A mother gave birth to “rare simultaneous” twins—a son and daughter—born at exactly the same time.
Molly and Micky McLaren were both born naturally at 11:53 a.m. on April 27. Doctors told mom Diane McLaren, 33, to give a big push when they spotted a head crowning. But they were amazed when two babies came out like they were topping and tailing. Molly came out feet first while Micky emerged head first.
Ms. McLaren, who is now a mom of five, and her two newborn twins, now 12 weeks old, are all doing well.
“They are the exact same age—I’m glad!” said Ms. McLaren, who hails from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. "I thought Micky was stuck. I gave a massive push ... I thought I‘d delivered my son, but the team were all huddled together and then the midwife said, ’Both the babies are here now.‘ I was a bit woozy and I said, ’What do you mean?‘ She said, ’You have delivered them both at once. The foot belonged to your daughter.’
“She had somehow managed to turn herself breach and her foot came out the exact same time as his head. The hospital said they have never had a birth like it. There were doctors and nurses coming from all over the hospital to meet the new famous twins because they had heard of how they entered the world and wanted to see them for themselves.
“I registered their birth a few weeks later and the registry office staff were really shocked. They had to contact the hospital for confirmation before they could put on their birth certificates that they were born at the same time.”
Ms. McLaren and her husband Daniel McLaren, 34, who works for Warburtons, lost a pregnancy in 2021; they were overjoyed when Ms. McLaren become pregnant again last year and an early scan showed she was expecting twins.
She was induced at 37 weeks at University Hospital Wishaw, in North Lanarkshire. Molly and Micky were then born after more than 12 hours of labor. Molly weighed 5 pounds 4 ounces (2.4 kilograms), and Micky 6 pounds 11 ounces (2.9 kilograms).
Ms. McLaren felt she was pushing for hours and it was unusually painful.
“I gave a big push because the midwife said she could see the boy’s head crowning—she remained very calm throughout, which really helped,” Ms. McLaren said. "I was very frightened because they were talking about whether it was his hand or his foot over his head, and I couldn’t understand why things didn’t seem to be going as expected.
“When they were born everyone got such a fright. Poor Daniel said he just saw two babies flop onto the bed at once and thought the worst. Molly had a very bruised foot and leg right up to her knee, and Micky was completely black in color from the neck up due to the position he had been stuck in with her foot pressed against him.
“But they were both absolutely fine.”
Ms. McLaren, who has three other children—Georgia, 10, Adam, 9, and Rory, 3—said she had a great pregnancy with the twins.
“It was such a massive shock to be expecting two, but we were so delighted. We had been very nervous about the scan,” she said.
“The pregnancy itself was pretty great. I had no sickness or swelling, just the usual heartburn and some pain in my hips towards the end.”
