Premature twin girls who were born three days apart and spent more than 130 days each in intensive care have finally returned home from the hospital to be with their grateful mom and dad.
Mother Taylor Davis, 27, gave birth to Avery Rain Davis and Emersyn Gray Davis on October 29 and November 1 respectively after she went into early labor at just 22 weeks and three days pregnant.
Their labors and births were traumatic for Davis, who told doctors at Golisano Children’s Hospital in southwest Florida in Fort Myers, Fla., to do everything they could to save her babies — even leaving her upside down for a whole week to delay . birth.
But after more than four months in the neonatal intensive care unit, where they received intubation, oxygen and medication for various health problems, Avery and Emersin finally recovered enough last week to go home.
“We are just so happy. There really are no other words. It’s unrealistic,” Davis told WINK News. ‘[When] I went there at 21 [weeks] and three [days] they said they weren’t viable, so we didn’t agree to it.”
Premature twin girls who were born three days apart and spent more than 130 days each in intensive care have finally returned home from the hospital to be with their grateful mom and dad.
Taylor Davis, 27, gave birth to Avery Rain Davis and Emersin Gray Davis on October 29 and November 1, respectively, after going into labor at just 22 weeks and three days pregnant.
Davis was due no earlier than March 1 of this year, but her doctor gave her some disturbing news last October.
She was told that her cervix was shorter than usual, which could mean an increased risk of preterm labor.
To prevent this, her doctor told her to stay in bed in the hospital for the last 19 weeks or so of her pregnancy, but as she prepared to be admitted to the hospital, she went into labor.
In the emergency room, she was already fully expanded, and Avery was already in her birth canal.
At just over 21 weeks of age, fraternal twins have very little chance of surviving. Viability is usually 23 or 24 weeks, and babies born around this time may have serious health problems, if they survive at all.
But she and husband, 29-year-old Mark Davis, wanted to do everything possible to save the babies.
After Davis went into early labor, doctors had her lie down, tilting her back for a week to delay labor, and it worked.
Three days after Avery was born and promptly intubated and put on oxygen, Emersin followed her.
“I knew I was dying,” Davis said. “I told my husband that I was dying, and they took me away so quickly that I didn’t have time to say goodbye to either him or my mother”
Both babies were born weighing just one pound and spent more than four months each in the intensive care unit.
“I knew I couldn’t live with myself unless I tried absolutely everything, no matter if it meant risking my own life to save them,” she said.
To delay labor, Davis was placed in the Trendelenburg position, in which she lay with her head tilted below her legs at an angle of about 16 degrees. She had to stay in that position, leaning back, for a week—even eating, sleeping, and using a bedpan in that position.
“I cried all the time and I didn’t cry for happiness,” she admitted, adding that she cried out of “fear” that her children would survive.
“It was terrible,” she told Good Morning America.
Five days later, on October 29, the first twin, Avery, was born, weighing exactly one pound.
She was intubated and put on oxygen, but she developed sepsis and a bilateral cerebral hemorrhage.
“The fact that she survived the first 24 hours with such a bad blood infection, due to her being in my birth canal for so long, is a miracle in itself,” Davis said.
Davis said she was “heartbroken” to see her children in the intensive care unit, and at first she could only see them on FaceTime.
Avery has a bright red birthmark called a hemangioma near her eye and is on medication.
Emersin will need surgery to remove the hernia in six months, and he also suffers from retinopathy, in which the disease damages the retina and can lead to partial or complete loss of vision.
The medical staff hoped to delay Emersin’s birth even longer, so Davis’s placenta was left inside her, while Avery’s umbilical cord was sutured and retracted inside.
Because of this, Davis developed sepsis, a blood clot, and an infection called chorioamnionitis, an inflammation of the amniotic fluid.
However, Davis remained in her titular position for three more days until Emersine was born on November 1 by caesarean section, which Davis said was “traumatic”.
“I knew I was dying,” she told WINK.
“I told my husband that I was dying, and they took me away so quickly that I didn’t have time to say goodbye to either him or my mother.
“They were running down the hallway chasing my bed and I kept begging the doctors to just tell my other kids that I love them and that I’m so sorry and I just kept saying please save my baby, please save my baby.” .
Davis did not die – neither did Emersin, who was born weighing one pound and one ounce and also suffered from a bilateral cerebral hemorrhage and sepsis.
“As a mother, you want to protect your children and I just did my best when things got out of my control,” she said.
Davis said she drew strength from her mother’s love to get through the next few months, and she now has a “special bond” with her daughters, who are doing so much better.
“I was heartbroken,” Davis told GMA.
“Having to watch my kids who barely weigh a pound and they put PICC lines in them and do all these things that a kid should never go through and then go through it feeling like my body has let them down and guilt. mother. this – and I know there was nothing I could do. It is what it is.
“But as a mother, you want to protect your children, and I just did the best I could when things were out of my control.”
Because of their condition—and her own—Davis was unable to see her children right away.
“It was so hard for me not to see my children after they were born,” she said.
“Fortunately, my husband Mark and the nurses used Facetime so I could see my daughters and know they were all right. My nurse Gillian has been with Avery since day one and made sure I was as comfortable as possible. I am very grateful to her for being the head nurse. All the staff here are real angels!”
Finally, Avery and Emersin were discharged last week after 137 and 134 days in the intensive care unit, respectively. They joined three older siblings at home
Davis said she drew strength from her mother’s love to get through the next few months, and she now has a “special bond” with her daughters, who are doing so much better.
Finally, Avery and Emersin were discharged last week after 137 and 134 days in the intensive care unit, respectively. They joined three older siblings at home.
Although they are in relatively good health, they do have some problems. Avery has a bright red mole called a hemangioma near her eye and is on medication. Meanwhile, Emersin will need surgery to remove the hernia in six months, and he also suffers from retinopathy, in which the disease damages the retina and can lead to partial or complete loss of vision.
But Davis is grateful to her girls for surviving and says she sees what happened as a sign from the universe to slow down and enjoy every moment.