Midwives saved my twins' lives - now I want to be one, too

Lorna Colquhoun, 34, is a childminder, but midwifery has become her dream career after midwives spotted her babies were in trouble.

One twin was being overloaded with blood and nutrients, putting a massive strain on his heart. The other was getting hardly any and slowly starving.

After identifying the problem, the midwives safely delivered the boys, Ross and Grant, ten weeks prematurely.

Mrs Colquhoun is now determined not to forget how fortunate she, courier husband Alan, 40, and older boys Scott, 12, and Lee, four, are.

She said: "Those women were miracle-workers. They brought my wee babies here to me when I thought I might lose them.

"I want to return that favour for someone else. It feels like my responsibility to do that now, to bring other children into the world. I feel destined to do it."

The mother has begun a course to become a midwife at the University of the West of Scotland, responding to an appeal from the Royal College of Midwives head Cathy Warwick, who warned of a huge shortage in the profession.

Mrs Colquhoun has also set up the Wishaw Neonatal Support Group with two friends to raise money for her local hospital.

She added: "I will work as hard as I can to be a midwife. I never thought about it in my life, but it's now the best job in the world to me.

"I want to give something back and if I can save another woman's babies and she is inspired to become a midwife too because of it, that would be wonderful."

Mrs Colquhoun was due to give birth to identical twins on 14 January this year.

She was advised to have a scan every two weeks because the twins shared a single placenta instead of having one each.

They also shared a blood supply and a breakdown in their blood vessels meant all the nutrients and blood were passing through Ross to Grant.

Ross's heart was being flooded with blood, while Grant was becoming weaker and weaker.

It was during a routine scan, at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, that the problem was found.

Mrs Colquhoun, from Airdrie, was taken to Wishaw General Hospital, where the boys were safely delivered. She said: "The consultant told me they had to come out. I asked what their chances were - she told me there was a one-in-four chance I'd lose one or both of my babies.

"With every hour they were inside me those chances got a lot worse. It was absolutely terrifying."

Ross was delivered a minute before his brother, on 5 November, 2009. The boys recently celebrated their first birthday and are now thriving.