‘The babies were dream enough. . . . and then to have them win this scholarship was just like icing on the cake.’

The Kim twins arrived by limousine, of course.

But since Tamsin Nicola and Kaitlin Brittany are less than 1 month old, their parents--William and Kay Kim of Redondo Beach--came along, too.

The occasion was a party last week in the South Bay Hospital lobby honoring the infants as recipients of college scholarships. The Redondo Beach hospital is giving out the scholarships to celebrate the success of its obstetrics center.

“We have had 4,500 births since the center opened in December, 1985, and this is our way to give back to the community for this success,” said hospital spokeswoman Laura Porter.

Scholarships--actually bonds that will mature to $10,000 by the time the children are 18--are being given monthly for a year, and the Kims were the lucky babies for March. As twins, they will share one scholarship.

They were not only the first scholarship recipients but they were the first twins conceived in South Bay’s in-vitro fertilization program. In that process, an egg from the mother is placed in a test tube with semen from the father, and after fertilization, the embryo is replaced in the mother.

“It was like the culmination of a big dream,” said Kay Kim, explaining that she and her husband had tried unsuccessfully to achieve a natural pregnancy and were on a waiting list for the in-vitro process for a year and a half before beginning it in May, 1987.

“The babies were dream enough. . . .” Kim said, “and then to have them win this scholarship was just like icing on the cake.”

She said the honor was a “big shock” because the girls were born at the end of the month, on March 28. And she didn’t know if they would be eligible because her husband is an emergency room physician at South Bay Hospital.

But they were, and Tamsin’s name was drawn from the 187 babies born at the hospital in March.

Community and hospital dignitaries were among the more than 100 people who attended the festivities, which included balloons and a buffet. A highlight was the unveiling of the twins’ pictures--the first to grace the Hall of Scholars in the hospital lobby. The scholarship was presented in the name of Dr. James N. Scharffenberger, who delivered the twins.

“It was fabulous,” Mrs. Kim said. “It was the first time we’d taken both babies out together and it took us all morning to get to the stage where we were all dressed and looking fairly dignified.”