When Sadie Budden spent two years struggling to conceive she thought she might never have children.
But then, to everyone’s surprise, she gave birth to two – in the space of just six-and-a-half months.
Against all the odds, Ronnie and his little sister Sienna were born only 208 days apart.
Miss Budden, 31, a pre-school teacher, was stunned to get pregnant three weeks after Ronnie was born. But she and her partner Paul Dennis, 38, a builder, were even more surprised when she gave birth to Sienna at only 26 weeks of pregnancy.
Their remarkable babies – known as ‘tandem twins’ as they are born within the same nine to ten months – will now enter UK record books for the smallest age gap between two siblings who are not twins.
Miss Budden said: ‘When I saw my GP to confirm Sienna’s pregnancy, I don’t know who was more shocked – him or me. No one could have guessed then that Sienna would be born prematurely leaving such a minute gap. It’s left everyone – doctors, midwives and health visitors – absolutely amazed.’
When Ronnie was born full-term weighing a healthy 6lb 11oz, in August 2011, the couple were in no rush to have another baby.
‘It took us two years to conceive him,’ said Miss Budden. ‘We were beginning to think it would never happen. So Ronnie’s birth seemed something of a miracle. We were just thrilled with him and hadn’t even considered when we might have another child.’
Even six weeks later when Miss Budden felt sick one morning, she put it down to a virus. But she decided to take a pregnancy test to be sure.
‘When it proved positive, I thought it was wrong so I did another. Even then when I saw my GP I imagined he’d just say the positive test was due to hormones left in my body from Ronnie’s pregnancy.’
Once the couple got over the shock they were delighted. ‘While it was tiring being pregnant and getting up every night to see to baby Ronnie, we looked forward to a little sibling.’
But baby number two came much sooner than expected. In February 2012, at 26 weeks, Miss Budden woke at 5am with contractions. Sienna was born two hours later. Although weighing 1lb 14oz – a reasonable weight for such a premature baby – she was taken to special care.
‘She was so poorly it was three weeks before I could even hold her,’ said Miss Budden. ‘She had difficulty breathing and eating. It was heartbreaking.’
Three days later Sienna had a brain haemorrhage, a common complication with premature birth, and it was touch and go whether she would pull through. But after three and a half months she was well enough to come home to Andover, in Hampshire, on her original due date.
Miss Budden, who also has a son, Jordan, 13, from a previous relationship, said: ‘We feel so lucky that despite being born so early, Sienna has pulled through. Since coming home she has gone from strength to strength.’
With a newborn and another baby who was beginning to crawl, life was hectic at first for the couple.
‘Those first few months were a blur of nappies and night feeds – and both of them needed to be carried around,’ said Miss Budden. But now we’re beginning to see that being born so close together in age is going to be a real bonus. Seeing them playing together is wonderful and already they seem to have developed a special bond.’
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