Identical twin defies the odds to give birth to her OWN set of twin girls

When Michelle Cooke became pregnant, she could never have imagined that lightening would strike twice. She joked with her identical twin Sarah that history could repeat itself but was astonished when doctors confirmed she was expecting twins - and that they were identical. Mrs Cooke, 33, who lives in Cobham, Surrey, said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when the sonographer said that I was pregnant with twins. Then to find out that I was pregnant with identical twins was just unbelievable. I rang my identical twin Sarah and told her and she just screamed down the phone. She couldn't believe it either.’ The odds of having identical twins is about 3 in 1,000. 

Experts described the chances of it happening in two generations as almost 'unheard of.'

Leila Hanna, a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician at Queen Mary's and BMI The Sloane Hospital with more than 30 years of experience, said she did not think it had been reported before.

'Being identical is quite a rare event so repetition of that to a second generation is even rarer,' she said. 

Mrs Cooke, a receptionist at a private health clinic, was thrilled when she fell pregnant, but she and her husband Pete, 39,were worried about anything going wrong, so went for an early eight week scan.

‘We just wanted to be sure and to check that everything was as it should be. I was in total shock. I was lying on the scanning table and I asked whether she could see a heartbeat,' she said.

‘She turned to be and said that yes she could. And that actually she could see two heartbeats, which meant I was pregnant with twins.

‘I rang Pete straight away, and he laughed at first because he thought I was joking. But I assured him that it was true and that I was carrying twins.'

A further scan at 12 weeks into her pregnancy revealed that the twins were identical and were sharing a placenta which can lead to complications.

She was scanned every two weeks to make sure everything was progressing ok.  ‘When we were told they were actually identical, it was another shock. None of the family could quite believe it.’