In a rare event, a Brooklyn mom has been blessed with a set of twins for the third time!

Twelve years ago Gezime Amer gave birth to her first set of twins 12 years ago, Abdulah and Rahman. Two years later, she and her husband were hoping for a girl with their second pregnancy and they got one – plus her sister!

Now the fertile mom is six months pregnant with her third set of twins.

“God blessed me with the genes to have twins,” said the elated Sheepshead Bay mom. “They came to me all natural, too.”

Gezime’s gynecologist, Ayman Shahine, said he’s never come across a mom so genetically prone to twins – identical or fraternal – in his 20 years of practice.

“When she had her first twins, she was scared. Then she had two girls and she could not believe it. Now, she’s an expert.”

Only 15 out of 26,000 members of the National Organization of Mothers of Twins have reported giving birth to several sets of twins.

“It is rare, but multiple births do happen,” said Pam Krell, executive vice president of the group. “An extra baby means extra joy.”

A fact that Gezime agrees with. Even though the family doesn’t have a lot of money, the couple teaches their kids to appreciate each other. “Blood is thicker than water.”

The older kids say they can’t wait for the babies to arrive so that they can school them ‘in the ways of twindom.’

“We are very close. We go everywhere but the bathroom [together],” Rahman said of him and his brother.

“When you are [a] twin, you know someone always has your back,” said Kerima. “You know you’ll never be alone.”

Good luck to this couple – not that they need it. They’re pros!

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Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were spotted boarding a canal boat in Venice with their ADORABLE twins Knox and Vivienne this morning.

The Jolie-Pitt family are in Venice while Angelina films a movie called “The Tourist”, which is reportedly been delayed due to a strike in Italy.

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Karen Johnston was heartbroken when she went through menopause six years ago but, thanks to treatment by in vitro fertilization, she is currently six months pregnant with twins.

Karen and her husband Roger have eight children ranging in age from 33 to two years and they will soon add another little boy and a little girl into the mix.

“All I’ve ever wanted to be is a mother and after every child I’ve soon found myself wanting to have another baby,” Karen said.

She admits to being a bit of a baby addict, “I love the smell of them and the whole experience of being pregnant, and having children around the house is just wonderful. Having young children is a privilege and it gives me a sense of purpose in life.”

Britain’s Health Service does not perform IVF treatments on women over the age of 39, though some private clinics set the cut off at 50. Other countries set the IVF age limit considerably higher.

In 2007, the Johnstons turned to a clinic in the Czech Republic where Roger’s sperm and donor eggs were used to conceive their daughter Willow, who is now two.

The Johnstons returned to the clinic to have the same procedure completed to conceive the twins. The babies are expected in June and the family couldn’t be happier. – Jen R, Staff Writer

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An Australian couple has shattered the medical odds after giving birth to naturally conceived identical triplets – a combination thought to occur only once every 160,000 births.

To the delight of Lisa and Kieran Billing, Xavier, Cooper and Noah Billing arrived at 32 weeks gestation 11.42am yesterday, weighing 3.74lbs, 3.43lbs and 3.3lbs respectively.

“They’re so delicate,” said Mr Billing between visits to the boys’ humidicribs yesterday.

“You can hold them in the palms of your hands they’re that small,” Mr Billing said.

While naturally conceived triplets are rare, identical triplets are far less common. A variety of estimates, place the odds anywhere from 1:150,000-160,000 up to 1:200 million.

In this case, it took three visits to two different obstetricians for the Billings to learn the full extent of the pregnancy.

Their first doctor indicated a single birth, then at their next appointment told them to expect twins.

Mr Billing, 29, learnt there was a third baby after returning home from work to a sobbing wife fresh from her third visit.

“Thank God they stopped there,” he said.

In preparation for the babies homecoming, the couple has bought a bigger car and extended their house.

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For Naula and Austin Conway, the insurmountable happiness that one feels when a baby is born was multiplied six times over when on May 22, 2009 they became Britain’s first parents to naturally conceive sextuplets.

But the journey so far has been a mix of many good things, lot of hard work and a few sad memories according to the proud parents.

The odds of conceiving six babies naturally are 1 in 4.5 billion and when Naula 26, became pregnant, she was advised by doctors to abort several of the fetuses at 14 weeks. But the couple did not agree and eventually 14 weeks before her full term, Naula gave birth to Ursula, Shannon, Karla, Kerrie Mae, Austin and Eoghan, by caesarean.

