Leah and Austin - The Scared Parents-To-Be
After hearing the news of having twins, Leah and Austin McBride were overjoyed. But their joy didn’t last long. In the second trimester of their pregnancy, their lives got a nasty twist. Things were going smoothly for them for the first 20 weeks until they heard the dreadful news.
Source: Pinterest
In the 21st week of pregnancy, Poppy sent out distress signals from the womb to let the doctors know that that the girls had twin-to-twin transfusion which is a fatal condition with blood flow imbalance, where one baby receives excessive blood and the other receives almost nothing.
Second opinions can save lives
Like in most cases of a twin-to-twin transfusion, Leah was advised to save Winnie (the twin receiving more blood) by terminating Poppy so that one of them can fully survive.
Source: Very Well Family
But which mother can choose between her babies? So, she took her case to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, and to her surprise, the doctors were hopeful that surgery could be done to balance out the blood levels between the twins, thus saving both of their lives. All thanks to the distress signals sent out by Poppy to her mom.
Scary twin delivery in the 31st week of pregnancy
In the 31st week of pregnancy, Leah’s worst fears came true when Poppy’s heart rate fell due to low blood supply and the doctors had to deliver both twins right away.
Source: TV Twins UK
The McBride twins were born on May 24, 2019. Surprisingly, Poppy, despite being tinier due to low blood supply, was quite healthy. Whereas, Winnie was born with underdeveloped lungs, which kept her in ICU, she also had brain surgery on the 14th day after which she became healthy.
Poppy McBride: the newborn hero
After the recovery, Leah told everyone how proud she felt when doctors explained to her that Poppy saved her sister’s life by giving them that distress signal, otherwise she couldn’t have made it.
Source: Times of Bristol
Now at the age of 4, Poppy and Winnie are indeed inseparable and according to Leah, Poppy still takes care of his twin sister just the way she did in the womb.