Sisters defy odds after both give birth to identical twin girls

By Ben Barry via SWNS

Two sisters defied the odds by both giving birth to identical twin girls within months of each other.

Megan O'Brien, 29, gave birth to Lilah and Josie, and sister, Sara Seyler, 32, had Lennon and Parker just three months later.

The double pregnancies came as a shock to both women because twins do not run in their family.

Reflecting on the moment she found out Sara was expecting twins as well, Megan said: "My jaw dropped.

"I got tears in my eyes because there are no twins in our family anywhere. It was so cool that she was having twins too.

"I knew she was having an ultrasound - like her very first ultrasound - and then she called me as well.

"I was like, oh, she is probably just FaceTiming me just to tell me how the appointment went, and I answered and she was crying, and I thought 'oh my god, what's wrong?'

"Then, she holds up the ultrasound picture and there were two babies."

The sisters, from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, said it was a complete coincidence that they both fell pregnant around the same time.

Sara said: "When I found out I was pregnant, I called her, and I was apologizing.

"I was like, I'm so sorry. Because you know I had my first baby, and this was going to be her first pregnancy.

"I thought she was going to be mad at me, like, 'you're stealing my thunder.'

The sisters said that they loved going through the pregnancy journey together.

Megan said: "Sara was pregnant before me with her son, but when I was pregnant with twins, you know, I was always three months ahead of her.

"So, she would say, 'hey, what is going on with you? So, it's normal, yeah.'

"I always had someone to answer questions and relate to...we kind of bounced off each other in different ways, I guess."

The sisters said it has been easy to get used to the new arrivals as they come from a large family, so when they have the whole family around they said the chaos is "pretty normal."

Megan mostly had a "really easy pregnancy" but after 32 weeks pregnant she thought "this is awful."

She said: "It was a lot on my body.

"I'm only about 100 pounds normally so it was just a lot, but the majority of the pregnancy was great and then I hit 32 weeks and I was like, I'm ready.

"Then they ended up coming early because I had gestational hypertension. I had high blood pressure.

"My body was just saying it's time to come out and then they had 17 days in the NICU after that - they were very healthy, they just had to grow."

Megan's daughters, Lilah and Josie were born on November 21 2021 at Doylestown Hospital, Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Lilah was born at 1.33 am weighing 4lbs 14oz with Josie being born a minute later at 1.34 am weighing 4lbs 6oz.

Sara said: "My first trimester was absolutely awful with the sickness.

"My second trimester was actually really good. I felt pretty good the entire time. But probably around the same time as Megan, the 30 to 33-week mark, it got very, very painful.

"During my monitoring, I went into preterm labor. Thankfully I was already in the hospital.

"Then, during my preterm labor, my girls went into fetal distress, they were not handling the contractions very well and their heart rate was dropping really low, and it was like, 'OK, we have to go, and within about an hour I had a c-section."

Sara's daughters, Lennon and Parker were born on February 8, 2022, at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Pennsylvania.

Parker was born at 7.31 pm weighing 5lbs 11oz and Lennon was born a minute later, weighing 4lbs 5oz.

The sisters said it has been an "adjustment" for them both.

Sara said: "There's a lot of days where it is very difficult. I'm a stay-at-home mom right now. So having all three of them some days is a lot. But lots of fun. More positives than negatives, that's for sure."

Megan said the adjustment has been a little smoother for her because she doesn't also have a toddler to look after.

She said: "Obviously, I don't have a toddler in the mix. So, it's a little easier for me.

"It's been great, I mean, we're super blessed as crazy and wild chaotic it is at times.

"To be a first-time mom of identical twin girls and to share it with my sister, it's the coolest thing ever."

Megan said it has been "super helpful" that her sister Sara is going through the same experience as her.

Megan said: "It's not always rainbows and butterflies. There are some hard days.

"So, you know, especially because we have an outlet in each other - we're going through the same thing.

"That has been super helpful. It's a big support for the both of us and then we get to share the funny stories and you know, buy them the same outfit."

The odds of a woman having identical twins is roughly 250 - 1.

However, a woman whose female sibling has had identical twins becomes twice as likely to do the same.