Twins Delivered Prematurely After Surviving New Mexico Bus Crash
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (CBS13) — Christy Westerdale of Stockton was overjoyed to finally be reunited with her newborn twins Saturday in an Albuquerque hospital. Westerdale gave birth to the twins just hours after surviving a horrific bus crash in New Mexico.
The little boy and girl born prematurely, weighing in at just three pounds each.
"I feel great being reunited with my babies and knowing they're doing so well with what they've been through," Westerdale said.
Westerdale and her longtime boyfriend, who's also the father of the twins, were on the Greyhound bus with three other family members, when it was hit head-on by a tractor-trailer Thursday in New Mexico.
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According to police, the trailer blew a tire along Interstate 40 and veered into the path of the bus. There were 49 people on board. 8 people died in the crash including the driver of the trailer.
Westerdale's boyfriend, Joe Chandler, described the heroic efforts of fellow passengers who jumped in to help the injured.
"Just the teamwork of the heroes that came out of the bus," Chandler said. "Their faces were all bloody and messed up, but they saw that other people were affected more, so they helped and there was so much help going on you know, so that was good that came out of it."
Pregnant and unconscious, Westerdale was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors had to deliver the babies prematurely. The twins were transported to a separate hospital in Albuquerque where incubators were available, while Westerdale recovered from a shattered knee, broken leg and separated pelvis.
"It was that extra pain on top of giving birth. It was real hard on Christy" Chandler said.
The twins were breathing on their own Saturday but will remain in the hospital for several weeks.
"They're awesome. They're beautiful babies. They're doing so good. Everybody is complementing on how they're just perfect babies for 29 weeks. It's awesome" Chandler said.
The Stockton couple still has a long road ahead as they lost a lot of their belongings in the bus crash.
If you'd like to help them, you can, by visiting their GoFundMe page, here.