A devastated mum whose twin babies were 'brought home in a box' has urged pregnant women to get checked if they feel their babies have stopped moving.
Shannon Welsh was thrilled when medics told her and partner Ryan Tovey, 27, that they were expecting twins at a 14 week scan.
The 26-year-old was scanned every two weeks after that and the couple, who are already parents to three-year-old daughter Grace, were delighted to learn they were having identical twin boys, who they named Oscar and Theo.
However tragedy struck the young family when, at 28 weeks pregnant they couple were given the heartbreaking news that both babies' heartbeats had stopped.
Traumatised Shannon had to give birth to both her babies who were stillborn.
Shannon, from Bristol, said: "When they told us that neither baby had survived I couldn't really take it in. It was awful. I just kept asking them to check again to be sure. I was just devastated and desperately hoping it was a mistake. Hoping that maybe even just one of them had made it. But they were gone. Both of them were gone."
The couple's nightmare began when at around 24 weeks Shannon had gone for one of her routine scans and one of the twins was measuring smaller than the other.
Shannon said: "They said Oscar was measuring smaller than Theo and I started to worry but they said that was common with twins and they would keep an eye on it."
Two weeks later Oscar was found to have dropped more weight and medics referred Shanon to specialist care under a consultant.
Less than a week later on Easter Sunday this year, Shannon says she woke up and noticed her boys weren't as active as they normally would be in the morning, but tried not to panic or overreact.
She said: "We were having family over that day and so I got on with preparing for that. That night my daughter out her hand on my tummy and felt them kick.
"But in the morning I could feel nothing which I knew was unusual so by 10.30am I called the hospital and they told me to come in. That's when they scanned me and told me there were no heartbeats."
Shannon faced an agonising wait before finally having to give birth to her precious boys on April 8.
Following various hospital tests baffled doctors told Shannon her babies were 'healthy boys' but could not rule out that they had suffered from TTTS - Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome a rare complication in twin pregnancies where one twin has too small a share of the placenta and struggles with growth and nourishment.
The condition can be fatal and lack of or reduced movement in pregnancy can be one of the tell-tale signs.
Following the loss of her boys, Shannon shared a powerful picture of their tiny box of ashes sitting in the back passenger seat of the family's car with the caption: "This is how I’m bringing our boys home, they should be sat safely buckled in their car seats but instead, they are in a box.
"PLEASE, I beg you, if you ever think you feel reduced movement, get to the hospital! I will always live with the “what ifs”...
"What if I went to the hospital sooner.
"What if I paid closer attention to their movements that day.
"What if I pushed harder for another scan when I was so worried....
"Maybe our boys would be coming home with us in their car seats as they should have been."
Shannon is now urging pregnant mums-to-be to be on their guard and trust their instincts when it comes to their babies.
She said: "It can happen in such a short amount of time. Now I'm constantly living with 'what ifs'. What if I had gone to hospital on the Sunday, but I will never know.
"I just hope anyone reading our story learns to trust their instincts because I would not wish this on anyone.
"We know life goes on and we will have good and bad days but our lives will always be full of “should haves”...
"They should have been waking us for a feed. They should have been crawling now. They should have been walking now. They should have been talking now. They should have been going to school. They should have been celebrating their birthday, Christmas, Easter.
"Oscar and Theo will never do any of these but yours could. Please trust your instincts."
Shannon has set up a blog about her experience on Facebook called The Tovey Twins Story.
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