Premature twin babies thriving at home in Biddulph

Jacob and Jaxon were born prematurely at 30 weeks on 5 July this year

Twins described as "miracle babies" after being born prematurely at 30 weeks are now "thriving" at home, their mother has said.

Her boys, Jacob and Jaxon, aged five-months-old, were unexpectedly born at home on the bathroom floor on 5 July.

Despite knowing she was pregnant at the time, Lucy, from Biddulph, thought she was suffering a tummy bug.

She said she was "still in absolute awe" and in "shock" after their experience.

"It happened so quick, I didn't realise that I was in labour," she said.

Hospital staff said the boys were so cold when they born that "they had unrecordable body temperatures".

"They had blood acid levels in the blood that wasn't consistent with survival," Lucy explained.

"I didn't know at the time that they were the little miracles that they were.

"Maybe one day it will all sink in."

Her partner, Andrew, added it had been a "rollercoaster" and "nice chaos" since the twins' arrival.

The twin boys weighed 3lb 9oz (1.61kg) and 3lb 8oz (1.58kg) when they were born

Jacob and Jaxon, who have just had their latest neonatal check-up, weighed just 3lb 9oz and 3lb 8oz when they were born.

Lee Abbott, neonatology clinical lead at Royal Stoke Hospital, provided critical care to the pair when they were born.

He said their first blood pressures had been "desperately low", due to the acid.

"There's very few babies that survived the kind of numbers that they showed when they first arrived," he said.

"It's quite a common description we get that the mums think they've had some kind of tummy bug, and then have a great big surprise that these baby bugs come out.

"Thankfully these babies have done so well, but it's pretty miraculous."