A Bloemfontein couple, Karabelo and Tshegofatso Pebane, celebrated another milestone in their lives of their identical twin boys, King and Kingston. They rejoiced about their twins’ first birthday with a memorable party.
Balloons, cake, and more on a colourful wall marked their special birthday, which was graced by family and close friends at Bloemfontein’s Botanical Garden on Saturday, 30 November.
Born prematurely on 13 October last year, with their initial due date being 19 January this year Z the fact that King and Kingston survived their birth and made and are still here a year later has been considered a miracle.
Due to their prematurity, especially their birth weights, the twins were attached to a ventilator for 17 days at Life Rosepark, a private hospital in Bloemfontein. At birth, King weighed 490 g and Kingston 430 g. When discharged from the hospital, King’s weight was 2,100 kg and Kingston weighed 1,805 kg.
They are reportedly the smallest premature babies (preemies) under 500 g to have been cared for in Rosepark. They had a stay of 26 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Father Karabelo revealed he was fasting for 12 hours for their twins to pull through while his spouse Tshegofatso stayed at the hospital.
“The story of these children is a remarkable one. Yes, they were born in a private hospital, but that did not mean that they would automatically survive. Their story is about the beauty of mankind’s natural will for survival. We celebrated their birthday during World Prematurity Month, when we are raising awareness about infants born prematurely and the difficulties they face.
“This year’s theme is ‘Over 13 million babies born prematurely every year: Access to quality care everywhere,’ ” said Mondli Mvambi, spokesperson for the provincial Department of Health.
- More photos on news24.com.
