A brave mum who battled deadly sepsis alongside her newborn rainbow baby has urged other expectant mothers to take a £35 test that could save their little ones’ lives.
Sarah Smith, 29, was delighted to discover she was expecting twins in January 2017 – her first children with her fiancé, builder Richard Townsend, 32.
But when her 12-week scan revealed that one of the babies had acrania, a rare congenital condition where the skull does not form properly, the prognosis was so grave that she made the heartbreaking decision to terminate the pregnancy.
The twins were identical and sharing a placenta, and so the couple were told by medics that, because one baby had acrania so severely, it was highly likely had the pregnancy continued, Sarah would have miscarried at a later date or given birth to two stillborn babies.
“It was a horrible situation to be in, to be faced with having to make that decision,” she said.
“But I knew before our scan that something was wrong.
I could just sense it.” Four months later, it seemed there was a light at the end of the tunnel when she discovered she was expecting again, this time with a little boy.