Alison Spooner and Dean Durrant are no ordinary couple.
The biracial partners from the UK have defied the odds. Twice.
Not only did they have twin girls, twice in seven years, but both sets of twins came out with different skin color.
One was white and one was black.
Although not impossible it is extremely rare. So it was amazing when it happened the first time – but even more incredible when it happened a second time.
Seven years after having one black twin and one white twin, 27-year-old Alison has given birth to a second set of twins with different colored skin at odds of one in 500,000.
When the couple’s first daughters arrived in 2001, they were surprised to see that Lauren had her mother’s blue eyes and red hair.
While her twin Hayleigh had dark skin and hair, like her father, Dean.
When Alison, from Fleet, in Hampshire, found out she was pregnant again this year she was elated.
Her friends and family joked that they would take a bet out on the same thing happening again.
Alison had to be induced over fears of babies health.
Thankfully they were delivered safely, but doctors were also amazed that once again Alison and Dean’s twin girls were born with different skin tones.
Baby Miya resembles her father and Leah has inherited her mother’s looks.
It is rare enough for two sets of twins to be born to the same parents, but the chances of them inheriting different skin and hair color from their mother and father are just two in a million.
This happens when two separate eggs are fertilized by different sperm.
Unlike identical twins who share their genetic make-up having been conceived from one fertilized egg that splits to form two embryos.
‘I was shocked when I first found out I was pregnant with twins again – but I never thought for one second they would turn out the same as last time,’ Miss Spooner said.
‘After the babies were born they weren’t breathing properly, so they were taken to a special care unit.’
The former recruitment consultant added: ‘It wasn’t until about five days after they were born that we saw them side by side for the first time.
‘And when they were together it was clear that one was darker than the other. It was unbelievable.’
Doctors at Frimley Park Hospital, in Surrey, decided to deliver the babies by Caesarean section, 37 weeks into the pregnancy, when scans revealed the twins were in the breech position.
However, despite their early arrival, both girls were born healthy, with Miya weighing 4lb lloz and Leah 5lb 10oz.
Their father Dean, 33, who is of West Indian origin, said: ‘It was a real shock to the system when I found out we were having twins again.’
‘I didn’t think the same thing would happen again.’
‘I was blown away when I saw them together. I didn’t know until then that there was such a big difference between the two.
‘It was clear to see but they were rushed away after they were born so we didn’t realize until we saw them together. We have a very special family.’
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