Miracle babies: Mom’s tooth infection saves twins


It's time to check in on miracle twins Mackenzie and Anna, who were born at 24 weeks.

"Everything they do is awesome because we didn't think they were going to get that far," said their father Ryan Lloyd.

Shortly after the twins' mother, Lauren Lawton, learned she was pregnant, she learned the girls shared a placenta.  That meant one twin was getting too much blood and the other was getting too little.

The couple and doctors credit an abscessed tooth with giving the girls a chance.

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An infection in Lauren Lawton's tooth forced her into labor at 24 weeks.

Negative effects from the shared placenta didn't fully develop.

The girls barely weighed over a pound when they were delivered by C-section at West Penn Hospital.

"They showed them to me and then they took them.  I was glad they came out and cried," said Lauren Lawton.

But their fight for life wasn't over yet.  Both girls underwent heart surgery to repair open valves.

"They were a pound getting surgery.  It was nerve-racking because they could have died," Lauren Lawton said.

After three and a half months in the neonatal unit, the twins went home.

Doctors said their progress is remarkable, and the girls are now 7 months old.

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