A mum who gave birth to twins 16 weeks early lost her son at 21 days old - while his tiny sister survived after a 101 day fight for her life in hospital.
Breanna Seibel, 30, and her husband, Chase, 32, an electrician, were "excited" when they found out they were expecting two babies at their five-week scan in December 2021.
But just 20 weeks into the pregnancy, Breanna started experiencing back pain and felt like she was going into labour - four months early.
Doctors checked her over and sent her home but a few weeks later, on April 19, 2022, Breanna started experiencing contractions.
She was rushed to hospital and seen by specialists - who determined she was in labour and already 1cm dilated and 100 effaced.
Medics managed to stabilise Breanna and she was admitted to hospital on bed rest.
She managed to make it to 24 weeks when she started bleeding heavily on April 23, 2022, and doctors told her they had to deliver the twins right away.
Just 30 minutes later Teddy and Vivi were born at 4.30pm and 4.31pm - weighing 1lbs 8oz and 1lbs 7oz respectively.
The babies were immediately placed in incubators and whisked to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) - where it was "touch and go".
Sadly, after 21 days in the NICU, Teddy passed away due to a brainstem herniation - the shifting of the brain tissue from one space in the skull to another - on May 14, 2022.
Vivi continued to fight for her life and after 101 days in hospital, she was able to be discharged, in August 2022 - with Breanna describing the moment as "bittersweet".
Breanna, a nurse, from Saint Paul, Minnesota, US, said: "When Teddy died I went into survival mode - it is nothing than trying to make it out alive.
"That night, Vivi's lungs were the clearest I had ever seen them be.
"When we left hospital in August, it was really hard - we were still scared about Vivi's health.
"If she got sick we knew she could be immediately admitted.
"It was a bittersweet moment - we had the nursery set up with two cribs and two sets of everything."
Breanna had been experiencing back pain for a few weeks before she found out she was in early labour.
She said: "By the time I went in I was a few centimetres dilated so it was likely that I had been in labour the whole time.
"My contractions at that point were very strong and really close together.
"I stood up and there was blood everywhere but my waters didn't break.
"They said they wanted to deliver my babies there and then but it was a small hospital and they did not have the facilities I needed."
Breanna got blue-lighted to a larger hospital - which the facilities to deliver and care for premature babies - in Minnesota and Chase followed behind in his car.
She said: "It was all a bit of a whirlwind.
"I had a lot of ultrasounds by a specialist and I was monitored a lot.
"They gave me a magnesium drip and were monitoring my contractions."
Breanna Seibel, 30, and her husband, Chase, 32, an electrician, were "excited" when they found out they were expecting two babies at their five-week scan in December 2021.
But just 20 weeks into the pregnancy, Breanna started experiencing back pain and felt like she was going into labour - four months early.
Doctors checked her over and sent her home but a few weeks later, on April 19, 2022, Breanna started experiencing contractions.
She was rushed to hospital and seen by specialists - who determined she was in labour and already 1cm dilated and 100 effaced.
Medics managed to stabilise Breanna and she was admitted to hospital on bed rest.
She managed to make it to 24 weeks when she started bleeding heavily on April 23, 2022, and doctors told her they had to deliver the twins right away.
Just 30 minutes later Teddy and Vivi were born at 4.30pm and 4.31pm - weighing 1lbs 8oz and 1lbs 7oz respectively.
The babies were immediately placed in incubators and whisked to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) - where it was "touch and go".
Sadly, after 21 days in the NICU, Teddy passed away due to a brainstem herniation - the shifting of the brain tissue from one space in the skull to another - on May 14, 2022.
Vivi continued to fight for her life and after 101 days in hospital, she was able to be discharged, in August 2022 - with Breanna describing the moment as "bittersweet".
Breanna, a nurse, from Saint Paul, Minnesota, US, said: "When Teddy died I went into survival mode - it is nothing than trying to make it out alive.
"That night, Vivi's lungs were the clearest I had ever seen them be.
"When we left hospital in August, it was really hard - we were still scared about Vivi's health.
"If she got sick we knew she could be immediately admitted.
"It was a bittersweet moment - we had the nursery set up with two cribs and two sets of everything."
Breanna had been experiencing back pain for a few weeks before she found out she was in early labour.
She said: "By the time I went in I was a few centimetres dilated so it was likely that I had been in labour the whole time.
"My contractions at that point were very strong and really close together.
"I stood up and there was blood everywhere but my waters didn't break.
"They said they wanted to deliver my babies there and then but it was a small hospital and they did not have the facilities I needed."
Breanna got blue-lighted to a larger hospital - which the facilities to deliver and care for premature babies - in Minnesota and Chase followed behind in his car.
She said: "It was all a bit of a whirlwind.
"I had a lot of ultrasounds by a specialist and I was monitored a lot.
"They gave me a magnesium drip and were monitoring my contractions."
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FunTranscript
00:00 My son and daughter were 24-week-old twins, and they were born at 24 weeks.
00:06 My son suffered a very severe brain bleed, and my daughter also had a brain bleed,
00:11 but it was significantly less severe.
00:15 We were told that my son may need a shunt or a reservoir placed
00:24 to stop the fluid from building up in his brain,
00:29 and that it would be kind of a slow burn, and that we would have time to figure things out
00:36 before that happened, because we would be able to see what was going on.
00:40 One morning, we went down there, and like I said, he was unresponsive.
00:46 Pupils fixed.
00:47 They didn't move to light. They didn't react to light.
00:51 His heart rate sat right at 156.
00:57 He wouldn't move to painful stimuli.
00:59 Literally, he was gone, and you could just tell his soul had left his body.
01:04 And so what had happened is he had his cerebral spinal fluid build up in his brain
01:13 because when his body went to clear out his bleed, it kind of clogged the plumbing of his brain,
01:19 and so the cerebral spinal fluid built up and caused hydrocephalus.
01:24 So when I walked down that morning, I discovered that he had only gotten a couple bumps of morphine overnight
01:30 instead of his normal 19 to 20, and no one had said anything.
01:35 I don't know if someone noticing overnight would have kept him here,
01:40 but I can't even let my mind go that direction
01:44 just because it would be way too painful for me to think about at this point in time,
01:49 but that's what happened.
01:53 His twin sister is home from the NICU now, but let me tell you a little bit about Teddy.
01:58 This is a stuffed animal that we got with his heartbeat from when he was in utero.
02:06 We have one for his sister, too, but he was literally the sweetest thing ever.
02:13 He looked so much like my dad. He looked so much like me, but he also looked so much like Vivi.
02:21 There's pictures where I couldn't even tell them apart.
02:24 I think he is the ultimate--well, I know he's the ultimate protector of his sister and me.
02:31 I mean, he literally gave his life for us.
02:35 Teddy was baby A, and he was head down.
02:38 He was a little bit shorter than Vivi, weighed a little bit more,
02:44 and he was absolutely perfect in every sense of the word.
02:50 [Music]
03:05 My daughter is perfect.
03:08 She is doing very well, despite everything that she went through.
03:13 She is very much like a normal baby.
03:16 She has no developmental delays and is on track for her adjusted age.
03:22 And despite being told that she may never breathe, eat, walk, or talk on her own,
03:27 she does all of those things.
03:29 My son is also perfect, although he is forever 21 days old.
03:34 We miss him every single day, and we want him back so, so badly.
03:40 As for me, I am doing well.
03:43 I am now a nurse where I delivered.
03:46 I passed nursing school despite everything we went through,
03:49 and we are currently working on expanding our family.