Colin Rodger thought his
pregnant wife was joking.
She just had to be pulling his
leg.
Already the mum of two sets
of twins, she went for the first
scan of her third pregnancy
and sent him the result in a
text: “There’s two!”
Says Colin: “I thought she
was having the biggest wind-
up she’d ever done.”
But it was true.
Colin and Karen Rodger had
defied odds of half a million-
to-one to become the parents
of three sets of non-identical
twins, all conceived naturally.
There are two sets of boys:
Lewis and Kyle, 14, plus Finn
and Jude, 12.
And now there are two five-
months-old girls: Isla and
Rowan.
Hanging up on their kitchen
wall is a plaque that says “We
are a normal family”.
But that’s not how the world
reacts. Now they can’t go
anywhere without people
stopping them in the street.
“Some people’s reactions are
hilarious,” says Karen, 42.
“Sometimes I think they’re
going to pass out.” sky updates news report said It’s no wonder the couple
need a nine-seater VW
Transporter to get around.
“A shopping trip is a task in
itself,” says Colin, 44. “It can
take us up to four hours to
get out of the house.”
Family life is run with military
precision. Karen plans meals
a month in advance and
organises a shower rota. A
giant planner in the kitchen
helps keep track of where
everyone is supposed to be.
And in a further attempt to
keep the chaos under control,
each boy has been assigned
a colour.
“Kyle’s green, Lewis is blue,
Finn is yellow and Jude is
red,” says Colin. Their towels,
toothbrushes and dressing
gowns all match their colour.
“It’s more for us than them,
to be quite honest,” he
admits. “When we found a
towel on the bathroom floor
we’d have no idea whose it
was. So now if there’s a
green towel I know who to go
to straight away. There’s
method in the madness.”
It is certainly not the family
life either parent envisaged
when they married 16 years
ago.
They were delighted to have
twins 15 months later and
when Lewis and Kyle were
just over a year old they
decided to try for another
baby to avoid a big age gap.
“We didn’t want the youngest
child to feel left out,” Karen
explains.
She quickly became pregnant
and couldn’t believe it when
the scan showed another set
of twins. “We had the same
sonographer as in my first
pregnancy and she was
gobsmacked as well,” says
Karen. “I started to laugh and
I think Colin nearly passed
out.”
Finn and Jude arrived in May
2001 and because Colin’s job
as an events manager often
takes him away from home in
Bearsden, East
Dumbartonshire, they hired a
nanny to help cope with four
children under two.
“She was an absolute
blessing to us,” says Karen.
“She was called Karen too so
we had Mummy Karen and
Nanny Karen.”
At that point the family’s
Vauxhall Corsa was traded up
for a seven-seater Safira.
“As well as the kids I had to
fit two double prams in the
boot,” says Karen. “I worried
where all the shopping would
go.”
When the youngest boys went
to nursery, Karen went back
to work as a dance lecturer at
Stow College in Glasgow.
The couple thought their
family was complete but
nearly a decade later Karen
had a change of heart.
“When I turned 40 I thought,
‘I don’t feel finished,’?” she
explains. Colin wasn’t so
keen at first. “He was worried
we’d have another set of
twins and I told him not to be
silly,” Karen adds. “There was
no way that was going to
happen...”
She worried she might not be
able to have more children at
her age but just a month later
she was pregnant.
Then, a few weeks in, she
feared she was miscarrying
and raced into hospital to
have a scan.
“Colin had a big meeting at
work so I told him not to
come because he had lots of
people relying on him,” she
recalls. “Everything was fine
but there was a big surprise
in store. When the girl said
there were two sacs, I was
speechless.”
Once Colin understood that
Karen was not joking, neither
of them wanted to break the
news to their four boys.
“We just didn’t know how
they would react,” says Karen.
“Colin lost the battle and he
had to do it.” In fact the boys
all had different reactions.
Colin reveals: “Kyle was
gobsmacked and started
laughing. Lewis said, ‘Oh my
God, I can’t believe you two
have had sex. All my friends
are going to know you’ve had
sex’. Kyle suddenly stopped
laughing and asked if he was
ever going to get his own
room.
“Finn was over the moon and
Jude said he was happy
because it meant he’d no
longer be the baby of the
family.”
As Karen’s pregnancy went
on, doctors remained baffled
by the coincidence.
Colin says: “The only
examples that they could give
us were a tribe in Africa who
produce lots of twins. They
eat yams that are very high in
oestrogen and it’s unusual
for them to have single
children.”
Medics now think Karen has
“sticky” eggs that clump
together so more than one is
released at a time. This
increases the chance of
having non-identical twins,
which happens when two
separate eggs are fertilised. Rowan and Isla were born by
caesarean section in May at
Glasgow’s Southern General
Hospital. As with their first
two pregnancies, Karen and
Colin didn’t want to know
their sex in advance.
“When the doctor pulled out
the first one I thought there
was something wrong,”
recalls Colin. “It took me
about 15 seconds to realise it
was because it was a girl. I
was delighted for Karen
because, although she
wouldn’t admit it, she really
wanted girls.”
Now the boys have now taken
to calling their mum “The
Ark”. Karen explains: “I asked
them why and they said
because the animals went in
two by two!”
Now she’s amazed at how
much her sons have matured
since their little sisters
arrived. There’s no nanny this
time and the boys often help
to change nappies.
Colin says: “There’s definitely
a team approach. Somebody
joked the other day that they
have turned into mini-dads
and that’s what they’ve
become.
“As long as we follow
routines it’s great. I get up in
the morning and do a bit of
ironing before getting the kids
up. That’s to let Karen sleep
and it’s also so we don’t end
up with a huge mountain of
washing.”
The eldest boys sometimes
take it in turns to swap beds
with Colin to give Karen and
the babies a better night’s
sleep.
“Dad’s snoring keeps them
awake,” explains young Lewis.
“Me or Kyle will go and sleep
with them. They’ve quietened
down now so they don’t cry
as much.”
Karen says that despite all the
practical difficulties, she feels
blessed to have had her three
sets of twins.
“I think they have just slotted
into our mad chaotic life quite
well,” she says. “They are an
absolute joy to have in the
house. They’re great little
bundles of joy. I couldn’t
imagine our lives without
them.”
But they are both adamant
they will not be having any
more children.
“No more, we’re done,” says
Karen. “We’ve tied a big pink
bow on it!”
...by sky updates
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