A heartbroken mum spent two weeks living with her dead baby daughter – even taking her for walks in her pram.
Emma Woodhouse, 27, gave birth to twins Jessica and Bella in June this year.
An emergency C-section was carried out at 29 weeks after Jessica’s umbilical cord ruptured in the womb.
Bella miraculously survived the traumatic birth, but Jessica was tragically stillborn despite medics battling for 22 minutes to resuscitate her.
But thanks to a cooling cot, the mum-of-five was able to bring Jessica home and spend a fortnight caring for her daughter, bathing her, taking her for walks with her husband Paul and even introducing her to her other children before her cremation.
Emma, who believes Jessica died in order to save her twin, even plans to buy Christmas presents and a stocking for the tot this year.
“We want to show people that it’s possible to spend time with your baby after they’ve passed and to make memories with them.
“This shouldn’t be such a taboo subject.
“Her face was so perfect, I didn’t want to leave her on her own.
“Although she had passed away she’s my daughter and I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could.”
Emma had a high risk pregnancy because she has a rare heart-shaped womb, meaning her twins were at risk of being born prematurely.
After going into labour at home at only 29 weeks, Emma was rushed to Royal Lancaster Infirmary for an emergency c-section.
Doctors were able to safely deliver Bella, but failed to be able to resuscitate Jessica.
Emma was given the heartbreaking news by husband Paul that one of her girls hadn’t made it.
She said: “It was amazing to find out that I was going to have twins as I’d always wanted them.
“But I felt weird for four weeks after I found out I was pregnant, which was very, very early.
“The pregnancy felt different and all along I was panicking that something was wrong.
“During the c-section it was very scary, my husband wasn’t even allowed in.
“Straight away afterwards I asked him if she was OK.
“Paul looked at me and said that they’d saved Bella but couldn’t save Jessica.
“Being told that she was gone was terrible, it felt like it wasn’t real and that I was in a nightmare.
“It’s the strangest feeling. You have all the joy of a newborn but also the devastation of the loss of a newborn.
“I was in shock for a long time.”
After hearing the tragic news, the couple were moved to a bereavement suite in the hospital with a cold cot.
Emma cradles Jessica in her arms (
Image:
Caters News Agency)
Bella with Jessicas ashes (
Image:
Caters News Agency)
Emma and Paul were able to spend a precious fortnight visiting their daughter every day, spending time with her and taking her for walks in the hospital grounds.
They even introduced Jessica to twin sister Bella while she was still in an incubator, placing the two of them side-by-side.
The couple were also able to introduce their other children, brothers Jack, five, and Mikey, four, and sister Nicole, two, to their baby sister.
During the second week, nurses allowed Emma and Paul to place Jessica in a Moses basket in the hospital mortuary in order to prevent her skin from deteriorating.
Emma said: “We kept in her a Moses basket in the mortuary so she wouldn’t turn blue.
“The staff were amazing, they were all specially trained and tried to give us as many opportunities as possible to make memories with her.
“They gave us much as time as we wanted.
“We brought Jack in to meet her.
Emma and Paul with baby Jessica (right) and Bella (
Image:ls
Caters News Agency)“Jack is very grown up but I don’t really think he understood that I was in hospital.
“I told him that Bella and Jessica had come early and then explained to him that she’d gone to heaven.
“He got upset and then he held her, cuddled her and played with her hands and feet. It was beautiful to see.
“We weren’t sure about the other kids and the midwife said to bring them to play near her
“It was lovely, the kids played and ran around her and leaned in and looked on her.”
Two weeks after her birth, the couple dressed Jessica for the final time before her cremation.
Emma and Paul picked out a special gown for their baby girl and washed her.
Emma said: “I washed her skin and her hair and it was like washing any other of my children.
Emma and Paul with baby Jessica (
Image:
Caters News Agency)“We took some pics of Jessica and Bella together and then the woman from the funeral director came to collect her.
“It felt complete putting them together when I got to hold both of them. It felt right.”
The couple have placed Jessica’s ashes in their bedroom and said she’s in their thoughts constantly.
They have also had all of their children photographed with their sisters urn and are even going to buy her a stocking this Christmas.
Emma also thinks Jessica died in order to save her sister Bella due to Jessica’s ruptured umbilical causing Emma to go into labour early. Without this, Bella’s deteriorating umbilical cord would not have been found by doctor’s and she may have died too.
Emma while pregnant