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Emotional reunion for emergency workers who miraculously saved premature twins born in the passenger seat of a car speeding down a busy highway under police escort
- Emma Wilkins gave birth to twins on the road in New South Wales
- She gave birth 14 weeks earlier in her father’s car.
- The twins had to be rescued at Inverell Hospital
Emergency workers had an emotional reunion with a miraculous group of premature twins born during a panicked car ride down a country road.
Emma Wilkins brought her twin boys Declan and Dominic back to Inverell Hospital to meet the police officers and healthcare staff who helped save their lives five months ago.
The twins survived despite being born three months prematurely, in the passenger seat as their father Ian sped down the Gwydir Highway in northwest New South Wales, led by a local police escort.
When relieved healthcare workers at Inverell Hospital finally weighed the tiny babies after resuscitating, intubating and stabilizing them, they tipped the scales at just 960 grams and 1.25 kilograms.
“They were clinging to our fingers, they were very strong little kids,” Inverell nurse Kath Randall recalled as she rejoined the now-healthy children.
Nurse Kath Randall (pictured left) and police officer Darrell Monckton had an emotional reunion with Emma Wilkins’ miracle twins who were born 14 weeks premature during a terrified car ride down a country road.
Emma Wilkins took her premature twins Declan and Dominic back to Inverell Hospital to meet the people who helped save their lives five months ago.
Kath Randall of Inverell Hospital recalled how ‘strong’ premature twins were ‘hanging on our fingers’
Ms. Wilkins tearfully thanked the hospital’s medical team and lead constable Darrell Monckton, who were part of the most dramatic days.
Ms Wilkins, who already had two children, was due to give birth on Christmas Day, but went into labor on September 21, only 26 weeks pregnant.
She woke up early in severe pain and, having lost a pair of twin girls before, consulted her parents, who live nearby.
It was decided that it was best to make the 90 minute drive to Inverell for a check up.
When Ms Wilkins and her father left their home in Bingara, they were still 70 kilometers from the hospital.
About halfway through your journey, Mr Const. Monckton watched as Ian sped by, ‘jumping’ other cars and dodging traffic.
He stopped the car, and Mrs. Wilkins’s father ran over to him, explained the situation, and then returned to his car.
“By the time I could say anything, he turned and ran back to the vehicle and started to drive off again, so I turned on the lights and sirens and turned around and walked them inside,” Mr Const said. Monckton told the abc.
Before the car reached Inverell Hospital, both babies were born within two minutes of each other.
Declan got there first after a huge contraction, then as Mrs. Wilkins tried to get him to breathe and cry, Dominic followed.
Ms Wilkins is pictured with one of her newborn premature twins at Inverell Hospital last September.
Ms Wilkins had previously lost twins and experienced stomach pains three months before her due date last September and didn’t want to take any chances. Declan and Dominic were born on the way to that preventive checkup.
When relieved healthcare workers at Inverell Hospital finally weighed them after resuscitating, intubating and stabilizing them, they tipped the scales at just 960 grams and 1.25 kilograms.
Upon arrival at the hospital, both children had only weak heartbeats and one had stopped breathing.
Few of the healthcare workers at Inverell Hospital expected them to survive the ordeal.
After the twins were stabilized, they were taken to Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital, where they received 24-hour specialist care for three months.
Mrs Wilkins’ husband Trent, a road worker on a job, rushed to the hospital just in time to see the twins being flown to Sydney.