A Plymouth couple who are to have quadruplets have said they were not even trying for a baby.
Emma and Michael Wing said they will attempt to keep all four of the quads despite the higher risks involved.They were offered "selective reduction" by the hospital, a procedure where one or more of the foetuses are removed to increase the chance
s of the others surviving, but turned it down as there was a chance it could result in a total miscarriage.Mr Wing said if the babies were not born by 34 weeks, the average gestation for a single baby is 40, then they would be born by Caesarian section.The 22-year-old soldier, who serves with 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, said: "We weren't actually trying for a baby but didn't mind if one came along."We've been told there is a one in 700,000 chance of having quads, we should have played the lottery instead."The couple already have two sons, 10-month-old Callum and three-year-old Mason.Mrs Wing admitted she is nervous about carrying four babies and is expecting a difficult pregnancy.The 23-year-old is 12 weeks pregnant and said she wanted to let "nature take its course" despite already suffering severe morning sickness, headaches and stomach pains."It was quite scary to find out that I was expecting quads," she said. "I'll probably be bedridden by the end because I am quite slim and small and it would be too much strain for me to carry."
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Medwaymessenger - Mum’s fight over twins' school dilemma
It's double trouble for the mother of twin boys who are due to start primary school.
When Samantha Terry filled out the school admissions form she listed Wainscott as her first choice and Hilltop as her second for sons Brad and Connor.
But Medway Council placed Brad at Hilltop and Connor at Wainscott. It means Brad will start school in September and Connor in January.
Samantha, a single, working mother from Cliffe Road, Strood, says the situation is causing her a headache.
As a result she is appealing for a place at Wainscott for Brad.
She said:“Both of them will start school at 8.50am.
"I can’t leave one four-year-old in the playground while I take the other to school or do the same thing when I pick them up.
“It means one is always going to be late starting school and being picked up.
“I was told by someone in Medway Council’s admissions team that it doesn’t state anywhere that twins have to go to the same school but, as I pointed out to them, neither does it say they might be split up.
“There is nowhere on the form to indicate your child is a twin.
“I’ve appealed for a place at Wainscott for Brad and it will go before a panel in June, but if Brad doesn’t get a place I may have no other choice but to leave Connor at Wainscott and teach Brad at home.”
Medway Council defends decision
“The 30 places at the parent’s first choice of school were filled in line with the published over-subscription criteria, which gives priority to those children with older siblings already at the school, and to those who live closest.
“Miss Terry’s children were 30th and 31st in this list. “Consequently one child was offered a place at her second choice school.
“To do otherwise would have denied another child with a right to a place at one of these schools.
“The circumstances are extremely rare, and changing the application form to indicate twins or multiple births would not have prevented the same outcome.
“Miss Terry is appealing for a second place at Wainscott and she could additionally appeal for a second place at Hilltop.
“A further alternative is that places for both boys could be offered at one of a number of schools in the area which have available spaces.”
When Samantha Terry filled out the school admissions form she listed Wainscott as her first choice and Hilltop as her second for sons Brad and Connor.
But Medway Council placed Brad at Hilltop and Connor at Wainscott. It means Brad will start school in September and Connor in January.
Samantha, a single, working mother from Cliffe Road, Strood, says the situation is causing her a headache.
As a result she is appealing for a place at Wainscott for Brad.
She said:“Both of them will start school at 8.50am.
"I can’t leave one four-year-old in the playground while I take the other to school or do the same thing when I pick them up.
“It means one is always going to be late starting school and being picked up.
“I was told by someone in Medway Council’s admissions team that it doesn’t state anywhere that twins have to go to the same school but, as I pointed out to them, neither does it say they might be split up.
“There is nowhere on the form to indicate your child is a twin.
“I’ve appealed for a place at Wainscott for Brad and it will go before a panel in June, but if Brad doesn’t get a place I may have no other choice but to leave Connor at Wainscott and teach Brad at home.”
Medway Council defends decision
“The 30 places at the parent’s first choice of school were filled in line with the published over-subscription criteria, which gives priority to those children with older siblings already at the school, and to those who live closest.
“Miss Terry’s children were 30th and 31st in this list. “Consequently one child was offered a place at her second choice school.
