Mum who had nine miscarriages had two miracle babies in less than a year

A couple who spent last Christmas (2018) praying for their premature miracle baby to pull through spent this year's festivities with their two babies.

Simone and Chris Austin became parents to little Elena in October last year, who was born at 24 weeks and was the size of a mobile phone.

After having nine miscarriages before falling pregnant, Simone spent Christmas 2018 in bits at her daughter's hospital bedside, never knowing whether she'd ever celebrate with her.

But this Christmas, she has the family she'd always dreamed of - after little Elena pulled through - and the couple were surprised after discovering Simone had actually fallen pregnant just weeks after Elena's birth.

This Christmas, they have two little babies to complete their family, Damien, 18 weeks, alongside Simone's older son, Joey, six.

The mum-of-three from Borehamwood, Herts, said: “Last year we barely saw Elena on Christmas Day as we tried to make things as magical as possible for Joey.

“The whole family was at our house and I just broke down and wanted to see my daughter.

“We saw her for an hour and then we went for Christmas dinner at Chris’s mum’s and we had a picture of her on the table so she was kind of with us.

“This year is going to be completely different - we even have an extra one!

“I am very emotional, I was crying wrapping presents- we didn’t get the chance to do much last year.

“I am very happy, I got everything money can’t buy, I feel very lucky.”

Simone had nine miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy, had given up trying for children after she was suffering from undiagnosed lupus and Elhers Danlos Syndrome.

Simone added: “It was heart-breaking, all I ever dreamt of was becoming a mum again."

Elena was given just a 55% chance of survival and she had to stay in hospital until mid-January 2019.

In the meantime Simone started suspecting she might be pregnant again but thought it would be another miscarriage.

Simone added: “I went out shopping with my friend, bought a pregnancy test and did it in a toilet.

“I surprised Chris, put the test in a little box and wrote in the card ‘oops we messed up’.

“He thought I was winding him up - we were petrified, we weren’t ready to go through that sort of thing again.

“But we went for a scan and there was a heartbeat so that was it.

“It went well with Elena I didn’t know whether I was giving birth to a baby I was going to keep or I was going to say goodbye too.

"Bringing him home felt very surreal, it hadn't sunk in that we were having another baby but I fell in love with him instantly."

Unlike last years' sad Christmas, the happy family was excited to celebrate this year (2019), spending time with the grandparents.