'Miracle' twins delivered successfully

Wylder and Gem Chapman with their mother Rachel

A pair of twins who shared the same amniotic sac, blood flow and placenta have been successfully delivered, which their mother has described as a "miracle".

Wylder and Gem Chapman were born two-and-a-half months early.

Clinicians decided to deliver the babies when they spotted blood flow from one of the twins to the placenta.

"He was starting to become a donor to the other twin," their father Leigh Chapman said.

"There could have potentially been fatal complications."

Sharing the placenta and amniotic sac only occurs in about one in 5,000 - 6,000 pregnancies.

In order to deliver the twins safely, their mother Rachel Chapman had to be constantly monitored during her pregnancy.

She said: "We said all along if this works out this will actually be a miracle."

The chance of losing twins with the same placenta and amniotic sac - monochorionic monoamniotic - is 54 times higher than a single baby pregnancy in the first 24 weeks.

After that, clinicians then had to decide when was the best time to deliver the babies.

The babies were delivered four weeks ago, at just before 28 weeks.

Ms Chapman said: "Two days before 28 weeks we went for a routine scan and that's when they started seeing complications."

The twins are likely to remain in hospital for the next couple of months before they can go home.

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