Meet Orla and Aila
The tiny Christmas miracles born 10 weeks early
One grateful family is celebrating three Christmas miracles after a mum and her newborn twins survived their traumatic arrival.
Premature twins Orla and Aila were unable to breathe unaided after being born 10 weeks early but were kept alive by doctors.
Then, shortly after the girls arrived into the world, mum Sharon Eccles almost died on the operating table after losing the equivalent of all the blood in her body.
Sharon, from Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, hailed hospital staff who ensured her precious twins could spend their first Christmas together with doting brother Sam, two.
She said: “It was terrifying but we have survived. My surgeon worked a miracle to get us all through it.”
Sharon’s waters had broken just 20 weeks into her pregnancy and she was warned she would lose her girls.
“Most babies do not survive after mum’s waters break as labour often follows shortly afterwards,” she said.
“They usually go on to be born too early and small to live. But against amazing odds they held on for another 10 weeks.”
The 36- year- old nurse went into labour at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and was taken to theatre for a Caesarean section. She was conscious throughout and husband Alan, 41, an offshore engineer, held her hand as their tiny babies were delivered.
The twins were swiftly handed to waiting doctors for emergency transfer to incubators.
Moments later, Sharon began to haemorrhage from the caesarean wound and medics battled for five hours to keep her alive.
Sharon recalled: “I didn’t know I had started bleeding badly. I just felt suddenly ill.
“I looked at the anaesthetist and he said, ‘I think you should go for a sleep.’
“I was being given a general anaesthetic for major surgery to save me.
“Alan was led out of theatre by staff as the surgeons got on with stemming the bleeding.
“That was the last thing I remember until I woke six hours later in recovery.
“It was 2.30pm the last time I’d looked at the clock in theatre.
“Seeing it was 8.30pm, as a nurse I knew I must have suffered a serious complication to have been in so long.
“Staff told me I had been operated on for five hours to stop the haemorrhage.”
It was then that Sharon learned she had to be given more than 12 pints of blood. The average woman has less than eight pints in her body.
However, Sharon’s immediate concern was for her twin girls. They were still fighting for their lives in the intensive care unit.
After two days in recovery, nurses wheeled Sharon up to see her daughters. They were surrounded by monitors and were being given vital drugs to help them survive.
Both weighed 2lbs 7oz at birth but managed to hold their own despite their traumatic entry into the world. Back at home, son Sam was being cared for by relatives. Da d Alan said: “I didn’t know how dan
gerously
ill Sharon had been when staff guided me out of the operating theatre.
“I was placed in a nearby room and the midwife kept updating me about Sharon. “It was only when the doctor managed to stem the bleeding and stabilise Sharon that she came through and explained how much danger she was in. I am just so grateful to have a healthy wife and babies at the end of it all.”
The tiny non- identical twins had been kept in separate incubators following their delivery six weeks ago.
Last week, they were reunited in a special shared cot in time for Christmas.
As they were placed together for the first time, little Aila reached out her hand to Orla’s.
Sharon and Alan were overcome with joy.
“Since being placed in the same cot they have come on leaps and bounds,” Sharon smiled.
“Now at 36 weeks, and still four weeks before full term, Orla weighs 4lbs 4oz and Aila 3lbs9oz.
“Even at this young age their little personalities are emerging. Orla is still sleepy and Aila, less so.
“We w o n’t get home for Christmas but that’s not important considering everything we have gone through.
“Christmas Day will be spent in the baby intensive care unit trying to make it as special as possible for Sam and his little sisters.
“Like any two- year- old he has been oblivious to the drama.”
An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: “We are delighted Orla and Aila are progressing so well. It’s testament to the hard work of the team in the neonatal unit. We wish Sharon, Alan and family a very merry Christmas.”