A woman told she’d never have kids is delighted after she gave birth to four babies in just over one year.
Kirsty Hannam, 31, was diagnosed with endometriosis at the age of 18 and doctors told her it was very unlikely she would be able to have children of her own.
But in November 2018, just three months into their relationship, Kirsty and her partner, Rob O’Hara, 34, a civil enforcement officer, found out they were expecting twins.
Kirsty was overjoyed to give birth to William, who weighed 5lbs 9oz, and Willow, who weighed 6lbs 7oz, on June 11, 2019 at Bath Royal United Hospital with Rob by her side.
But just six months later Kirsty was admitted to Royal United Hospital, Bath, with severe pain caused by her endometriosis.
Doctors told her she would eventually need a hysterectomy in order to alleviate intolerable symptoms of the disease – but chose to wait a little longer, just in case.
Kirsty was stunned to find out she was pregnant with twins in March 2020 – just seven months after the birth of her first set.
Kirsty gave birth to twin girls, Alice, who weighed 5lb 6oz, and Aoife, who weighed 5lbs 3oz, on October 14, 2020 at Bath Royal United Hospital – defying the odds by 12,500 to one.
Kirsty, a stay-at-home mum, from Frome, Somerset, said: “To go from being told that I would never be able to have children to having four in the space of a couple of years was absolutely amazing.
“Having two sets of twins is a real handful, but I feel so lucky and it’s such a blessing.”
Diagnosed with endometriosis at 18, Kirsty made peace with the fact that she probably will never be able to have children with her ex-husband – who she was married to from 2011 to 2018.
Kirsty said: “I was married and settled and children seemed like the next step with my partner then but I knew it probably wouldn’t happen.
“It was devastating as I always wanted to be a mum.
“When people asked what I wanted to do that’s what I said I wanted to do.
“But my partner and I came to terms with it.”
Kirsty’s marriage broke down in 2018 before she started a new relationship with Rob, who she went to school with, in 2018.
Kirsty said: “Rob knew all about my condition when we got together so it was never an issue. “We were on our first romantic mini break away in Bruges, Belgium, together and I know now that the twins were conceived there.
“It was a couple of weeks later and I just didn’t feel right my hormones were a bit all over the place so I decided to take a pregnancy test.
“It was actually also on the day that I was moving in with Rob so there was lots going on.
“I didn’t in a million years expect it to be positive but when I saw it I just said: ‘Oh my god’ and told Rob.
“I said to him: ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t think I could have children.’
“But he was really happy and we were excited – despite having been together for just three months.
“But I didn’t want to get my hopes up as I had been told before that a pregnancy – if it were to ever happen – would probably be ectopic.”
In November 2018, Kirsty went for her first scan with Rob by her side.
Kirsty said: “I was expecting there to be something wrong because the sonographer turned the screen around, but then she told me I was having twins.
“I actually told her to ‘f*** off’ jokingly because I couldn’t actually believe it.
“I just started hysterically laughing and then crying.
“I looked at it and I was absolutely beside myself.
“I don’t really even remember what I thought I just said to Rob: ‘Look babe we’re having twins’ and we just walked out and sat in the car in silence for a moment.
“He had a massive smile on his face the whole time and we decided to go into Bath to calm down and get some lunch and just talk it through.
“Then the excitement hit and we just couldn’t wait for them to get here, we felt so lucky.”