Home for Christmas - Premature twins Grayson and Jenson return home for their first Christmas | News

F or Dudley couple Lindsay and Liam Warner, they’ve already received the present they really wanted – to take their twin boys home in time for Christmas.

After being born prematurely in June 2021, Grayson and Jenson have spent most of the past year in and out of hospitals, including time in both our Women’s and Children’s hospitals. But after going from strength to strength after entering the world at just 24 weeks and three days, weighing 1lb 11oz and 1lb 9oz, they are now ready to spend their first Christmas at home rather than in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Lindsey said: “It’s amazing to have the boys home for Christmas. I’m praying each day is like this, we feel blessed because as a mum of premature babies, you can’t plan anything. You never know when they’re going to be sick or back in the hospital.”

Between our Women’s and Children’s hospitals, Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street, the twins have been closely watched over by Lindsey and dad, Liam. Grayson has experienced respiratory problems and Bronchiolitis and Jenson has had a combination of bowel complications and Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), affecting his right eye. ROP is an eye disease that can affect infants weighing less than three pounds at birth, due to abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina.

During Grayson’s recovery from Bronchiolitis, he was reported to have an 80% closure in his respiration, later requiring oxygen at home during the night, due to a pause in his breathing while sleeping. Due to his condition, he was unable to be inoculated until a later date against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) making him particularly high risk.

Lindsey said: “That’s what scared me the most – I wanted my baby to be protected from viruses like RVS (Respiratory Syncytial Virus), but he was too weak to have the injections to begin with.”

Baby Jenson was confronted with his own challenges including a perforation of the bowel which resulted in him having 35cm of his bowels removed and short gut syndrome, making it more challenging for his body to absorb the essential nutrients needed to help recovery. Jenson’s ROP became a serious challenge for the family after they were informed that the operation had not been successful in preventing the bleed in his eye, resulting in permanent damage to his sight.

Lindsay said: “When Grayson was discharged, Jenson was actually admitted into the very same bed that his brother had just left. I know it sounds unbelievable, but it was the case. Having babies between hospitals, never seeming to have them in the same place together, was difficult. The fact that they’re both out now in time for Christmas is amazing – we never thought we’d get here. We’d like to say a special thank you to the Chaplaincy team in particular and our Support Workers who made sure we were emotionally reassured through it all. They are all wonderful people.”

In between visits to our hospitals, the family has managed to get away to make memories. In August, the family took a trip to Brean Sands in Somerset for a trip to see the sea.

Lindsey said: “It took us six hours to get to the beach, but we made it – I’m so proud to see the progress our little ones have made. Jenson said his first word not too long ago and Grayson’s now crawling around, sitting up and playing pat-a-cake. We were still doing their feeds on the beach and Jenson loved the sand. I still get anxiety, particularly around germs and viruses but we’re slowly but surely getting there.”