A mum who spent last Christmas in hospital after her son was born 12 weeks early has made gift bags for families facing a similar fate this year.

At just 28 weeks, Phoebe Morris from Shadoxhurst gave birth to twin boys Ronnie and Dennie after an emergency c-section last October.

Her pregnancy had been complicated as she suffered from twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome which meant Ronnie was not getting the nutrients he needed.

Dennie spent the first few hours of his life wired up to machines in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the William Harvey Hospital but as Ronnie was so poorly, Miss Morris, 22, and her partner Max Hyder, 23, sadly had just 17 hours with him before he passed away.

Dennie continued his journey in hospital for another 81 days.

Things were looking up when he started growing and feeding from a bottle and was eventually moved to a special care ward.

But unfortunately he again became unwell when nurses found problems with his bowel and he needed specialist treatment in Brighton.

To make matters worse, Dennie caught Covid-19 and had to spend his first Christmas in hospital.

Miss Morris, a self-employed carer, said: "I could stay in a room with him on a paediatric ward, but I could not leave the room.

"I had never been left with my son alone so I was petrified, he was nil by mouth and on fluids which made him swell up.

"On December 23 I was woken up by all these alarms going off and I looked at him and he was grey. He had stopped breathing.

"Nurses came rushing in and started doing CPR and I ran out the room screaming and I didn't know what to do but thankfully they were able to bring him back.

"At this point I was just so shocked at how my little boy had got through all of this, it was truly heartbreaking to watch."

During this time, the family were given a hamper full of presents and essential items which they say "meant the world to them".

Now, a year later Miss Morris and Mr Hyder, a carpenter, have decided to give back by creating similar gift bags for families spending Christmas in hospital with seriously ill children.

They handed 24 care packages containing handmade blankets, baby grows, shampoos and socks to staff at the neonatal unit at the William Harvey to pass on to families on Christmas Day.

Miss Morris said: "Last Christmas we had no family around, we couldn’t play games, and didn’t have Christmas dinner so when we got the hamper it meant everything even though it was only small.

"We have been planning to make our own since the day Dennie came home and my mother-in-law Lynn Hyder has been such a big help.

"It means a lot that we were finally able to do this because I really wanted to give back."

On New Year's Eve, the family were moved back to the William Harvey and from there, Dennie went from strength to strength.

Miss Morris said: "He must have thought 'that’s enough now' because he looked so much healthier and started to demand feed very quickly.

"One day he wouldn’t let us put his tube back in and that was it from then, he was ready for discharge.

"The excitement was unbelievable, we couldn’t believe it was finally happening."

Dennie returned to his home in Shadoxhurst the day after his due date on January 8.

He recently celebrated his first birthday and his parents say he is a thriving, happy and cheeky little boy.