'Safe and healthy' - Delight as Donegal twins born prematutely finally make it home

Donegal twins born prematurely in December have finally made it home.

Shane and Demi McLaughlin from Carndonagh welcomed Penelope and Cece to the world on Christmas Eve. The twins were born at 31 weeks and were taken to Dublin to receive specialist care.

Shane and Demi were delighted to make it back to Letterkenny on January 2 with the girls, travelling by Air Corps helicopter with help from the National Neonatal Transport Programme.

Since then, the twins spent almost six weeks in the neonatal unit at Letterkenny University Hospital and on Friday, were discharged and made their way to Carndonagh, much to their excitement.

READ NEXT: Family of newborn twins flown back to Donegal by Air Corps express their gratitude

“We got home today, and the girls are safe and healthy,” Shane told DonegalLive on Friday night. “They finally meet their three older brothers, Mason, Archie and Lennon.

“Thank you so much to the neonatal unit in Letterkenny - they did an amazing job looking after our girls.”

Shane last month explained how the twins made it back to Donegal initially.

“The Air Corps are a great team and provided us with a great service, which we’re very thankful for,” he said.

The AW139 crews carried out the first neonatal transfer of the year, bringing twin babies to the north-west. A neonatal medical team travelled to Casement Aerodrome, where they were met by Air Corps personnel who then flew both the team and the twins safely to Letterkenny.