The babies weighing between 1lb 7oz and 2lb 2oz were immediately taken to intensive care where the medics at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital warned that the chances of survival for the palm sized babies were only 50%.

“It was hard seeing our little miracles looking so fragile in their incubators,” says Nuala. “It’s an experience no parent should ever have to go through when all you want to do is cuddle them.”

More was to come for the parents, when Kerrie Mae, breathed her last at eight weeks of age. “Austin and I were devastated but we knew we had to remain strong for our other babies,” says Nuala.

With their combined strength and the immense support received from families, the couple finally brought all the babies home in October overcoming the taboos of brain damage and health problems attached to premature babies.

From there on began the exhaustive and yet exhilarating experience of taking care of each one of them with round the clock precision.

“We don’t get any additional support from the local authorities and my job as a shop supervisor and Austin’s work as a kitchen fitter have been put on hold for now to become full-time parents.”

On average it costs around £9,000 a year to raise one baby, so for Nuala and Austin that’s a whopping £45,000. But the couple are still smiling and ready to appreciate and cheer every milestone their babies reach in their lives.

“When I look back at the past nine months it is all a blur, but things are settling down.” Say Naula, “We have come through so much but now we can start planning for the future with our five beautiful babies.”

Per day Nuala and Austin’s crew uses an astonishing 50 diapers, a whole tub of diaper cream, a box of washing powder and a box of fabric softener. They are changed four times a day and go through 140 outfits a week. That’s roughly 7,200 costume changes in a year.

Just to leave the house for a hospital trip, the babies need 40 diapers, two packs of baby wipes, 35 bottles and two changes of clothes per baby. – Atula, Staff Writer

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Thanks to modern medical advances, more multiple-child pregnancies are able to happen. However, the rates of twins and triplets is still fairly rare. That is, except at one school that seems to have more than it’s share.

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Scott and Amy Kehoe tried everything they could think of for eight years to become parents, finally turning to a surrogate to help them. One month after birth, however, the surrogate came back for the babies she delivered for them and kept them.

Michigan, where the Kehoes live, is one of only five states that does not recognize surrogacy contracts. Because the adoption was not yet completed, the surrogate mother was within her legal rights to take back the twins at any time. To the Kehoes it is nothing more than “legal kidnapping”.

Shelley Baker, the surrogate mother, went before a judge one week after having the twins to begin the adoption process. She told the judge that the Kehoes “love these babies very much.” However she said she also began feeling uncomfortable after learning more about Amy Kehoe having a criminal record and seeing a psychiatrist.

Amy Kehoe’s psychiatrist gave her a letter of recommendation, saying she was consistent with her medication and her therapy. He felt that her mental health issues would not get in the way of her being able to parent well. Shelly and her husband felt otherwise. Despite the infants bonding with the Kehoes, the Bakers removed the twins and choose to parent them. They have also legally changed the infants names to Peyton and Dani.

Amy Kehoe was arrested for minor cocaine possession 9 years ago and has had no criminal issues since then. She was also diagnosed with an unspecified psychotic disorder for which she takes medication and sees a psychiatrist regularly. Amy claims that she was honest with Baker about her mental health issues, however Shelly says that she first heard of the issues during the custody hearing. – Summer, Staff Writer

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Exciting news in Italy today. A 30-year-old mom welcomed four baby girls and two boys, the largest multiple birth in that country since 2003.

According to an Italian news agency, mom and babies all are in good health following the caesarean birth in the southern city of Benevento, near Naples.

However, the sextuplets, who were born after just 29 weeks gestation and weigh between 610 and 800 grams (1 lb, 5 oz to 1 lb, 12 oz), are all on assisted breathing apparatus.

Doctors said the multiple birth probably was due to fertility treatment taken by the woman, and not due to in vitro fertilization as Italian law prohibits more than three embryos to be transferred into the womb.

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Michael Kamrava, the doctor made famous for helping octo-mom Nadya Suleman conceive her octuplets, is now facing negligence charges.

According to the California state licensing body, Dr. Kamrava acted negligently and against professional guidelines. He has now been formally accused and faces the chance of losing his medical license. The complaint is for providing repeated fertility treatments to a woman identified as “N.S.” only.

