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Parents of extreme preemie twins can't wait to bring them home

After three months at Ronald McDonald House in St. John's, a couple from Corner Brook is looking forward to the day when they can finally bring their twin boys home.

Samantha Payne and her husband Jamie have stuck closely to the Janeway Children's Hospital, following the birth of their extremely premature twins in January.

Payne went into pre-term labour at 24 weeks and was airlifted to St. John's. Her first-born, Luke, was born at 25 weeks while her other boy, Brett, was born two weeks later.

"It's been like a roller coaster," Payne said in an interview on the Corner Brook Morning Show Friday.

"There's been a lot of ups and downs but we're getting — hopefully — to the final stages, and soon getting home."

Brett was discharged from hospital last week and has since joined his parents at Ronald McDonald House, while Luke remains in hospital on oxygen.

Luke was the more premature of the two babies.

"He had chronic lungs and chronic stomach so he's had quite a rough road," said Payne. "So right now, he's just on a little oxygen and that's just the last stage we have to get through to get home."

Despite being three months old, both boys are the size of newborn babies. Luke weighed just one pound, 14 ounces at birth while Brett weighed two pounds, 0.5 ounces.

"Right now, Brett is almost nine pounds and Luke is six pounds, 10 ounces — so they've come quite a ways," said Payne.

Both boys have transitioned to bottle feeding, a stage their parents had long hoped for, following months of tube feeding.

Still, Payne can't forget how small her sons were at birth. "I could put my two hands up and I would completely cover my babies," she said.

"There were weeks that I couldn't even hold them because they weren't stable enough to be held."

Payne said the whole ordeal has been very stressful for the first-time parents. Following the first birth, Payne was put on bed rest and wasn't able to visit or hold Luke who was in the neonatal intensive care unit.

"It's quite traumatizing, actually. But the Ronald McDonald House is amazing, we've met a lot of other families that are going through the same situation, or something different, but it's still all to do with sick kids, which is what holds this place together."

Payne said she's found a support system, as well as life-long friends, at Ronald McDonald House

"This place is amazing — the staff, the volunteers, it's just amazing," she said.

Most days are spent at the hospital while nights are spent in the kitchen, speaking with other parents.

"We are just praying for the day to come that we can go home. We're hoping in the next few weeks, hopefully," said Payne.

"We're waiting for Luke to get off the oxygen, so they're hoping not too much longer — but they can't give a definite answer. It depends on his body and when he decides he's going to do it on his own."