As part of Neonatal Medicine at The Royal Children’s Hospital, the Butterfly ward- Newborn Intensive Care provides the best neonatal care for the sickest babies and infants from Victoria, interstate and overseas.

With up to 851 admissions each year, Butterfly cares for patients from other hospitals in Melbourne and country Victoria, southern New South Wales and Tasmania and from the RCH Emergency Department.

Today marks national Learn About Butterflies Day, a day to learn about and celebrate the wide range of butterflies and their importance to our ecosystems.

To celebrate the day, we visited the Butterfly ward to meet Oscar and Oliver, two seven-week-old twins who have called the RCH home since they were born.

Oscar and Oliver were born at 30 weeks gestation on January 23, 2020.  Travelling from Wangaratta with help from the RCH Paediatric Infant Perinatal Emergency Retrival (PIPER) team, Oscar was rushed to the hospital hours after he was born, requiring two operations to his oesophagus.

Meanwhile, twin brother Oliver was being cared for at the Mercy hospital.

Finally, Oliver was able to join his brother at the RCH two weeks ago. The pair had been apart for six weeks after sharing the same sac in utero, a very rare case for twins.

Receiving some positive news this week, the twins’ mum, Nikki and dad, Daniel found out that Oliver is heading home for the first time tonight!

Although unsure when Oscar will head home, he has made great progress since his arrival at the RCH, and looks likely to be home with his brother, mum and dad very soon.

“We’ve had an amazing experience at the hospital and are extremely grateful for the care we have received from all the doctors and nurses that have helped our twin boys,” said Nikki.

For more information about the Butterfly ward, please visit: https://www.rch.org.au/butterfly/

To learn more about the RCH PIPER service, please visit: https://www.rch.org.au/piper/