ALL through her pregnancy, Lisa lived in fear. Having been told she was expecting identical twins, she was also informed that she might be at risk from developing a condition called olipolyhydramnios.

This problem with the placenta means that there is an imbalance of blood, with one baby receiving too much, and the other not receiving enough, putting them both at risk.

Lisa, 28, is lucky enough to have two healthy baby boys - Samuel and Thomas. But the twins' future did not always look so bright.

She said: "I knew I was expecting twins and I thought that one of them wasn't moving. When you're told you're expecting identical twins they tell you about this condition and that they will check it routinely from 20 to 24 weeks.

"At 18 weeks I felt that things weren't right so I went into the hospital on a Saturday and I asked to see the consultant and he scanned me and his words to me were 'They're still alive, but it doesn't look good.'

"What happens is, the larger baby gets too much blood and he can't do anything with it so all he does is wee it out. You're enormous. At 18 weeks I was as big as full term."

Lisa added: "The risk is not only that one of them will die, but that you'll go into premature labour because you're so big.

"They said I had to go in and have some fluid drained off. There's no cure for the problem, it's just a case of managing the problem."

Lisa, who lives with seven-month-old Samuel and Thomas and her husband, Clive, in Ferndale, Hedge End, had a total of nine litres of amniotic fluid drained off.

She said: "Eventually you get to a stage where they have to come out and the best you can hope for is that they're going to be quick.

"The condition almost carries on when your babies are born. The one that's had too much blood is born bright red, as if he's been out in the sun, and the other baby is a lot smaller. He was as white as a sheet because he'd had no fluid.

"There was a 3lb weight discrepancy. Even now, seven months on, even though they're healthy babies, you can see the difference in them."

Even now, Lisa cannot be certain that her sons will live perfectly normal lives, and their health is a constant worry to the family.

She said: "The problem carries on because the emotional effects of it are catastrophic. You've had 16 weeks of what I can only describe as sheer hell, because you just don't know if your babies are alive or dead.

"One third of people walk away with two babies, one third of people walk away with one baby and one third of people walk away with nothing.

"But the third of people who walk away with two babies often have problems such as cerebral palsy. Touch wood, there's nothing too much wrong and eventually we're going to have healthy babies, but there's no research into what effect this is going to have on them in their life.

"For the time being they're healthy, but we just don't know."

To help others suffering from the same condition, Lisa and her friend Geneve - who lost her seven-week old son Iain, but still has her second twin, Andrew, who is nearly a year old, have launched a new charity to promote awareness.

They aim to raise money for more sophisticated equipment to be bought locally so patients do not have to travel to London so frequently.