Every year, approximately one in 13 babies will be born premature in the UK.
World Prematurity Day, which falls on November 17 every year, raises awareness of an early birth and the concerns of preterm babies and their families worldwide.
One mother knows all too well about the emotional heartache of raising preterm children and having an early birth. Lisa Stockdale, from Great Lumley, Durham, welcomed her twin daughters Sophia and Olivia into the world in February 2019.
Chronicle Live reports that Lisa, aged 41, said: "Twins don't run in my family, so it's safe to say it was a surprise for myself and my husband when we were told.
"The pregnancy was pretty straight forward.
"I was however booked in for a planned c-section, because there are extra risks with twins in a natural birth. I didn't want to go through surgery, but I had resigned myself to the idea.
"So when my waters broke at 35 weeks on Valentine's Day, I was elated because I thought it would be quite straight forward from here, and I could give birth to them the way I had originally wanted. I had already given birth to my eldest naturally, so I knew in some ways what to expect."
With the twins arriving three weeks early from her planned c-section date, Lisa was taken into University Hospital of North Durham, where it was decided that her contractions would be stopped and she'd be given an emergency caesarean section due to the position of the babies.
After being taken into theatre, Lisa said that she felt "the urgency" in the room.
"I could see all the medical staff side-eyeing each other, and I knew that there was something serious going on, but no one was telling us what was happening," she said.
"I was really frightened, and just kept thinking about all the worse possible case scenarios.
"It turns out that both twin's heart rates had dropped, so they had to get them out quickly with surgery."
While being administrated the spinal block in theatre, she fainted.
She was later given general anaesthetic, which meant she was put to sleep for the remainder of the birth.
When she came round, her husband informed her that both twins had been delivered safely.
Baby Olivia was born weighing 5lb.8oz whilst her twin sister Sophia weighed 5lb.10oz.
Her husband also had to break the news that the twins would be rushed to a special care unit at Sunderland Royal Hospital 15 miles away - and if she wanted to see them they had to go right now.
Lisa said that was due to the hospital only have one special care bed for babies available, and that Sunderland Royal would be able to keep the twins together as they had more beds.
But she had to remain in North Durham as she was too unwell following the major surgery to be moved to Sunderland, meaning she wouldn't even be in the same building has her babies.
"I was a crying mess," Lisa said. "I only got to hold them for a few seconds before they were taken away again.
"My husband had to go home to look after our eldest son, so I was left on my own."
Lisa was placed onto the new mum and baby shared ward - but was the only mother there who didn't have her children with her.
"Everyone else had their babies, but I didn't have mine, and that felt really unfair," she said.
"It was absolutely awful being surrounded by all these happy mums and hearing their babies cry, and know that mine were on their own in the NICU.
"I could see all these other mums and dads putting their baby in the car seat to take home, and it seemed such a romantic image.
"But everyone kept looking at me, clearly wondering where my baby was.
"I think a lot of parents to premature of sick babies must feel this way. The hardest part is being without them, because it feels so unnatural.
"I had to send syringes of breast milk off to Sunderland Royal with the medical staff.
"It just broke my heart that they wasn't able to be with them when I felt they needed their mum the most.
"But I do understand that the hospital had to do what they had to do."
Lisa was kept in for two nights before she could go and be with her babies in Sunderland Royal.
"It was hard on my husband too," she said. "When we brought the girls home, he said it felt like they weren't his babies, because we'd never had that chance at the hospital to bond with them.
"He wouldn't talk about it, and even now he struggles.
"I was diagnosed with postnatal depression in the weeks after we came back from the hospital"' and she said the ordeal also affected her husband.
"He had to look after me, our eldest son and Olivia and Sophia - it must've put a huge strain on him mentally."
Lisa was given talking therapy to help her overcome her traumatic birth and postnatal depression.
"I would say I have recovered now, but I still get emotional when I think about my birthing experience," she said. "I've found that talking about it has really helped."
A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, said, “We do all we can to keep families together but there are times when babies need a higher level of care than can be provided at a General Hospital such as University Hospital of North Durham. This is more likely in babies who are premature.
"On these occasions we transfer the baby to a specialist neonatal intensive care unit, one of the nearest being in Sunderland.
"Our clinical teams do all they can to ensure families are back together as soon as possible and we very much appreciate Lisa’s understanding that our priority is always the wellbeing of our patients, ensuring they get the care they need quickly.”
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