Twin sisters who fell pregnant at the same time both had their babies just three days apart in the same hospital. Laura Jopson, 35, found out she was pregnant a few weeks before her sister Claire - and neither knew the other was trying to have a child.
But they were delighted to experience pregnancy together and even though there were due to give birth five weeks apart, their births were within days. Laura's son Henry was born on February 12, 2021, and while she was still recovering at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire, Claire had baby Olive on February 15.
Henry was born weighing 7lb 13oz, while Olive was 7lb 7oz.
Laura, who had Henry with partner Mike Stride, 38, and Claire, both travel bloggers from Aylesbury, were in hospital at the same time, and said it has been a great comfort to be new mums at the same time.
Claire, who is married to husband James Baldock, 35, said: "Laura told our parents a few weeks before I told them, and they weren't shocked at all when I said I was too. My dad said to me 'well Laura told me a few weeks ago, so of course you are too!'"
"That probably sums up our relationship."
Whilst it may seem rather unusual, Laura and Claire say close births seem to be common amongst twins.
"Not every pair of twins have their babies close together, but we've definitely heard lots of similar stories," said Claire. "Maybe not as close as three days apart, but certainly only a few months."
Despite being in the same hospital at the same time, Laura and Claire didn't see much of each other due to Covid restrictions. Towards the end, the midwives eventually allowed the twins to meet up once a day.
"They made it their mission to get us to meet late at night in a common room, which was nice," said Claire. She added: "Being able to text each other pictures of our hospital food at 1am was really comforting just knowing we had each other there."
During their maternity leave, Laura and Claire spent much of their time together. "It was nice to spent time with someone you know so well who has a baby exactly the same age," said Claire.
The twins said reactions from their friends were all positive, but some offered them cautious words of support.
"Some of our friends thought it was simply the best thing ever," said Claire. "Whereas others were just a bit worried that we'd always be unintentionally comparing how we do things as mothers.
"Thankfully, we've never compared each others 'mothering techniques'. Olive was a really bad sleeper, whereas Henry is a brilliant sleeper, but I never compared situations or methods when I guess it would have been quite easy to do that, and it would have made it quite stressful if we did," she said.
Laura and Claire have said despite being genetically half-brother and half-sister, Henry and Olive are completely different. "It's quite fascinating, in a way, to bring them up and just see how different they are," Claire said.
