A BABY who was born at just 24 weeks and survived the death of her twin has finally arrived home from hospital.

Isabel MacIntyre, who weighed just 1lb 3oz when she was born on May 5, was brought home from Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital by parents Jolene and Iain, of Quarry Road, Bayworth, near Abingdon.

Her twin Maxwell, older by 15 minutes, died aged five weeks.

But, since then, Isabel has proved doctors wrong in her fight to survive, finally being discharged on Monday.

It was a day that her parents never thought would come.

When Mrs MacIntyre’s waters broke at 20 weeks, doctors offered her an abortion – warning the twins had only a 10 per cent chance of survival.

“I said: ‘No way! Ten per cent is better than nothing,” she said.

When the twins were born four weeks later, Maxwell weighed just 1lb 4oz, his little sister even less.

Mrs MacIntyre said: “When I saw them, I just cried.

“I couldn’t believe how perfect they looked, even though they were so tiny. They had everything. They were just perfect little babies.”

And dad Iain, 34, was in tears when he saw the fragile tots, each of which could fit in the palm of a hand.

But, on June 9, Maxwell died from kidney failure.

Mrs MacIntyre said: “Even though he was so little, he already had personality.

“He was cheeky – all the staff loved him. He was putting on weight, and was doing better than Isabel.

“We put them in the incubator together, and as Maxwell drew his last breath, he was holding Isabel’s arm.”

Both parents were tattooed with his name to keep his memory with them forever.

And, after his death, Isabel, who doctors say has severe brain damage, began to put on weight and fight her way off the ventilator and out of the incubator.

Mrs MacIntyre, who worked as a carer before becoming a mum, said: “She’s a strong little fighter, and she’s already proved everyone wrong.

“It’s almost if when they say she can’t do something, the next day she’ll go and do it.

“She’s my little girl, and whatever she cannot do, we’ll do for her. We’ll enjoy whatever she can do.”

Dad Iain, who lost his job at Bath Stores, in Didcot, three weeks ago, said Isabel was already bottle-feeding, despite medics’ predictions that she would never be able to, and was able to grip his finger.

Grandma Dawn Smith, 53, said: “I think she’s a little miracle.

“Since Maxwell died, she seems to have had the strength of two.”