A pair of twins, Chester and Otis, were born prematurely at 28 weeks. Although Otis was in fairly healthy condition weighing 3lb 7oz at birth, his twin brother only weighed 1lb 1oz.
When Otis was discharged from the hospital six weeks later, weighing 6lb 3oz, Chester was still having a difficult time and his weight was still at a critical level. However, 32-year-old Kelly Graves and 35-year-old Bill, the twins' parents, thought that the bond between the two siblings is strong enough to help Chester survive.
Kelly told the Daily Mail:
"I have no doubt that cuddles with his twin has helped him keep fighting."
She continued:
"The twins finally met for the first time since being born on September 22, which was incredibly emotional. It was everything I was waiting for, and although Otis was asleep, Chester was obsessed with him and couldn't take his eyes away from his brother."
"We are so lucky that Chester is a fighter and despite everything he has been through, he is still fighting in order to come home and be with his parents, Otis, and the rest of the family. He is still being incubated and kept on high flow oxygen since being transferred back to our local hospital in Southend. We cannot wait to finally get Chester home. We are hoping to bring him back in November."
The cause of the twins' difference in size was a condition called, Selective Intrauterine Growth Restriction, which did not allow them to receive sufficient nutrients from the mother's placenta. Kelly recalls of being admitted to Kings College Hospital in London for a laser surgical treatment:
"They informed us that there was absent flow of nutrients to Chester was the reason why he wasn't really growing. 'I had to have endoscopic laser surgery whereby they enter the womb through the side of your body in order to reach the placenta kill of the blood vessels connecting the two babies. The surgery was performed to separate the babies in the womb so that if Chester hadn't survived it would have protected Otis from dying or being left with lasting brain damage."
After the operation, Otis started growing at a rate of about 100g per week, but his brother's growth was still limited, at 25g a week.
Kelly said:
"I went away and was eating around 200g of protein per day to help him grow and was drinking around five litres of water to try and get Chester's water levels up because they were also low. This was not in any way proven to help, but I tried everything I could to replenish his levels and keep him fighting."
During her 28th week of pregnancy, Chester's condition stabilized. But soon after Kelly's waters broke, and she was admitted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. She said:
"At this point, Chester was 485 grams which was close to being deemed viable, but we were told his heart rate kept dipping and that the chances of survival from the cesarean would be low. We just had to hope that he would keep fighting."
Following Kelly's C-section, Chester was incubated.
Kelly recalls:
"When Chester came out, they found a knot in his cord which also halted his growth, and the consultant was desperate to get him incubated as soon as possible to help him survive… He also had a hole in his heart which was discovered afterwards which has now thankfully closed and also eye surgery."
In order to check up on their newborns, Kelly and Billy had to commute every day from Addenbrooke Hospital to Southend. They also had to arrange for daycare for their other children, 10-year-old Phoebe, 8-year-old Florence and 5-year-old Albert.
Kelly said:
"People kept asking how we did it, but we had no choice, we went into survival mode and just kept going. The worst thing was that this was all happening over the school holidays, so we were barely able to spend any time with the kids who had to stay with other family members. The kids have been incredible, they are so young but are just as desperate to get Chester home as they haven't been able to even really meet him yet due to covid."
She said of having Otis at home:
"We have Otis at home now and everyone says how nice it must be, but it's also horrible because we can't feel complete until both babies are back together."
"[Chester] has to gain a further 255 grams still and will most likely be on low flow oxygen when he's home, but we are hoping in around a month or two he can finally meet the rest of the family."
[Based on reporting by: I heart Intelligence]
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