Premature twins share a heartwarming hug as they meet for the first time

Australian mum Ann Le has shared adorable images of her twin daughters cuddling for the first time, 27 days after they were born prematurely.

Olivia and Zoe, who were born in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne on 26th January, were separated for almost a month after they arrived in the world.

Ann shared an adorable picture of her daughters’ reunion on Instagram with the caption, '27 days after birth the girls finally got to meet. Zoe immediately went in for the hug.’

The sisters are monochorionic monoamniotic twins, which means that they shared the same sac and placenta in the womb.

‘Momo twins’ are extremely rare, and only have a 50 per cent chance of surviving beyond the 26th week of pregnancy. There is a high risk that the babies’ umbilical cords will get tangled together, which can cause impaired blood flow.

Ann had ultrasounds every two weeks from her 10th week of pregnancy to check on their development. At 28 weeks and 5 days, her doctors decided it was time for the babies to come out, as they believed that one of them was in distress.

After the birth, the sisters were separated and placed on separate breathing supports.

‘We waited 27 days exactly for our first twin cuddle and it was so much more than we could have expected,’ Ann told Daily Mail Australia.

‘Olivia was placed on me first, then when it was Zoe’s turn she reached out her left arm and hugged her sister. My tears were flowing, it’s a moment I’ll never forget.'

On Friday, Ann posted another sweet image of the pair snuggling together, writing, ‘Today is International Women’s Day. Our strong little women have had a tough start to life but they are little fighters who keep pushing through. It’s quite rare that we see Zoe snuggle up to her sister, she’s always the wriggly one, but yesterday she was quite happy to spend hours there.’

Ann hopes to take the girls home next month.