Twins boys born weighing less than a drink can are smallest ever to survive

• Video report by ITV News Senior Correspondent Paul Davies

Newborn twin boys who each weighed less than a can of soft drink are finally out of hospital and settled at home with their parents.

Joe and Ashley Keates are thought to be the UK's smallest twins ever to survive after battling through 129 days of intensive care in Bristol.

Their mother Talia, whose waters broke after just 20 weeks, was told there was only a 1% chance they would survive such a premature birth.

“They were tiny, they were probably the length of your hand and their skin was almost transparent and their eyes were still fused together, so it was quite a shock to see at first,” she told ITV News.

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Joe was born naturally before Ashley was delivered through a Caesarean.

The pair were taken straight to the neo-natal unit.

Father Charlie said: “I’ve never seen premature babies that small before so it was quite shocking to be honest with you.

“You just wonder how can they survive when they’re that small and they look that vulnerable?”

Charlie and Talia know their sons’ battles are not over yet.

At seven months old, Ashley is still the size of a newborn and both need 24-hour oxygen to help their lungs develop.

But having already defied the odds in their young lives, the signs for the future are good.