Jessop Wing Sheffield: Parents of premature triplets feel 'blessed' to finally get babies home

Giorgia White and her partner Jamie Revill have thanked the ‘fantastic’ hospital staff who looked after the girls – Atlanta, Rain and Bella – after they were born in Sheffield’s Jessop Wing at just 30 weeks.

The trio required specialist care at Jessops, followed by treatment at Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Chesterfield Royal Hospital, but are now home with their mum and dad in Newbold, Chesterfield, where they are ‘flourishing’.

First-time mum Giorgia said: “When we first found out that I was having triplets it was a huge shock but I can't imagine life without them - our hearts are completely full.”

Describing the triplets’ tough start to life, she explained: “I was bang on 30 weeks when they arrived on May 5. They were born by C-section within a minute of each other at Jessops Hospital in Sheffield.

“We didn't know we were having girls - we wanted a surprise. The first one was Atlanta and she was 3lbs 3oz, then Rain who was 2lbs 8½oz, then Bella who was 2lbs 7oz.

Babies were taken straight to special care after birth

“After they were delivered, the girls were taken straight to special care. Rain and Bella were there for two weeks and transferred to Chesterfield Royal Hospital. Atlanta was still at Jessops for the following week and then transferred to Chesterfield Royal.”

Two days before their babies' official due date of July 14, new parents Jamie and Giorgia took their little girls home.

But three hours later, Rain was back at Chesterfield Royal - the first of the triplets to contract the RSV respiratory virus that causes bronchiolitis.

The following week Bella had to go to Sheffield Children's Hospital where a tube was inserted into her lungs to help her breathe. Atlanta was the last to show signs of the virus and was cared for at Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

Giorgia, aged 30, said: "The doctors explained that because they were premature and quite small, they were quite vulnerable. That was a really scary time for us.

"I would express my milk, go to the hospital in the morning and be there all day. Jamie would come up after work and we'd go home in the evening. It goes against all your maternal instincts to leave them but what everyone did for the girls in both hospitals was fantastic - we can't thank them enough.

"Rain and Atlanta spent about five or six days in hospital. Bella spent two weeks at Sheffield Children's Hospital and was the last to come home about five weeks ago.

‘The girls are strong and have been through a lot’

"We're very blessed to have brought all three of them home. The girls are strong and have been through a lot. Now, touch wood, they are flourishing.”

At the last weigh-ins, Rain was 10lbs 11½ oz, Bella was 11lbs 7½ oz and Atlanta was 12lbs 1½ oz.

The triplets are among 20 great-grandchildren for Giorgia's maternal grandmother, Cristina Marianna De Girolamo, who lives in Chesterfield and is called nonna on account of her Italian heritage. Cristina will be 90 in October.

Giorgia said: "It's been really nice for our loved ones to come and meet the girls and be part of their lives. We've had great help from family and friends.

“We believe Bella and Atlanta look like me and Rain looks like Jamie, although there have been a few comments that they are the perfect mixture of us both.”

‘I can tell them apart… but it is starting to get a little bit more difficult’

Atlanta and Bella are identical twins and Rain is the non-identical one of the three. Giorgia said: "I can tell them apart but as Bella is now catching Atlanta up in weight, it is starting to get a little bit more difficult.

"The girls all have their own personalities, they are trying to smile and they make cooing noises. They generally only cry when they are hungry or in a little bit of discomfort.

"It's really sweet when I'm feeding one of them and the other two are in the chairs in front of me and don't take their eyes off me.

"We're excited to see who they become and what happens as they get a bit older.

"I think for us our family is complete."

Giorgia, a former teaching assistant at St Mary's Primary School in Chesterfield, and Jamie, a business development manager, have been together for five and a half years. They met at the All Inn in Staveley when Giorgia's parents Alan and Vivianna White were running the pub.