A woman in Florida who gave birth to twin boys in March 2019 soon learned she was again pregnant with twins in May 2019.
Alexzandria Wolliston gave birth to her first set of twin boys, Mark and Malakhi, in March and her second set, Kaylen and Kayleb, in December, 2020.
Wolliston, 25, said that prior to giving birth to Mark and Malakhi, she was unaware twins ran in both sides of her family.
“When my mom told me, and my aunties and uncles on my dad’s side told me, I was like shocked,” she said.
She also learned that her maternal and paternal grandmothers had each delivered twins who died at birth.
Wolliston said she believes her twins were heaven sent from her grandmothers, both of whom are deceased.
“I always say that I feel like my grandmothers gave me their kids because two sets of twins and their twins passed away,” she told CNN. “I feel like they just sent them down for me.”
Wolliston, who lives in West Palm Beach and is also the mother of a 2-year-old girl, said she learned in June that she was expecting her second set of twins.
On Mother’s Day 2019, when Wolliston learned she had not one but two more kiddos on the way — making her a mom of five in just under three years.
Even so, the new mom is still in disbelief that this is her new reality.
“I never thought that it could happen that fast and it did,” she said, adding that she was worried about how her body “would be able to handle a back-to-back twin pregnancy.”
Wolliston said her doctor told her she had better chances of winning the lottery than having two sets of twins and delivering them in the same year.
The 2018 twin birth rate was 32.6 twins per 1,000 births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Her first set of twins were considered high risk, she said, because they were in the same sac using only one placenta. As a result, she would see her doctor on a weekly or biweekly basis. Her second pair of twins, on the other hand, each had their own sac, and she only had to see her doctor once a month during her pregnancy, she claimed.
“I was just thinking today, ‘Is this really happening? Who has ever heard of this happening?” she said. “I’m just so amazed and grateful and thankful things turned out the way they did.”