Premature Twins Separated at Birth Immediately Hug as They Meet for the First Time Outside the Womb
All Ann Le wanted was for her twin girls to be healthy after arriving 12 weeks early, so when they shared their first out-of-womb interaction on her chest, the moment was even more rewarding.
During her pregnancy, Le learned that she was carrying mono-chorionic mono-amniotic twins. The condition, referred to as “momo” twins, happens when the babies share an amniotic sac and placenta, according to Very Well Family.
Ahead of the delivery, doctors explained that Le’s pregnancy was very high-risk, so the Australian mother and her husband Jason Poon were simply hoping for both their girls to survive.
When Olivia and Zoe arrived three months early in January, the babies were instantly transferred to separate incubators in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to regulate their breathing. It was nearly a month before the girls finally met face-to-face outside of the womb.
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.
“My heart just instantly melted,” Le told Today of the precious first-time encounter. “After all the difficult weeks of keeping them apart, I was so relieved they could be reunited and had an ingrained bond.”
“Olivia was placed on my chest first, followed by Zoe who reached out her left arm in preparation to hug her sister,” Le added to the outlet. “They both just laid on my chest and snuggled up to each other for a while. Everything was perfect — we finally felt like a family.”
It was not just the twins that made a special connection at that moment, it was also the first time that Le got to have skin-to-skin contact with her little girls.
“Unfortunately because they were so little, I missed out on immediate skin to skin with them as they had to be taken to intensive care for breathing support,” Le said on Instagram reflecting on the moments shortly after she delivered the babies via C-section. “But I knew this coming into surgery and was just happy they were alive and kicking!”
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Even though the girls are less than 2 months old, they’re already learning that sisters can occasionally get on each other’s nerves.
“Sometimes the girls can’t stand being next to each other and they end up like this!” Le jokingly wrote on Instagram next to a photo with the girls on separate sides of their dad’s chest.
She also added to Today that “sometimes they love each other and are happy to enjoy an afternoon nap, and other times they just irritate each other and end up pushing each other away. It’s quite hilarious to see.”
Though having two babies in the NICU can be incredibly difficult — the girls reportedly will need heart surgery soon, despite their improving health, according to Today — Le said the trying experience is worthwhile no matter what comes their way.
“Life with babies in NICU is pretty damn hard. It’s exhausting, stressful and always unpredictable,” Le wrote on Instagram. “But when I look down and see these two, I forget about how difficult things are and realize just how lucky we are to have these two ❤”
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