When former Deniliquin woman Karyn Werner went in to labour on May 22, she should have been excited to finally meet her twins.
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But instead she and partner Daniel Newman, who now live in Shepparton, were awash with fear.
The twins were not due for another 12 weeks.
The early birth came just weeks after Karyn was told she would have to remain at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Melbourne until their August 14 due date, when earlier in May she noticed she was leaking amniotic fluid.
Jasper Lenny and Flynn Maxwell Newman were born at 12.25pm and 12.26pm respectively on May 22.
They were immediately admitted to the Mercy Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit with Jasper weighing a mere 1055g (2lb 5oz), and Flynn even smaller at 1043g (2lb 5oz).
It was not until last week both boys were able to breathe on their own.
And while they still have some way to go, Karyn said they were ‘‘in the clear for now’’.
‘‘They’ve both been progressing well,’’ Karyn said.
‘‘They both had a brain scan which showed that Jasper had a Grade 1 bleed to the brain, but the doctor isn’t too concerned at this point.
‘‘They’re both breathing on their own and are exclusively on breast milk now.
‘‘We’re just waiting for more scans and tests, so hopefully there are no issues and we can get transferred back home to Shepparton (hospital) in a few weeks,’’ she said.
‘‘There’s nothing they can’t overcome,’’ Dan added.
It was on May 3 that Karyn was admitted to hospital because of an amniotic fluid leak.
Due to a high risk of infection — to both herself and the twins — she was admitted to the Mercy Hospital for Women and expected to stay until at least August.
‘‘I called the (Shepparton) hospital about the leak and they said that I had to be admitted to hospital as a membrane must have been ruptured,’’ Karyn said.
‘‘I was transferred to Mercy Hospital and everything was fine for the first two weeks, until the Tuesday night before the boys were born.
‘‘Just after midnight I had a big gush of fluid, so they thought that it might be the babies shifting and I was having small contractions.
‘‘I was put into the birthing suite just so they could measure the boys’ heart rates and my contractions.
‘‘They could see that my cervix was open and that I was 3cm dilated, so the decision was made that the boys had to be delivered.’’
While Jasper was in the right position for a natural birth, Flynn was still laying horizontally.
The decision was made by the doctors to perform a caesarean.
This was a stressful time for both Karyn and Dan, who were ‘‘nowhere near prepared’’ for the arrival of their boys.
‘‘I was going okay until they got me into surgery,’’ Karyn said.
‘‘Dan couldn’t come in and I was so concerned it wasn’t going to be okay.
‘‘We hadn’t been to any birthing classes or anything so I didn’t think I was prepared.
‘‘I didn’t know what to expect and hadn’t had the chance to learn how a C-section works.
‘‘When they got Jasper out I wasn’t okay until I heard his first cry.
‘‘The first couple of days were also tough as we weren’t able to hold them as they were in intensive care. I was able to hold Jasper for the first time on the Friday (after he was born) and then held Flynn for the first time on the Saturday after they started breathing on their own.
‘‘We are now getting that time to bond with both boys.’’
The wait to hold his sons was longer for Dan, who had the flu at the time the babies were born.
‘‘I got my first cuddle with Jasper on Thursday (May 30),’’ he said.
‘‘I was also able to bring my daughter Harlow to meet them over the weekend so that was exciting.
‘‘It was a pretty stressful time in the build up to the boys being born, but we are just taking it day-by-day.
‘‘Every boring day in hospital was good because it meant there were no complications.
‘‘The staff here (at the Mercy) have been fantastic and I wouldn’t trust our boys with anyone else.
‘‘The hospital could use a bit of extra support so I would encourage everyone to donate money to the Mercy Hospital for Women so they can continue to provide such great care.’’
To donate to the hospital visit https://www.mercyhealthfoundation.org.au/.
Karyn — who is the daughter of Sue and Trevor Werner, of Deniliquin — said while they hope to be back in Shepparton soon, it will still be some time before they can bring the twins to visit family and friends in Deniliquin.