“To do otherwise would have denied another child with a right to a place at one of these schools.
“The circumstances are extremely rare, and changing the application form to indicate twins or multiple births would not have prevented the same outcome.
“Miss Terry is appealing for a second place at Wainscott and she could additionally appeal for a second place at Hilltop.
“A further alternative is that places for both boys could be offered at one of a number of schools in the area which have available spaces.”
Saturday, 31 May 2008
icLiverpool - "I'm 17, Dean's 16: we've just had triplets!"
A LIVERPOOL teenager today showed off her three little marvels – identical newborn triplet girls.
Staff at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, who delivered the tiny babies on Saturday, said it was extremely rare to conceive triplets naturally.
The fact that Shauny, Summer and Savanah are identical makes them extra special.
Proud mum Siobhan Daly, 17, said she and boyfriend Dean Mao, 16, were shocked when she fell pregnant because she was on the pill.
But the couple, who have been together for 18 months, said they were delighted with their new arrivals and could not wait to take them home.
Siobhan, from Dingle, said: “We have twins in both our families.
“Dean’s mum is a twin. But we have no idea where triplets have come from.
“I just keep looking at them and can’t believe that they are really mine and will be coming home with me.
“They are so gorgeous and are getting little personalties already.
“I keep thinking how did they ever fit in my tummy?”
Staff at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, who delivered the tiny babies on Saturday, said it was extremely rare to conceive triplets naturally.
The fact that Shauny, Summer and Savanah are identical makes them extra special.
Proud mum Siobhan Daly, 17, said she and boyfriend Dean Mao, 16, were shocked when she fell pregnant because she was on the pill.
But the couple, who have been together for 18 months, said they were delighted with their new arrivals and could not wait to take them home.
Siobhan, from Dingle, said: “We have twins in both our families.
“Dean’s mum is a twin. But we have no idea where triplets have come from.
“I just keep looking at them and can’t believe that they are really mine and will be coming home with me.
“They are so gorgeous and are getting little personalties already.
“I keep thinking how did they ever fit in my tummy?”
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Times online - Spanish twins separated at birth by mistake are united by chance
They were unaware of each other's existence for nearly 30 years, until their uncanny likeness caused a misunderstanding at a clothes shop that led to their reunion.
Now one of the identical twins - separated at birth 35 years ago after a mix-up at the hospital where they were born - is suing the Spanish health authority for a mistake that led to her growing up in the wrong family.
The woman is seeking €3 million (£2.4 million) in damages for the error, which came to light after she was spotted in a shopping centre by a friend of her twin sister. “In just one day, my world fell apart,” she said of the chance reunion. “I wish it had never happened.”
In an attempt to shield them from the intense media interest that their case has generated, her lawyer, Sebastián Socorro, has not revealed the women's identities. The case is further complicated by the existence of a third victim: the baby who was inadvertently switched with one of the twins when they were born.
Related Links
Iron Curtain could not stop twins’ likeness shining through
Foetal Attraction
Couple reunited with son after 21 years
The reunion occurred in 2001 after one of the sisters walked into a shop in the Canary Islands. The assistant was taken aback by the unfriendly manner of the woman who she thought was her friend, and offended that she did not even say hello.
When the shop assistant called her friend to upbraid her about the snub, she was assured that the friend had not been at the shopping centre. A few days later, when the other woman came into the shop again, the assistant approached her and began to ask questions. “The similarity was crushing,” the shop assistant said. “They were like two drops of water.”
Astounded by their likeness, she arranged a meeting between the two sisters. Standing in front of each other, as if facing a mirror, the siblings began to compare notes. One of them said she had a twin sister but that they did not look alike.
They had been born at the same hospital, it emerged, but apparently three days apart. In fact, the lawyer explained, it was the other girl who had been born three days after the twins. Their documentation had also been switched in error.
The twins decided that the only way to confirm what had happened would be to take a DNA test. But the twin who had grown up with the wrong family got cold feet, the lawyer said.Three years later, she relented and took the test, which concluded that the two were genetically identical.
Mr Socorro said that the similarity between the twins was striking. “They walk the same, they talk the same, they have the same look and the same tone of voice,” he said.
