A Canadian woman gave birth to twins born prematurely at 22 weeks in early March of 2022. At the time they were born, they had many complications, but the twins recently celebrated their first birthday and have been officially named the "world’s most premature twins" by Guinness World Records.
Their mother, Shakina Rajendram, confessed she didn’t think the twins, Adiah and Adrial, were going to make it after they were born so prematurely, the New York Post reported.
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It was a difficult journey.
The twins' mother reportedly said doctors told her the twins had “0% chance of survival” when she went into labor, per People. The parents were told twins needed to be at least 22 weeks old, and several hospitals would not provide “life sustaining care” if the babies were born too early, according to the New York Post.
Rajendram was on her second day of labor when she thought her water broke, but it actually didn’t. Fifteen minutes after midnight the next day, however, she went into labor and her pregnancy had officially made it to 22 weeks exactly, People reported.
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The twins struggled for the first five months of their lives.
“We watched the babies almost die before our eyes many times,” said Rajendram, according to the New York Post. At the time of their birth, both the twins weighed less than 1 pound and their premature birth at 22 weeks caused many medical issues such as sepsis and brain bleeding, amongst others.
Both the twins had to stay at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital to receive care until they were allowed to be brought home after five months. “We finally got to bring them home, with no breathing or feeding tubes,” their mother said via the New York Post.
They took the world record title away from another pair of twins.
The title previously belonged to another set of twins in the US, Keeley and Kambry Ewoldt, who held the title in 2018. They were born 125 days early, according to the New York Post.
Similarly to the Rajendram twins, they were very fragile at birth and during the early months of their lives. Doctors pronounced them “miraculous,” according to Guinness World Records.
The Canadian twins are thriving now.
According to their mother, the twins are doing much better now and growing and playing, although they continue to see multiple specialists.
Adiah is “extremely happy and social baby, and smiles all day long. She is very chatty and has 'conversations' with us and her toys for hours,” Rajendram said, according to the New York Post.
Her brother, Adria, however, has had more frequent trips to the hospital because of infections and had to receive oxygen support on his most recent visit.
