Premature twins defy the odds to celebrate first birthdays
Grace and her twin sister Amelia were born prematurely on October 13, 2017, at just 27 weeks’ gestation. Amelia weighed 880g while Grace weighed 1300g before her weight dropped dramatically.
They arrived early after contracting twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) — a condition affecting about 10 per cent of identical twins in New Zealand.
It can affect identical twins who share a placenta (monochorionic twins). It occurs when there is an imbalance in the placenta vessels connecting the twins, meaning that blood doesn’t flow evenly between them.
“It’s been a crazy year. They both came home on oxygen tanks. The family has left the house twice this year. A couple of weeks ago I went to see my sister and visited my parents who live two streets away. We go to the doctors or to hospital — that is about the extent of it.”
You can read the full article here
Thanks so much for sharing your personal story!
We get a lot of positive feedback from families in a neonatal unit who read these stories and feel strength, hope and positivity knowing that they are not alone going through these experiences and feeling certain emotions.
If you would like to discuss sharing the story of your neonatal journey, we’d love to hear from you.
Support Us
If you want to help our support of families going through the stress and anxiety of a neonatal journey, you can donate via the link below.
- The Little Miracles Trust provides support to families of premature or sick full-term babies as they make their journey through Neonatal Intensive Care, the transition home, and onwards. We do not receive any Government funding and are entirely reliant on the generosity of individuals, companies and organisations in the form of donations, value-in-kind donations, grants, sponsorship and fundraising events to supplement operating costs and fund our services and initiatives.
- As we are a registered charity (CC56619) with Charities Services New Zealand we will send you an IRD compliant tax receipt – this will happen automatically by return email.