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Twincredible! Think you’ve got a handful? Meet the British mother who gave birth to two sets of twins within 12 months
By BOUDICCA FOX-LEONARD
Last updated at 9:34 AM on 13th April 2010
Growing up, Hazel Bowden had a clear vision of how her life would be: she would have a good career, a nice home and no more than two children.
She certainly didn’t want to be one of those frazzled-looking mothers with unruly broods that she encountered in supermarkets.
But Hazel, 40, could never have foreseen just how off course her own life would go.
Hazel Bowden with husband Andrew and their two sets of twins, left to right, Connor and Sarah, Luke and Hannah
Today, she is the mother of not one, but two, sets of twins, who were born in the space of 12 months. She is thought to be the only woman in the UK to give birth to twins twice in a single year.
Hannah and Luke are now four and Sarah and Connor are three, and, for the first time since their birth, Hazel has the energy to take stock of her extraordinarily challenging and exhausting situation.
Perhaps, not surprisingly, the strain of the situation pushed her marriage to the brink.
In January this year she and her husband Andy, 38, a computer engineer, who live in Lytham St Annes, Lancs, with Hazel’s nine-year-old daughter Charlotte, from a previous relationship, discussed divorce.
Driven to despair by sleep deprivation, their relationship seemed beyond repair.
‘At one point, Andy and I were preparing 24 bottles, getting through 35 nappies and doing four loads of washing every day,’ she says. ‘I got up eight times in the night and the day would start at 5.30am.
‘Even going to the loo was a struggle and I’d sometimes do it with two babies balanced on my lap and the other two in their rocking chairs next to me.
‘I used to take such pride in my appearance – but now all I had time to do was sling on some comfy clothes. I never bothered to look in the mirror as I never saw anyone except Andy and the children. … Continue reading
