Video: Twins born five years apart (From The Argus)

Video: Twins born five years apart

11:40am Thursday 5th January 2012 in News By Rebecca Evans

Becoming a big brother for the first time is a special event for any young boy.

But five-year-old Reuben Blake’s new baby sister is also his twin.

The brother and sister were conceived from the same batch of embryos but parents Simon and Jody Blake waited half a decade before “completing their family”.

Mr Blake, 45, from Brighton, and his 38-year-old wife had been trying to start a family without success and began fertility treatment in 2005.

During the process, five embryos were created and two implanted in Mrs Blake, which resulted in the birth of Reuben on December 9, 2006.

The three remaining embryos were frozen until the couple decided to try again last year.

Against the odds, Floren arrived on November 16 weighing 8lb 12oz – two weeks before her due date but a full five years after her twin brother.

Mr Blake said: “I tell everybody I can. I find it very difficult to resist the temptation to say ‘Oh and by the way they are twins’."

His wife, a programmes manager for the children’s charity WellChild, said: “We obviously had nine months to get it straight and to think ‘Gosh, we’re having Reuben’s twin’, but it’s incredibly special.”

Even at his young age Reuben is aware of the special relationship he has with his seven-week-old sister, although his parents said it would be a while before he fully understands.

Mrs Blake said: “He likes to say she has been in the freezer with the chips and the chicken."

The couple underwent the procedure at Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine.

Read more on this story inside today's Argus.

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