2004 for New Zealanders: Jacqui Higgins

Jacqui Higgins underwent an agonising few months as her premature twins struggled to survive. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Last year began with a high and ended with a high for the Higgins, but the bit in between was a nightmare.

Aucklanders Jacqui and Grant were over the moon in February when Jacqui fell pregnant and even more excited when they found out she was carrying twins.

She had a fair pregnancy, being a bit sick at times and headachy but she carried on working as a speech-language therapist.

When she went for a routine check-up in August she was not expecting anything to be wrong.

But the nightmare had begun. Jacqui, 31, had very high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia and at only 24 weeks and four days she was admitted to National Women's Hospital.

If delivered at that time the babies would have been "viable" but only just. The family prepared itself for a very premature birth.

Doctors kept a close eye on her and the babies were allowed to develop for as long as possible. They held on until 30 weeks and one day they entered the world by emergency caesarean section, still 10 weeks early.

Jacqui had "huge swelling" including her airways which was making it a struggle for her to breathe.

Abigail weighed 1.2kg and William 1.1kg, both pretty small, and they went straight to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where they started their life in incubators.

Abigail stayed eight weeks and William nine. It was an agonising few months.

"They both needed help with their breathing initially. They weren't actually ventilated but they had breathing support," says Jacqui.

"We were really worried and, of course, when they're early they run the risk of having brain bleeds and difficulties with all of their organs really, because they're so little."

Jacqui, too, took a while to recover from the delivery making it a lengthy hospital stay and a "pretty awful time".

"From the time I was admitted to hospital until we left with both the babies was 101 days, that's quite a long time. I was either in hospital myself or up at the hospital for at least 12 hours a day.

"People say to you 'gosh you're really pale' and I'd say 'I haven't been outside, I haven't really seen real light'."

At times the babies became quite sick. William had a hernia, an infection and an impacted bowel at one stage but he came through it.

In the middle of it all they had to face NICU packing up and moving from its Greenlane site at National Women's to the new Auckland City Hospital.

The babies travelled in temporary incubators in an ambulance and Jacqui was anxious something might happen on the journey across town but all went smoothly.

In late November they finally took them home - and that produced mixed emotions.

"You're really excited cause you're leaving the hospital but you're leaving all the security of the nurses and doctors and you're going to have to do it yourself."

But it is great to be home, she says. Friends, family and the doctors and nurses get a huge plug of gratitude for helping them through the toughest time.

They have moved in temporarily with Jacqui's mother to help.

"You don't know what the future is going hold for them developmentally or anything but at the moment they're doing well."

She hopes this year will be "very uneventful" with no hospital trips.

"I think it will be nice and we can hang out with our friends who have children and stop panicking as much about their health. But yeah, you know, that's a few months away really."