Born to shine

 Twins Olivia and Zoe have already overcome unimaginable challenges. This year, they'll celebrate their fourth Christmas thanks to a new development in the care of premature babies, and to the special bond they share.

- GENEVIEVE GANNON 

For 28 weeks and five days Olivia and Zoe were as close as two souls can be. The girls are momo twins-monochorionic-monoamniotic twins meaning that from the moment they blinked into existence they shared one home (a single amniotic sac) and one life source (a single placenta). But while they were growing, the cord that kept them tethered to this world became knotted and they were born via emergency caesarean.

The sisters were separated at birth into two humidicribs at the Melbourne Royal Women's Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. There, medical staff cared for them while their parents, Ann and Jason, watched fretfully. A momo pregnancy is always high risk, and the early birth added another layer of danger. It was during this time that Jason and Ann first witnessed the powerful bond that would sustain the girls through their early battles and beyond. When they were finally reunited, still tiny and fragile, Zoe reached out for her sister, Olivia, and wrapped her in a hug.

"It was incredible. It's called the rescue hug. Apparently, it happens with a lot of pre-term twins," Ann says. "There are so many things about twins we don't know. They have this intuition, like a mother's intuition, where they just know what the other needs."

It was when Olivia and Zoe were side-by-side that they were strongest. By the time their original due date arrived, they had cheated death more than once, surviving a perilous pregnancy, breathing difficulties and identical holes in their hearts.

As they've grown, so has their connection. Big sister Olivia, who is two whole minutes older, takes the lead, while Zoe is an enthusiastic follower of her sister's escapades.