Mother thanks Glasgow charity as newborn twin son dies

However, Debbie went into labour eight weeks early and, while her son Andrew has thrived, her little boy Oliver died at birth.

Now the couple are preparing for Christmas, trying to make Andrew's first Christmas special while still grieving for Oliver.

The 33-year-old said: "Much of it has felt like a complete blur. I'm not sure how we have kept going."

To her great joy, Debbie discovered last Christmas that she was pregnant and at her 12-week scan was told the exciting news that she was expecting twins.

Everything went well until week 28 when it emerged that she had gestational diabetes.

As there was also the risk of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, she was being scanned every fortnight.

Luckily everything seemed fine and the boys were both growing at the same rate.

"They were very active", Debbie said. "Everyone was more than happy with them but then I had the gestational diabetes and had to be treated for that."

At an appointment with the diabetes midwife on June 13 concerns were raised that Debbie's blood pressure was elevated and she was a little puffy - but it was in the middle of the summer hot spell and this was put down to the heat.

At around 8pm that evening Debbie said she had a feeling like she had wet herself so she called NHS24 who told her to rest for half an hour but she still felt something was wrong so called back and was told to attend at hospital.

Debbie and her husband Richard, a wedding photographer, arrived at the hospital at midnight where she was scanned and a doctor could only hear one heartbeat, not two.

They called for a second opinion and this doctor still could not find a heartbeat.

Debbie said: "Everyone was very calm but we were moved to another room because it was getting busy in the communal ward.

"A more senior doctor came, did an ultrasound as well and they said, 'I can't find either heartbeat.'"

The on-call consultant was called in and did a third ultrasound.

Debbie added: "It was this big massive other machine and as soon as the ultrasound wand hit my tummy, his heartbeat came up fast.

"This must have been about 3am at this point and she said she would give me steroids to support Andrew's lungs."

Debbie believes Oliver must have died just around this time but the consultant did not tell the couple in a bid to try and keep them positive for Andrew. She said: "I think deep down we knew but we still had hope and I don't think she wanted to take that away from us because that got us through for Andrew."

By now she was in active labour and was taken up to the labour ward between 4am and 5am - Oliver was born at 6.15am and Andrew at 7.40am.

Oliver weighed 4lb 4oz while Andrew was 3lb 14oz.

Debbie and Richard, 39, were shown Andrew briefly before he was whisked away to be placed on a ventilator.

It would be around 12 more hours before Debbie was allowed to properly meet her surviving son but at the same time as experiencing relief at Andrew being alright, the couple had to process the death of Oliver.

She said: "Because of what had happened, our parents were allowed to come up to the hospital so they all met Andrew."

Oliver was placed in a cold cot, which allowed his family to have time with him and say goodbye.

"When I think of it now it seems awfully morbid and really bizarre, such a thing, but it was actually really comforting.

"We could actually see him, we could put an outfit on him."

Debbie was kept in the hospital from Tuesday to Sunday, not only because of medical needs but also because she wanted to stay with Oliver for as long as possible.

She said: "They told me that medically I could go but I could stay longer as I wanted to be with Oliver.

"But it got to the point he was changing and they said they couldn't keep him outside any longer so I had to leave him."

The couple has had a debrief with medical staff who say there was a complication with twin to twin syndrome where Andrew received all the red blood cells and Oliver all the white blood cells.

This meant Oliver was too anaemic to survive.

Andrew, meanwhile, was in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for nearly four weeks.

To help him thrive, Andrew was given breastmilk from the Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity milkbank where mothers can donate breast milk to fed babies who need it.

Debbie said: "It was a complete blur. You just do it because you have to. We were at the hospital every day for eight, 10, 12 hours a day.

"I'm not going to say that because of Andrew we put Oliver to the back of our minds to start with but we were more focused in making sure he was ok because at that point we knew Oliver was safe.

"It wasn't until Andrew was getting moved up to the special care baby unit, they said to us, 'You need to start making arrangements.'

"It was really hard. I would never ever want to do that again."

The couple chose a coffin of cream felted wool for Oliver "because it was a little bit softer" and dressed him in one of the outfits they had ready for his homecoming.

Neighbours, family and friends have been endlessly kind but the grief is still overwhelming sometimes for Debbie.

Sometimes she has to ask a relative to take Andrew for an hour or so to allow her space to cry.

The hospital took pictures of the twins together but Debbie has been unable to look at them so far because of the way she's been told Oliver looks in them.

He is very much part of the family and his mum and dad, from Cambuslang, will speak to Andrew about his brother as he grows up.

Andrew is now thriving and about to celebrate his first Christmas.

His mother describes him as a bright and cheeky wee boy who loves his food.

Recently he had a chest infection and was readmitted to the Royal Children's Hospital, Glasgow, but is otherwise meeting his milestones and doing very well.

The Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity has also been crucial in supporting Debbie and Richard to learn how to celebrate the birth of one child and the death of the other.

The 33-year-old said: "We had names picked out. We tried not to buy stuff too early but we had reached the point where we would be shortly given a C-section date so we had bought clothes.

"Now every time I put Andrew in an outfit I think, 'I have an identical matching one hanging up'.

"I don't think the bereavement service has helped us to understand or to come to terms with our loss yet but it has helped to talk about it out loud and make it real.

"We can cry, we can laugh, we can just have a chat, we can have whatever we need, they're there for us."

It will be a family Christmas for eight and, on Debbie's side, the first time with grandparents as Andrew and Oliver are the first grandchildren to arrive.

Debbie added: "And now we are going to make it through Christmas and have the best time we can with our family."