The birthday we thought we’d never see for our tiny battlers
TEACHERS KELLY and Ashley Hardy had always wanted a family.
“You just presume that it will happen one day,” says Kelly, from Barnsley. “All our friends and family were having children and as primary school teachers we were surrounded by children all the time which made it even harder.”
The Hardys turned to IVF and on the fifth and final embryo Kelly found out she was pregnant – with twins.
“It took us the best part of five years to get our beautiful little boys. Our fifth and final embryo was successful, and six weeks later it was confirmed that we were pregnant with twins,” says Kelly.
“As we had suffered previous miscarriages, one of which was discovered during a scan, naturally we daren’t get excited just in case. I never presumed that it would work, and we had started to think about other options.”
But finding out she was pregnant was just the start of the journey for Kelly and her husband.
She spent the majority of her first trimester, and some of the second in hospital due to severe hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), a complication of pregnancy which is characterised by severe nausea and vomiting. It is the same condition that the Duchess of Cambridge suffered when she was pregnant.
“I only managed two or three days at home between admissions as I just couldn’t keep anything down, not even water, which caused dehydration,” says Kelly.
“I lost so much weight that by the time I gave birth I was wearing non-maternity clothes in a dress size 10 which is smaller than my normal size. I also fell ill with shingles, resulting in nerve damage on my abdomen which was extremely uncomfortable to manage.”
Then, at just 26 weeks, Kelly started to show signs of labour two days after her waters broke and she was admitted to the Jessops Wing – the same hospital that helped her conceive the twins.
“When Austin was born there were 15 to 12 people in the room. Rory arrived 24 minutes later. I was then put to sleep for an operation straight after, leaving my husband, Ashley, terrified for the health of us all.”
Both boys were ventilated, in an incubator fighting for their lives. They both weighed less than a kilogram.
“I can’t explain how small they were, I think it’s something that you can’t possibly comprehend until you see it. Their nappies, which went up to their armpits were smaller than my iPhone. You don’t really let yourself think about what might happen. I had never thought I would have the boys, so every moment was precious, even through the sides of an incubator.”
Doctors explained what the reality was for babies so extremely premature and weighing so little, especially twins. The odds were against them.
“We never expected to bring them home,” says Kelly who started a blog, initially to keep family and friends informed.
“Blogging allows me to write everything down, all of my feelings, worries and concerns. It also means that my boys will have something to look back on when they are bigger. I have had so many lovely messages of thanks from other IVF warriors, ‘preemie’ parents and tracheostomy superheroes, who have found the blog really helpful.”
The boys are fighters and, after 99 days in a neonatal intensive care unit, they were transferred back to Barnsley Hospital before being allowed home.
And on Tuesday the Hardys celebrated a day they never dared imagine – Rory and Austin’s first birthdays.
“Every day is still a battle. I think often people think that once you are discharged you go on to live a normal life, but premature babies often carry the scars of prematurity with them.
“We managed just three weeks at home before Rory’s windpipe collapsed as a result of multiple ventilations in NICU and he now has a tracheostomy. The boys are one year old, but have spent the majority of their lives in hospital, or indoors hiding from germs.”
But Kelly is determined that despite the temptation she will not wrap the boys up in cotton wool. “The twins have made me the best person that I possibly could be. I marvel in them every day. Every day is a blessing no matter what we are going through. I was quite a worrier before I had them, but worrying is a waste of time – we need to get on and enjoy every moment with them. I cannot put into words how they make us feel.”
And Kelly wants to say thank you to the staff at Jessop Wing that not only helped bring the boys into the world, but saved them.
“I have so much respect for the team at Jessop Wing, they were like another family. I think about them almost daily and sometimes miss them, they really made a huge difference.”
To celebrate Austin and Rory’s birthday they visited NICU.
“We also visited NICU at Christmas and took gifts and a donation, and we will take a birthday cake each year on the boys’ birthday to show our appreciation.”
“There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for them – I owe my happiness to them. So we are taking part in this year’s Jessops Superheroes to give something back. So far we have raised almost £1,000 – which has exceeded our expectations. I think we’ve smashed our target due to my blog, which I set up on the day of the boys’ birth.”
To see Kelly’s blog, visit www. austinandrory.wordpress.com. SPEND A BIT: SPEND A LOT: