Miracle premature twins born BEFORE the legal abortion limit beat the odds to survive

Premature twins born within the UK's legal abortion limit are poised to celebrate their first birthdays.

Deemed too young to survive, at just 1lb 1oz Cadence Moore weighed less than a bag of flour, while her brother Jaxson weighed 1lb 6oz. 

The pair were delivered by emergency Caesarean section on September 23 2015. 

Born at 23 weeks, six days - within the UK 24 week legal abortion limit - their very conception was a miracle, as their parents, Jourdan and Matt Moore, had adopted them as embryos. 

A friend had suggested embryo donation in September 2014 after hearing that there were an estimated 650,000 fertilised eggs left over at any one time from couples who have used IVF in the USA. 

Jourdan, 32, from Portland, Oregon, USA, explained: "Families who are complete are faced with a choice: to pay a storage fee to keep the embryos frozen, have them discarded or donate to science or embryo adoption.

"We'd really had it in our hearts to adopt a child, to bring a child into our home, who wouldn't have a home without us." 

Jourdan, a housewife, and construction worker Matt, 33, married in 2005 and immediately wanted to start a family. 

But Jourdan suffered from severe Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory condition of the intestines, meaning she was in and out of surgery and switched from medication to medication. 

The only treatment she responded to was methotrexate, a drug used for cancer patients and autoimmune diseases. 

It is also used to induce abortions, meaning she could not carry a baby to full term while she was taking it. 

As a result, the couple set their hearts on adoption, but waited for 10 years without any luck.
So, the embryo adoption scheme was a godsend - especially when their best friend, Hollie Mentesana, volunteered to be their surrogate, meaning that, unlike Jourdan, she could carry the babies to full term. 

They adopted seven embryos from an anonymous donor family, who had already had a child from the same batch.

And they transferred two embryos into mum-of-two Hollie's womb on April 28 2015. 

The pregnancy continued as normal and on May 20 the couple were astonished to hear they would soon be parents to non-biological twins. 

But after 23 weeks of a healthy pregnancy, on September 18 2015, Hollie complained of pressure in her lower region and, suspecting she had a bladder infection, Jourdan took her to Portland's St Vincent's Hospital as a precaution. 

There she was given the shock news that she was 10 cm dilated, so the babies would have to be delivered via emergency Caesarean – and would have little chance of survival outside the womb. 

Jourdan said: "The doctor looked at me and said the babies are coming right now and at 23 weeks they will not make it. 

"I didn't want to believe it, as we'd come through so much to reach that stage. 

"Still, we had no choice but to prepare ourselves for their deaths." 

They were given the option to resuscitate and give life support, or opt for palliative care – with doctors advising them to choose the latter option. 

"The survival rate for resuscitation was 21 per cent," Jourdan explained. 

"The doctors wanted to let nature take its course, but we couldn't give up on our miracle children. 

"Thankfully, we didn't and now we have two gorgeous one-year-olds. It's amazing." 

Five days after Hollie was admitted to hospital, Jaxson and Cadence were born. 

Their organs were severely underdeveloped and they didn't even have nipples. 

Their eyes were fused shut and wouldn't open until two weeks later. 

Placed in separate incubators in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), they remained there for 98 days. 

The proud parents were able to hold Jaxson at five days and Cadence at eight days. 

Neither of their hearts had properly closed but, with medication, they developed normally. 

They also suffered from retinopathy of prematurity, an eye disease that occurs in premature babies. 

Abnormal blood vessels grow in the retina, causing it to detach from the back of the eye, leading to blindness.

Both of their conditions cleared up but Jaxson was discovered to be short-sighted in August and needs glasses. 

Jourdan remained by their side day and night, returning home just once in three months for two hours. 

She said: "As an adoptive mother, I never had a chance to feel the babies kick inside the womb. 

"I did five hours of skin-to-skin contact every day with each baby, so I was able to bond with them at such a young age." 

Finally on December 31, two weeks before the twins' original due date on January 14, they left hospital. 

Now the babies have regular physical and occupational therapy to help their development. 

And Cadence, who was diagnosed with chronic lung disease in the NICU, remains on oxygen at night, due to underdeveloped lungs. 

Despite remarkable progress, the babies remain small for their age, with Jaxson now weighing 16lbs and Cadence 17lbs.

Jourdan said: "It wasn't until two thirds of the way through our hospital stay that we were sure they would be fine. 

"I was in the NICU every day and saw babies that didn't make it, despite being born bigger and stronger than mine. 

"I'm so blessed and lucky that we had a good outcome, but that's not the case for everyone."