Defying the odds, mother gives birth to third set of twins

A Scottish woman has defied odds of 500,000 to one by giving birth to twins for the third time.

Karen Rodger, 41, welcomed her first pair of girls (Rowan and Isla) after having twice given birth to twin boys.

"I still haven't really taken it on board because I was convinced I was having two boys," Rodger told Sky News.

Karen says her husband Colin was equally stunned when the pair learned they were going to have their fifth and sixth child.

"He thought I was joking and immediately wrote back to say 'this is not funny'. I had to explain that it really was true," Karen said.

The average couple has about a 3 percent chance of having twins when not accounting for fertility drugs. And with each subsequent pregnancy, the odds of producing twins a second, or even third time, become exponentially less likely.

Karen, a dance lecturer, first learned of the incredibly rare occurrence during a visit to her doctor and immediately texted her husband to share the news.

"I just could not believe it. It never crossed my mind that it would be twins again, I just thought that just doesn't happen to people like me but I'm absolutely delighted," she said.

It had been several years since the pair’s last children were born. Their oldest twins are 14 and the second set was born just two years later.

"I turned 40 and I thought, if I’m going to do it, I should do it now," Karen said. "I spoke to my husband and we both thought we’d quite like another one so that was it and, one month later, I was pregnant."

Colin says the age and gender difference will ensure a sweat-inducing dilemma for any future mail suitors of the twin girls.

"I think the girls are going to have five dads with the boys looking out for them too and it will be a frightening gauntlet for any boyfriend to run," he joked.