Please....

Those of you who follow me on Twitter have already heard about this, I'm sure.

Little over three weeks ago, my SIL was taken into hospital. She was 7 months pregnant with twins, and in terrible pains. She thought she was having them then and there, but instead was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Three days later, she told the nurse she was feeling the urge to push. The nurse said that she was being silly, she was not in labour, the babies were not ready to come out yet. But SIL said that yes, they were coming. Before the nurse could even get a doctor in, Jenson was born at 2 lbs 10. His brother Lewis followed less than 30 minutes later at 2 lbs 6. Both so tiny, they were taken away to be put in incubators. Mum was too ill to go and see them. She was still complaining about stomach pains, and the doctors were trying to figure out what was wrong with her. A hernia, another infection?

Then, two days after they were born, the hospital staff felt they could not give the twins what they needed, and the boys were taken to a hospital in London, where they have specialist care for premature babies.
At near enough the same time, Mum was rushed to ICU. There they found out that she had peritonitis. Her appendix was leaking into her abdomen. It was taken out and fell apart...

Very quickly, was Lewis started doing really well, and after a few days was breathing on his own. Jenson however had more problems. He was having difficulty breathing, had fluid in his lungs. When Lewis was taken off the special ICU, Jenson still needed a lot of help.

When Lewis was taken to another ward, still in an incubator though, he got MRSA, the dreaded hospital-infection. Another baby on the ward got infected too, but thankfully it was caught early.

And just now, we were told that poor little Jenson has a hole in his heart and needs to be taken to yet another hospital for surgery...

I don't know how much more this family can take. SIL is heart-broken. She is still so weak from all she has been through herself, and not having been able to see her babies since they were born is eating away at her. She is scared. We all are. Her husband has been an absolute rock, going from the hospital here in Chelmsford to see his wife to the hospital in London to see his boys, taking pictures and keeping everyone up to date on what is going on. Her other three children, two boys of 13 and 10 and a little girl of 7 have been absolutely brilliant, looking after their mum and doing those little jobs that they can.

I am not a religious person, I don't know how to pray. But I am so very grateful for all those amazing friends who have kept the twins, my dear future sister-in-law and the rest of the family in their prayers. I cannot thank you enough.

I have been telling my SIL about you. She can't imagine there are people outside our family who care. She certainly can't imagine people across the world holding her little boys in their prayers.

Today I was pouring my heart out on Twitter, as I tend to do these days, and the lovely @MagicBartender asked if she could send a card, to make this support a bit more tangible. I asked my MIL how she felt about that and she said that it is a lovely thought and that her daughter would deeply appreciate it.

If you would like to send my sweet future sister-in-law a card, letting her know that you are thinking of her boys, please contact me through Twitter, the Ning site or my email address ( ukeveline @ blueyonder dot co dot uk) and I will give you the address to send your card to.

Thank you so so much for all your prayers, thoughts, energy, for all the candles that have been lit and the suppport I have gotten through Twitter, and other places. It means more than I can ever tell you.