A mum has shared the heartwarming moment her premature twins were introduced to their siblings after 114 days in the hospital.
Kayleigh Lever, 33, couldn't believe it when she found out she and her partner Robbie, 35, were expecting twins, adding to their brood of six.
However, after falling ill, her twins, Hudson and Hope, were born at 26 weeks and spent 114 days in the hospital before being released home.
A moving video shows siblings Ellie, 13, Jacob, nine, Jayden, eight, and Parker three, first meeting their new brother and sister, with most of them overwhelmed with emotion.
Kayleigh explains: "When we could finally bring them home, we didn't tell their big brothers and sisters, so it was a complete surprise when they came home from school.
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"I am so glad I got to capture this moment on camera, it is a moment we will remember forever.
"I told them to all come home straight from school as I told them the nurse wanted to speak to them all about their new brother and sister.
"When they first saw them they were just in complete shock. Hope and Hudson were laying on a twin nursing pillow.
"Ellie burst into tears and the boys didn't know what to do, they were all so shocked.
"They had only ever seen photos and videos of them, as they weren't allowed into the hospital due to Covid restrictions.
"It was such a warming moment and we will always remember it."
After suffering from bleeding, Kayleigh was rushed to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where she was discharged after a week, however, on her way home her waters broke.
Rushing back to the hospital, Kayleigh had her twins at 14 weeks early by C-section due to Kayleigh being unwell.
Hudson weighed 1lb 7oz seven and Hope weighed 1lb 6oz, Kayleigh says she was unable to hold them both until they were four weeks old.
Kayleigh adds: "I didn't even have anything ready yet. All I had was a pram and one car seat. Our families had to donate a lot and also buy things for us.
"I definitely wasn't planning on having them that early, there is always a risk of having premature twins but never anticipated them coming at 26 weeks.
"I couldn't believe how small they were, they were the size of Robbie's hand.
The only place we could get nappies from was from Asda's pharmacy, which they give out for free for premature babies.
"Hope became quite poorly in hospital developing a milk curdle obstruction, and she was transferred from Taunton Hospital to St Michaels where she had to have a stoma bag fitted, 10cm of her stomach removed and then the reversal surgery of the stoma bag a few weeks later.
"It was hideous, we were told at one point she wasn't going to make it as they didn't know what they were going to find in the operation.
"She pulled through and it luckily wasn't as bad as they thought.
"This meant they were separated for nine weeks. It also meant I was having to do twice the amount of hospital runs as they were an hour apart from each other.
"I was just doing the M5 runs constantly, it took 40 minutes to get to Hudson an hour and a half to get to Hope."
Kayleigh and partner HGV driver Robbie, were able to take their premature babies home after a long 114 days in a neonatal unit, and now they're doing brilliantly.
Talking of how the kids are with the new additions to the family, she said: "They love them so much.
"Ellie is like a mini mum, she's delighted she has a sister in the family too and the boys are being great and helping out.
"I am tired of course, but I am so glad to not be doing those hospital runs anymore. I used to alternate days of which hospitals I went to."
"We are so happy they're home."
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