When twins Elsie and Evelyn we're born weighing just over one pound each, their parents were warned to prepare for the worst.
However, Ellie Beales, 24, and her partner James Carter, 28, both from Heartsease, are preparing to hold a party they never expected to have, as the pair near their second birthdays.
The former care assistant and stay-at-home mother had a normal pregnancy until her contractions started on Christmas Eve 2017 at 6:30am, ahead of the April 2018 due date, because of an infection.
She was then forced to have an emergency c-section in the early hours of Christmas Day after doctors warned both of the twins' heart rates had dropped.
Ms Beales said: "At one point my body went into shock; I was shivering, and I was freezing and all I wanted was the blankets on top of me. But the doctors said my body temperature was sky high.
"It sounds dramatic, but I honestly thought I was dying at this point and my mum didn't say anything at the time, but she has since said that she was really worried at that point."
Once delivered Evelyn and Elsie, who weighed just 1Ib 10oz and 1Ib 9oz respectively, were put on breathing support. It was discovered they both had medical complications including a brain haemorrhage and chronic lung disease.
Evelyn also developed acute bleeding from the lung, the upper respiratory tract, the trachea and the alveoli and Ms Beales was told to say goodbye - until she miraculously pulled through
Ms Beales said: "I shot up out of bed and jumped into my wheelchair. This was the quickest I'd moved since my c-section. We were just waiting to see how she would get on and miraculously she started progressing. A day or two passed and one of the doctors who was looking after her said Evelyn was so tough and it was a miracle that she overcome what happened on Boxing Day."
However, Ms Beales wasn't able to hold Elsie for 17 days and Evelyn for 23 days after their birth and admits she never would have imagined being able to hold them both.
Since they missed out on Christmas that year, Ms Beales and Mr Carter have made an occasion out of Christmas Day to celebrate their miracle twins' birthday.
Ms Beales added: "We just kept picturing how magical and special the next Christmas would be, being home together celebrating their first birthday."
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