A picture from an article called “The Rescuing Hug.”
The article details the first week of the life of twins Brielle and Kyrie Jackson. They were born on October 17, 1995―a full 12 weeks ahead of their due date. Each was in their respective incubators, and Brielle was not expected to live. When she couldn’t breathe and was turning cold and blue, a hospital nurse broke the protocol and put them in the same incubator as the last effort. Apparently, Kyrie put her arm around her sister, who then began to stabilize and her temperature rose to normal.
The Jackson twins
Heidi and Paul Jackson’s twin girls, Brielle and Kyrie, were born on October 17, 1995, 12 weeks prior to their due date. Standard hospital practice is to place preemie twins in separate incubators to reduce the risk of infection. That is what was done to the Jackson girls in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Medical Center of Central Massachusetts in Worcester.
Health condition
Kyrie, the larger sister at two pounds and three ounces, quickly began gaining weight and was gracefully enjoying her newborn days. But Brielle, who weighed only two pounds at birth, couldn’t keep up with her. She had trouble breathing and heart-rate problems. The oxygen level in her blood was low, and her weight gain was slow.
On November 12, Brielle suddenly went into a critical condition. She began gasping for breath, and her face and stick-thin arms and legs turned bluish-gray. Her heart rate was way up, and she got hiccups, a dangerous sign that her body was under stress. Her parents watched, terrified that she might die.
The last ditched effort to save Brielle’s life
Nurse Gayle Kasparian tried everything she could think of to stabilize Brielle. She suctioned her breathing passages and turned up the oxygen flow to the incubator. Still, Brielle squirmed and fussed as her oxygen intake plummeted and her heart rate soared.
Then Kasparian remembered something she had heard from a colleague. It was a procedure, common in parts of Europe but almost unheard of in this country, that called for double-bedding multiple-birth babies, especially preemies. Kasparian’s nurse manager, Susan Fitzback, was away at a conference, and the arrangement was unorthodox. But Kasparian decided to take the risk.
“Let me just try putting Brielle in with her sister to see if that helps,” she said to the alarmed parents. “I don’t know what else to do.”
The Jacksons quickly gave the go-ahead, and Kasparian slipped the squirming baby into the incubator holding the sister she hadn’t seen since birth. Then Kasparian and the Jacksons watched.
“The Rescuing Hug”
No sooner had the door of the incubator closed then Brielle snuggled up to Kyrie – and calmed right down. Within minutes Brielle’s blood-oxygen readings were the best they had been since she was born. As she dozed, Kyrie wrapped her tiny arm around her smaller sibling.
A coincidence
By coincidence, the conference Fitzback was attending included a presentation on double-bedding. “This is something I want to see happen at The Medical Center,” she thought. But it might be hard making the change. On her return, she was doing rounds when the nurse caring for the twins that morning. Fitzback said, “Sue, take a look in that isolette over there. I can’t believe this. This is so beautiful.” “You mean, we can do it?” asked the nurse. “Of course we can,” Fitzback replied.
Conclusion
Today nearly all of institutions around the world have adopted co-bedding as a special treatment for newborn twins, which seems to reduce the number of hospital days and the risk factors.
Today, the twins are all grown up. Here’s a 2013 CNN report on the Jackson sisters’ bond that still is strong:
After reading about the miracle story of “Rescuing Hug”, read about Lynlee Hope Boemer, the baby who was born twice!
