to see him for the first time.
“Jude was okay and stable, but it was daunting seeing him with all the machines and tubes around him.”
The couple spent almost every waking hour by Jude’s bedside for the next fortnight as they saw him improve and have his medication reduced.
“When he came off sedation he was able to open his eyes and he wiggled his tongue to lick milk off his lips. It was adorable.
“The staff were amazing and allowed us to change his bum and do things any parents in a normal situation would. The nurses always kept us updated. He was given one-to-one care.”
After showing encouraging signs, the hospital made the decision to go ahead and carry out the operation on Jude to move his stomach.
However, the procedure was delayed when the two-week-old began swelling up and struggling to breathe again.
“They found out that his underdeveloped lung had popped. They said the only thing they could do was to put him in our arms and have our last few minutes with him.”
After he had died, Jude was put in a cuddle cot – a cooling mattress that stop the baby’s body deteriorating – and was allowed to go home with his parents to Cwmcarn for the night.
“We got proper time with him. He was meant to be coming home with us, so at least we got to do that.”
Despite undergoing tests, medics cannot pinpoint why both babies suffered hernia-related illnesses.
It is also unknown as to whether the sperm donation had any negative impact on the twins’ health.
“We have been told not to use the same donor again just in case, but they cannot prove any of this was down to him,” Rachael added. “We want to become parents again.”
Noah’s Ark Charity’s Tiny Lives Appeal helps fund vital emotional support services for parents
Since their deaths, the couple have managed to raise £3,400 for two new cuddle cots for the neonatal unit at the University Hospital of Wales.
They now want to raise further cash to donate to the Ronald McDonald House, which provides free accommodation to families on the UHW site.
Rachael, who works in administration, added: “Staying in Ronald McDonald House allowed us to stay close to Jude, otherwise we would have had to travel 40 minutes to and from our house in Cwmcarn every day.” The pair are organising a family fun day at The Fendrod in Llanswmlet, Swansea on Sunday, August 25.
To donate, go to https://www. justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ jude-bayden-hoyles?utm_ term=dZXrpbAY6