They lodged a complaint with the Canary Islands health authorities but, their lawyer said, they “were met with complete apathy from the very first”. Now his client was suing the health authority for “moral damages” and malpractice. “She has received years of psychological treatment,” Mr Socorro said.The Canary Islands government did not immediately respond to calls for comment.
The identity of the third woman in the case remains a mystery: it has yet to be ascertained whether those who brought up the twin with whom she was swapped at birth are in fact the third woman's parents.
Mixed doubles
— Holly and Douglas Funk discarded their hopes of adopting twins when they found Mia in a Chinese orphanage in 2006. Back in Chicago they joined an internet chatroom and met Carlos Ramirez, who had also adopted a child from Yangzhou and named her Mia. Their stories matched, and DNA tests revealed that the two Mias were twins
— In 2007, 35 years after their adoptions, Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein discovered each other in New York and found out that they had been separated purposefully as part of a study in the relative influences of nature and nurture. They had both studied film at university and were writers
— In 2001 Wendy Brooks found her twin brother, John, on the internet after 62 years apart. The twins, aged six weeks, had been left in a cardboard box on a doorstep in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, at the outbreak of the Second World War, and separated soon after
— A chance meeting in 2003 brought together Adriana Rabi and Rabi Scott, neither knowing that she had a twin. They had had the same nightmares as small children, and now dance together for a DJ outfit
Now one of the identical twins - separated at birth 35 years ago after a mix-up at the hospital where they were born - is suing the Spanish health authority for a mistake that led to her growing up in the wrong family.
The woman is seeking €3 million (£2.4 million) in damages for the error, which came to light after she was spotted in a shopping centre by a friend of her twin sister. “In just one day, my world fell apart,” she said of the chance reunion. “I wish it had never happened.”
In an attempt to shield them from the intense media interest that their case has generated, her lawyer, Sebastián Socorro, has not revealed the women's identities. The case is further complicated by the existence of a third victim: the baby who was inadvertently switched with one of the twins when they were born.
Related Links
Iron Curtain could not stop twins’ likeness shining through
Foetal Attraction
Couple reunited with son after 21 years
The reunion occurred in 2001 after one of the sisters walked into a shop in the Canary Islands. The assistant was taken aback by the unfriendly manner of the woman who she thought was her friend, and offended that she did not even say hello.
When the shop assistant called her friend to upbraid her about the snub, she was assured that the friend had not been at the shopping centre. A few days later, when the other woman came into the shop again, the assistant approached her and began to ask questions. “The similarity was crushing,” the shop assistant said. “They were like two drops of water.”
Astounded by their likeness, she arranged a meeting between the two sisters. Standing in front of each other, as if facing a mirror, the siblings began to compare notes. One of them said she had a twin sister but that they did not look alike.
They had been born at the same hospital, it emerged, but apparently three days apart. In fact, the lawyer explained, it was the other girl who had been born three days after the twins. Their documentation had also been switched in error.
The twins decided that the only way to confirm what had happened would be to take a DNA test. But the twin who had grown up with the wrong family got cold feet, the lawyer said.Three years later, she relented and took the test, which concluded that the two were genetically identical.
Mr Socorro said that the similarity between the twins was striking. “They walk the same, they talk the same, they have the same look and the same tone of voice,” he said.
They lodged a complaint with the Canary Islands health authorities but, their lawyer said, they “were met with complete apathy from the very first”. Now his client was suing the health authority for “moral damages” and malpractice. “She has received years of psychological treatment,” Mr Socorro said.The Canary Islands government did not immediately respond to calls for comment.
The identity of the third woman in the case remains a mystery: it has yet to be ascertained whether those who brought up the twin with whom she was swapped at birth are in fact the third woman's parents.
