Proudly cuddling her twin brother, the sister who is eight years older: Siblings were conceived at the same time using IVF before embryo was frozen

• Jasmine Billington born in May 2005 and her 'twin' Simon eight years later
• Parents Lisa and Nigel first tried IVF in 2004 after several years of trying
• Doctors put two embryos into Mrs Billington and froze 22 others
• Several years later, couple tried again with a remaining frozen embryo
• Simon was born in May 2013 at 37 weeks

Jasmine Billington, 8, pictured with her 'twin' Simon - who was born in May last year

The family pictured together at their home in Cheshire. Mrs Billington had 22 embryos frozen when she fell pregnant with Jasmine - two of which were used when the couple tried for their second child

These are the amazing twins who were born EIGHT years apart.

Jasmine and Simon Billington were conceived at the same time with sperm that was frozen but Jasmine was born in May 2005 and her ‘twin’ brother was born in May last year.

As she cuddled her newborn brother in the hospital, Jasmine told her parents that she had waited such a long time for his arrival.

Mother Lisa Billington, 48, a nurse, said: ‘They are theoretically twins because they were conceived at the same time - even though I gave birth to them eight years apart.

‘They were identical as newborn babies - both of them had a full head of black hair -  but when people look at them now, they can’t believe that they were conceived at the same time, as Jasmine is eight years older than her brother.

‘When he arrived, she was so thrilled. She cuddled him and told my husband and I that she was so excited as she had waited so long for him to arrive. When they are older we will tell them of their remarkable start in life.’

Mrs Billington and her husband Nigel, 50, also a nurse, who live in Sandbach, Cheshire, decided they wanted to start trying for a family in 1997, two years after they had met.

Mr Billington had an operation to reverse a vasectomy operation that he’d had previously, but it wasn’t successful.

In 2002 they decided to go and live in Australia for a year, and when they returned home they made an appointment with CARE fertility in Manchester.

Mrs Billington said: ‘We really wanted a family and we were disappointed when the vasectomy reversal didn’t work. I’d tried other methods too - like drinking soya milk and making sure my waist didn’t go beyond 30 inches. 

'I tried to have my body in as good a shape as possible to fall pregnant, but nothing was working. I thought I would never be a mum.’

In 2004, they underwent IVF treatment and 24 embryos were produced from that treatment cycle.

Mrs Billington said: ‘The doctor was surprised about how many good quality eggs and then embryos we had, as my age was against me. We’d been told there was only about a 14 per cent chance of the treatment working because of how old I was.

‘So we were optimistic about the treatment.

The doctors put two embryos back into her womb and froze the remaining ones. Mrs Billington discovered she was pregnant two weeks later.

She said: ‘We were thrilled when I discovered I was pregnant, but we tried not to get our hopes up as I knew there was a possibility I may miscarry because of my age.’

Mrs Billington had to have an emergency caesarean when she was 33 weeks pregnant as her waters broke and she developed an infection.

She said: ‘It was frightening, but luckily the baby was healthy. I couldn’t believe it, that after all this time, I was a mum at last. It was such an emotional moment when she was born.’

The couple decided to wait several years before trying for a brother or sister for Jasmine.

Mrs Billington said: ‘I wanted to enjoy being a mum to Jasmine for a while, and there is 11 years between my sister and I, so I wasn’t in any hurry.’

In 2012 the couple returned to CARE fertility for a second course of IVF treatment.

She said: ‘We took Jasmine with us and the doctor was delighted to see her. They did warn us that we didn’t have a high chance of the treatment working. The thawing process combined with my age, as I was 47 by then, were all factors that would go against us. But we just had to hope that we would be as lucky as last time.’

Mrs Billington’s remaining embryos were taken out the freezer, where they had been stored for the last seven years. Only five survived the thawing process and only two were deemed good enough quality to put back into her womb.

Frozen embryos are usually stored for a standard of 10 years, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority which monitors UK fertility clinics.

But parents wanting to freeze eggs, sperm or embryos must sign consent forms before the process begins setting out how long they want them to be stored for and who is allowed to access them.

She said: ‘We only had one remaining chance with our embryos, so we had to keep our fingers crossed and hope for a miracle.’

Amazingly she discovered she was pregnant two weeks later. The pregnancy went smoothly until 33 weeks when she started bleeding. She had an emergency caesarean four weeks later and Simon arrived into the world at Leighton Hospital in Crewe weighing 6Ib6  - exactly the same weight as a his ‘twin‘ sister eight years before.

Mrs Billington said: ‘We were so surprised that they had been exactly the same weight - and they both had a head of black hair. As babies, they looked like two peas in a pod.’

Simon suffered from pneumonia when he was born and he had to stay on a ventilator in hospital for two weeks. But after his recovery he was allowed home.

Mrs Billington added: ‘Jasmine’s hair has turned fair now, and people are amazed when we tell them they were born exactly eight years and 16 days apart. She’s so good with her little brother - but then as she keeps reminding us, she’s waited long enough to meet him.’  

Source : Dailymail