Four sisters from Stirling are preparing for a bumper addition to the family after all becoming pregnant at the same time - with two due to give birth to boys on the same day.
The quartet from St Ninians - Kerry-Anne Thomson (41), Jay Goodwillie (35), Kayleigh Stewart (29) and Amy Goodwillie (24) - will each welcome new arrivals by the end of 2023.
And in an extra rare quirk of fate Kayleigh, who is having her first baby, and Jay, who is already mum to three-year-old Grace, share a due date with both set to have little boys on May 22.
The sisters are part of a family of six siblings, all girls.
Kerry-Anne is already mum to Poppy, three, and Amy is mum to Mia, four.
Amy’s little one is set to arrive with an August due date while Kerry-Anne has a date set for October.
The tally of grandchildren is set to double to eight.
Kayleigh, 29, told the Observer: “When Jay and I told the family, we did it together and got wee T-shirts made and everyone actually thought I was wearing it for Jay because the family thought I would only ever
have dogs.
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“We found out about sharing the due date when we went for our early scans and the lady found out the dates for us. We were quite surprised by it.
“Mum and Dad are kind of in a wee bit of shock, not just another two in the family but actually another four so that’s going to be eight grandchildren and doubling it in a year.
“My mum has six daughters and four of the daughters have had four girls, so Jay and I will actually be bringing the first boys to the family, which is a bit of a relief for my dad!”
The sisters have looked into their situation and discovered how rare it is - with only a couple of other examples being reported online from the other side of the world.
“Kerry-Anne searched it online and we found two other families in which this had happened, one of them was in the US and the other in Australia”, Kayleigh added.
“It’s an interesting story and it will be nice for them to grow up and know about it.
“It’s been good for me as well because it’s my first baby so I don’t have the experience, but I can talk to some of my sisters who have been there and done it, so we’ve been kind of chatting and sharing stories about how our backs are killing us!”
