Record-Breaking Twins Born Four Months Early Defy Odds

Courtesy: Shakina Rajendram

When Shakina Rajendram went into premature labor at only 21 weeks last March and the doctors informed the couple that there was nothing that could be done to rescue their twins, Kevin Nadarajah and Shakina Rajendram were "in complete shock."

When the couple from the area of Toronto received the heartbreaking news about their rainbow twins, Adiah and Adrial, they were still grieving the loss of another pregnancy. Doctors at their neighborhood hospital could only provide comfort care and allow the babies to pass away peacefully because they were just 21 weeks old, or more than four months early.

Courtesy: Shakina Rajendram

"We just felt like…this isn't happening," Kevin said. 

The two instantly prayed for a miracle despite the fact that the news appeared to be stressful.

"I was talking to God overnight and just telling him, ‘We need a sign of hope that things are going to turn around,’" Kevin recalled.

Courtesy: Shakina Rajendram

Then, a friend sent him a social media update from the "22 Matters" group, which supports parents of premature infants.

The couple persuaded their doctors to allow them to transfer to a hospital that would handle the infants if they were delivered a few days later at 22 weeks after seeing posts of children born at 21 and 22 weeks who are now flourishing.

Shakina recalls the tense waiting time before their delivery.

"We knew that if they were born even just a few minutes early it would be a matter of life and death," she said.

According to 22 Matters, "Only 1 in 4 equipped hospitals in the US will treat a 22-weeker, and only 1 in 3 will treat a 23-weeker. This is also true in Canada, Australia, and the UK." 

One day later, at 21 weeks and six days, Shakina was taken in and admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital while continuing in labor.

Courtesy: Shakina Rajendram

Mount Sinai Hospital is roughly an hour and a half's drive away. Amazingly, the twins were born an hour after they reached 22 weeks of pregnancy.

Adrial and Adiah, who each weighed less than a pound, were successfully revived. The children experienced numerous difficulties along the road due to brain bleeds, intestinal perforations, and lung illness from prematurity.

Courtesy: Shakina Rajendram

Shakina and Kevin were afraid, as was the medical staff caring for their twins after several close calls.

"We had many difficult conversations with doctors… Doctors would come to us and say, ‘Maybe it’s time to withdraw medical care,'" Shakina said.

The parents fought for their babies at every turn, despite the doctors' initial pessimistic prognosis.

"But we saw what doctors maybe didn't see, which was our babies' fighting spirit. We saw that the babies' had the will to survive… They never gave up on themselves even though they had all these complications. They were pushing through," Shakina said. "[It] reassured we as us parents had to fight for them [too]. Even though the odds were stacked against us, it felt like sometimes we were the only ones advocating for the babies to be given life-sustaining measures," she added.

The couple made a point of describing how their faith in God "anchored" them during the trying time.

They received encouragement from friends who organized prayer gatherings via Zoom and from others praying for their infants all over the world.

"We had a group that kept expanding," Shakina said. "So every time we would receive difficult news or we would watch the babies almost die in front of our eyes, we would send out a really quick message saying, ‘Please pray'… We didn't even have time to get into the details. And people would start praying right away. While they were praying we would see amazing things happen," she recalled.

The mother recalled a time when their daughter Adiah's breathing tube disconnected, and they were alarmed to see that her oxygen level and pulse rate had dropped to almost nothing as the medical team rushed to help.

"Right as we told people to please pray, miraculously we saw her numbers going up again and just in time the doctors and respiratory therapists were able to get it back in," she recalled.

"The medical care team played an important, really significant role, but they weren't the only [ones] keeping the babies alive," the mother said.

"Ultimately," Kevin said, they believed God "was in control of the babies' lives and would sustain them."

"That helped give us faith and hope to keep going on even when we saw really difficult, [and] scary things," Shakina added.

The parents reported that as the babies got stronger, the medical staff's outlook changed and became more upbeat. The twins were finally allowed to go home after a traumatic six months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ("NICU").

The two are doing well and reaching their milestones, according to their parents, despite some terrifying infections that necessitated additional hospital stays.

"Adiah came home breathing and eating on her own… he's rolling over… learning how to sit independently. She's very feisty," Shakina said with a smile. "She likes chatting and babbling all day long… also very loving and gentle towards her twin brother."

Compared to his twin sister, Adrial had a more difficult path, but his parents say he has made excellent progress. Adrial has been fully oxygen-free for the past month after a brief period during which he required some breathing help. He was brilliant, analytical, and observant, according to his parents.

According to Guinness World Records, Adiah and Adrial currently hold the record for being born the most prematurely and weighing the least. Last month, the siblings celebrated their first birthday.