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When I went to Sarah Todd and Declan Cleary’s Melbourne home to meet their twin girls and hear their birth story, I was completely unprepared for the incredible tale that was about to follow.
The couple had been documenting their pregnancy and later arrival of their twins on social media. Things looked picture perfect. Little did I – or the world – know, that behind closed doors this couple had survived the unimaginable. And now, for the first time, they are talking about it. Sarah and Declan exclusively opened up to The Weekly in our May 2026 issue (on sale this week!) and a brand new episode of The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories podcast.
Multiple births are already high risk. Identical twin births are even higher. And so Sarah and the babies were constantly monitored during their journey
“The first trimester of my pregnancy, I had a lot of morning sickness and all of that,” Sarah told me. “Then it kind of settled a little bit. And then I just started getting quite sick and physically in pain. I seemed to be unwell for a lot of the end of it. I was like, gosh, I don’t remember (pregnancy) being this difficult. But I had it said in my mind, I wanna make it to 36 weeks and whatever it took, I was gonna get to that point.”
But at during Sarah’s 34 week scan the unimaginable happened.
Sarah was diagnosed with preeclampsia. Not only that, none of the measures the hospital took were reducing her blood pressure down or raising her platelets. Suddenly she was in emergency theatre, preparing to deliver the twins early.
“Sarah’s platelets were dropping so low, the blood pressure was so high, the iron infusion, the preeclampsia, the swelling,” Declan told me in this incredibly emotional episode as he drew Sarah close by his side.
“It was all these signs on these little girls are ready to come out into the world now. And by that point it was, it was Sarah that was becoming the health problem … I was f***ing terrified.”
It took, says Declan, just 14 minutes for their babies to dramatically enter the world. “It was the longest 14 minutes of my life,” he recounted.
But when Claudia and Charlotte arrived it looked like the worst case scenario had occurred.
“You know, like you see in the movies like screaming and crying,” Declan recalled of the terrifying moment their babies were pulled out blue, not crying. “I was like, ‘God, I’ve got two dead babies here. And, mum’s knocked unconscious.”
What followed was an incredible fight to get both babies to take their first breath. Meanwhile Sarah was still under anaesthesia from her emergency surgery and not out of the woods herself. And while, luckily, the twins finally rallied, it then looked like Sarah may not.
She suddenly went into seizures as Declan gripped her hand, fearing the worst.
“It was just so scary not feeling stable or in control,” Sarah said of her panic in that moment. ” I can handle pain, but you know, this? I couldn’t handle this. There was nothing I could do to stop it.”
And this was just the start. As the minutes, hours and weeks progressed, the health battle continued. Indeed, says Sarah, for her it’s still continuing today. Listen to the episode to hear more and pick up the May issue to read the story in full. Trust me, this is one story you don’t want to miss.
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