Woman told she couldn’t have kids welcomes two sets of twins in just over a year
A woman who was told she'd never have children has welcomed two sets of twins in just over one year.
Kirsty Hannam, 31, from Frome, Somerset was diagnosed with endometriosis at the age of 18 and doctors told her it was very unlikely she would be able to have children of her own.
But in November 2018, Hannam and her partner, Rob O'Hara, 34, found out they were expecting twins.
The couple were overjoyed when Hannam gave birth to William, who weighed 5lbs 9oz, and Willow, who weighed 6lbs 7oz, on June 11, 2019, but just six months later, the new mum was admitted to hospital with severe pain caused by her endometriosis.
Doctors told her she would eventually need a hysterectomy in order to alleviate the intolerable symptoms of her condition - but Hannam chose to wait a little longer, just in case.
And, in March 2020, just seven months after the birth of her babies, Hannam discovered she was expecting another set of twins.
Read more: Woman lost twin babies - but gave birth to two more
The couple went on to welcome twin girls, Alice, who weighed 5lb 6oz, and Aoife, who weighed 5lbs 3oz, on October 14, 2020 - defying the odds of having two sets of twins by 12,500 to one.
“To go from being told that I would never be able to have children to having four in the space of a couple of years was absolutely amazing," Hannam says.
"Having two sets of twins is a real handful, but I feel so lucky and it’s such a blessing.”
Following her endometriosis diagnosis as a teenager, Hannam made peace with the fact that she probably would never be able to have children with her ex-husband - who she was married to from 2011 to 2018.
“I was married and settled and children seemed like the next step with my partner then but I knew it probably wouldn’t happen," she explains.
“It was devastating as I always wanted to be a mum.
“When people asked what I wanted to do that’s what I said I wanted to do.
“But my partner and I came to terms with it."
After her marriage broke down in 2018 Hannam started a new relationship with her new partner, Rob.
“Rob knew all about my condition when we got together so it was never an issue," she says.
A couple of weeks after a romantic mini break to Bruges, Belgium, and having "not been feeling right", Hannam decided to take a pregnancy test.
“I didn’t in a million years expect it to be positive but when I saw it I just said: 'Oh my God' and told Rob.
“I said to him: 'I’m so sorry, I didn’t think I could have children'.
“But he was really happy and we were excited - despite having been together for just three months.
"I didn’t want to get my hopes up as I had been told before that a pregnancy - if it were to ever happen - would probably be ectopic.”
Read more: Woman has three babies in a year, with firstborn then twins
But in November 2018, her first scan revealed Hannam wasn't expecting one baby, but two.
“I was expecting there to be something wrong, because the sonographer turned the screen around, but then she told me I was having twins," she explains.
“I just started hysterically laughing and then crying."
When her first twins were born, Hannam said O'Hara had tears "streaming down his face" and she couldn’t have been happier looking at her babies.
“It’s the best feeling seeing those little babies and thinking they’re mine, they’re actually mine," she says.
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While she never imagined she would have more children, when the twins were seven months old, Hannam found out they were going to have a sibling.
“I think Rob and I did want more children, but we knew I’d have to have a hysterectomy so we didn’t think it would actually happen," she explains.
“At my first scan, the midwife asked me if twins ran in the family," she continues. “I was like: 'Oh no, please don’t tell me it’s twins. I just knew straight away and started bawling my eyes out. I was so worried about how we were going to manage four babies and what we were going to do.
“Rob came in and just started hysterically laughing.
“He thought it was completely brilliant and told me we were going to be fine."
Read more: Mum delivers 'pumpkin baby' weighing a huge 14lb 15oz
Having given birth to twin sisters, Alice and Aoife on October 14, 2020, Hannam says she now feels so thankful to have four babies.
"It’s a real blessing and I don’t take it for granted at all," she says. “I was just so overwhelmingly happy after the girls came along."
And while she says it is hard having two sets of twins so close in age, the family have got themselves into a routine.
“It’s just really lovely and I feel like the luckiest mum in the world,” she adds.
Additional reporting SWNS.
