Three flights, two services, and a family reunited

Twins Lilly and Penny Eades have had a tough start to life. The family has had two flights on the NZ Flying Doctor Service and one trip on the Westpac Rescue Helicopter – and the twins are only seven months old.

Lilly and Penny were born in Dunedin in September 2025 after what had been a tricky pregnancy for Mum Sarah and Dad Ricky.

“One of the twins had a growth restriction and they were getting abnormal Doppler readings,” Mum Sarah explains.

Doppler scans are used to monitor blood flow and foetal health.

After a scan at 21 weeks, Sarah was closely monitored by Maternal Foetal Medicine due to the abnormal dopplers and growth restriction in twin one.

After a scan at 27 weeks plus four days, doctors were worried the babies may need to be born urgently. Adding to the complexity of the situation was the fact the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Christchurch Hospital was full. The closest NICU space available was in Dunedin.

“The doctors wanted to get us to Dunedin immediately so we could be close to NICU in case the babies had to be born. They had to open the NZ Flying Doctor Service up for us – a pilot came in just to fly us to Dunedin,” Sarah says.

“I’d been at work in the morning, went for a scan at the hospital that afternoon, and was in Dunedin that night. It was crazy.”

The NZ Flying Doctor Service is a 24/7 service. Pilots are on site at the GCH Aviation Air Rescue Base during that day and are on-call at night.

In Dunedin, specialists monitored Sarah and the twins closely, trying to get the pregnancy as far along as possible. At 28 weeks on the dot, it was decided the babies had to be born.

“They had given me steroids to help the baby’s lungs at 25 weeks and a rescue dose before the plane ride, followed by a magnesium drip to support their brain development before I had a caesarean section.”

Lilly was born 630 grams. Penny was a little stronger at 1.1 kg.

The family stayed in Dunedin but Sarah says Lilly “wasn’t doing very well”. Doctors were worried she would need surgery and she needed more support than Dunedin had facility for so had to be in Christchurch for specialist care.

At three weeks old, Lilly was transported from Dunedin to Christchurch on the Westpac Rescue Helicopter. It was her first solo flight. Sarah wasn’t well enough following her caesarean to climb into the helicopter so followed on a commercial flight. Ricky stayed in Dunedin with Penny.

“They only had one NICU spot in Christchurch so we had to wait for a second one to be available for Penny.”

Two weeks later, Penny finally made it home to Christchurch on the NZ Flying Doctors plane.

In total, the girls spent 116 days in NICU – nearly four months. They got to go home at the same time.

Today, they’re doing well.

“Lilly is still working on her stamina on bottle feeding, so we have to top her up with a tube feed. Penny has an oral aversion, so she is tube fed. But they are both growing and developing and starting to show their personalities.”

Sarah says Lilly is particularly sassy.

“In NICU if Lilly didn’t get her milk on time she would kick up a stink, she certainly was making up for lost time! She came out of the incubator early as she wasn’t having a bar of it. Every time doctors said she might not do something, she did it. She’s a fighter, we’re very lucky to have her.”

Sarah says they also feel blessed the NZ Flying Doctor Service and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter was there for them.

“We were lucky you were there to get us to Dunedin and bring the girls back. It has definitely been a bumpy ride but you got Penny home and brought our family back together again and, for that, we are so grateful.”