On Dec. 31, 2012, Justin Close and his partner Jessica Oyo, both of Youbou, welcomed in the New Year together. At that time, Oyo was a few weeks away from the anticipated birth date of her first baby.
Then, three days later and with scarcely a word of warning, Oyo was holding twin girls whom she gave birth to at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
“It was a total surprise,” confirmed the new father, Close. “I mean we knew it would be twins, but we thought it would be later in January.”
Alexis and Isabelle Close-Oyo, or “twin A and twin B” as Close jokingly referred to them in a phone interview from the hospital in Nanaimo, arrived on Jan. 3 at 11:33 and 11:34 a.m., premature to the due date by a couple of weeks, Close said. Alexus Sandra weighed in at 5lb. 3oz. and Isabel Julia was nearly one pound lighter, at 4lb. 6 oz.
The couples’ twin girls are the first babies among residents in the Cowichan Lake area for 2013.
“Everything went fine,” he said reassuringly. “It was a C-section. They were out within an hour, and they’re perfectly healthy — they’re just a little bit premature.”
Close says the babies’ mother is doing fine. It was Oyo’s first pregnancy and the first offspring for the young couple. They are looking forward to bringing the twins back to Youbou in a few more days.
“Jessica is good,” Close said. “She’s handling it. They’re healthy and they’re breastfeeding now. Everything is going well.”
