Pregnant mum's 'strange feeling something wasn't quite right'

By Jo Abi|

Becki Van der Land and husband Cees, from the UK, always knew they wanted to have children.

"It was part of our wedding vows to have children, and we were thinking three," Becki, 35, tells Chronicle Live.

They were thrilled when they welcomed their first child 18 months ago, daughter Ottilie.

The following year, the couple discovered they were expecting twins.

ultra sound twins
The couple discovered they were expecting twins. (Just Giving)

"I sort of knew straight away it was twins because it felt completely different to my daughter," she says.

They were told they were expecting a son and a daughter.

"I also had a strange feeling that something wasn't quite right," Becki says. "On the first scan they both looked perfect, but at 12 weeks the little girl looked smaller, so we had scans every week."

She says her daughter was "showing signs of struggle".

"I also had a strange feeling that something wasn't quite right."

Two months later, their daughter's heart stopped beating. They have since been told the baby had a chromosomal translocation called 15q26-qter deletion syndrome and had lost her IGF1R gene, which meant she had severe inter-uterine growth restriction.

Becki has now made the difficult choice to carry both of her children to full term to give her son the best chance of survival.

"The death of a twin puts you at high risk of also losing the surviving co-twin so we were again warned to prepare for the worst," she says.

Both babies are due in four months.

Rebecca Van Der Land pregnant with twins
Rebecca Van Der Land will give birth in four months. (Facebook)

"She'll be born at the same time as her brother, hopefully in four months' time," said Becki. "It shouldn't impact the birth too much, except psychologically.

"I'm feeling really positive - it's what you make of it, so it's still a very positive experience.

"It's going to be the only time we get to spend any time with her."

The couple are now working to raise funds for their local hospital fetal medical unit to thank staff for their care at RVI Newcastle.

"We can't thank all the staff enough. Their care made the world of difference at one of the worst times of our lives."

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