A mum, who defeated the odds to give birth to miracle twins described their reunion as “the best moment of her life”.

Rachel O'Rourke, from Margate, encountered potentially fatal complications during her pregnancy with a set of ‘momo’ twins.

But the courageous 37-year-old overcame every obstacle to give birth to Wylder and Gem, who weighed just under five pounds between them.

Now, Rachel would like to thank Professor Akolekar and his team at Medway Maritime Hospital who made the high-risk births possible.

The mum-of-two said: “It’s been pretty mental but it’s funny how you get used to the madness, it feels normal now.

“The boys got off to a bit of a rocky start. Gem, the littlest, was born weighing just 2.1 pounds and Wylder not much more at 2.11.

“So their first couple of weeks was just about stabilising them, getting them off oxygen because they were both on ventilators as they couldn’t breath by themselves.

“Those first weeks were really really tough with not knowing how well things would go but in the last two weeks they’ve really stabilised.

“They are starting to put on weight now and they are both off their ventilators which is just amazing news. Me and their dad are just slowly getting used to being parents of twins.”

She continued: “When we found out that they were twins we were a bit shocked but very very happy and then when we found out they were momo twins we were quite worried particularly because of how little information was out there about what this would mean for us and the twins.”

The rarest and one of the highest risk forms of twin pregnancy, it happens in about 1% of identical twins, and less than 0.1% of normal child births.

Known as ‘momo’s', monochorionic-monoamniotic twins share the same amniotic sac, blood-flow and placenta in the womb.

The complication poses a higher risk of stillbirth, miscarriage, foetal anomalies and cord entanglement.

In Rachel and her partner Leigh’s case, Wylder and Gem’s umbilicals became dangerously tied up.

The boys’ parents found out they would be expecting twins at just eight weeks after paying for a private scan to confirm their pregnancy in time to tell their parents on Christmas Day.

Then, at their routine 12 week scan they received the news all parents would dread – there was a complication and their sons would need expert care to survive.

They needed to safely reach 28 weeks of pregnancy to stand a good chance of the twins surviving, Professor Akolekar's team explained.

But on the final day further potentially tragic complications occured.

Medics discovered blood was not moving properly between the smallest twin Gem’s umbilical cord to the placenta.

Doctors swiftly recognised a rare case of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, where the larger of the two was using the smaller sibling as a donor for supplies.

Left untreated, the condition can lead to the smaller twin - in this case Gem - suffering soft tissue damage and organ failure.

But professor Akolekar immediately ordered an emergency c-section on May 14, allowing for the boys’ safe birth.

Rachel said: “Our birth plan went out the window and we went into an automatic mode. Leigh and I had about four hours between being told it's going to be today and the twins being born.

“We were just trying to keep everything as calm as possible. I think when you hear emergency c-section it can be quite easy to go into fear mode but Leigh and I thought it was important that we stayed calm and trusted the care we were in.

“We weren’t able to hold the babies because they were so vulnerable and fragile, we got a quick look and then they had to quickly get them into incubators and stabilise them.

“It was such a rollercoaster. There was the initial fear and then you try to just deal with it and stay calm. Then afterwards you start to realise the severity of it all and it starts to sink in so that first week was full of a lot of emotions.”

Following their delivery Wylder weighed just 2.11lbs and Gem 2.1lbs.

Doctors would unearth the severity of the situation after discovering seven wrap-arounds in their umbilicals, alongside a large knot in Gem's cord.

Following intensive care treatment and a subsequent transfer to a specialist unit at Ashford's William Harvey, the boys have slowly stabilised.

Now, the little-ones have experienced their first cuddle during a highly anticipated reunion.

Mum Rachel said: “Ten days later, Leigh and I were able to have our first cuddle with them. We hadn’t touched them since they had come out so that was really quite amazing.

“I had them both on my chest for the first time, it was a reunion for them and a reunion for all four of us really.

“It felt incredible, the best moment of my life to be honest. It was just amazing to think how far they had come and how miraculous and strong they had been.

“Just for us all to be there together after having seven months of wondering if we ever would. That was absolutely incredible.”

Rachel and Leigh, 43, heaped praise on Professor Akolekar for making sure the family experienced the reunion they were hoping for.

She said: “We will always feel incredibly and supremely indebted to Professor Akolekar and his team.

“They were the first ones to give us real hope that delivering them safely was possible, until we met them we weren’t sure it could happen.

“He just made us feel so well looked after the whole way.

“I feel myself getting quite emotional saying this but I genuinely question whether we would all be here together today had it not been for them.”