Reuben And Floren Blake, Twins, Born 5 Years Apart

Like most parents, Jody Blake, 38, brags to anyone who will listen about how exceptional her children are. But according to a report by the Press Association, Blake may have a valid reason for thinking her kids are truly phenomenal: Reuben and Floren are twins, despite having been born five years apart.

Blake began fertility treatment in 2005 and five embryos were produced. Two of those were transfered to Blake's womb, while the remaining three were frozen. Following the initial treatment, her son Reuben was born on December 9th, 2006.

Rueben's sister, Floren, was conceived from the same group of embryos, hers being one of the three that had been frozen for five years.

Blake told the Guardian what it was like to carry their son's twin a full five years after his birth.

"It does feel quite surreal. I think people are really, really surprised and it almost takes people a few minutes to get their heads around it," she told the paper. "We obviously had nine months to get it straight and to think, 'Gosh we are having Reuben's twin,' but it is incredibly special."

Her husband, Simon Blake, 45, told the paper they weren't sure conception would be possible the second time around, since Floren's embryo had been frozen for so long.

"There aren't a huge amount of reliable statistics because it isn't done that often, but we knew it was a long shot," Simon told the Guardian. "You just can't comprehend that a life could come from some material that's been frozen that length of time."

Though their experience might be the most headline-worthy, the Blakes certainly aren't the only couple out there having twins.

Today, the Associated Press reported that one in every 30 babies is a twin, which is a huge increase over the last 30 years. And cases like the Blakes' may well be related to the increase, as experts are citing fertility treatments as a possible cause.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated that five embryos were transferred to Mrs. Blake's womb in 2005. Only two were used, while the remaining three were frozen.

Comments

[kasieerlewine]

11:05 AM on 01/23/2012

I wish HP would have told these people that they did not have twins, instead of allowing them to make fools of themselves.

[brownsi]

11:49 AM on 01/18/2012

in 5 more years they'll have triplets.
In 5 more they'll be quads.
In 5 more they'll be quints.
what's next?

[Beth Boose]

02:23 PM on 01/07/2012

they're no more twins than normal siblings. I call sloppy journalism.

[jdiary]

02:39 AM on 01/20/2012

You're totally right.Kind of annoyed I wasted my time. More like misleading journalism.

[cutebbwcandy]

01:31 PM on 01/07/2012

What ever happen to having your kids the, "normal way?" I say this because no where in the article did I see where she couldn't' have kids on her own, unless I'm blind.

[kasieerlewine]

10:56 AM on 01/23/2012

You don't do IVF for kicks and giggles...

[AnninMD]

10:57 AM on 01/07/2012

I'm not sure why this is "news". This isn't the first time this has happened. My friend did the same thing. They had their daughter via IVF, and then went back and implanted frozen embryos, which resulted in their son. They also adopted a little boy, for those of you who say why do IVF when there are so many children who need families. Funny, people who usually say that haven't adopted any children themselevs.

[jdiary]

02:39 AM on 01/20/2012

It's not news. It's called "headline clicks"

[Alice Edy]

04:41 AM on 01/07/2012

Ok... these are not twins. They were separate eggs and so that rules out being identical twins and the only thing that makes fraternal twins be... well, fraternal twins... is sharing the same pregnancy like my twin brother and I did.

[Betty Rehberg]

10:15 AM on 01/07/2012

Exactly. This is a stupid story.

[Celeste Moore]

02:09 PM on 01/08/2012

someone wanted publicity, I am a twin, and it is true what you said. If its really a twin then the eggs would have been OVULATED at the same time instead they were retrieved by IVF techniques. If you really wanted to call it their "twin" then every fertility clinic in the world could say twins were born at different times all the time. The only way they would be true twins is if an original egg split when the fertilization was taking place and they froze one part of that split egg.

[EmilyRose 85]

09:16 PM on 01/06/2012

They already look alike (adorable kids)!

[Betty Rehberg]

10:17 AM on 01/07/2012

They are not really twins. This is a dopey story. To be true fraternal twins they had to be fertilized at the same time and carried together in the womb. The only true twins by the fertilization process would be identical, and they would start as one embryo.

[EmilyRose 85]

10:27 PM on 01/07/2012

I understand but they're very cute kids none the less and the brothers already look alike. The story is silly and misleading, but they're still a beautiful family.

[David Bowie]

09:10 PM on 01/06/2012

This is exactly what I'm talking about all the time. There are plenty of kids already on this Earth, and now a family that shouldn't exist, by GOD'S own doing, are circumventing what GOD wants and having kids anyways.

