(NewsNation) — The parents of two premature babies rescued from a hospital in Ukraine are making plans to bring them safely home to the U.S. after two excruciating weeks.
The babies, twin boys named Lenny and Moishe, were born of Ukrainian surrogate mother to a U.S. couple mere hours after Russia began its attacks on Ukraine in late February. Now, they are safely under medical care and their proud father, Alexander Spektor’s, watchful eye because of Project DYNAMO, an American nonprofit organization that helps people — usually adults — trapped in war zones.
Project DYNAMO assisted with evacuating three newborns, two twins and a British baby girl, from two different hospitals during a nearly 20-hour rescue mission to get the babies across the border into Poland.
Spektor told NewsNation’s “Morning in America” that the babies are doing fine now.
“It’s an incredibly happy moment for us, he said. “Seeing a child for the first time is an absolute miracle. But seeing children who have been stuck in the war zone for 11 days and suddenly appear in front of your eyes … it’s incredible. And it’s quite shocking.”
When the war first began 15 days ago, panic and worry for the babies set in, especially since the pregnancy wasn’t stable to begin with.
“The agency brought the surrogate family, or all of the surrogate mothers, to a safe place, or they thought it would be a safe place,” Spektor said. “It was actually later bombed by the Russian missile, and on the second day, [the surrogate mother] suddenly had to go into labor. One of our boys had oxygen deficiency, so the surrogate had to be brought back into gear.”
And then, “three excruciating hours,” later, the boys were born.
“This is the most precious cargo in the world,” Spektor said. “It took about 18 hours for them to get across the border, and we were just following nonstop.”
Project DYNAMO co-founder Bryan Stern kept the family updated every step of the way, Spektor said. He sent pictures, videos and messages assuring them their babies were doing fine.
“It’s amazing,” Spektor said. “Project DYNAMO, they updated us every step of the way.”
After so much stress, Spektor said, he is now ready to take in, “What it means to be a father, what it means to be a parent.”