Dr. Kamrava helped Nadya Suleman conceive her now famous octuplets in 2008. The infants were born January 29, 2009 and are currently the longest living octuplet set today. Suleman had six children already when she gave birth to her octuplets. All of her children were conceived via IVF and from the same sperm donor claims Suleman.

The California medical board claims that Dr. Kamrava transferred too many embryos, used fresh embryos when frozen were available, and failed to refer his patient for a mental health evaluation. He is also being accused of providing too much fertilization hormones and poor record keeping.

Dr. Kamrava continues to advertise his practice and hosts a weekly call-in radio show on a Los Angeles’ Iranian radio station. – Summer, staff writer

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The adorable Kelly quads made history in Britain just one week before New Year’s Eve by being the first quads made of two pairs of identical twins.

The four tiny girls, Heidi, Annabelle, Hannah and Jessica, arrived by c-section at only 31.5 weeks. Yet their premature age has not hindered them from gaining fame across the country. The girls are breathing on their own and seem to be healthy, though doctors are keeping them in hospital care until they are more mature. At birth Heidi and Annabelle each weighed 3lb 3oz, Hannah was 2lb 11oz, and Jessica 2lb 10oz.

Parents Sean and Lisa Kelly used IVF to conceive the quadruplets. Even though the couple’s first son Cameron was conceived naturally, Lisa’s natural cycle never returned afterwards, something doctors couldn’t explain.

After trying many fertility medications without success they finally turned to IVF in efforts to have another child. On their third IVF attempt two embryos were implanted. Lisa says she felt pregnancy symptoms almost immediately.

Parents who use IVF are 20 times more likely to have multiples during pregnancy. Most twins, however, are non-identical and a result of 2 embryos being implanted. The Kelly quads are the result of each of the embryos splitting into a pair of identical twins. Quadruplets are still rare, mostly because fetal reduction is often encouraged for cases such as this. Few hospitals are capable of caring for pregnancies such as this. Lisa and Sean Kelly said they had felt a lot of pressure to reduce the quads to triplets or twins.

But while Sean and I were not determined to have four babies at any cost, we agreed that, unless someone could give us a proper medical reason, we’d give them all the best chance of life.

In 2008 a set of identical twin pair quads was born in Nova Scotia. These type of quads are still extremely rare. – Summer, staff writer

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This year’s end brings news of an added bundle of joy for a UK family that was already expecting identical triplets. When Gill Holden, 35, went to the radiologist for her regular prenatal check-up, she was in for a shock when she was informed that the expectant mother had not three but four babies inside her womb – all conceived without the use of fertility treatments!

Gill, who already has an eight year old daughter Abbie with partner Marc Hanley, is over the moon with the news. But the family is also nervous, emotional and excited about the new arrivals and the amount of work they would bring with themselves. They have already planned to sell-off their two bedroom home but stay close to family.

Marc who is a self-employed painter and a decorator by profession said that they were getting prepared for the quadruplets and had already got four Moses basket and loads of nappies and wipes from the local Asda. Even Abbie is looking forward to becoming a big sister.

Doctors believe that conceiving natural quadruplets is a very rare phenomenon with chances being one in 500,000.

In Gill’s case, there are three identical baby girls and a non-identical sister and once they are delivered they will still need hospital care for at least a month. Gill who has already quite her job as a welfare assistant heading to her doctor’s advice, expects to give birth at St Mary’s Hospital in Manchester in February and medics hope that she is at least 32 weeks and the babies weigh 3lbs each before they help her give birth by caesarean section. – Atula, staff writer

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When Liz Breach feels her unborn twins kick, she can not only tell which one it is, she also knows which of her two wombs the baby is growing in. The New Zealand mom, who discovered that she has two completely separate wombs a rare condition called uterus didelphys when she was a teenager, later successfully carryied her two sons, Trent, 7, and Logan, 3, in her right womb.

When she became pregnant again earlier this year, Liz, 32, couldn’t wait to find out which womb was housing her baby. Thrilled at the news of an addition to the family, her husband Jason, 39, offered to take time off work and come along to the ultrasound scan.

”But I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal, so I went alone,” recalls Liz.

However when the five-million-to-one bombshell was revealed, she immediately wished Jason had been at her side.

“The doctor asked how I would react if he told me I was having twins and that there was a baby in each womb,” says Liz. “I told him it wasn’t funny.”

The babies are due in the new year! We wish this family good luck.

