On an autumn morning in 2008, two months before my due date, I was told the twins I was expecting needed to be delivered urgently. I had known for three months that they were going to be born prematurely, as one was growing at an alarmingly slow rate, but the doctors had been trying to buy us as much time as possible to give both children a fighting chance. Now, at 31 weeks and two days, that time was up.
The doctors had discovered a reverse blood flow through the umbilical cord of one of the babies, indicating a serious condition where the placenta was no longer supporting the baby sufficiently and which, left untreated, can lead to foetal
