He ain't heavy, he's my twin brother: 1lb baby survives premature birth

An identical twin who was born only a third the size of his brother has defied the odds and could soon be coming home from hospital.

Lincoln Ryman weighed just 1lb 2oz when he was born 11 weeks premature along with his brother Byron, who weighed 3lb 6oz.

Doctors in Sydney induced their birth to save the bigger boy when they realised that their mother had developed a condition which was draining blood from Lincoln to Byron and putting both in danger.

Their parents were warned that Lincoln had only a one in three chance of survival and they should prepare to lose him.

But, despite undergoing heart surgery when he weighed only as much as half a bag of sugar, he is now putting on weight and is expected to quickly match his brother's size.

Doctors at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney, where the twins were born on 15 March, said both boys had shown an exceptional will to live and they were delighted with their progress.

Their parents, Nicole Ryman, aged 31, and her husband Todd, aged 32, said their first weeks of parenthood had been nerve-wracking, but at last they were able to look forward to taking the twins home.

Byron should leave hospital by the end of next week, although Lincoln is expected to remain in the newborn intensive care unit for up to six weeks.

Mrs Ryman said: "We've been on top of the world because we didn't think we were going to have them both. During the pregnancy I was having weekly scans and the doctors would write Lincoln off and say, 'Be prepared to not see a heartbeat next week'.

"It was touch and go at times. But he's a big boy now. They're both fighters. We've had a few scares along the way but they're pretty well going forward now and I know I'm going to be able to take them home."

Mrs Ryman conceived the twins through IVF, and her pregnancy was monitored by Dr Parag Misha.

He said yesterday: "Nicole was 15 weeks along when medical staff detected twin-to-twin transfusion, a type of problem whereby blood flows from one twin to another.

"At 29 weeks, we realised that Byron's growth had completely stopped, so it was decided that we would induce her to give him a good chance of living. Lincoln had some hope, but the chance of survival I gave him was less than 30 per cent because he was so small.

"When they came out, they both had problems. Byron needed a bit of help breathing, but then subsequently gained proper weight and was doing well.

"Lincoln initially had a lot of breathing problems and then he had a lot of heart problems, so an operation was done while he was still about 500g.

"Hopefully he'll soon start gaining weight much more quickly and get nearer and nearer his brother."

Since his birth, Byron has already gained 2.2lbs, almost tripling his weight, and Lincoln has put on 6.6lbs.