The couple had become pregnant after trying for three years and were not prepared to say goodbye to their child so soon.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 19, 2020. It has since been updated.
When Kate and David Ogg of Queensland, Australia became pregnant after trying for three years, they were overjoyed because they found out they were having twins. However, they were caught unawares when she went into labor at 26 weeks. The Ogg family will never forget what happened that day their entire lives.
The first-time parents had already picked names for their "pigeon pair," a boy and a girl, Jamie, and Emily, and were ready to become parents. However, the night she gave birth, on March 25, 2010, Kate was told that Jamie had died.
"They were both born in their sac but Jamie didn't make a noise when they tore it open. Emily let out a big wail," Kate told Daily Mail. "We looked over and everyone was crowding around Jamie - there was about 20 people in the room. The vibe wasn't very good. He stopped breathing and his heartbeat was nearly gone. After 20 minutes they stopped working on him," she said.
The doctors couldn't do anything more for the child. "Jamie didn't make it," the doctor said, according to the Independent.
The distraught mother wanted to hold her little baby and told her husband to climb into the bed with her. The couple held their baby on their chest giving skin-to-skin contact. She had seen him gasp but doctors had said that it was no use.
"I took Jamie off the doctor, asked everyone to leave. He was cold and I just wanted him to be warm. We had tried for years to have kids and I felt so guilty. I just wanted to cuddle him. I unwrapped him and ordered my husband to take his shirt off and climb into the bed. I know it sounds stupid, but if he was still gasping there was still a sign of life so I wasn't going to give up easily," said the mom.
They had resigned themselves to the fact that they were losing him but they underestimated the power of their love. "We were just trying to make the most of those last, precious moments," they told Today.
And boy is she glad she didn't stop trying that day. They spoke to their baby telling him of the life that awaits him. "We were trying to entice him to stay. We explained his name and that he had a twin that he had to look out for and how hard we tried to have him," she said.
Jamie gasped suddenly and opened his eyes. The 1kg baby breathed and grabbed his father's finger. "If we had let the doctor walk out of the room with him, Jamie would have been dead," she told Daily Mail. "We feel so fortunate," David told Today. "We’re the luckiest people in the world."
Jamie and Emily now have another sibling, Charlie, who loves telling anyone who listens to Jamie's story, "When I was born I was fat and the twins were skinny. Jamie was also dead but now he is alive," says Charlie.
The family moved to Nelson, New Zealand, “a very chilled-out town" in 2012, and the twins' check-ups have shown that they are developing normally. They had fears about Jamie's health but he's a lucky boy he has parents who will just not give up on him!
References:
https://www.today.com/parents/pronounced-dead-revived-moms-hug-miracle-baby-turning-2-366375