[Rune Borsjo]

10:14 PM on 01/06/2012

So why aren't christian women lining up to adopt kids from Africa and Asia, if they want to make the world to be a better place?

And why does your god, in general terms, make the dumb people have most of the children, and at an early age?

[Lop Sided]

03:28 AM on 01/11/2012

rune, i totally believe in god but i completely agree with you. i constantly find myself questioning why god allows the worst people to have kids, abuse them, kill them, whatever, when good financially stable and loving couple cant. it doesnt make any sense.

david bowie, have you never heard the phrase, 'god helps those who help themselves"? are we just supposed to sit back and let god make things happen for us? thats laziness and thats a sin. so before you start preaching to everyone about how thats going against god, ask yourself if youre the one god sent to judge everyone. the ONLY thing you should be doing as a "christian," is loving others and THATS IT. people like you are the ones that make christians look stupid.

[epilady]

01:58 AM on 01/07/2012

If God didn't allow it, it wouldn't happen.

[Noreen Hopkins Sisko]

06:18 PM on 01/06/2012

I too agree with others who feel that these two children are just "siblings". My twins are 34...and they shared the same womb. In those days is was truly a 'surprize' to have a muliple pregnancy. These days with all the Fertility hoopla the percentage has escalated. In my case...I had 4 children before my twins turned 6 years old. They were all close siblings, still are to this day.

[polymath2]

06:15 PM on 01/06/2012

This is the STUPIDEST thing I have ever read.
First of all, a woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have. Based on the statements made in this story - all children are twins. Just because you harvested some eggs on the same day, doesn't make them twins.
All the eggs that are in an ovary are stored there, therefore any child born at any time from that same "storage facility" would be a twin of any previous or subsequent child born of the same ovary.
They are not twins. They are SIBLINGS.
Haven't the people in this article ever heard that word before?

[Efer]

02:57 AM on 01/07/2012

:) yeah I lol'd pretty hard at this: "I think people are really, really surprised and it almost takes people a few minutes to get their heads around it".

[dempanne]

08:58 AM on 01/07/2012

This is an accurate and common sense approach to the story. I guess the media can hype anything it wants by manipulating language!

[debra57]

05:53 PM on 01/06/2012

1. Seriously people - news-worthy? I think NOT, an opinion shared by many before me.
2, They are NOT twins because according to the medical definition of twin(s) both babies, in order to be twins have to share the same uterine environment and BE BORN OF THE SAME PREGNANCY or BORN AT THE SAME BIRTH.
3. Her husband, Simon Blake, 45, told the paper they weren't sure conception would be possible the second time around, since Floren's embryo had been frozen for so long. This statement is totally out of context, as is HP's statement that Rueben's sister, Floren, was conceived from the same group of embryos, hers being one of the three that had been frozen for five years. AN EMBRYO is the result of CONCEPTION.
4. Her fertility treatment began in 2005. While all embryos were conceived at the same time, it doesn't indicate whether or not the father's sperm was from the same batch or many.

This story is totally absurd.

[miss barbie]

02:38 PM on 01/06/2012

these kids did not share the womb during the same pregnancy cycle, they are just siblings. however if it make the parents or kids feel special, let them call it what they like.

[cjairpro]

04:21 PM on 01/06/2012

Yes exactly, Or come up with a new word. theres nothing special about it. lame story

[abacuses]

09:18 AM on 01/07/2012

Nothing special? I find it pretty amazing. I don't consider them twins, but it is a nice story.

[f0t0o1]

02:33 PM on 01/06/2012

Yay! More non-news. Thanks HP for the drivel, or is it twaddle. I love both words and they are so appropriate for this. O, and falderal is a wonderful word which too is so applicable here.

[asantewa3]

11:12 AM on 01/06/2012

I thought I was crazy when I read this story. At first I was intrigued and then as I read further realized that this must happen all the time to women who use IVF as a way to get pregnant. What a ridiculous story.

[Whispermom]

10:41 AM on 01/06/2012

I do not understand why this is being called twins, or even news! Since the advent of IVF, other women have harvested and fertilized ova, then been implanted at different times. These are siblings, Mom needs to sit back and enjoy them just for themselves.

[dempanne]

09:02 AM on 01/07/2012

Yes! It's not news and there are probably other parents reading this who are saying "Wait a minute!! We have done the same thing (frozen embryos, etc) so our children are also twins?" In other words, this is manipulating news by manipulating the definitions of words (eg, "twins").