A mother who was told her twin girls had less than a 10 percent chance of survival due to a “devastating” pregnancy complication is about to celebrate their first day of school.
Hannah Brameld, 44, from Beckenham, was just 16 weeks pregnant when she and her husband, James, were told their daughters, Ruby and Scarlett, had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome.
The life-threatening condition, where blood does not flow evenly from the placenta to both babies, causing one to receive too much and the other to receive too little, was spotted by a sonographer during a routine scan.
Mrs Brameld, who said she was ‘frozen’ as doctors explained the complication, was told by a consultant that the chance of survival without risky surgery for both girls was less than 10 per cent.
“It felt like the floor disappeared from under me,” she told the Daily Mail. “These were my babies. I hadn’t even met them yet, and I was already being asked to imagine losing them.”
Just a week later, Ms. Brameld underwent a procedure in which an expert surgeon operated in her uterus. Fortunately it was a success, but it caused another problem.
The operation ruptured her waters, meaning the fluid around the twins dropped dangerously low.
“I was terrified,” Mrs Brameld said, describing how she and her husband were warned that Scarlett’s lungs might not develop properly. They went to King’s College Hospital every week for a scan to keep a close eye on the girls.
Hannah Brameld, 44, from Beckenham, was just 16 weeks pregnant when she and her husband, James, were told their daughters, Ruby and Scarlett, had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome – the girls start school this week
Mrs. Brameld gave birth to Ruby and Scarlett via emergency caesarean section on November 30, 2021
Desperate to protect her unborn babies, she did “everything I could think of.”
‘I drank glass after glass of blackcurrant squash, convinced it could help somehow. I lay as still as possible and prepared my body to hold on for a little while longer. In my mind I saw my girls pressed together, protecting each other.
“Every day that passed without a birth happening felt like a small victory.”
Mrs. Brameld gave birth to Ruby and Scarlett via emergency caesarean section on November 30, 2021.
Ruby weighed just 1lb 10.5oz, while Scarlett weighed 2lb 3oz – no heavier than a bag of sugar. Both were immediately put on ventilators, and Mrs Brameld was unable to hold them for ten ‘painful’ days.
But the birth was just the start of a months-long nightmare for the Bramelds, before both twins were finally allowed to return home.
First, little Ruby fought one suspected serious intestinal infection and meningitis.
Scarlett suffered a collapsed lung, required treatment to close a hole in her heart and developed a form of sepsis, caused by a bacteria called Serratia marcescens.
“I have never felt so helpless,” said Ms Brameld, as she paid tribute to the neonatal staff. ‘I desperately wanted to be next to Scarlett every second, but Ruby needed me too: she had to eat every three hours, needed to change, needed her mother.
“I was trying to pump breast milk, eat, sleep and just keep myself together while running between two hospital rooms.”
Ruby was allowed to go home three months after her birth on the twins’ original due date, and Mrs. Brameld would take her back to the hospital every day for the next few months so she could be close to her sister.
Hannah and James Brameld leave King’s College Hospital with their daughters Ruby and Scarlett
Mrs Brameld was so moved by the care her daughters received that she gave up her career in the fashion industry to work for the neonatal charity Ickle Pickles.
Scarlett required long-term support for her breathing, including a ventilator to help her at night, and a feeding tube that was surgically placed.
Her parents practiced for weeks so they knew they would be fully prepared to care for her upon her return home, which came only after the twins had spent a total of 300 days between them in the hospital.
“I will never forget carrying Scarlett through our front door and finally seeing her and Ruby together as a family,” Mrs. Brameld said.
This week, Ruby and Scarlett will reach a milestone their parents once feared they would never experience: going to school.
In contrast to their first weeks and months in hospital, their mother now describes them as ‘double trouble’ – ‘full of energy and completely inseparable’.
Mrs Brameld was so touched by the care her daughters received that she gave up her career in the fashion industry to work for the neonatal charity Ickle Pickles, which provided support during the time the twins were in the NICU.
Ickle Pickles supports families and helps hospitals across the country purchase essential equipment for premature and sick newborns.
In her new role, Ms Brameld will provide peer-to-peer support to other parents in similar situations to the one she found herself in, returning to King’s College Hospital every fortnight.
And Ruby and Scarlett have even been busy fundraising, completing their first sponsored run this week – a mile through Greenwich.
“When I think of everything my girls have overcome – a less than 10 percent chance of survival, a desperate operation, months apart in separate hospital rooms – and then seeing them run to school together, laughing and holding hands, it takes my breath away,” Ms. Brameld said.
“Ruby and Scarlett are living proof that even when the odds seem impossible, miracles can still happen.”
Ruby and Scarlett’s sponsored Big Mile for Ickle Pickles can be sponsored at the charity’s websitewhich also provides information about the charity’s work supporting premature and sick babies.
