TIRED Carmela Bousada shuffles around the cot, swollen feet squeezed into elasticated shoes, fingers fumbling with poppers on a tiny babygro.

But she bristles when asked what future her sons face with a mother who'll be 80 when they hit their teens... if she's still alive.

And she seems oblivious to the problems of an elderly woman coping with boisterous little boys in a one-bedroom flat.

She scoffs: "I'm sure I'll be able to cope. It won't be a problem. When they begin toddling I'll get one of those playpens and put them in there.

"That way they won't be able to run all over the place. I might put them in a nursery while I get some rest, or get a nanny.

"My mum lived to be 101 and there's no reason why I shouldn't do the same. She was in a wheelchair and blind, but I've always been healthy.

"Who knows? If I reach that age I might even meet my grandchildren!"

And if she dies? "They will never be alone," she says. "There are lots of young people in our family."

Already, the babies have their own distinct personalities. Older brother Pau has darker hair, is noticeably bigger and more contented. Christian, the fairer of the two, likes to be cuddled.

But Carmela struggles to tell them apart. Stooping over their cot cooing, she scoops one up and asks her older brother Ricardo: "Is this one Christian?"

She also struggles to carry their car seats by herself and admits that, for the first time in her life, she's feeling her age.

She sighs: "I'm exhausted. Christian was awake the whole time last night. The night before it was Pau.

"If it's not one it's the other. I didn't get on too well with breast feeding either. It's much more difficult than you think. I didn't produce much milk and had to try to encourage lactation by hand expressing.

"I was determined to give it a go, as I know breast is best, but with the babies in the incubators it wasn't easy.

"When I did get one of the twins to latch on it was very painful and my nipples were sore and cracked. In the end the midwife said the bottle was better.

"And for the toll breast feeding took on my bust, it wasn't worth it. I had a decent cleavage before but now they've gone all saggy and dropped completely."

Carmela is dressed immaculately and has a 9st figure that belies her age. Her hair is dyed dark brown without a strand of grey.

But the deeply lined face, wrinkly hands and liver spots give the game away.

And the carefully applied garish make-up is more suitable for a granny at a wedding disco.

Her self-image is at odds with reality. Her daily beauty regime of cleansing and moisturising is rigorous and time-consuming.

She still sees herself as a young woman who works out at the gym and can wear revealing swimsuits.

She smiles: "I look good in a bikini and I've got a shapely backside. I like to take care over my appearance. That won't change just because I've had the boys."

But the twins' arrival has already put paid to her habit of going to bed wearing ear plugs and an eye mask for her beauty sleep.

And she struggles with modern technology, can't work out how to programme her mobile or send a text and still works in 'old money' - pesetas not euros.

She expects to survive on her state pension of 500 euros a month and 100 euros child allowance...around £100 a week.

Soon she will tackle yet another daunting hurdle. She plans to sell her small flat in her home town of Cadiz and leave her family support network to move to Barcelona, where she rented a room in a council flat in the run-up to her admission to hospital there for the births.

If she ends up back on the council estate, the boys will spend their early years in a run-down concrete block, with no playground or garden.

Friends fear Carmela will be in for a rude awakening when she begins looking after the tots without the help of her sister-in-law, who has been by her side since the births.

But she is determined to make it work, even though she agrees the world they will grow up in is very different to the one she knew as a child.

Born in 1940 in Cadiz to a banker father and a mum who ran a small street stall, she didn't even have a TV set until she was 20. She had one serious boyfriend when she was a teenager, but he broke her heart and she vowed not to be hurt again.

She recalls: "Manuel told me we'd be married and have four children, but we never slept together. In the end he left me for another girl who was more free and easy. I cried a lot."

Carmela got a job with a Spanish department store chain and worked there all her life. She had other short relationships, but ended up looking after her elderly widowed mother.

She sighs: "I would have loved to have got pregnant with a man by my side, but it didn't work out that way. But I have been intimate with men.

"When General Franco died in 1975 women at last had some freedom. Then the Aids scare began so we only had a short window."

"It's been at least a decade since I've been with a man. Now I've got to look for a dad for the kids. I'd like to meet someone a bit younger than me. They'd have to like children of course.

"And I might have to have surgery to keep my looks. But for now if I have any spare money I'll spend it on the boys"

Carmela is aware her sons may face problems as they grow up. She says: "Maybe they will get teased that I'm their gran. But I'll make myself look as young as possible when I arrive at the school gates to pick them up.

"Look, I'm a mum who's a bit older. It's no big deal."