Today is Jasper Thorp's first birthday, a day of brightly-wrapped presents, sticky iced cake and silver balloons.

It's a day his mother Dawn didn't dare imagine a year ago.

She gave birth to Jasper 16 weeks early and he weighed just 1lb 4oz - less than a bag of sugar.

Four weeks earlier she had lost his twin brother.

Dawn was not alone in the tragedy of losing a twin. Both Jasper's grandmothers were born as twins and both were the only twin to make it into adulthood.

Diana Thorp, his paternal grandmother, didn't know she had been born with a twin sister until she was nine.

She had a dream one night that she was half of a set of twins and badgered her parents into telling her the truth - that her sister had died at birth.

On his maternal side, grandmother Joan Jennings had a twin brother who died of polio at the age of ten.

It disturbed Joan so much that Dawn, her daughter, still doesn't know the name of her lost uncle.

With such a shared history, Dawn has even more reason to celebrate the first milestone in Jasper's life.

This time last year, he was no bigger than the palm of her hand and was wired to a myriad of tubes in an incubator.

Dawn couldn't hold her baby for two weeks after his birth and was only able to stroke him through holes in the side of his plastic prison.

She is so overjoyed at Jasper's progress she refuses to let the loss of his twin cloud her pride.

She is determined, however, not to leave Jasper in the dark about his brother, as his grandmother, Diana, was.

Dawn said: "I lost the first twin at 20 weeks. They put a stitch in the bottom of my cervix to keep Jasper in and I just had to try to hold on for a month.

"I was in hospital until Jasper was born. They made me hold on until he had been in for 24 weeks because the doctors said that was the smallest amount of time he needed in the womb to survive.

"I was very worried during the month in hospital waiting for Jasper, because of losing my first baby. I had visions I would lose Jasper too. For the first few hours after losing his brother my bed was tilted and I had to stay in bed for a week.

"I went through giving birth twice and it was even more traumatic the first time because the baby died. His lungs wouldn't function when he was born and he didn't survive.

"Jasper's lungs hadn't formed properly either but the doctors were able to save him and pump oxygen into him. He was still using an oxygen pump until last week.

"We called his brother Lloyd and took photos of him. We'll show Jasper the photos even though they're not pretty. We have given Jasper the middle name Lloyd to remember his brother by.

"I would never not tell him. We will talk about it with him as soon as he's old enough. We're going to plant a plum tree in the garden in remembrance of Lloyd, so we can take Jasper there.

"At the time, the loss was really, really great but we got over it and I have Jasper. He could easily have died."

Dawn's mother-in-law, Diana, thinks it is important for Jasper to know about Lloyd.

She said: "I had a dream that I was a twin after seeing an article in the paper during the war. It was a plea from a little boy who'd lost his twin brother in the bombing and was asking for a home. I became obsessed with him and I think that's what caused my dream.

"I eventually got it out of my parents. It was awful to be told at the age of nine, on top of being in the middle of the war. She was quarter of an hour older than me but I survived. It was rarer then for both twins to live. I think it's marvellous how Dawn is coping with this."

Dawn and her husband Quentin had been trying for a baby for years.

The couple, who live in Saltdean, thought they were finally going to be parents three years ago when Dawn showed all the signs of being pregnant.

They were disappointed to discover, during her first scan, she had a blighted ovum and although her womb was growing and she was producing amniotic fluid, there was actually no baby.

They decided to resort to IVF treatment and on the first attempt it was successful.

Dawn, 36, has waited a long time to have Jasper but the circumstances surrounding his conception and birth have put her off having more children.

She said: "I'm not having any more kids. When I gave birth to Jasper he was only the size of my hand but it was still as painful as giving birth to a normal-sized baby.

"Jasper had to spend four months in the Trevor Mann Baby Unit in Brighton. The nurses and doctors were very good but I felt like it was all happening to someone else.

"I couldn't hold him for the first couple of weeks and had to put my hand through the holes in his incubator to touch his head and stroke him.

"I didn't know how to react and felt quite numb. It's quite a shock having a baby anyway but not to be able to hold him was awful.

"He was born at 9.45pm and I didn't see him until 4am the next day because the doctors were trying to make sure he would survive. I didn't feel as if he was mine until I really held him.

"I didn't think I really bonded with him but people around me, like the nurses, said I did. I think I tried to disconnect myself because I didn't want to lose another baby.

"I couldn't breast feed him until he would have been in the womb for 33 weeks. When I could feed him I had to express milk from 7am to 10pm every day because he was being demand fed.

"I only had one day off from going into the hospital and even then I felt guilty. When they're your child you do everything for them.

"It felt very strange when I brought him home. I thought someone would knock on the door any minute and ask if they could have him back.

"It was only when my husband went back to work again after two weeks that I was left alone with Jasper. Then I felt as if he was really mine."

Dawn has organised a party for Jasper and will be taking him for a celebration meal at The Grand in Eastbourne with his grandparents. She is not going back to work and loves being a full-time mother.

She said: "You can't not be happy with Jasper because he is such a joy. He is such a little character. The neighbours say I walk with a spring in my step since having him.

"I worry about his weight and his breathing still. He has to use an inhaler but he's so good. When he sees it, he lifts his head up ready for it. His lung disease should rectify itself in three years, according to the doctors.

"I really can't believe I'm finally a mother. It's amazing."