Mixed doubles
— Holly and Douglas Funk discarded their hopes of adopting twins when they found Mia in a Chinese orphanage in 2006. Back in Chicago they joined an internet chatroom and met Carlos Ramirez, who had also adopted a child from Yangzhou and named her Mia. Their stories matched, and DNA tests revealed that the two Mias were twins
— In 2007, 35 years after their adoptions, Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein discovered each other in New York and found out that they had been separated purposefully as part of a study in the relative influences of nature and nurture. They had both studied film at university and were writers
— In 2001 Wendy Brooks found her twin brother, John, on the internet after 62 years apart. The twins, aged six weeks, had been left in a cardboard box on a doorstep in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, at the outbreak of the Second World War, and separated soon after
— A chance meeting in 2003 brought together Adriana Rabi and Rabi Scott, neither knowing that she had a twin. They had had the same nightmares as small children, and now dance together for a DJ outfit
Daily Mail - Hospital denies claims that British couple dumped newborn twins 'because they were girls'
A hospital today denied claims that a couple who had received IVF in India had then dumped their twin babies after finding out they were both girls.
It had been claimed that the mother aged 59 and the father 72, had abandoned the babies after telling medics they were the 'wrong sex' because they wanted boys.
However Wolverhampton hospital today said that the parents were being 'attentive' to the babies' needs .
A spokesman said: "The parents are visiting their daughters whilst they are being cared for in hospital and are attentive to their needs."
Abandoned: The babies were delivered by Caesarean at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, West Midlands
It had been claimed that the babies, who are now less than two weeks old, were abandoned soon after birth and have not been visited once by their parents.
The couple travelled to India for fertility treatment but returned to Britain for the birth. The twins were born by Caesarean Section at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
Their mother - one of Britain's oldest - reportedly discharged herself against the advice of doctors who told her she should stay in hospital for a week after her operation.
She and her husband are thought to be of Indian descent but British residents living in the West Midlands.
Aftter the birth in Wolverhampton, the children were transferred to another hospital in Birmingham.
A spokeswoman for New Cross Hospital said today: 'We can confirm a pair of twins were born at New Cross Hospital. They were healthy and well.
'They were born here because the maternity (facility) where the parents were living was busy, so a few days later they were transferred to a Birmingham hospital, where the parents were living.'
In certain Asian cultures, sons are more highly prized than daughters because it is believed they will work from a younger age and carry on the family name.
In India, girls are considered an economic burden as their parents traditionally need to provide a dowry payment for them when they get married - often resulting in financial ruin or extreme hardship for many families when the women marry.
Last year, research revealed that between 1990 and 2005, about 1,500 fewer girls were born to Indian mothers living in England and Wales than would have been statistically probable for this group.
In the Nineties, 112 boys were born for every 100 girls. Between 2000 and 2005 this rose to 114 boys for every 100 girls.
A report last year revealed Indian women in Britain are travelling to the subcontinent to use the services of IVF doctors who for 4,000 rupees (about £49), will reveal the sex of an unborn child and recommend someone who can terminate the pregnancy.
It is thought that the couple may have travelled to India for IVF due to their late ages. In Britain, women are given IVF on the NHS between the ages of 23 and 39.
There is no absolute age limit for IVF in Britain, but the NHS will not fund it for women aged over 40. Most private clinics have an upper age limit of 55. Many other older women have gone abroad for IVF.
Britain's oldest mother, Patricia Rashbrook, paid £10,000 for IVF treatment in Russia using a donor egg.
Child psychologist Dr Rashbrook became pregnant under the supervision of Italian fertility expert Professor Severino Antinori, and her son JJ was born by elective caesarean.
IVF treatment has sparked an emotive debate over the rights and wrongs of giving women who are many years past their natural childbearing age the ability to reproduce.
The controversy was again in the spotlight last year after Carmela Bousada, an unmarried Spaniard then aged 67, became the world's oldest mother.
She gave birth to twins after lying about her age to doctors at a private clinic in Los Angeles which refuses to treat women over 55. Miss Bousada, who came close to death during a difficult pregnancy, went through the menopause 19 years ago.
Last night, a spokesman for New Cross Hospital said: 'We have no comment to make due to data protection reasons.'
In 2006, it was revealed a businesswoman dumped her new-born twins in a cardboard box in a hospital car park because they were the product of an affair.
The married 44 year old, who has three grown-up sons, said she could never reveal the truth of the twins' birth to her family because of the devastation it would cause.
The babies, born a month premature had to be put in incubators because they were so cold and were named Holly and Joseph by nurses.
It had been claimed that the mother aged 59 and the father 72, had abandoned the babies after telling medics they were the 'wrong sex' because they wanted boys.
