'All happened so fast': Emma's twins were born on side of the road in rural NSW at just 26 weeks gestation

As pregnant mum Emma Wilkins struggled through contractions, her father slammed on the accelerator, rushing the car towards help. Moments later a police siren sounded.

It was September 21 last year when Wilkins went into labour, delivering twin boys at just 26 weeks. The births were so sudden the infants were initially strapped to their mother by an errant jumper scooped off the backseat of the NSW family's car.

Hours earlier the then mother-of-two had woken early on the family's property with a bruising pain across the bottom of her stomach.

Unable to check the area herself, the 36-year-old bookkeeper ventured out to her parents who lived up the hill, on the same patch of land.

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With no visible signs of concern, it was decided Wilkins should make the hour-and-a-half drive to Inverell Hospital and get checked out.

Wilkins had seen her GP regularly, just one day before and fortnightly since falling pregnant. It was a necessary routine as the family tragically lost a set of twins, girls, a few years earlier.?

I said to my dad, 'I can't lose them again. I said I can't go through that again'.

"My first child was born full-term, then I lost a set of twins they were born¡­ but they were born in an ambulance and I lost them," Wilkins told 9Honey Parenting.

During her recent pregnancy the dreadful thought about history repeating lingered.?

"Obviously when I had my little girl after losing the twins I was quite nervous the whole pregnancy and worried. But it was one and not two," she said.

"It was always in the back of my mind."

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It was on the way to hospital that Wilkins' bruising pain changed. She began experiencing contractions and went into labour.?

Her father offered to pull the car over, yet, Wilkins was desperate to get to medical help.

"I said to my dad, 'I can't lose them again. I said I can't go through that again'," she said. "It was one of the hardest things I had to do was losing my girls."

When local police pulled the family car over for speeding, Wilkins's father obliged, yet dashed out of the driver's seat towards the officers for help.

Without question, the officers escorted the family car to the hospital under lights. Though the mad dash was not rapid enough.

"Just down the road I had a big contraction and the first baby came," Wilkins said.

"I was stimulating his chest trying to get him breathing. Then I had another big contraction and my second water broke and I gave birth."

"If not for how the hospital team worked together, the boys wouldn't be here."

The boys were born just two minutes apart, 19km from the hospital. First-born Declan weighed just 960 grams and brother Dominic tipped the scales at 1250 grams.?

"I got the two babies delivered and got them both breathing and ¡­ and bundled them together," she said. "I had no towels and grabbed anything. I had a jumper on the back seat."

"It all happened so fast."?

At the hospital, the police led the family down to the ambulance bay where a team of medical staff were waiting. Both boys had faint heartbeats on arrival and only one was breathing.

"They cut the cords on my lap in the car and raced the boys in," Wilkins said.?

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As emergency department staff treated Wilkins two teams worked on each child.

"I honestly don't think the team from the hospital, the team and the doctors and the midwives... if not how they worked together the boys wouldn't be here," she said. "They all worked in sync perfectly."

Soon two air ambulances were called, each with a humidicrib to rush the infants to metropolitan hospitals for urgent care.

Trent, Wilkins' husband, a road worker away at a job, rushed to the hospital. The sight of the choppers proved a traumatic moment.

"I was standing there watching the choppers not knowing if we'd see our boys alive again," Wilkins said through sobs?.

The siblings were both flown to Sydney. Their parents followed a few days later as Wilkins was not yet well enough to travel.

"We waited a couple of days and each day it was a matter of are they going to survive," she said.

"We got down there and it was incredible, they had a nurse by their side 24 hours a day."

The Wilkins spent the next few weeks travelling back and forth to visit the twins.?

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"My husband had to work¡­ his work was incredible. We still had to do some work. So we came and went to Sydney a lot," she said.

"We got to the point where they could finally be sent home or closer to home. They went on a fixed-wing aircraft to Tamworth (hospital)."

All up the twins spent 94 days in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The Wilkins brought them home just before Christmas Day, their scheduled due date.

"It was the best Christmas," Wilkins said.

The now mum-of-four says the twins are progressing well. They require oxygen for a few more months though otherwise are "doing great".

As for how Wilkins is after her incredible ordeal she says "really good".?

"I'm just so thankful that we have our boys and our family are home together," she said.

Inverell Hospital staff and the police who initially pulled over Emma's dad for speeding, were reunited for the first time with the twin boys and their mum today.

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