"A person's a person no matter how small" Dr Seuss
                                                                                 
This memorial website was created in the memory of our beloved triplets, Henry, Jasper and Evan Smith.   Triplet brothers destined to stick together.

"So they went off together.  But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing."  The House at Pooh Corner, A.A.Milne
                                                               
OUR MIRACLES

Our beloved triplet boys, Henry, Jasper and Evan, made a very early entry into this world and each proved themselves as real miracles. When Henry’s waters broke at 21 weeks gestation we were told that we would deliver three babies too young to be born alive. Henry arrived four days later weighing 430 grams and measuring 25cm. Despite his extreme prematurity he lived for one hour in our arms, and his tiny hands held on tightly to ours. He looked just like his daddy, and he taught us a love that we have never before known. He was perfect.

Against the odds, Jasper and Evan did not follow their big brother into the world that day. With prayers for them from all over the world, as well as the wonderful care from the doctors and midwives at the Royal Hospital for Women, they were able to wait another three weeks to be born. Jasper and Evan arrived safely by emergency caesarian just after 2am on 20th August. Jasper weighed 760 grams and was 31cm long, and Evan weighed 620grams and was 33cm long. By the end of his first week Evan developed a number of serious complications and infections which he fought bravely, but which ultimately proved too much for him. Our hearts broke the day a brain haemmorage shortened our darling Evan’s life to just 10 days. 

Our little boy Jasper put up the greatest of fights to stay with us but in the end it was just too much to ask of him and he joined his brothers at eight weeks and two days. (See 'his legacy').  For the rest of our lives we will always be able to draw inspiration from the amazing fight and spirit that each of our boys showed. We are comforted to think that wherever they are now, little Henry, Jasper and Evan are getting up to mischief – triplet brothers destined to stick together. 

"But of course, it isn't really Goodbye because the Forest will always be there...And anybody who is friendly with Bears can find it."  The House at Pooh Corner, A.A.Milne

In one of the stars
I shall be living
In one of them
I shall be laughing
And so it will be
As if all the stars
Were laughing
When you look
At the sky at night.
The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
                                     
article on 'BUMP' pregnancy website

SOPHIE'S STORY
Last year Sophie Smith gave birth to triplets, Henry, Jasper and Evan. But today, instead of running around after three toddlers, she is running half-marathons to honour their memory. Here is her story…

Sophie Cotton had always loved kids and planned for a big family. The English schoolteacher married her fiance Ashley Smith in Sydney in 2005 and both were over the moon when she fell pregnant a year later.

“I was so excited and thrilled,” she told bump.

“We went for a scan at six weeks and were amazed to see not one, not two, but three hearts beating!’

An overjoyed Sophie burst into tears of happiness and shock.

Over the next few months, Sophie and Ash enjoyed buying a triplet buggy and cot, new fridge, dishwasher, dryer and car to accommodate their ‘instant family’.

Says Sophie:“I was so proud to be pregnant with triplets. People would ask me what I wanted and I’d just say: ‘Three babies’."

But at 21 weeks, Sophie was in a supermarket when her waters broke and she was taken to hospital. She went into premature labour and gave birth to a tiny baby boy, Henry Tim, weighing just 430g.

“We held Henry, he squeezed onto us and gave a little cry,” says Sophie. “He was perfect. Just too small.”

Henry lived for one hour before passing away in his mummy’s arms. Sophie was heartbroken but “I held him for his whole life and that gives me great comfort.”

After that, it was a battle to stay pregnant as long as possible to give Henry’s siblings the best fighting chance.

“There is no intervention given to babies born before week 24, so I prayed. Friends all over the world were praying for us.”

At 24 weeks, after three weeks of bed rest, a tiny foot slipped through Sophie’s cervix and she was rushed off for an emergency Caesar. Two little brothers, blond Evan and dark-haired Jasper were rushed to Intensive Care because they were too small to be able to breathe on their own.

Weighing less than one kilo each, the boys had a long fight ahead of them. But babies that young had survived before and Sophie and Ash were optimistic.

After 10 days, Sophie was released from hospital. But in the early hours of the following morning, she and Ash were called back in. Evan was extremely ill and for the first time, the doctors let Sophie cuddle him. That night, he passed away of a brain haemorrhage.

