Parents of premature twins thank medical heroes for saving their babies after emergency delivery

Ashton and Leo Mulcahy weighed just over 5lbs between them they were delivered 10 weeks early by emergency cesarean section on October 13.

Well into her labour, first time mother Lydia O'Doherty, was told by doctors she would have to be anaesthetised and undergo emergency surgery to deliver her sons safely.

Ms O'Doherty, (aged 17), from Annacotty, Co Limerick, added she was taken to a theatre ward as a precaution, so that "if anything happened they would be prepared".

"I started crying because I was thinking I had gone through a lot and I was going to miss my babies being born. All I remember is them putting the oxygen mask on my face and I feel asleep," she said.

"I don't have the words to describe how I felt when I first saw them, I couldn't believe they were mine."

Early on in her pregnancy Ms O'Doherty was injured after fainting at home.

She said: "I was in a lot of pain. I was worried so we went to the hospital. The nurse was doing a scan to rule out an ectopic pregnancy, and then she told me we were having twins. Calum nearly hit the floor."

She described everything that had happened since as being "a blur".

Nearly a month on her little battlers Ashton and Leo are progressing well everyday.

"They went from intensive care, to the high dependency ward, to special care, so hopefully they will be home soon. If they continue going as well they may be home in about two weeks, fingers crossed."

"Our families are all just excited to see them come home and give gem lots of cuddles."

The happy couple said they "would be lost" without the intervention and help of the doctors and nurses.

Praising the heroes who provide life saving care in the Limerick neonatal unit, she said: "They have such maternal instincts and they are so careful with the babies. They are fantastic."

"The babies in there are so tiny but the nurses show you how to hold them. They're very mindful about how the mother is feeling too."

She added: "It was a whole shock. The hardest thing was seeing them being hooked up to monitors, and every time the machines beeped I was panicking. But you get used to it."

Gazing down at her bundles of joy, she said: "I couldn't be more prouder of them."

Proud dad Calum Mulcahy remarked: "Lydia went into labour in the same room I was born in 17 years ago."

"Words can't describe it to be honest. Lydia was fantastic, and words can't describe it really to say how proud I am of her."