Third Set Of Twins Born To Scottish Mom

A British woman has given birth to a third set of twins, an occurrence that is unusual in the absence of fertility assistance.

The odds of a third set of twins are not that long (500,000 to one), but it’s still pretty neat that the couple managed to score a family of eight in just three pregnancies.

Scottish mom Karen Rodger, 41, and husband Colin, 44, welcomed twin baby girls Rowan and Isla to their family recently — bringing the total twin count in their home in Langbank in Renfrewshire to six.

The girls were born two minutes apart via c-section, and Karen admits their births were somewhat of a shock to her in a statistical sense. She told UK news outlets:

“I just could not believe it. It never crossed my mind that it would be twins again, I just thought that just doesn’t happen to people like me but I’m absolutely delighted.”

According to Discovery News, the odds are long for a third set of twins, but other women have been surprised by concurrent multiples:

“Although the odds are high of delivering three sets of twins, it has been done before. According to Guinness World Record, ‘The first wife (died ante 1770) of Feodor Vassilyev (b. 1707 – c.1782), a peasant from Shuya, Russia, gave birth to 16 sets of twins. Barbara Zulu of Barberton, South Africa bore 3 sets of girls and 3 mixed sets in seven years (1967 – 73).’ ”

Karen says that Colin initially thought her text announcing the third set of twins, discovered after an ultrasound at six weeks, was a joke — she recalls:

” ‘He thought I was joking and immediately wrote back to say ‘this is not funny’. I had to explain that it really was true.’ ”

The third set of twins are girls, but the couple’s previous two sets are boys.