by Dan Bloom

dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

They were born with translucent skin and heads the size of boiled eggs.

Yet this week, miracle Lordswood twins Gracie and Mikey Swindell were all smiles on their first day of school.

The four-year-olds are Britain's youngest-born twins alive - delivered at just 23 weeks and five days.

Gracie never leaves the side of her little brother, who is four minutes younger and partially deaf, so she cried after they were put in different classes at Swingate Infant School.

But mum Lisa, 32, said it would do the pair some good.

She added: "It was a struggle at first, but to see them with new friends is so rewarding. They're finally getting their independence."

The twins were clinically dead for an hour when they were delivered at Medway Maritime Hospital in June 2007.

Doctors revived them and rushed them to the Oliver Fisher special care baby unit, where they stayed for five months with 10% odds of survival.

Gracie aged four weeks in an incubator at Medway Hospital

Lisa, who still visits the unit and gives staff Christmas presents, said: "If we'd been at any other hospital they would have left them to die.

"We didn't think we would ever see them put their little uniforms on.

"My husband and I had a little cry on Monday."

"if we'd been at any other hospital they would have left them to die."
– mum lisa swindell

They stayed by their babies' side as Gracie's weight dropped from 1lb 6oz at birth to 1lb 1oz - the same as a pint of milk.

The twins, each less than seven inches long, had arms the size of Lisa's little finger and had to breathe through ventilators.

They still have regular check-ups but have emerged almost unharmed, defying warnings they would be wheelchair-bound.

Mikey aged four weeks in an incubator at Medway Hospital

Lisa said: "We are so thrilled - they're properly growing up. Gracie loves her dolls and is very loving and motherly, and Mikey loves cars.

"He can tell any car from the keys and he knows when a car he knows goes past the window."

The twins now celebrate two birthdays a year - one on June 25 and one when they should have been born on October 17.

Lisa said: "Really they're only three years old, but they look so grown-up. It's a miracle."