Seeing double! ‘We have two sets of identical twins!’

This couple became a family of six much faster than they anticipated!

Wh hen you visitii theh bustling Burstow home you could easily think you’re seeing double – because despite enormous odds, Simone and her husband John have not one, but two sets of identical twins!

It was back in October 2011 when the couple from Brisbane, who have been married for seven years, discovered they were expecting twin boys, Oliver and Harrison, now four.

“To say we were surprised is an understatement,” busy Simone recalls. “We’ve got no history of identical twins in either of our families, so it was a bit of a mystery.”

When the couple fell pregnant again and were told they were h havingi a second d set of fid identicali l twins, they couldn’t believe it. “John and I were in complete shock when we found out,” Simone, 33, says. “I was laughing and crying all at the same time.

“I’d gone in for a routine scan when my obstetrician discovered there were two heartbeats,” she recalls. “The first thing I said was, ‘You’re kidding me.’ But they weren’t.”

The news was even more remarkable given Simone had suffered an ectopic pregnancy and had one of her fallopian tubes removed months earlier.

“Our obstetrician had never heard of this happening twice to one couplel bf before,” ”h she says. “He estimates the odds are about 100,000 to one.”

Twin girls Evie and Georgia arrived on September 4, 2016. They were born 20 minutes apart, weighing a little over 2kg each.

“They’re already proving hard to tell apart, but I know from having the boys that as they grow it’ll get easier,” she says.

They have their hands full, but Simone and John, 31, are totally ready to raise their unique brood.

“We were definitely thrown in the deep end with the boys,” Simone says. “It was our first pregnancy, so we had so much to learn. But we’re super prepared thishi timei and dk know exactlyl what to expect.”

Since the girls’ arrival, the couple have found their groove. “Looking after two sets of twins is challenging,” Simone explains. “So John has taken the reins with Oliver and Harrison, while I concentrate on the girls.

“We did have to upgrade our car to a van, which John was really excited about,” she adds. “And we also altered the planning of the house we’re having built to make room for us all.”

While friends are cheekily suggesting they try their luck at another set, the couple are happy as they are. “We already feel so lucky to have two sets,” Simone smiles. “Besides, we don’t have enough arms for any more!”

‘To say we were surprised is an understatement’