A couple who decided to give their twins a fighting chance of life when problems developed before they were born have just celebrated their daughters’ fifth birthdays.
Amy and Richard Taylor from Oldmeldrum were faced with an extremely difficult choice – losing one baby to save the other or possibly losing them both.
Medical staff at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital noticed the girls weren’t growing as much as they should when routine scans were taken before they were born.
Because Gaia’s umbilical cord was at the end of the placenta she was not developing at the same rate as her sister.
The couple travelled to the specialist maternal medicine unit at London’s Queen Charlotte’s Hospital when Mrs Taylor was 20 weeks pregnant.
Doctors discussed a procedure with them known as a laser cord occlusion which would involve removing Gaia’s umbilical cord leaving her to die inside the womb.
But after a series of scans, which showed no signs of deterioration or improvement in either of the twins’ condition, the couple decided against the termination.
Mr Taylor said: “In the end we decided to let nature take its course.
“We thought that if there were risks either way we might as well take the risk of having them both, rather than risk losing them both.
“We don’t stress about anything. Life is what it is. It will either happen or it won’t. We didn’t worry about it – and it worked.”
The couple took their daughters back to Aberdeen where they were monitored for 12 weeks before going home.
Mrs Taylor added: “Obviously they were meant to be and they fought all the way to get here.”
Now they have just celebrated Gaia and Luna’s fifth birthdays at their grandparents’ home near Fraserburgh.
And Mrs Taylor described it as a great day for the couple’s “little bravehearts.”
She said: “It was a very special birthday. When you look at them now it’s hard to believe the start they had in life.
“When they were born, nine weeks early, by caesarean section, Gaia came first.
“She was tiny, only 1lb 2oz but she gave this big cry, like a battle cry as if to say ‘I’m here’ so we gave her the middle name Aoife which means little warrior.
“It seemed fitting, Luna came quietly two minutes later and 3lb and 4oz.
“We were so relieved they were alive. They are our little bravehearts.”
