My Story

Hi,

Zena and I were excited to be expecting the birth of our triplets around March 2022 as our first pregnancy.  We discovered that we were expecting triplets in September 2021 and after the initial shock, we began preparing for their births. Our antenatal care was organised by Southmead Hospital's Fetal Medicine Unit.

Sadly, Jasper, Ivy and Astrid were born on 4th December 2021.  Jasper had died before he was born. His sisters lived for one hour before they also died.  No medical treatment could be offered due to their prematurity - they were too young for any treatment to help.

Since their deaths, we have continued to think about our babies every day.  We do our best to be the parents and people they would want us to be, even though we are not parents in the way that most would imagine. 

We have both taken a lot of comfort from the team who looked after us all in the Central Delivery Suite.  Our numerous midwives, including Sophia, Lily and the Bereavement Support Specialist Midwife Sarah made such a positive impact on our care.  Through their work, we were able to spend precious time with our babies whilst we remained in the hospital. They continue to support us, even after we have held a funeral for Jasper, Ivy and Astrid.

Other families will unfortunately experience baby loss - in the UK, there were over 4,000 babies who were stillborn or died in the first 30 days of life in 2020. Many other families suffer a miscarriage at different stages of pregnancy and this is just as devastating as a stillbirth or neonatal death.

We have chosen to undertake the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge, raising money for the Southmead Hospital Maternity Bereavement Service, so that they can continue to support bereaved families.  Some friends are also joining us on this challege and we thank them all for their support

Any donations would be gratefully received.

Thank you

Zena and Phil