Leanne Quigley, who won The Traitors alongside Jake Brown, is mum to premature twin boys Hudson and Harley with her partner Sophie, and has opened up about their terrifying NICU battle
Traitors champion Leanne Quigley has revealed she continues to be haunted by the terrifying moment she watched her newborn son battle for survival. The 30 year old reality star welcomed twin boys with partner Sophie, but their arrival was fraught with life-threatening complications.
The former armed forces member, who secured victory in last year’s The Traitors alongside Jake Brown, delivered her sons weeks ahead of schedule. She’s now opened up about the devastating experience when one of her babies, Harley, came perilously close to death and the desperate efforts by doctors to save him.
During an appearance on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, Leanne reflected on Hudson and Harley’s traumatic start to life. She explained how the twins arrived at just 26 weeks’ gestation, still wrapped in their amniotic sac with their eyelids fused together.
Leanne remembered: “They looked like tiny, tiny babies that had not formed properly yet. Their eyes were fused shut. They just obviously weren’t ready to be born,” reports Wales Online. “Their skin was just past transparent. It was bright red and really sore. If it was a week earlier, their skin would have been almost see-through.”
Medical professionals swiftly moved Hudson and Harley into the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). However, matters worsened when Sophie developed a chest infection, preventing her from visiting for seven days.
Leanne was left alone at the hospital caring for their desperately poorly sons, eventually experiencing something no mother should ever face. She described the ordeal: “It was horrible. The boys had a rough week. They were intubated and tiny. Bleeds on the brain, holes in the heart, chronic lung disease. You name it, they had it.”
Leanne had briefly stepped out for food one evening when Harley’s oxygen levels plummeted dramatically. She was urgently called back to the hospital. “Harley, who was the poorliest at the time, he was having a really difficult night. He was near death, it was horrendous,” Leanne recalls.
“They put a monitor on him to go off when he stopped breathing and it was going off every minute. I was just beside myself. I was on my own. Hours went by and they decided to intubate him again.”
Leanne felt a wave of panic when doctors suggested calling Sophie in, admitting: “I thought [beep], he’s not going to make it.” She continued: “I stood and watched them trying to intubate him. They couldn’t get it down, they couldn’t get it in. I still see it now, them trying to force it in to this tiny little body.
“They did make me leave at that point. But you don’t want to leave your baby. We thought we were going to lose him. Thank god we didn’t.”
Defying expectations, Hudson and Harley survived and are now flourishing young boys. Yet Leanne remains haunted by the trauma of those initial days following their births.
She confided in Giovanna that the scenes she witnessed at the hospital that evening continue to haunt her. Last November, Leanne acknowledged Prematurity Awareness Month with a candid and emotional post.
She shared on Instagram: “I still always think about the fear, the NICU lights, the constant beeping, sleepless nights… but also the strength I never expected to find not only in myself but in my family and my two tiny little boys.
“I feel selfish for still even getting upset about it because I think I should be grateful that they made it, but trauma is one of the most powerful things in the world!”.
“To every preemie family walking that journey right now… I see you. I’ve been there. And this month, we honour all of our tiny warriors and the incredible strength they bring into the world.”
Leanne continued: “Here’s to my boys Hudson and Harley, and to all the babies who arrived early but shown us what true resilience looks like every single day.”
