It Was a 'Miracle' Birth. The Mother Knew Nothing of It

Perpetual Uke was 26 weeks pregnant when her twins were delivered by cesarean section at a hospital in Birmingham, England. She didn't meet them for a month. Diagnosed with COVID-19, the rheumatology consultant had been taken to the hospital, placed on a ventilator in the ICU, and then put in an induced coma in early April. Doctors delivered the twins on April 10, fearing their mother might not recover, reports the Guardian. Uke did recover, waking from the coma on April 26. But "I was delusional," she tells Metro. "I couldn't see my bump and I thought my babies were gone and all my family had died." She was shown photos of the twins, but "they were so tiny, they didn't look like human beings," she tells the BBC. "I couldn't believe they were mine." It was two weeks after that before she could meet the infants, whose birth she now recognizes as a "miracle."

Osinachi Pascal, a boy, was born weighing 1 pound, 14 ounces, while his sister, Sochika Palmer, weighed 1 pound, 11 ounces. They join two older children Uke has with her husband, Matthew. "We are all doing very well," but "it was a very, very worrying time for my husband and kids," ages 11 and 12, Uke tells Metro. "Every passing day I was hoping my wife was not [dead]," Matthew tells the BBC. Uke says she "never wanted [the twins] to go through this difficult path at the start of their lives. They couldn't see their mum for two weeks, which obviously made me very sad." But "it's just a miracle ... to come out of this," she adds, per the Guardian. The twins were finally able to leave the hospital in August, 116 days after their birth. "Sometimes I look at them in tears, I never knew they would make it," Uke says, per Sky News. "It is amazing what medical professional science can offer." (More uplifting news stories.)