In between the birth of my twins, something extraordinary happened. By Kali Jo Flewellen, 38
I was walking down the street when I heard a sound that made me wince.
I turned and spotted a stressed-looking mum trying to calm a crying baby, and I thought: Rather you than me, love!
I had never wanted kids.
Trouble was, my husband Cliff did.
We’d met 16 years earlier and been married for five and, for all that time, he’d gently been trying to change my mind.
It took a while longer but eventually I started to come around to the idea.
At 36, my biological clock was ticking, and I thought: I suppose it’s now or never.
As a compromise, I told Cliff: ‘I could have one child, but no more.’
‘That’s fair enough,’ he said.
And once it was decided, something really odd happened… Almost overnight my maternal instincts kicked in.
I had polycystic ovary syndrome and doctors had warned it could be trickier to fall pregnant naturally, but we gave it a go.
After a year with no luck, I saw a fertility specialist and we opted to try two rounds of intrauterine insemination, which involved putting Cliff’s sperm directly into my womb.
First, I had surgery to remove a cyst on my ovary, and then I was given hormones to inject myself with.
On the day of the insemination, we went to the hospital full of excitement.
But after two tries, I still wasn’t pregnant.
It was an emotional rollercoaster, plus it was expensive. We’d spent just shy of £5000 already.
Then Cliff said: ‘Do you want to try again?’
'What does that mean?'
‘Just once more go,’ I agreed.
I sent up a silent prayer on the way to our next attempt: Please let this one work!
Mostly, I couldn’t bear to see the disappointment on Cliff’s face again.
We went through with it, and a month later I took the blood test that would show if I was pregnant.
Soon after, I was woken one morning by the beep of my mobile phone.
Still groggy, I looked down and saw the doctor’s name on the screen.
Assuming it was bad news again, I let the call go to voicemail.
But when I got out of bed. I noticed he’d messaged me.
The text read: Congratulations, your numbers look really good.
I thought: What does that mean?
I called him back and asked: ‘Does it mean I’m pregnant?’
‘Yes, it does,’ he replied, as my jaw dropped open.
Cliff and I were thrilled. Yet the more I thought about the pregnancy, the more scared I felt, especially being an older, first-time mum.
At my six-week scan, I was a bundle of nerves.
I tried telling myself it was all just routine, but when the sonographer ran the scanner over my belly, she pointed at the screen and said: ‘Can you see those two dark circles?’
I gulped.
‘Does that mean what I think it does?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘Fraternal twins, so two babies from two different eggs.’
I didn’t register anything she said after that…
'She's our last baby of the year!'
I’d gone from not being sure I wanted kids, to having two buns in the oven!
Walking to the car park in a daze, I FaceTimed Cliff, holding up the scan photo.
‘It’s twins,’ I told him.
‘But we only wanted one!’ he gasped.
‘Looks like nature had other plans,’ I replied, stunned.
Our friends and family were excited, but Cliff and I felt overwhelmed.
‘We’re going to need a bigger pushchair and two of everything!’ I kept saying.
But, as the weeks went on and everything seemed fine, my fear was slowly replaced by excitement.
I loved the idea of having a girl who could be my mini-me, but Cliff had always wanted a boy.
At the 16-week scan, the sonographer peered at the monitor.
‘Baby A is a girl,’ she announced, and then a few minutes later she said: ‘Oh, and so is Baby B.’
‘Typical!’ Cliff laughed.
Inspired by my own and my mum’s middle names, we called them Annie Jo and Effie Rose.
As my bump got bigger, I suffered morning sickness and dizziness and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
I had to inject myself with insulin twice a day and my body felt battered, bruised and exhausted.
I thought: I can’t wait to get these babies out of me!
My Caesarean was booked for two weeks after New Year.
When Christmas Day arrived, I realised it would be our last one before becoming parents, so we made the most of the peace and quiet.
And as the new year approached, all I wanted was to pop my feet up and watch the countdown with Cliff on TV.
But at my next check-up, the doctor was concerned about my high blood pressure,
‘We’ll have to get the babies out early,’ he said, before sending me home to wait for his call.
Then on New Year’s Eve, my phone rang.
I was told: ‘It’s time to come in.’
Before we left for the hospital, I packed a little bottle of champagne for when the clock struck midnight, then we headed off to meet our babies.
I went into the operating theatre and, as Cliff held my hand, little Annie Jo was born.
It was 11.55pm.
‘She’s our last baby of the year!’ the midwife said.
Then as we waited for Effie Rose, the clock struck midnight.
‘Happy New Year!’ Cliff said.
‘I could do with some of that champagne right now,’ I joked.
Seconds later, Effie Rose was born.
‘And she’s our first baby of the New Year!’ said the midwife.
It dawned on me that our twins had not only been born on different days, they’d arrived in two different years.
It made everything feel extra-special.
They both weighed 5lb 8oz and were healthy.
As the midwife handed them to me, I was full of love.
‘This wasn’t quite how I imagined ringing in the New Year!’ I laughed.
The midwives had given them each a cute little white hat with ‘A’ written on one, and ‘B’ on the other. But as the girls weren’t identical, it was easy for us to tell them apart.
Back home I found it tough at times looking after the babies while Cliff was at work. But my amazing friends and family pitched in, and slowly but surely the hard times got easier.
Now, a year on, the girls are thriving.
Effie is strong-willed and determined to get what she wants, whereas Annie is happy-go-lucky.
They’ve always got on well, but they’ve just started playing with their toys together, which is adorable.
It’s funny seeing people confused when we tell them they are twins, but with different birthdays in different years.
We’ve decided to celebrate this year with one big party, but in future we’ll give them separate birthday bashes.
Either way, they’re absolutely twinning!