Twins in 'stable' condition after emergency airlift

Published on Tuesday 20 January 2009 21:19

TWINS born prematurely on a Scottish island were in a stable condition yesterday after being transferred to the mainland on an RAF Hercules.

The mother, named locally as Chrissie Mary Macinnes, from Tobson on Great Bernera, off the west coast of Lewis, spent yesterday with her babies, a boy and a girl. Friends said Ms Macinnes, 40, and the twins' father, Tim Smith, were anxious not to be separated from their babies.

The couple have two other children, Scott, six, and Christopher, one. Ms Macinnes went into labour at 27 weeks and gave birth to the babies in hospital in Stornoway on Sunday night.

Doctors worked through the night to stabilise the twins before the flight to a hospital in Glasgow.

The Hercules aircraft had to be brought in because of snow and high winds. Consultants from the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow, who were flown out to Stornoway by a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter, travelled with the twins.

Dr Lesley Jackson, a consultant at the hospital, said she expected a good outcome for the babies, who were being cared for by a dedicated neonatal team.