When Ashley Ness went to the doctor in February to renew her birth control prescription, the last thing she expected to hear was that she’s pregnant. And she was in for another surprise when she had an ultrasound two weeks later and the technician told her, “Honey, there’s actually four babies in here!”
The 35-year-old is already mom to her eight-year-old daughter, Chanel, and Ness’ boyfriend has two sons who live with them in Taunton, Massachusetts, but she had suffered four miscarriages and says she just kind of accepted that she was finished having kids after that. So when she got the news that she was having two sets of identical twins, one set of girls and one set of boys, she admits it was “a big shock.”
And even doctors are surprised because this kind of pregnancy is incredibly rare - there’s only like a “one in 10-million” chance of it happening, according to Dr. Ahmet Baschat. He explains that it happens when two eggs are fertilized at the same time and then each fertilized egg divides again. Since each fertilized egg stays in its own placenta – unlike quadruplets, where each of the four is an individually fertilized egg encased separately – the result is two sets of identical twins. Ness says she’s very excited, but “also very nervous” and she adds, “This is going to be crazy.”
- Friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help with the expense of having and raising the four babies. Ness is due in October, but for their health and mom’s health, the babies will be delivered in mid-August, which means they’ll be preemies and will require special care.
Source: People