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On Sunday night an unidentified Omaha couple became the proud parents to Nebraska’s second ever set of quintuplets at Bergan Mercy Medical Center.

Arriving by C-Section, the two boys and three girls arrived at 30 weeks gestation, each weighing roughly two pounds.

Confirming the multiple births yesterday, Dr. Michael Barsoom said that the quints he delivered were doing “very well.”

“Everything is as good as can be expected,” said Barsoom, Alegent Health’s director of maternal fetal medicine.

The parents don’t want names or personal family details released. They have declined interviews. They don’t even want to say where they live or the gender of the babies. (The World-Herald learned the breakdown of boys and girls).

Barsoom said he understands their hesitation. The children were born just shy of 30 weeks.

At that age, “you can’t be guaranteed the babies are going to be absolutely healthy,” he said. “God forbid . . . something happens. The best thing is to wait until the babies are ready to go home and then introduce them to the world.”

The Doctor also revealed that the quintuplets were conceived after the mother had undergone “one dose, one cycle of fertility pills.”

(No in vitro fertilization, which involves joining eggs and sperm in a petri dish, or intrauterine insemination, which involves injections of sperm into the uterus, were involved, he said.)

To wind up with five babies after that limited therapy, Barsoom said, was “completely unexpected.  I don’t think it’s ever been reported in literature,” he added.

While a few, but not all, of the babies are on ventilators, the doctor expects the quints to stay in hospital for the next 6-10 weeks.

Maybe they will be home for the Holiday Season!

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More sadness today for Amanda and Thomas Stansel after their fourth sextuplet was disconnected from life support last night.

According to the couple’s blog, Ashlyn had been fighting a nasty form of pneumonia call Yeast pneumonia for about a month.

On Saturday night Amanda wrote:

Ashlyn is not doing well at all. Her kidney function is getting worse. She is in renal failure and this is making the edema worse. The doctor said that her kidneys are beyond the point to where they could get better. They are just too far gone. They had to increase the ventilator settings to provide more support. She is just not doing well overall. This has been so hard. It hurts to see her so sick. We hoped and prayed that she would get better, but it is just not the Lord’s will for her.

The decision to withdraw care was made last night after the tiny baby’s oxygen saturation had dropped into the 50’s and 60’s(a healthy person’s O2 Sat’s are usually 99). The lower the number, the more oxygen needed from the ventilator to compensate.

Thomas and Amanda welcomed their sextuplets just over 2 months ago, weighing between 12.3 ounces and 1 pound, 2 ounces at 23 weeks gestation. Just a couple days after their arrival the couple lost Dallin and Katelyn, followed by Braden a few weeks later.

While this has been a rough journey for the couple they are still very optimistic about the 2 remaining babies; Hailey and Rachel.

Amanda blogged that:

• Haley is now weighing in at four pounds even and is 14 1/2 inches long. Haley I think has surprised the doctors with how well she is doing especially after having surgery 3 days ago.
• Little Rachel(pictured with Amanda) continues to grow and flourish each day. She weighs 3 lbs 7 oz and is 14 inches long. She is tolerating her feeds very well, she continues to eat like a champ. She loves to lay on her belly, she does much better with her oxygen saturation’s on her belly than her back.

We hope and pray that Haley and Rachel continue to grow and develop, so that we can bring them both home some day soon.

I also hope that they are able to bring these two girls home as well. Because both babies are still vented, they may just be home in time for the Holiday Season.

Exciting news in the North!

New York couple Bridgett Maskell and John Mistalski are the proud parents of 5 tiny little babies. The three girls and two boys arrived at just twenty five weeks gestation on Thursday afternoon at the at Women and Children’s Hospital in Buffalo.

The new mom was hoping to deliver the babies closer to her January due date. However on Thursday, “all of a sudden, my heart starting beating really, really fast and I couldn’t breathe then contraction, after contraction, so I knew she was going to deliver them,” said Maskell.

Dr. Stephanie Mann said a team was set up for each baby in the delivery room.

As for their prognosis, Dr. Mann said, “for 25 weekers, they’re actually doing as expected. All of the babies are on respiratory support.”

The largest baby weighs just under two pounds, the smallest is just shy of one pound.

Now that the size of the family has jumped from four to nine, the parents are scrambling to get necessary items like car seats and a vehicle to transport the entire family.

Bridget and John also have a set of twins at home.

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