THEIR heads the size of lemons, their hands too small to wrap around an adult's fingertip, their mother and father unable to hold them.
Tiny Traralgon twins Frederick and Ethan Tippet were supposed to be born on 18 July.
They arrived early. Very early.
The twins may not know it for many years but during the first four months of their lives, they have been through one hell of a bumpy ride with their mum and dad, Joanne and Brett.
There have been countless ups and downs, operations, tears, tests, hopes, scares...
On 31 March, the twins' pregnant mother Joanne woke up feeling a "little bit different". At 24 weeks pregnant, she was having slight contractions.
The twins she and husband Brett were preparing to greet in four months time were ready for the world.
From Latrobe Regional Hospital, Joanne was taken directly to the Mercy Hospital for Women in Melbourne, one of only four in the state with specialised neonatal intensive care units.
"That night I had a Caesarean and I was a parent," she said.
She gave birth to Frederick William and Ethan Morris, weighing 620 and 695 grams respectively.
The Traralgon twins were born almost 16 weeks premature and placed straight on ventilators.
They lived much of their early lives in a humidicrib.
It was a week before Joanne could hold and cuddle Frederick and a month before she could do the same with Ethan.
"It was very hard," she said.
"In some respects you just want to hold them because you don't feel like a parent, you feel like a visitor.
"But they were so fragile you say I'm so happy to stand back so they can recover."
Joanne and Brett finally celebrated their sons "corrected birthdays" - the day they were due to arrive - last month.
"We don't know why they (the twins) came so early and we probably never will," Joanne said.
"I'd said not long before they were born that I'd had enough, bring it on, I'm ready. But I wasn't ready for them so soon."
She was told at first the twins' extremely early arrival narrowed their survival chances down to 50/50.
The twins have been on and off ventilators because their lungs were not strong enough to function on their own. Their breathing caused the most uncertainty during the first four months.
Their immunity was also so low that even touching them posed risks.
Both have become early veterans of the operating room.
Ethan had surgery to repair his patent ductus arteriosus, an artery near the heart which is meant to close after birth but had remained open, while Frederick had a bilateral inguinal hernia operation.
All this time, Joanne kept a vigil in a Melbourne unit owned by the Lions Club so she could remain close to her sons.
Ethan finally arrived at the family home in Traralgon on 23 July and Frederick was due home this week after an extra stay at LRH.
Last week, at four months old, Ethan weighed 3.2kg and Frederick was 2.94kg.
Both are in good condition health-wise and according to Joanne, by five or six years old there will be little sign of their dramatic start to life.
"Even though it's been really, really rough, emotional and full-on, there's been heaps of memories," she said.
"Their first baths, the first cuddles, a lot of firsts have happened there (at the Mercy).
"This is just the way it's happened.
"We've had fantastic support from the staff at the Mercy, the doctors, nurses and social staff, the Lions Club, Latrobe Regional Hospital initially with their diligence in getting me to the Mercy and looking after Frederick for the last few weeks, and of course my friends and family."
Joanne started a regular email journal to keep friends and relatives up-to-date with the twins' progress.
From 8 April, just a week after their birth:
"This Easter weekend has also been a weekend of firsts.
"I had a cuddle with Frederick Friday night for approx hour and I changed my first itty-bitty nappy (first of many) - Frederick's also!
"Hopefully it won't be too long until I can hold Ethan. Up to now he has been too fragile."
From Sunday 6 May, the end of the week that contained some of "the best and worst days" since the boys' birth:
"Friday through to today had been emotionally very difficult. Frederick has been having periods of time when he stops breathing.
"Ethan has been dropping his heart rate that significantly that when I saw him yesterday he was a very confronting shade of purple/grey.
"It makes you feel scared and helpless when both your sons' lives are balancing precariously even with medical intervention."
On 30 June, when they were finally put into a cot together for the first time:
"They haven't really interacted as yet but this morning Ethan did accidentally whack Frederick on the head and stuck his finger in his ear!"
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter