No one expects this to happen to them
On Sunday 24th March 2019 Jane took part in the London Landmarks Half Marathon. This is her story and her reason for running. You can support Jane on her journey.
By Jane Savage
I had my twin boys at 30 weeks. It was the most frightening, overwhelming, scary experience of my whole life so far. No one expects this to happen to them and no one can tell you how you’re meant to act. My pregnancy and birthing plan had disappeared over night and I had two sick babies who I was unable to care for. I felt totally alone with my own feelings and felt I had nowhere to turn. The hospital support was amazing but as a mother I felt helpless.
I did the only thing I knew how to, and I read and researched, and I used other people’s experiences to get me through. This is when I discovered Tommy’s. I found other people with similar experiences, I found information and ideas I could use, and I found a bit of hope.
It’s nice to have people to talk to but sometimes the people closest to you don’t fully understand. Your emotions become a whirlwind and you just want someone to reach out. That’s what I feel Tommy’s did and I will forever be grateful. The information their website provided was invaluable, it explained my emotions in a way I couldn’t fully understand and made my feelings normal. If I hadn’t of had read the things I did, I can see how many women may struggle to cope and the stresses and strains of life/relationships/children could quite easily break down and fall apart.
During our 8 1/2 week stay in hospital we had many ups and downs. However, our stay allowed us to take part in some of Tommy’s research projects to help other families that might be in similar situations to our own.
Luckily for me and my family my boys got healthy and stronger. At this point I turned to the website again as I now needed information and support for caring for these two tiny babies. Tommy’s provided this, it gave me information on everything about hospital care from kangaroo care to breathing equipment. The hospital is such a busy place and the nurses would on some days be rushed off their feet so me asking them 101 questions and taking their time away from other babies was not possible.
'Premature babies are so different from full term babies and have far more many hurdles to jump. But the information to help support families was all in one place.'
When I had my little girl in October 2017 (arriving two weeks late), I fully appreciated what a struggle me and my family had been through with our twins and what an amazing job Tommy’s had done to support us.
Tommy’s needs the support from families like our own to help continue research and keep information feeding through to the parents who need it the most. I knew that could do my bit by running a few miles around London, but Tommy’s did something much more for me than they will ever realise.
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