Daily Mail - 16.08.2019

Daily Mail, Friday, August 16, 2019
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Picture of joy:

The Powells

with Ruben,

left, and Jenson

yesterday

From left: Ian Copley, Jennie, Rich, the twins, Jane Parke, Niall Hanson and Ivan Hamilton

By Liz Hull

nancy when she went into labour

on August 16 last year.

Two years earlier, the couple’s

son, Linnie, died after being born

at 23 weeks as a result of compli-

cations from a streptococcal B

infection. They feared history was

repeating itself. ‘I felt some pain

and just knew that something

wasn’t right,’ Mrs Powell said.

‘We went straight to hospital,

and it was suddenly all too famil-

iar... I was having contractions

and my blood results indicated an

infection.’ She said: ‘Every deci-

able to provide specialist care.

The John Radcliffe Hospital in

Oxford agreed to help, and the

HM Coastguard helicopter, based

in Newquay, was scrambled.

Jenson and Ruben were deliv-

ered by Caesarean section the

next day, and had a series of oper-

ations over the following months.

Mr Powell, who works in the tel-

ecoms industry, said: ‘The boys

had it all – infections, more than 20

blood transfusions, sepsis, pneu-

monia, eye injections and laser

surgery, hernia reversal, you name

it. Today, the boys are thriving.’

The Brighton couple were thrilled

to meet helicopter captain Jorg

Brunner and his team – Ivan Ham-

ilton, Ian Copley and Niall Hanson

• and midwife Jane Parke, and
  show them the boys had survived.

sion made by the people who were

looking after us ensured that our

boys survived and are here today’.

Doctors in Truro began treating

Mrs Powell with steroids to boost

the babies’ underdeveloped lungs

and searched for a neo-natal unit

A watched kettle? We wait four months for it to boil

Page 

LIFE’S GREAT TIME-WASTERS

Food to cook

Children

Partners

Slow technology

Being on hold

Queues

Adverts on TV

Kettle to boil

Traffic lights

Other people to

finish eating

Time in

months

16.

The things that

keep us waiting

The phone to ring

Friends

Time in

months

The things that

keep us waiting

12.

6.

5.

4.

4.

4.

4.

3.

3.

3.

Buses or trains 3.

2.

To use the

bathroom

3

IF you’ve ever paced up and down Daily Mail Reporter

in frustration while the rest of your

family takes forever to get ready

for an outing, this may not come

as a complete surprise.

Apparently we spend nearly 20

months of our life waiting for our

partners and children.

A survey has found that the average

Briton spends almost seven years

waiting around – about 11 per cent of

their whole life.

Topping the list of things we wait for

is food being cooked (17 months of

our life), followed by children (

months) and our partners (6.

months). Other major time-wasters

include slow technology (5.5 months),

queuing (4.5 months) and boiling

kettles (almost four months), accord-

ing to the poll.

It seems that things have got worse

over time, with one in eight people (

per cent) claiming waiting times have

doubled over the last ten years.

But the way we spend our time whil-

ing away the minutes has changed. In

the past, we would read (26 per cent)

or play games on our phones (13 per

cent). But today, if we are not silently

cursing (16 per cent), we use our

smart phones for online shopping (

per cent) or scrolling through their

social media (31 per cent). In the sur-

vey of 2,000 Britons by Privilege Insur-

ance, when asked how they would

prefer to use this time, 29 per cent

would spend it with their families.

Meanwhile, 22 per cent said they

would rather be making some more

money, and 26 per cent would try a

hobby. The survey showed that 22 per

cent would prefer to be sleeping

instead of waiting, rising to 34 per

cent among millennials.

However, 31 per cent of us do admit

to enjoying waiting for things to hap-

pen, and just over half of parents of

children aged three and under would

also agree that waiting is their only

chance for peace and quiet.

WHEN Jennie Powell went into

labour dangerously early while on

holiday in Cornwall, doctors knew

they had to act fast to save the

twin boys she was carrying.

Thinking quickly, they arranged for

a coastguard helicopter to take her to

a specialist neo-natal unit 240 miles

away in Oxford.

The babies, named Jenson and Ruben,

were born the following day – 18 weeks

premature and each weighing around

1lb, the same as half a bag of sugar.

And despite being given less than a 30

per cent chance of survival, both boys

pulled through – and are the earliest pre-

mature twin boys born in Britain who

have survived.

Mrs Powell, 41, her husband Rich, 42,

and the twins were yesterday reunited

Survivors: Jennie Powell holds twins Jenson and Ruben

‘Defied every set of

odds they were given’

with the helicopter crew and medical

staff who helped save them – ahead of

their first birthday tomorrow.

Mrs Powell said she would be forever

grateful for the care and support they

have received. ‘It really is a story of hope

and miracles,’ she added. ‘They defied

every set of odds that they were given.’

Mrs Powell, a marketing manager, was

just 22 weeks and five days into her preg-

Back with copter

crew that saved

them, twins born

weighing 1lb each