However Wolverhampton hospital today said that the parents were being 'attentive' to the babies' needs .
A spokesman said: "The parents are visiting their daughters whilst they are being cared for in hospital and are attentive to their needs."
Abandoned: The babies were delivered by Caesarean at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, West Midlands
It had been claimed that the babies, who are now less than two weeks old, were abandoned soon after birth and have not been visited once by their parents.
The couple travelled to India for fertility treatment but returned to Britain for the birth. The twins were born by Caesarean Section at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
Their mother - one of Britain's oldest - reportedly discharged herself against the advice of doctors who told her she should stay in hospital for a week after her operation.
She and her husband are thought to be of Indian descent but British residents living in the West Midlands.
Aftter the birth in Wolverhampton, the children were transferred to another hospital in Birmingham.
A spokeswoman for New Cross Hospital said today: 'We can confirm a pair of twins were born at New Cross Hospital. They were healthy and well.
'They were born here because the maternity (facility) where the parents were living was busy, so a few days later they were transferred to a Birmingham hospital, where the parents were living.'
In certain Asian cultures, sons are more highly prized than daughters because it is believed they will work from a younger age and carry on the family name.
In India, girls are considered an economic burden as their parents traditionally need to provide a dowry payment for them when they get married - often resulting in financial ruin or extreme hardship for many families when the women marry.
Last year, research revealed that between 1990 and 2005, about 1,500 fewer girls were born to Indian mothers living in England and Wales than would have been statistically probable for this group.
In the Nineties, 112 boys were born for every 100 girls. Between 2000 and 2005 this rose to 114 boys for every 100 girls.
A report last year revealed Indian women in Britain are travelling to the subcontinent to use the services of IVF doctors who for 4,000 rupees (about £49), will reveal the sex of an unborn child and recommend someone who can terminate the pregnancy.
It is thought that the couple may have travelled to India for IVF due to their late ages. In Britain, women are given IVF on the NHS between the ages of 23 and 39.
There is no absolute age limit for IVF in Britain, but the NHS will not fund it for women aged over 40. Most private clinics have an upper age limit of 55. Many other older women have gone abroad for IVF.
Britain's oldest mother, Patricia Rashbrook, paid £10,000 for IVF treatment in Russia using a donor egg.
Child psychologist Dr Rashbrook became pregnant under the supervision of Italian fertility expert Professor Severino Antinori, and her son JJ was born by elective caesarean.
IVF treatment has sparked an emotive debate over the rights and wrongs of giving women who are many years past their natural childbearing age the ability to reproduce.
The controversy was again in the spotlight last year after Carmela Bousada, an unmarried Spaniard then aged 67, became the world's oldest mother.
She gave birth to twins after lying about her age to doctors at a private clinic in Los Angeles which refuses to treat women over 55. Miss Bousada, who came close to death during a difficult pregnancy, went through the menopause 19 years ago.
Last night, a spokesman for New Cross Hospital said: 'We have no comment to make due to data protection reasons.'
In 2006, it was revealed a businesswoman dumped her new-born twins in a cardboard box in a hospital car park because they were the product of an affair.
The married 44 year old, who has three grown-up sons, said she could never reveal the truth of the twins' birth to her family because of the devastation it would cause.
The babies, born a month premature had to be put in incubators because they were so cold and were named Holly and Joseph by nurses.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
The New Baby Jogger City Mini Twins
We it's been a long drawn out launch, but as they say all the good things are worth waiting for..and the new Baby Jogger City Mini is, will be a great buggy for our members.
We were first made aware of them at a trade show way back in September 07 and was told they would be with us in Jan of 08 - sadly they were delayed and put back to April....which was delayed again, but we are now exspecting them (fingers crossed) late June.
Lots of info on them on www.twins-store.co.uk and we are taking pre-orders, just email us and we will add to our growing list and contact you near the dispatch date.
We were first made aware of them at a trade show way back in September 07 and was told they would be with us in Jan of 08 - sadly they were delayed and put back to April....which was delayed again, but we are now exspecting them (fingers crossed) late June.
Lots of info on them on www.twins-store.co.uk and we are taking pre-orders, just email us and we will add to our growing list and contact you near the dispatch date.
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