A mum of twins, who were born at just 26 weeks, has captured the emotional footage of her other children meeting their tiny siblings for the first time.
Kayleigh Lever, 33, couldn’t believe it when she and her partner Robbie, 35, found out they were expecting twins. Hudson and Hope were born suddenly at just 26 weeks – only two weeks after the abortion limit in the UK. They were so premature that they had to spend four months in hospital before they were able to go home.
Kayleigh recorded a video showing siblings Ellie, 13, Jacob, 9, Jayden, 8, and Parker, 3, being overwhelmed with emotion after their first meeting with their new brother and sister.
She said: “When we could finally bring [the twins] home, we didn’t tell their big brothers and sisters, so it was a complete surprise when they came home from school”.
“I told them to all come home straight from school as I told them the nurse wanted to speak to them all about their new brother and sister”.
“When they first saw them they were just in complete shock. Hope and Hudson were laying on a twin nursing pillow”.
“Ellie burst into tears and the boys didn’t know what to do, they were all so shocked”.
“They had only ever seen photos and videos of them, as they weren’t allowed into the hospital due to Covid restrictions”.
Kayleigh was sent home from Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where she had been for a week after she had started bleeding. However, on the way home, her waters broke. She was rushed back to the hospital where her twins were born 14 weeks early.
Hudson weighed 1lb 7oz and Hope weighed 1lb 6oz.
“I couldn’t believe how small they were, they were the size of Robbie’s hand”.
The twins spent four months in hospital
Baby Hope became quite ill and had to have surgery on her stomach, but her mum never stopped visiting her.
“I was just doing the M5 runs constantly, it took 40 minutes to get to Hudson and an hour and a half to get to Hope”.
Talking of how her older children are with the new additions to the family, she said: “They love them so much”.
“Ellie is like a mini mum, she’s delighted she has a sister in the family too and the boys are being great and helping out”.
Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “There’s always an increased risk when babies are born so prematurely, but the outcomes are getting better over time”.
