At least they will never have a problem remembering each other’s birthdays. For sisters Erin, Leah, Charlotte and Isabelle Sullivan were all born on the same date. The two pairs of twins, the older of which is nine years old and the younger of which just turned one, defeated chances of 4.5 million to one to enter the world on January 25. But despite the twins’ double-double of birthdays, the girls’ parents still face a struggle to organise everybody’s parties and gifts – as they have five other children, and another one on the way.
It was the start of 2016 when full-time mum Zoe was rushed to from the family home in Lossiemouth, Moray, to Raigmore hospital in Inverness for an emergency c-section. On January 25, tiny Erin and Leah entered the world; this is the exact same day that Charlotte and Isabelle were born in 2008. The coincidence astounded the nursing team, and the Sullivans couldn’t be happier.
Zoe, 38, praised medical staff who cared for the premature babies in the weeks that followed their birth. She said: ‘They were fantastic. They were absolutely amazing.
Little Leah was tiny at 3lbs4 whilst her sister Erin was just 2lbs6. But they are now thriving with Charlotte and Isabelle on hand to help look after them.
Zoe said: “They weren’t jealous at all about sharing their birthday. They were just over the moon.
“They all help to take care of the little ones. But I think with these ones, especially as they were so poorly, and so small, it’s a little bit extra special.
“They love babies, it’s quite lucky really. And the baby twins are also very, very close to each other, which is quite sweet.”
When it came to the first joint birthday party, military precision was required.
It required a lot of organization, said Dad Ben, an RAF engineer. They all lined up at the top of the stairs in the morning after we set it up the previous evening.
“Let’s just say it took a little bit longer than usual trying to keep keep tabs on whose present was whose.
“We didn’t have a birthday cake – we bought them a lot of cupcakes instead because of all of the 1s and 9s.’ The twins’ other siblings are Elizabeth, 11, Olivia, 10, Noah, seven, Evangeline, five, and Tobias, four.”
The large family, which resides in a four-bedroom house designed for service families, is highly known in their small village. Even still, the news astounded their neighbors.
The family is self-sufficient and is supported by Ben’s income. We only apply for child benefit, according to Zoe. Ben’s income allows me to stay at home and avoid paying for childcare, which is a blessing.
“We don’t really spend money on other things. We just enjoy spending money on the family.”
“All the kids are happy, they are all healthy. They like the fact they are in a big family. There’s never a dull moment.
‘We are very, very, lucky. Especially after everything the twins went through being born. we are very lucky with all of it.
“They had their few rocky moments but they pulled through and we all pulled together. ‘The other kids were brilliant and we were very proud of all of them.”
Statistical analysis of birth rates suggests that the odds of any conception resulting in non-identical twins is arouind 1 in 50. Identical twins have a higher likelihood of occurring—1 in 250. Given that there is a 1 in 365 chance that two babies will be born on the same day, the Sullivans’ twin girls are the result of a 1 in 4,562,500 coincidence.
