Identical twins Mila and Mika ready to start school
Mila and Mika were born at 28 weeks, weighing just 900g and suffering from a very rare condition, leaving their mum terrified they wouldn’t survive. But now the smiling twins are skipping into their next stage of life.
Early Years
Don't miss out on the headlines from Early Years. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Simone Lichtenstein didn’t know if her babies would survive birth.
She never considered she’d one day be battling her identical girls to keep their white socks clean for the first day of school.
“Stop jumping in the puddles,” she laughed as both Mila and Mika, 4, looked shocked when the deep water seeped through to their feet.
Born at 28 weeks and weighing just 900g, the twins had lifesaving blood transfusions in the womb.
The Australian-first surgery meant the pair gained a vital four extra weeks growing inside their mum, with injections made through her abdomen and into blood vessels in the babies’ stomachs.
They suffered from a very rare condition called Twin Anemia Polycythemia Sequence, with Mila starved of blood and Mika getting too much.
It meant without intervention, Mila could have faced heart failure and Mika risked stroke or even limb amputation.
One girl was injected with blood while the other received saline to thin out the fluid coursing through her tiny body.
The Monash Children’s experimental surgery worked.
Now the twins are getting ready to start school at Coatesville Primary.
“To see them going to school is something else for me — I didn’t even know they were going to live,” Simone said.
“It’s just very emotional for all of us,” she said of husband Dov and two older children Lily and Lior.
“It’s come up so quickly — for me, they are still my little babies.
“They fought so hard to be here.”
MORE NEWS:
SCHOOLS DEFYING HEALTH CHIEFS’ ADVICE ON CORONAVIRUS
ANOTHER FAST FOOD CHAIN JOINS MEAT-FREE MOVEMENT
THE 10 WORST MELBOURNE SCHOOL RUNS REVEALED
By looking at the girls, you wouldn’t know their introduction to the world 11 weeks early was so fraught with danger.
Jumping without fear on their top bunk bed and racing each other down the street with fierce determination, they seem the symbol of health.
“I’m actually the oldest,” Mila said spontaneously to her sister, bouncing perilously close to a muddy puddle.
“By less than a minute,” mum Simone said.
Now, the biggest hurdle for the twins will be arriving to school with clean socks.