To the delight of new parents Georgia and Matt, premature twins Sienna and Henry will spend their first Christmas at home.
As reported by the Sunday Herald Sun, the pair born at 27-weeks were recently discharged after four-months in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Monash Children’s Hospital.
NICU became “a second home” to the family according to the twins’ mum Georgia Shapero.
“We just had the best care and support from Monash,” Georgia told the Herald Sun.
“Until you’re thrown into that environment, you just don’t realise how incredible and how knowledgeable everyone is.”
She said each milestone – from the first time they wore clothes to moving from NICU to special care – made “her heart skip a beat”, each one a “step closer to the door”.
“Leaving your babies every night is really tough,” she said.
“But knowing they were in good hands helps you sleep.”
Georgia and Matt pointed to the team that jumped into action after their birth, the special care nurses who let them wheel Sienna over to Henry’s NICU cot during the day and “ran between as needed”, and the staff who dropped in to say goodbye after news that Henry was leaving on December 5 — 13 days after his sister — began to spread.
“You can’t ask for much more,” she said.
Dr Alice Stewart, Service Director of Monash Newborn at Monash Children’s Hospital, said it was a “privilege” to care for the youngest patients.
“It is such a special time when they can go home with their family,” she said.
“We also have patients who won’t be able to make it home for Christmas, so our team looks forward to providing festive cheer in the care we provide to our NICU babies and their loved ones during this time.”
