When Emily and Justin England learned they were expecting twin girls, they were thrilled — and a little nervous. But at just 26 weeks pregnant, Emily went into preterm labor. Their local hospital in Ada, Ohio, couldn’t care for babies born that early, so Emily was sent to Toledo, where she was admitted for two weeks as doctors worked to delay delivery.
“I was four centimeters dilated,” Emily recalls. “They were trying to keep the girls from coming. With me being small and carrying multiples, it was risky.”
Once Emily was stable enough to leave the hospital, her care team encouraged her to stay close. She needed regular appointments with maternal-fetal medicine specialists and had to be ready to return to the hospital at a moment’s notice.
That’s when the Englands found the Ronald McDonald House of Northwest Ohio.
“It was such a relief,” Emily says. “If anything happened, I was basically in the parking lot of the hospital. We could stay close for all my appointments, and we didn’t have to worry about where we’d eat or sleep.”
At the time, the Englands’ son was just nine months old. Between grandparents helping at home and visits to the House, he became part of the Ronald McDonald House community, playing with other young children and enjoying the playroom’s piano. “It was so nice for him to be around kids closer to his age,” Emily says. “And for us, meeting other parents in similar situations made us feel less alone.”
Emily delivered Willow and Winter at just over 35 weeks. Both were healthy enough to skip the NICU, and after a short hospital stay, the family headed home. But the memories of their time at the House stayed with them — from sharing meals with new friends to celebrating milestones together.
While in Toledo, the Englands experienced their son’s first solar eclipse, celebrated Emily’s first Mother’s Day, and joined in on special activities provided by volunteers. “It’s the little things that help clear your head during stressful times,” Emily says.
When asked to describe the Ronald McDonald House in a few words, Emily doesn’t hesitate: “Saving grace.”
“I don’t know what we would’ve done without it,” she says. “We would have had to rely on family, but they have their own lives and jobs. The House gave us a place to stay, food to eat, and people in our corner when we needed it most.”