Bereaved for the second time in a month, Sophie spent every minute of each day with Jasper or expressing milk which was fed to him through a tube into his tummy. Each evening, Ash would join them and with each day that passed, their hope grew.

“At one stage Jasper’s heart stopped and we thought we would lose him,” says Sophie. “But he came back and I knew he was a fighter. I always believed he would grow up knowing about his brothers and that he was a triplet.”

But because of his prematurity, Jasper’s lungs were weak and they kept collapsing. Little Jasper was 58 days old when his lungs collapsed again and this time, the doctors couldn’t revive him. In his short life, Sophie had held Jasper four times and given him one precious breastfeed. After her third funeral in three months, Sophie returned home with her husband. Expecting to be run off her feet looking after triplets – she was instead facing a black hole.

“It was terrible because after that, I was just devastated. I couldn’t face going back to work. Life was just a blur.”

Sophie busied herself making photo albums of her sons and compiling footage of them onto a DVD. Some friends planted a tree in the boys’ memory in Sydney's Centennial Park and she and Ash talked about them every day but it wasn’t enough for Sophie.

“I desperately wanted something to keep their memory alive. They had been with us for such a short time and yet they had changed our lives in such a huge way. When I was contemplating the terrible, empty months ahead a friend suggested I try and get fit.”

Her suggestion planted a seed in Sophie’s mind.

Having always loved running, Sophie decided to run a half-marathon to raise money for Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women, where Henry, Evan and Jasper had been so well looked after. She decided to look for runners to join her and placed leaflets in local cafes.

Says Sophie: “I was overwhelmed by the emails and phone calls that I received from both friends and complete strangers wanting to join me in running in memory of my sons. Everybody had a story and a personal reason for running. Some had children whose lives had been saved in the Royal’s Newborn Care Centre. Two runners had begun their own lives in humidicribs as premature babies themselves.”

On May 20, Sophie completed the Sydney Morning Herald Half-Marathon. Joining her were 97 friends and strangers helping her honour her sons’ memory.

Sophie had hoped to raise $20,000 – the cost of one humidicrib. But her group of runners raised a staggering $80,000, to which Ash’s colleagues at BT Financial Group added another $20,000. This was enough to purchase five humidicribs.

Sophie was amazed and touched by people’s generosity: “I was so overwhelmed and delighted that so many people wanted to help.”

Today it’s more than 12 months since Sophie’s and Ash’s babies passed away.

“Last year was the happiest and saddest of my life,” she says. "I think about what beautiful babies I had and I feel blessed to have met each of them. I’m very proud that they have inspired people to reach out and help and save other babies through the purchase of life-saving equipment.

“Our little boys put up the greatest of fights to stay with us but in the end it was just too much to ask. For the rest of our lives we will always be able to draw inspiration from the amazing fight and spirit that each of our boys showed.
We are comforted to think that wherever they are now, little Henry, Jasper and Evan are getting up to mischief – triplet brothers destined to stick together.”

If you would like to make a donation to the Henry, Jasper & Evan Smith Trust Fund, at the Royal Hospital for Women Foundation please go to http://www.ourcommunity.com.au/giving/appeal_details.form?appealId=1393

Click on 'Make a one-off donation' and follow the prompts. Thank you for your support.

We would like to thank Dr Siobhan Lee, Dr Lyn Townsend, Dr Kei Lui, Dr John Smyth, Dr Meredith Ward, Dr Jeff Aiken, Dr Sandra, Dr Annette, Dr Lolitha, Dr Ravi, Dr Swapnell, Dr Manoj and all the doctors at the Newborn Care Cenre, Royal Hospital for Women for their enormous efforts to save Jasper and Evan's lives.  

We would like to thank Allison, Maria, Michelle, Sarah, Claire, Wendy, Tenille, Deb, Nick, Andreja, Anne-Marie, Mary, Jenny, Cara, Janelle, Jo, Erica, Tanya and all the nurses who so lovingly and tenderly cared for Henry, Jasper and Evan, and worked so hard to try and save Evan and Jasper's lives.  

We would like to thank Anne Mayo who helped us through the most difficult of days.