Brothers' double delight at two sets of twins

By LUCY LAING

Last updated at 22:00 24 June 2007


After learning that she was expecting twins, Michelle Bootle's first reaction was to telephone her sister-in-law with the good news.

A few days later, Fiona Bootle returned the compliment - by announcing that she, too, had two babies on the way.

Last month the two sets of twins arrived within 72 hours of each other - making it a double celebration for the couples.

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David Bootle, 35, a chartiy press officer, said that he and his 33-year-old brother Steve had always done everything together. "So once we got over the shock it made sense that our wives were both going to give birth to twins at the same time."

Michelle, 33, a solicitor, lives in Leeds with Steve, a photographer. It was in October that they discovered she was expecting twins.

David and Fiona, who live in Gateshead, already had one daughter, two-year-old Ruth, but wanted another addition to their family.

When Michelle rang with her news, Fiona, 32, who is also a solicitor, knew that she too was pregnant.

"I didn't want to tell Michelle and Steve because they were so excited about their own news," she said.

"We told them the following weekend and they were thrilled for us - but we didn't know that we were expecting twins too until a scan at 12 weeks. When the doctor told us I was expecting twins too, I nearly fell off the scanning table in shock. I just looked at David in complete amazement. When we got home we were still in shock, but we rang and told them about our twins too.

"Every time I went for a scan I would ring Michelle and we would compare notes, and then she would ring me when she had her scan. We compared bumps too, to see who was growing faster."

Michelle's twins Daniel and Lucy were born on May 16 weighing 5lb 8oz and 6lb 8oz. Fiona's twins Toby and John arrived three days later weighing 7lb 5oz and 6lb 9oz.

Fiona said: "We will definitely consider joint birthday parties as they grow up."

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