Sarah Curtis, 34, says enjoying the festive period with her family is the ‘greatest gift’ she could ever ask for. She said it was ‘terrifying’ when doctors told her she had tested positive for the virus just days before giving birth to little Kenna and Lissa.

They were born 10 weeks early on July 3 weighing just 3lbs and are thought to be the first babies in Britain to be born with coronavirus after they too tested positive. After spending six weeks at West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven, Cumbria, being monitored they were finally allowed to leave with their parents.

The ‘brilliant, beautiful and healthy’ babies, now five months old, are easing into life at home and will be enjoying their first Christmas with the family.

Sarah, from Distington, Cumbria, said: ‘I was genuinely so afraid that I was going to lose them – it was so terrifying and paralysing.

‘I could have lost them, I could have died there in the hospital – but we’re here now looking forward to celebrating Christmas together as a family.

‘I count every day the blessings that I’ve got them. They fill me with so much joy and you never get tired of every smile. Just grateful for them.

‘I’m so grateful this Christmas for these kids. That we’re all still here. We haven’t lost anyone through Covid and we’re all healthy.

‘Being with my family, with my children, it’s the greatest gift we could ever hope for. This year has put everything in perspective for us and I couldn’t be happier.’

Sarah said her four children can look forward to gifts which will be arriving shortly straight from the North Pole.

The twins will receive pendants similar to those given to each of her kids for when they are older.

But she added: ‘It’s not what’s around the tree but who is around the tree – and I’m so happy with who is around the tree.’

Sarah, a stay-at-home-mum, had a ‘hard pregnancy’ as she suffered from twin to twin syndrome.

Twin to twin syndrome is a prenatal condition in which twins share unequal amounts of the placenta’s blood supply resulting in the two foetuses growing at different rates.

She had to travel 300 miles from West Cumberland Hospital down to London alone for laser surgery to correct the issue. But she was then she would likely lose one of the twins.

Sarah said: ‘It was a miracle that both twins survived. The last week in the hospital felt like a prison sentence.

‘But thankfully the staff were just brilliant. Without them I don’t know if I’d be here today, and I don’t know if I’d have my two beautiful babies.’

Sarah said she feels extremely grateful to be with her family in an emotional week for her and her husband Aaron, 33, as they lost their daughter Lottie to cot death just before Christmas in 2017.

She said: ‘This is a hard week for us. The twins are the same age Lottie was when we lost her, so I just think a lot of people take their children for granted.

‘We just smother them with love and enjoy every moment. And I am just so happy to have them all here by my side.’

Sarah will be cooking turkey dinner for Aaron and her son Roick, nine, daughter Marcey, seven and has invited her mum and sister round.