Identical Twin Girls Born Prematurely Celebrate Their First Christmas at Home

17.01.2025

Lucy and Lilly, identical twin girls born prematurely at 31 weeks, arrived home just in time to enjoy their first Christmas. The twins, daughters of Queensland couple Melissa and Matthew Heald, spent a total of 125 days in hospital before finally being able to join their family for the holidays.

Picture: Children's Health Queensland

Melissa’s pregnancy was monitored closely due to high-risk factors, including concerns about twin anaemia polycythaemia sequence and twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, conditions that can affect twins sharing a placenta. Starting from 18 weeks, she had regular hospital visits every two weeks to monitor her health and the health of her babies.

Born via emergency caesarean section, Lucy weighed 1.4 kg and Lilly weighed just 867 grams. Both needed intensive care, with Lucy spending 50 days and Lilly 75 days in the Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU). Lilly underwent surgery for a bowel blockage shortly after birth and had a second procedure at 64 days old. Fortunately, her condition improved significantly after the second surgery, allowing her to leave the NCCU just over a week later.

Their older siblings, Billie, 12, and Cooper, 8, were thrilled to have their baby sisters home. The family gathered from across Australia to celebrate this special occasion together. 

Lucy and Lilly are part of a growing number of premature babies who are surviving and thriving at earlier stages of gestation. Studies have shown significant improvements in survival rates for extremely premature infants. For example, a London-based study found that the survival rate for babies born at 22 and 23 weeks increased from 0% in the early 1980s to 54% by the late 1990s. More recent advances have led to changes in clinical guidelines, allowing medical intervention for babies born as early as 22 weeks.