A HAMPSHIRE couple spoke of their relief after having identical twins over Christmas.

Nicola and Paul Mitchell were among five sets of parents to have twins at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital over Christmas.

But they stood out among the others when Nicola gave birth to identical twin girls, Emma and Daisy, on December 17.

Identical twins, known as monochorionic, make up just 0.3 per cent of all pregnancies but carry a serious risk of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) which can kill the babies.

Nicola, 37, said: “It was very stressful as there was a significant risk as TTTS can lead to one of the twins taking more blood and becoming larger while the other becomes smaller, which can kill them. We thought weeks ago they would be born very early as well.

“But we were lucky in that we got to 36 weeks, which we didn’t think would happen. It was amazing and a relief that it all went well and they are doing very well at home now.”

Nicola, a solicitor, and Paul, a business analyst, took the girls home to Knowle Lane, Horton Heath, last week.

Emma and Daisy weighed 4lbs 5oz and 5lbs 3oz respectively and were the first of the five sets of twins to be born in Winchester.