UK's most premature twins spend first Christmas at home

Dad Steve and mum Jade are looking forward to Harry and Harley's first proper Christmas together

A pair of "miracle twins" thought to be the UK's most premature to survive are spending their first proper Christmas at home.

Brother and sister Harry and Harley Crane, from Heanor in Derbyshire, were born at 22 weeks and five days and weighed just over 1lb 10oz each.

Their parents spent last Christmas in hospital, with both babies breathing with the help of ventilators.

Mum Jade said: "It's hard to put into words what this means to us."

The pair were born on 26 October 2021 and were described by doctors as the size of Mars bars.

They spent last Christmas in incubators at the neonatal unit at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.

Despite their premature birth, both Harry and Harley have not been back to hospital

Harry and Harley came through and they got to go home in March.

Both are healthy and looking forward to a large pile of presents from Santa.

"I have to pinch myself sometimes now to think we're here with healthy, thriving babies, and defeated all the odds," mum Jade, 40, said.

"This time last year, we were in a completely different space with them. We didn't know if they would survive.

"Here we are today with them not just surviving, but thriving. What a difference a year makes.

"This Christmas means everything."

Jade and Steve say the twins are getting into the Christmas spirit

Dad Steve, 53, said the couple felt "incredibly blessed" to spend their first proper Christmas together.

"You can't help but relive last year, you're transported back to those difficult moments," he said.

"But Christmas is about miracles and these are two living examples of that. We feel incredibly blessed to have them."

The couple, who had tried to have children for 11 years with several rounds of in vitro fertilisation (IVF), said the novelty of having children still had not worn off.

"I didn't think it would ever happen, so it's a pinch me moment all the time," Jade added.