A British mum defied all odds by giving birth to twins a whopping 22 days apart ... leaving doctors and fellow twin moms scratching their heads.
So, get this ... 22-year-old Kayleigh Doyle was cruising through her pregnancy with no complications and normal scans after learning she was gonna be a mom to 2 in October 2020. Outta the blue, on March 15, 2021, she was hit with labor pains.
Kayleigh told UK news outlet SWNS the pain was so excruciating she wasn't sure what was going on until her water broke, and then she was off to Royal Oldham Hospital where she was kept under observation for 5 days.
Baby Arlo came along first on March 20, 2021 ... a heartbreaking 17 weeks early and, sadly, was stillborn. Doctors suspected a blood clot in the placenta may have been the cause.
Docs didn't expect twin 2 to make it, and they initially thought that birth would happen in a few hours -- but when Kayleigh's contractions stopped, they sent her home to rest ... and it was a long one.
That 2nd twin, baby Astro, didn't arrive until 22 days later, on April 11, via C-section ... tipping the scales at 2 pounds. Although he faced some medical hurdles due to his premature birth -- including a hole in his heart and an eye condition called retinopathy -- Astro survived against the odds.
He's now 2-years-old and thriving.
As for Kayleigh ... she says to this very day she can't find a single soul in the UK who can top her jaw-dropping 22-day gap between twins.
But the whole thing was a whirlwind of emotions for her ... admitting grieving for Astro's twin while simultaneously raising him was difficult to say the least.
However, Kayleigh channeled her grief into something truly remarkable-- she decided to train as a volunteer for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).