Unborn girl saves twin sister's life by sending out signal from womb, doctors say

Doctors say that Poppy saved her sister Winnie's life because if they had waited any longer to give birth to them, Winnie would not have survived.

A twin saved the life of her sister by sending out distress signals that made doctors decide to give birth to them both. They are both doing well now.

Poppy McBride, who is now three, made doctors have to give birth to her and her twin sister Winnie when Poppy's heart rate started to waver on the monitor when her mother was 31 weeks pregnant.

Even though Poppy was the smaller of the twins at 1lb 11oz, she was healthy and her heart wasn't broken.

Her sister Winnie, who was born weighing 3lbs 8oz and about whom doctors hadn't been worried during the pregnancy, was taken to the intensive care unit right away because her lungs weren't fully developed.

Doctors told Leah McBride, who is 28, that Poppy saved her sister's life and that Winnie would not have lived if they had waited any longer to have the twins.

At 21 weeks, Leah and her husband, Austin, a 27-year-old crane mechanic, found out that their girls had twin-to-twin transfusion. This happens when there is an imbalance in blood flow, causing one baby to give all of its nutrients to the other.

Leah was told to get rid of baby B, Poppy, so that baby A, Winnie, would have a better chance of living.

Even though doctors told Leah that neither baby had a good chance of surviving, she had surgery to fix the blood-sharing problem, and it worked. She carried the twins for 31 weeks and five days before giving birth.

Winnie just barely made it. At 14 days old, she had to have surgery to remove fluid that had built up on her brain. After that, she made a miraculous recovery.