Yahoo Finance Couple who thought they'd never have children welcome twins on different days and with different star signs
A couple who thought they might never have children have welcomed twins who were born on different days and have different star signs.
After spending three years trying to conceive Jess, 31, and Chris Chelin, 34, were "completely shocked" to find out Jess had fallen pregnant with twins naturally.
But they were equally as surprised when one of their twin boys, Eric, arrived on 19 January at 11.52pm, while his brother, Albert was born ten minutes later, the following day, on 20 January at 12.02am.
The couple's baby sons were born in different gestational sacs, have different hair colour and even have different star signs.
While Eric has dark brown hair and is a Capricorn, Albert has blond hair and is an Aquarius.
“I was excited and overwhelmed when we realised we were pregnant with twins," says Jess, from York, North Yorkshire.
"I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t believe it until they were born.
“It was amazing to hold them for the first time and to know the journey we’ve all gone through as a family."
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The couple, who met in 2007 and married in 2015, always wanted to have a family of their own but were told they were unlikely to ever conceive naturally.
Jess, who was in her 20s at the time, was devastated when she was told her eggs were "akin to a woman in her 40s".
Jess said it was agonising to watch her friends get pregnant - and the couple seriously considered moving to Canada or Australia as it became too overwhelming.
“I had very little hope I was going to be able to have my own baby," Jess, a primary school teacher, explains. "They said it was very unlikely and the process of IVF is also really tough.
“It was so demoralising.
“As soon as we got married we talked about how we wanted to have children as we wanted them quite young and to be able to do things with them.
“Those two years seemed like the longest years ever, and it felt so futile.”
Watch: Twin babies celebrate their birthdays to the fullest.
In 2017, the couple attempted their first round of IVF, which was free on the NHS, but it sadly failed.
The couple were forced to consider going for more treatment privately, which could have costed them thousands of pounds.
But as the couple didn't go through a full cycle, they were still eligible for a free round of IVF.
Read more: Parents share their relief as premature twins born with coronavirus are allowed home
This time they were offered Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), which involves the sperm being injected directly into the egg, which was successful with the couple welcoming their daughter, Ayda, now two, in September 2018.
The couple say they were "extremely grateful" to become parents to their daughter and never expected to have another child, let alone twins.
“We always wanted more than one child but when we had Ayda we obviously knew there was a chance she was going to be an only child," Jess explains.
“Now we’ve got the boys too and it warms my heart knowing they’re going to grow up having each other.”
The new parents were so certain they would not be able to conceive again, they moved from Leeds to York and bought their first home together immediately after Ayda was born.
But they’re now going to have to sell their three-bed terraced house and move into a bigger home to accommodate the new members of the family.
Read more: Mum shocked as twins born two days apart
Dad Chris said welcoming the twins has made family life a little busy and they will have to make many unexpected adjustments, but it it’s all been worthwhile as they have their "perfect family".
“It’s been completely crazy, our lives have been changed forever," the property manager explains.
“But it’s all worth it, all the chaos in the house, all the cleaning, all the late nights - it’s 100% worth it.
“We genuinely believed for a long time that we might never have our own children and now we’ve got three beautiful babies.
“I’m exhausted but I’ve never been so happy.”
Additional reporting SWNS.
