JENNA Hutchison was over the moon to be expecting twins – but she felt her “entire world collapse” when she was told one baby would need to be sacrificed to save the other.
Her pregnancy started out as a dream.
The graphic designer and her architect husband, Chris, were thrilled to give their nearly three-year-old toddler Hugo a sibling, and discovering they were expecting twin girls felt like “winning the lottery”.
But at 16 weeks, during one of their regular scans, everything changed.
Medics noticed that the babies weren’t getting equal amounts of nutrients, with one receiving far more than the other.
Jenna said: “I remember thinking, how is this even happening? They’re both inside me, how can one get so much more?”
By 22 weeks the situation had worsened, and the couple were asked to step into the dreaded quiet room.
Doctors explained she needed laser surgery on the placenta to try to rebalance blood flow, along with an amnioreduction to drain excess amniotic fluid.
Jenna was carrying so much fluid that, at only five months pregnant, she felt full-term.
“I tried not to panic,” Jenna recalled.
Now 33 and living in Queensland, Australia, Jenna went into theatre terrified but hopeful.
When she woke up, the news was devastating: the surgery had failed.
Surgeons had been unable to proceed safely due to complications with the placenta.
Instead, Jenna and Chris were offered the unthinkable, the option to save one baby by ending the life of the other.
“We refused,” Jenna firmly.
“The girls came into the world together for a reason. We couldn’t choose between them.”
Doctors drained 2.7 litres of fluid from her womb, easing her physical pain, but this didn’t calm the panic building inside Jenna.
She said: “I just kept thinking, how am I supposed to sleep knowing they’re getting sicker every day?”
That night, after going home, she woke at midnight and told Chris her waters had broken.
Jenna had been hoping to make it to 26 weeks, but she was only 24 weeks along.
She returned to hospital and was admitted, experiencing intense back cramps once she was upstairs on the ward.
“I kept telling myself it was just from the procedures, but deep down, something felt wrong,” the mum said.
At 10.30pm that night, bending down to pick up her dropped phone, a massive contraction shot up her back and she knew instantly that she was in labour.
She frantically searched for the call button, telling the midwife when she arrived: “I need help.”
From that moment everything exploded into motion. A full medical team flooded the room, checked her, and announced she was six centimetres dilated and needed to be rushed to the birth suite immediately.
What followed felt like an episode of Grey’s Anatomy — frantic staff, forms shoved into her hands, alarms sounding, and Jenna screaming for Chris.
“I’ve never screamed like that in my life,” she said.
“I just needed him there.”
In theatre she was told she’d need an emergency C-section and Chris arrived moments later.
Behind the curtain nurses stroked her head and held her hands like “absolute angels,” Jenna said.
The risks of premature birth
Premature labour is labour that happens before the 37th week of pregnancy.
About eight out of 100 babies will be born prematurely.
Babies born before full term are vulnerable to problems associated with being born premature.
The earlier in the pregnancy a baby is born, the more vulnerable they are.
It’s possible for a baby to survive if born around 24 weeks of pregnancy onwards.
Babies born this early need special care in a hospital with specialist facilities for premature babies. This is called a neonatal unit.
They may have health and development problems because they have not fully developed in the womb.
If your baby is likely to be delivered early, you should be admitted to a hospital with a neonatal unit.
Not all hospitals have facilities for the care of very premature babies, so it may be necessary to transfer you and your baby to another unit.
Twins and triplets are often born prematurely.
Source: NHS
Then suddenly the room went still, and then the tiny cries of Lily Belle and Ivy Grace filled the room.
“Everyone just froze,” Jenna said.
“Extremely premature babies usually need to be resuscitated, but my girls came out fighting.”
They weighed just 458g (1lb) each – roughly the size of a Coke can – and were the exact same weight.
This was the beginning of a 129-day NICU battle.
The twins’ skin was translucent, their veins visible, and they needed oxygen, feeding tubes, IV lines and constant monitoring.
Both suffered brain bleeds, lung and eye issues and Lily stopped breathing at one point and needed to be resuscitated.
Ivy’s brain bleed was severe enough to put her at risk of cerebral palsy.
“There were days I genuinely didn’t think they’d make it,” Jenna said.
“But we celebrated every tiny win.”
‘Nearly lost everything’
Last Christmas the family were in the NICU, terrified, fearing they might have to leave the hospitals without their identical baby girls.
Lily was having a bad night, and Jenna and Chris got a worrying call on Christmas Eve to say her oxygen had needed to be turned up.
Now, almost a year later, Jenna is hanging two tiny Christmas stockings and dressing two miracle girls in festive outfits as she prepares for the first Christmas at home with all three of her children under one roof.
“It’s everything we dreamed of in the NICU,” she says. “Our Christmas miracles.”
Lily and Ivy now weigh a healthy 15lbs (7kg) just after their first birthday on December 2.
With the girls’ first birthday, Jenna hopes to start a new tradition of visiting the NICU every December with a gift for the nurses who saved the girls’ lives or to comfort parents currently enduring the same nightmare.
“It’s not fair, it’s awful, and nothing anyone says can make it better,” she said.
“But your baby is in the best hands. NICU nurses are walking angels.
“I want to give every NICU parent the biggest hug. I hope next Christmas you’re home with your baby in your arms.”
Today Jenna shares her journey on TikTok, in the hopes of making other parents in her situation feel less alone.
She said Christmas has taken on a whole new meaning.
“We nearly lost everything,” she says.
“Now we get to celebrate the best Christmas gift of all — having our girls here with us.”
