Twins almost always have some sort ᴏf bond. And their adorable reaction will melt your heart! During her pregnancy, Ann and her husband Jason Poon knew their pregnancy was ʜɪɢʜ ʀɪsᴋ as the girls would be ᴍᴏɴᴏᴄʜᴏʀɪᴏɴɪᴄ ᴍᴏɴᴏᴀᴍɴɪᴏᴛɪᴄ twins, a rare condition in which twins are always identical, share the placenta and the ᴀᴍɴɪᴏᴛɪᴄ sᴀᴄ, but have two separate umbilical cords.
Monoamniotic twins develop when an embryo doesn’t split until after the formation of the ᴀᴍɴɪᴏᴛɪᴄ sᴀᴄ at abᴏᴜᴛ 9-13 days after fertilisation. These ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴄɪᴇs are usually ʜɪɢʜ ʀɪsᴋ and can lead to umbilical cord complications, abnormal amniotic fluid levels, low birth weight, or even twin-twin transfusion syndrome, when abnormal ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ vessel connections form in the placenta and allow ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ to flow unevenly between the babies.
Every fortnight from the 10 week mark Ann had ultrasounds to ensure the girls were progressing as they should be. She said :” A little after the 26 week markI was admitted into the Royal Women’s Hospital where the plan was to monitor me three times a day for six weeks with the intention of booking me in for a caesarean at the 32 week mark. But they didn’t make it that far and after routine monitoring noticed one of the babies was in distress, the doctor decided they both needed to come out at 28 weeks and five days.
I was devastated as I knew they were going to be premature but not by this much. It wasn’t long before they pulled Olivia ᴏᴜᴛ who let ᴏᴜᴛ a loud ᴄʀʏ. Zoe came next but was breech, so after a bit of pulling, the doctor managed to get her out. She didn’t cry or move which made us really concerned. Both girls were quickly taken by the midwives to the paediatric team for assessment. Abᴏᴜᴛ 10 minutes later one of the midwives came back and told us “your girls are doing well”. After 6.5 months of pure anxiety felt like I could finally breathe again. ” Like most babies who enter ⓃⒾⒸⓊ, the girls have had a roller coaster of a journey. There are days where they show incredible signs of improvement and other days where they appear to deteriorate.
While introducing her premature babies for the very first time since their birth last week, Le’s daughters laid on her chest side-by-side. She was immediately taken aback, however, when Zoe lovingly placed her arm over her sister’s back and snuggled into her.
“27 days after birth the girls finally got to meet. Zoe immediately went in for the hug” Le wrote on Instagram, alongside the adorable photo that’s guaranteed to melt your heart.
And “Unfortunately, because they were so little, I ᴍɪssᴇᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ on immediate skin to skin with them as they had to be taken to intensive care for breathing support. But once they were sᴛʀᴏɴɢ enough to be together the pair were ʀᴇᴜɴɪᴛᴇᴅ. Still surrounded by tubes and braces, they reached ᴏᴜᴛ for ᴏne another in a heartwarming ᴇᴍʙʀᴀᴄᴇ. My heart ᴊᴜsᴛ instantly melted. After all the difficult weeks of keeping them apart, I was so relieved they could be ʀᴇᴜɴɪᴛᴇᴅ and had an ɪɴɢʀᴀɪɴᴇᴅ ʙᴏɴᴅ. Olivia was placed on my ᴄʜᴇsᴛ first, followed by Zoe who reached ᴏᴜᴛ her left arm in preparation to hug her sister. They both ᴊᴜsᴛ ʟᴀɪᴅ on my ᴄʜᴇsᴛ and sɴᴜɢɢʟᴇᴅ up to each other for a while. Everything was perfect and we finally felt like a family.”
