Doctors said I was infertile... but then I had two pairs of twins in 21 months!
WHEN Katherine McCulloch was told she would never have children, she tried to put the heartache behind her.
Yet amazingly, in the space of 21 months, she and her partner had two sets of nonidentical twins – both conceived naturally.
Boys Brayden and Logan turn two today, while girls Rhea and Lyra are three months old.
Miss McCulloch, 24, said: ‘It is an absolute miracle... I have always wanted children so I was heartbroken.
‘To have one set of twins is incredible enough but to be blessed with two more children, and all within such a short period of time, is nothing short of amazing.’
She and Aaron Tricker, both from Ipswich, met seven years ago and had discussed having children when Miss McCulloch was taken to hospital with stomach pains in 2012.
Doctors told her she was infertile due to a complication from a common condition, pelvic inflammatory disease. The ailment can be treated with antibiotics but if not seen early it can leave women infertile.
Miss McCulloch said: ‘I was devastated but we have big families so we tried to move past it and be thankful.’
They decided to stop using contraception but two years later, Miss McCulloch discovered she was pregnant.
‘When I did the test I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think it could be true,’ she said.
The boys were born at Ipswich Hospital on March 20, 2015.
Brayden was 6lb 15oz and Logan was 7lb. Doctors told the couple that the twin birth hadn’t changed the fact that another pregnancy was highly unlikely. They decided to start using the Pill just in case but Miss McCulloch came off it for a month after suffering headaches.
She said: ‘I was complacent because I thought there was no way I’d get pregnant. When my period was late again I just couldn’t believe it.’
This time she suffered a bleed and was given an early scan but doctors found a steady heartbeat and gave the all-clear.
It was only at the 12-week scan that the midwife told the couple, who both have a history of twins in their families, there was another heartbeat. Rhea arrived weighing 5lb and Lyra 4lb 5oz on December 6 last year.
‘You couldn’t make it up,’ added Miss McCulloch, who gave up her job as a carer to raise her children.
Mr Tricker, 26, a kitchen worktop fitter, said: ‘It’s lovely to walk through the door and have my ready-made family there waiting, though it’s something I never thought we would have.’
The odds of having two sets of twins are 700,000 to one although having them both in such a short period is even more unusual.