An American couple who welcomed twin babies before birth through surrogacy in Ukraine are now desperately struggling to get their children out of the war-torn capital.
Alex Spector, 46, and Irma Nunes, 48, of Georgia, are doing their best to keep their newborn babies Lenny and Moishe Spector safe in Russia. invasion of Ukraine.
The twin boys were born at 32 and a half weeks – two months earlier – through a surrogate child on Friday at the Adonis maternity hospital in Kyiv, after a “complicated” pregnancy.
Due to their small size, babies (weighing about four kilograms each) now face horrific health complications – including breathing problems – as the war rages right outside the hospital.
As “staff and supplies dwindle” in the “unstable and dangerous” hospital, parents are desperate to move four-day-old babies to a safer area.
Back home: An American couple who welcomed twin babies in Ukraine through surrogacy are now struggling desperately to get their children out of the war-torn capital
Alex Spector, 46, and Irma Nunes, 48, of Georgia, are doing everything they can to keep their newborn babies Lenny and Moishe Spector safe amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The twins were born at 32 and a half weeks – two months earlier – through a surrogate on Friday at the Adonis maternity hospital in Kyiv, after a “complicated” pregnancy
Russia launched a comprehensive attack on Ukraine on Thursday with rockets falling from the sky, tanks rolling across the border and masses of attack helicopters storming the capital Kyiv
“It’s unimaginable, what can I say?” It’s impossible to wrap your mind around it, “Alex said in a recent interview with today show.
Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine on Thursday with rocket-propelled grenades, tanks rolling across the Belarusian border and masses of attack helicopters storming the capital, Kyiv, after Russian leader Vladimir Putin personally ordered the invasion.
Ukrainian troops are fighting Russian forces to control the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, 60 miles north of the capital Kyiv, amid fears the battle could damage nuclear waste storage facilities, causing precipitation that could cover Europe.
The couple desperately wants to move the babies to a safer area and eventually bring them home to the United States, but their special medical needs are a serious problem.
“The fact that they are premature is playing against us – there is a conflict,” Alex continued. “They have to stay put. We have to get them out.
The parents want to move the little boys to another hospital – which has a basement bomb shelter – but can’t find an ambulance to transport them.
“They were born two months earlier, at the end of a complicated pregnancy and the beginning of a war,” their mother Irma wrote in Facebook page created to help the twins.
“We need your help to bring them home safely and to help other newborn babies, parents and caregivers who are trapped in the hospital with them.
“The twins cannot be relocated without medical help. They still need breathing assistance and monitors and any medications / equipment in case of distress while on the move.
Due to their small size, babies (weighing about four kilograms each) now face horrific health complications – including breathing problems – as the war rages outside.
Devoted parents: As “staff and supplies dwindle”, the couple desperately wants to move the babies to a safer area and eventually bring them home to the United States
The parents want to move the four-day-old boys to another hospital – which has a basement for a bomb shelter – but can’t find an ambulance to transport them.
Alex told Today that the hospital lacks the equipment needed to care for babies – including clothes and baby milk
Speaking: Parents told them the hospital was “unstable and dangerous” as they asked for help through a Facebook group set up for the twins
“Ordinary people have taken extraordinary steps to take care of each other in this terrible situation.
‘Do you speak Russian? Can you call RIGHT NOW to find someone who can send supplies to the Adonis maternity hospital in Kyiv?
“Can you help us find an ambulance in Kyiv to transport Moishe and Lenny from Adonis to the nearby hospital with more supplies / staff who agreed to receive them?” WE NEED YOU. ‘
The couple explained that the hospital lacked the equipment needed to care for the babies – including clothes and baby milk.
“I talked to this pharmacy in the morning. By the afternoon, when one of our contacts arrived there, he had already been fired upon and closed, “Alex told Today.
They revealed in another Facebook post that the hospital fortunately managed to find some breast milk for the babies after a “family member” took the supplies “on foot” amid the “chaos”.
However, they said the hospital remained “unstable and dangerous”. They also expressed concern that surrogate Katya, who is currently watching over the babies, may want to leave soon.
“The twins cannot be relocated without medical help. They still need breathing aids and monitors in case of distress while on the move, “their mother wrote on Facebook.
“We need your help to get them home safely,” she added. “Ordinary people have taken extraordinary steps to take care of each other in this horrific situation.”
Gathering: The couple also created a GoFundMe page where they raised more than $ 50,000
Stay positive: Despite the battle the little babies had to face, Alex said he hoped his sons would return home
Fighters: “Being born in a war zone – amid all this devastation – is incredibly encouraging,” he said.
“In our minds, the surrogate, she gave birth to our children, but she does not owe them. What if he decides he needs to be with his family and save himself? Alex told Washington Post. “We need to find someone who can take care of the babies.”
The couple created a GoFundMe page where they raised more than $ 50,000. But they are calling for help from the United States government.
“Just take our babies out,” Alex said as he spoke to Today. “Or, if that’s not possible, at least to Lviv, somewhere in the west, where they would be safe.”
During pregnancy, Katya begins to develop a condition in which her body “attacks” babies due to Rh incompatibility.
Then, when she started giving birth early, she had to spend three hours in an ambulance due to traffic from military vehicles.
“It was an agony for those three hours. We think, “Are these three hours going to be the end of our babies?” Alex told the Washington Post.
Despite the battle the young babies had to face, Alex hopes his sons will return home.
“We have these two lives born and their own journey to this world was so difficult and suddenly giving birth to them in a war zone – in the midst of all this devastation – feels incredibly encouraging,” he concluded.