{"id":172974,"date":"2017-10-07T18:14:18","date_gmt":"2017-10-07T22:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=172974"},"modified":"2017-11-25T11:07:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-25T16:07:01","slug":"born-at-24-weeks-twin-girl-shows-progress-while-parents-mourn-loss-of-twin-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/born-at-24-weeks-twin-girl-shows-progress-while-parents-mourn-loss-of-twin-brother\/","title":{"rendered":"Born at 24 weeks, premature twins show why late-term abortion is wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A twin brother and sister were born at 24 weeks gestation — 16 weeks early– by C-section in Olympia, Washington, to Brandon and Kaitlyn, first-time parents.\u00a0\u201cAs soon as I saw them \u2026 so much love and happiness washed over me, and they were the two most beautiful things I\u2019ve seen in my life,\u201d Brandon told local news outlet The Olympian<\/a>. \u201cI just kind of instantly want to cry when I talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple is raising funds<\/a> to not only pay for their children’s medical expenses, but, sadly, to pay for a funeral for their son, who passed away in his mother’s arms, according to The Olympian<\/a>, after surviving outside the womb for 46 hours. He weighed 1 pound, 8 ounces at birth.\u00a0\u201cI was just cradling his head and we were just comforting him the best we could,\u201d said the twins’ father.<\/p>\n

The boy’s sister, weighed 1 pound, 4 ounces, at birth. According to The Olympian, she opened one eye for the first time just two days ago, her father telling the local news outlet, “She\u2019s the strongest person I think I\u2019ve yet to meet… She is extremely feisty.”<\/p>\n

A poster in the tiny girl’s room showcases her footprints and those of her brother. It reads: “Though I am little, I am FIERCE! #preemiestrong … Such a BIG miracle in such a tiny girl! Small but mighty — stay strong, little fighter.”<\/p>\n

The twins’ grandfather described his granddaughter as “about the size of your hand, maybe slightly larger. Very tiny.” All of the little girl’s body systems have been in place and functioning since the first trimester<\/a>. Babycenter.com describes<\/a> a baby at 24 weeks gestation — the same age as this preemie girl — as “about the length of an ear of corn,” and says the baby’s “lungs are developing ‘branches’ of the respiratory “tree” as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world.”<\/p>\n