My twins were born three weeks apart and whilst one starts school we will hold a celebration for the other
One of the UK’s 'rarest twins' is preparing to start school this year - and will be bringing a photo of his stillborn brother in his memory.
Kayleigh Doyle, 23, gave birth to brothers Arlo and Astro three weeks apart from each other. Tragically, Arlo was stillborn at 17 weeks - and doctors feared Astro would suffer a similar fate.
But they were “baffled” when, five days later, Kayleigh hadn’t yet gone into labour. It took a further 22 DAYS for the mum-of-three to give birth to Astro - despite daily check-ins with her care team.
Astro, now three, suffers from a number of health complications like a hole in his heart and abnormal blood vessel growth in his eyes - but Kayleigh says he’s “fighting fit” and ready to start school in September. Kayleigh, a full-time mum from Manchester, said: “It’s a bittersweet feeling - as far as I’m concerned, I’m always going to be a mum-of-three.
“When I got pregnant with twins, I always imagined this time in their life - and to be honest, dreading how expensive two school uniforms were going to be! You think about having to buy two blazers, two school bags - but it won’t be happening.
“Astro will take a photo of Arlo with him on his first day of school, just like he did on his first day of nursery. We’ll be getting a new urn for Arlo, too, and so he’ll be holding it in his ‘first day of school’ photo.”
Kayleigh fell pregnant with the twins in October 2020 and all her scans were normal. She didn’t experience any complications until she was hit with labour pains on March 15, 2021.
The new mum rushed to the Royal Oldham Hospital, and was kept under observation for five days. She gave birth to Arlo naturally at 4:20am on March 20 - he was 17 weeks early, and he only weighed 1.1lb.
He was stillborn, with doctors presuming a blood clot in his placenta may have been the cause.
“He looked like a normal baby,” Kayleigh said. “Doctors sat me down, saying they expected ‘twin two’ to be stillborn within the next couple of hours.”
Incredibly, Kayleigh managed to “keep him in” for five days afterwards, and her care team discharged her from hospital. She had daily check-ups with a doctor at Saint Mary’s Hospital, who told her he “couldn’t believe” how rare her case was.
By April 11, 2021, Kayleigh still wasn’t showing any signs of labour - but doctors decided enough was enough, and it would be safer to deliver ‘twin two’ by c-section. Astro was born at 4.12am on April 11, weighing just 2lbs.
“People always assume, because Arlo and Astro are twins, that they share the same birthday,” Kayleigh added. “They’ll post things on Facebook saying: ‘Happy birthday, Arlo and Astro.’
“I always find myself having to explain the three-week age difference.”
Every year, the Doyle family throws a big birthday party in Arlo’s memory - involving letting off blue lanterns and balloons. Kayleigh says it can be a “kick in the teeth” when people mistake her younger son, Albie, two, for Astro’s twin.
She said: “Astro and Albie are the same clothing size, same shoe size and the same height - they’re both really young and they’ve got a double pram. People tell me all the time, because they know Astro is a twin: ‘Is Albie Astro’s twin? Double trouble!’
“It can be a bit of a kick in the teeth, because it feels like Arlo should be here - he should’ve started nursery with Astro, and they should be starting school together.”
After the twins’ birth, Kayleigh began volunteering for the NICU at Saint Mary’s Hospital - and plans on returning to work longer hours after Astro and Albie have both started school.
“It got to the point where it was a bit too much,” she added. It was a lot, looking after children under four and being there as a preemie mum. I said I’d take a break, and I’d love to start again when the boys have both started school, and I’ve got a bit more time.”