‘Miracle’ twins born at 25 weeks had to be wrapped in plastic bags to keep them alive
Twin brothers Arley and Ayden were miraculously kept alive by being wrapped in plastic bags when they were born at just 25 weeks after a 'perfect' pregnancy gone wrong.
Mum-of-four Toni Lacey was thrilled when she first discovered she was pregnant with twins after suffering a heartbreaking miscarriage last July.
But things took a turn for the worst when Toni, 27, was diagnosed with uterine dehiscence during a routine scan in January.
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Uterine dehiscence is a rare but life-threatening complication occurring in less than one percent of pregnancies where a woman's uterine wall tears open. It's typically more among parents who have had a caesarean.
Toni was rushed to hospital where she stayed for three weeks until twins Arley and Ayden were born, weighing just 1.5lbs and 1.6lbs respectively.
"It was really scary and horrible. It was just a worry of whether they were actually going to survive or not with them being so early," said the mum.
"I'm a pretty laid-back person to be honest so I took it in my stride. But it was horrible being away from my other two children. They were just expecting me to go for a scan and then I never came home."
"As soon as they were born they took them straight off [me], they didn't cry or anything. It was just really quiet and quite scary to be honest, I was just waiting for them to say that they're ok."
The stay-at-home mum says they didn't fit into any clothes until they were three months old and eventually wore size 3-4lb outfits.
Mum Toni and dad Ryan's troubles didn't stop there, though.
Shortly after being born, little Arley was diagnosed with necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) - a serious condition where tissue in the bowel becomes inflamed - and had his first surgery at just four days old.
Meanwhile, Ayden suffered a grade four bleed on his brain, with Toni and Ryan still waiting to see the full extent of any damage.
After being told her boys may not make it, Toni has just celebrated the milestone of them turning 100 days old, and she's looking forward to eventually being able to bring them home.
"The doctors were honest with us and warned us that they might not survive, that it was going to be a really long journey and that it was going to be difficult," said Toni
"The doctor was saying how small they were, that their skin was literally like paper. When they were born they had to put them in plastic bags to keep them warm.
"They were literally tiny. My hand would cover their whole body when they were in the incubators one of their whole hands barely fitted around their dad's one finger.
"They weighed less than a bag of sugar and were about the length of a banana."
Today, Arley and Ayden are still in hospital being treated for other health issues.
"They've been through so much. They're not ready to come home yet and are still in the hospital at the moment.
"Arley's waiting for his stoma to be reversed and Ayden is still having trouble with breathing, he's still having tube feeds and is not able to drink from the bottle yet.
"They came so early I didn't really have much stuff for them but now it's just strange that I've got everything ready for them, but keep coming home without them.
"I'm looking forward to finally having them home and hoping that they will be in the next couple of months."
Ali Condon