Woman gives birth to two sets of identical twins 13 months apart: “Everyone wants to get a look”
A mom in Alabama gave birth to her second set of identical twins in August 2022. Her girls Lynlee and Lydia were born less than two years after having her twin boys Luka and Levi. Britney, 27, an elementary school teacher, and her husband Frankie Alba, 25, a firefighter unexpectedly found themselves parents of four in less than two years! Lynlee and Lydia are now 3 months old, while their brothers Luka and Levi are 16 months old.
Having twins happens in about one in 250 pregnancies and is not too common but Britney's second twin pregnancy makes it incredibly rare. The new set of babies was diagnosed as monoamniotic-monochorionic, which means they share the same placenta, amniotic sac, and fluid. According to a press release from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, "MoMo" twins are some of the rarest types of twins and account for less than 1 percent of births in the US.
Although Britney was shocked to be pregnant the second time, she was prepared. "You know, it's funny, I wasn't scared," Alba told the TODAY show of the second births. "I remember thinking, 'Okay! Round two.'" MoMo twins are likely to face several risks including stillbirth and tangled umbilical cords which can end up being fatal. So the pregnancy was not only rare but was also considered high-risk. "It was nerve-wracking to think about the journey ahead of me and being away from my boys for several weeks," Britney said in an interview with UAB. "But I knew I had a village at home and would be in great hands at UAB, which calmed my worries."
The mom was admitted to the University of Alabama Birmingham's Women and Infants Center, where she noted that her care team was "literally like family." She said, "They would monitor their heart rates multiple times a day, and every time they would check, I would hold my breath, waiting to hear two heart beats." She added, "It was very scary — but I had the best care." She gave birth to her twin girls towards the end of 2022 and they spent a little over a month in the hospital but made it home just in time for the holidays.
Rachel Sinkey, M.D., assistant professor in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said, “I think the team-based care approach at UAB between maternal-fetal specialists, genetic counselors, nurses, and NICU team greatly helped the outcome. From beginning to end, Britney and the girls have defied all odds.”
"People gawk at us when we're out in public. I used to get stopped all the time when it was just Luka and Levi — you know, people asking, 'Are they twins?' Now it's like a circus," Britney shared, "Everyone wants to get a look!"
"Before it was like 'how are we going to have two babies,' and now it's like 'two babies, that's nothing,'" Britney added. "It sounds like work but we love it. It's just become a new normal and it's good."