With the chances of two consecutive twin pregnancies thought to be in the region of ᴏɴᴇ ɪɴ 700,000. Gina who mom of five admits people joke ‘I’m not sitting next to you’ for ғᴇᴀʀ of catching her ᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ ɢᴇɴᴇs. She giving birth to two sets of twins – one identical, one fraternal – with ɴᴏ ‘ғɪʟʟᴇʀ baby’ in between at ɪɴᴄʀᴇᴅɪʙʟᴇ ᴏᴅᴅs.
Gina Shelton, 30, and husband Olie Lloyd, 33, were sᴛᴜɴɴᴇᴅ in March when their second natural pregnancy in three years turned out to be another set of twins. She said :” I never thought we would have twins, but when I was pregnant with the girls I was working in a nursery and I was just so tired all the time. Everyone around me was always saying I was going to have twins. In the waiting room at the hospital Olie and I were looking at cars before the scan and Olie kept joking ‘forget it, we’re going to need a bus!’ I think we were crying with happiness and ᴘᴀɴɪᴄ when we found out, because at the time we were living in a two bedroom flat and Olie was in the process of building our house. A year later we found out we were having another set of twins – we couldn’t believe it, but neither could our family or even our ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀs.”
Neither Gina nor Olie have ᴀ ʜɪsᴛᴏʀʏ of twins in their family, making the arrivals even more unexpected. Both sets of twins were born by C-sᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ and were ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ naturally – within just four months of trying, each time. Gina said: ” When we rang Olie’s mum and dad to tell them the news about the second set of twins they thought we were having them on. They even thought we were just going to send them the scan of Niamh and Esme again and that it was all a joke. My nan just kept telling me how sorry she felt for me. I did worry that Phoebe was going to be ᴘᴜsʜᴇᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ as Niamh and Esme grew up, but actually it has just brought us closer together.”
It’s ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ, busy and ɴᴏɪsʏ having five kids but the couple wouldn’t change it for the world. They get through thousands of nappies and had to buy a seven-seater car but her family are one in a million. The pair estimated that they have changed around 5,550 nappies to date. Gina said: “As identical twins , Niamh and Esme get a lot of attention while out and about so when people notice the other set too, they can’t believe their eyes. I think the key is being active, getting up and out and keeping them entertained. I get sick of staying in, so I’m always organising things for us to do as a family.”
After her older girls were born, Gina started documenting her life on social media and now has 133,000 Instagram followers, who catch up with her life as part of a family-of-seven. The couple said while their unlikely two sets of twins have brought twice as much demand to the family they have also brought twice as much love and happiness. Gina said: ” While the twins have each other, Phoebe and I will always have each other because we don’t understand their bond. Niamh and Esme will talk to each other and burst into hysterical fits of laughter while Olie and I are stood trying to work out what they’re laughing at. But if one of them gets picked on, the other is the first one by their side defending them. They’re incredibly close and I’m sure the boys will be the same. Watching them laugh and love each other like that is the most rewarding thing as a mother. Although the odds aren’t that much higher of winning the lottery, I still think we’re luckier to have the family we do.”
