TWINS from Newport were yesterday described as “absolute miracles” after spending their first 17 weeks in hospital, fighting for their lives with the extremely rare twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.

Now, more than 120 days later, Bessie and Hattie Smith are at last home at Station Road, Caerleon, with their parents paying an emotional tribute to neo-natal staff at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall hospitals, saying: “They absolutely saved the girls’ lives and we will be forever grateful. They were all amazing”

Kelvin, 51 and Natalie Smith, 42, relived the “most traumatic time of our lives,” describing how the twins’ lives hung in the balance after they were delivered by emergency caesarean and then spent four weeks in intensive care and eight weeks on the high-dependency unit.

Mrs Smith said she had a “mother’s instinct that something wasn’t right, because there was reduced movement,” which was confirmed when she went to Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, for a scan.

Doctors suspected the unborn babies were affected by twin-totwin syndrome – something that affects as few as 5.5 per cent of twin births and carries a mortality rate of more than 60 per cent.

They were delivered by emergency caesarean on February 9, a month early, with Bessie weighing 3lb 1oz and Hattie Hattie 2lb 12oz.

They shared the same placenta, which affected the supply of blood to them both.

Mrs Smith was told “the next 48 hours will be critical” as the girls were rushed to the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, for specialist treatment.

She added: “It was a blur. I felt a million miles away in Nevill Hall and it was two days before I saw them. They were very, very poorly and several times I wondered if they’d make it.”

They remained on ventilators and had blood transfusions, before they each had their chest drained of excess fluids at ten days.

This marked a “significant milestone,”

but it was nearly 11 weeks of “very, very tough days” before the babies could breathe for themselves and were moved to a growing room to gain strength.

Doctors say the long-term outlook is good and they should not suffer any further problems.

The couple went to the hospital every day, with Mr Smith saying: “The nursing staff saw us through some really bad, dark days.

There’d be two good days where’d they’d improve and then they’d go backwards.Wewondered if they’d ever come home.”

The twins returned home last Thursday. Mrs Smith said: “It was the hardest, most traumatic thing I’ve ever been through. The girls are absolute miracles and I cried when they came home, it was such a long road and longed-for day.”

Hospital staff ‘so kind’

THE couple praised hospital staff, with Mr Smith saying: “Hospitals sometimes get negative publicity, but both units were absolutely wonderful. They saved our girls’ lives.”

They described their three-yearold daughter Tilly’s life being turned upside down, but said hospital staff acted “like our family”.

As well as offering constant advice and reassurance, they gave Mrs Smith Easter eggs and Mother’s Day cards from the twins.

Mr Smith added: “They will always have a special place in our hearts for all the work they did.”

One gets too little blood, the other too much

TWIN-TO-TWIN transfusion syndrome is a complication of disproportionate blood supply and affects 5.5 per cent of pregnancies of two or more foetuses.

As a result of sharing a single placenta, blood supplies of the foetuses become connected so they share blood circulation.

Blood can then be transferred disproportionately between the twins – this means one may not have enough blood, which can retard its development.

The other, in turn, may receive too much, which puts strains on its heart, leading to heart failure.

Before 26 weeks, the condition can cause both foetuses to die or lead to severe disability.