My sister MADE ME A MUM

Tina Heinnickel can’t thank her big sister enough for all she’s done

- LUCY LAING, FRANCES LEATE

My sister Jessica is two years older than me, and growing up, we had a stereotypical sister relationship – best friends one minute, then bickering the next over whose turn it was to pick what we watched on TV. Nowadays though, I’ve come to value her more than I ever thought possible.

As Jessica and I got older and left home, we lived independent lives, with Jessica meeting her husband and having children, while I worked as a photographer, and married my husband Jeremy in 2010. Like most newlyweds, talk between Jeremy and me soon turned to having children but after three years of trying without success, and fertility tests that were inconclusive, we began to worry I would never fall pregnant.

We started to use our savings to have IVF treatment. By now, Jessica and her husband Mike, 35, had two children, Addy, two, and a newborn, Emma, and Jeremy and I loved being Auntie and Uncle, but that longing for a child of our own was so intense. By January 2016, we’d harvested five healthy embryos and I’d had one implanted. Then 10 days later, I thought our run of bad luck was over for good when a pregnancy test was positive. I went through the next months, despite the nausea and tiredness, in a whirlwind of excitement and anticipation. We knew from tests that we were having a boy and seeing his tiny heartbeat flicker at each scan was incredible. We decided to name him Jack.

Everything felt perfect only, at 23 weeks, in June 2016, I suffered with terrible swelling, my face puffy and my ankles enormous. My doctor confirmed that my blood pressure had rocketed and I was suffering from pre-eclampsia – a serious condition in pregnancy that can be fatal if left untreated.

‘WE LONGED FOR OUR OWN CHILD’