Kevin Nadarajah and Shakina Rajendram were “in complete shock” after Shakina went into labor prematurely at 21 weeks in March of 2022. Doctors said nothing could be done to save their twins. The Toronto-based couple was recovering from another pregnancy loss when they got the news about their rainbow twins, Adrial and Adiah.

Since the twins were over four months early, doctors at their local hospital could only offer comfort care, letting them pass naturally. Kevin said, “We just felt like this isn’t happening.” While the news was impossible, the couple immediately prayed for a miracle. Kevin said, “I was talking to God overnight and just telling him, ‘We need a sign of hope that things are going to turn around.’”

Then, a friend sent him a social media post from the group “22 Matters,” an advocacy group for parents with premature children. After seeing photos of children born at 21 and 22 weeks thriving, the couple convinced their doctors to allow them to transfer to another hospital that would treat the babies if they were born a few days later at 22 weeks. Shakina remembered the nerve-wracking waiting period leading up to the twins’ birth, saying, “We knew that if they were born even just a few minutes early, it would be a matter of life and death.”

According to 22 Matters, “Only 1 in 4 equipped hospitals in the US will treat a 22-weeker, and only 1 in 3 will treat a 23-weeker. This is also true in Canada, Australia, and the UK.” Shakina was transferred and admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital while still in labor, about an hour and a half drive away, one day later at 21 weeks and six days. Incredibly, the twins were born one hour after they turned 22 weeks gestation.

Adiah and Adriah weighed less than one pound each and were resuscitated successfully. The children had numerous complications from bowel perforations, lung disease from prematurity, and brain bleeds along the way. Several near-death experiences scared Kevin and Shakina, leaving their twins’ medical team on edge. Shakina said, “We had many difficult conversations with doctors. Doctors would come to us and say, ‘Maybe it’s time to withdraw medical care.’”

Despite the doctors’ initially grim outlook, Shakina and Kevin saw how strong the twins were and fought for them every day. She added, “But we saw what doctors maybe didn’t see, which was our babies’ fighting spirit. We saw that the babies had the will to survive. They never gave up on themselves even though they had all these complications. They were pushing through. It reassured me that we, as parents, had to fight for them too. Even though the odds were stacked against us, it felt like sometimes we were the only ones advocating for the babies to be given life-sustaining measures.”

The pair emphasized their trust in God “anchored” them during the challenging period. They were encouraged by friends who set up prayer meetings over Zoom and people from all over the world praying for their babies. As the babies grew stronger, the parents said the medical team’s outlook shifted to become more hopeful. After a tumultuous six months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (“NICU”), the twins finally came home.

The parents say that despite some frightening infections requiring additional hospital stays, the two are thriving and meeting their milestones.