Quad parents grateful for hospital's home-from-home

Jodie and Lyde were able to stay in accommodation on hospital grounds while their quadruplets were treated

A couple who stayed at a "home away from home" facility as their quadruplets were treated in intensive care have said they will be "forever grateful".

Ronald McDonald House in Oxford marked its five-year anniversary on Wednesday with a visit by the Duchess of Edinburgh.

It provides free accommodation for families with children at Oxford Children's Hospital.

Jodie Keeley, 33, and her partner Lyde Darien, 31, from Northampton, welcomed naturally conceived quadruplets in May, but they were about three months premature.

The couple spent 14 weeks at the house while their three daughters Xyliana, Xyla, Xylia, and son Xyri, were treated on the neonatal intensive care unit.

The centre is one of 14 operated by Ronald McDonald House Charities UK, which aims to keep parents close to their children while they are undergoing treatment.

The 62-bedroom facility is on the grounds of the John Radcliffe Hospital.

The charity said it provided a "place to sleep, cook, and retain some sense of normal life - a lifeline for families at a very stressful time, especially when they are far from home".

The Oxford house opened in April 2020 following several years of planning, but there was no official launch because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ms Keeley and Mr Darien's babies were born at 25 weeks, though a full term pregnancy is normally between 37 and 42.

Their weights ranged from 490g to 710g when they were born, with the couple saying they felt "helpless" at first.

"You have to just sit and watch and put your trust in the doctors and nurses which is difficult, walking away every day," Jodie said.

She describes her children's stay in intensive care as a "constant rollercoaster, back and forth".

"It was horrible, we just couldn't take our babies home. Without Ronald McDonald I don't know what we would have done," she said.

"We live an hour and 10 minutes away and that's without traffic… but the thought of being away from one baby, let alone four babies.

"Our journey would have been very different and this place made it a lot easier."

The babies were born at 25 weeks, though a full term pregnancy is normally between 37 and 42

The quadruplets are now living at home with mum and dad, though Ms Keeley said life was "very surreal".

She said: "Sometimes I'll be sat on the sofa and look at them and think 'how is there four babies here? This is not normal'.

"But it's our normal."

Last year Ronald McDonald House in Oxford accommodated 1,110 families, who stayed for an average of 15 nights.

The charity says families staying there live an average of 58 miles away.

The longest-stay family checked in on 19 July 2023 and checked out on 7 April this year, a total of 628 nights.

The facility marked its five-year anniversary with a visit by the Duchess of Edinburgh