A first-time mother who gave birth to “non-identical” twins on different days shares about the rare yet special moment when she learned her babies were actually identical.
Kirsten Stevens, from Somerset, England, gave birth to identical twins, Hugo and Leo, 11 minutes apart at the midnight hour of June 6–7, 2019.
The proud mom says there was only a 30 percent chance of her babies being identical, due to them being in separate sacs, and doctors told her that she wasn’t carrying identical twins.
However, Kirsten says that after the birth, everyone struggled to tell them apart, so she decided to pay privately for a genetic test, which confirmed the boys are in fact identical.
Kirsten was told that Hugo and Leo are DCDA (dichorionic diamniotic) twins, which means each twin has its own chorionic and amniotic sacs, a pregnancy type most common in non-identical twins.
“Throughout my pregnancy, I was told that they were not identical, and I had just accepted that,” Kirsten said.
“But then after they were born on June 6 and 7, they started to look so similar.
“Everyone kept telling me that they must be identical because they looked exactly the same. People were getting mixed up between them, even my husband, Craig, and I sometimes got confused.”
Kirsten said at one point she was constantly questioning whether her sons were identical or not.
“I just wanted to know for sure,” she said, “even for the boys’ sake so I would be able to tell them for sure when they are older. I just had a feeling they were, which would be incredible as it is so far, so I went ahead with the test.”
The genetic test report came back to show that her twins were in fact identical.
Kirsten says that she was apprehensive to open the report, but she knew she'd be happy whatever the results were and was excited to finally have an answer about her sons.
“[I]t felt like it could flip everything about what we were told about our boys. And that’s exactly what the results showed,” Kirsten said.
“After we got our heads around the news, we were so happy.
“It was such a relief to finally have a solid answer and to realize how rare [and] special our boys were.”
Kirsten said that when they initially discovered during her 12 week scan that she was pregnant with twins, she and her husband were in disbelief.
“We sat in silence and just looked at each other. We were in total shock because neither of us has any sets of twins in our families,” she said. "I was shaking like a leaf.
“But then we started to talk about it and how we were going to need two of everything. We started to feel really excited and blessed.
“It never crossed my mind that we would have twins, but now I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Kirsten now regularly posts updates about her twin boys on Instagram, @twin.mumma.
She added: “It makes sense that they are identical twins as their bond is so lovely and they share the same mannerisms and interests.
“When they’re sleeping they always want to be next to each other. It is so special.
“And it feels special and precious to know that they have been born in quite a rare situation and will always have a best friend.”
