Oz lesbian couple beat odds of 1 in 60m by conceiving quintuplets

LONDON - Two Australian women, who are living together, have expressed their joy at finding that they are expecting quintuplets beating the odds of one in sixty million.

Melissa Keevers, 27, and her partner Rosemary Nolan, 21, who already share a child born to Keevers through donor insemination, were stunned when they came to know that they were having five babies.

“I was in shock for weeks,” the Daily Mail quoted Keevers as telling Australia’s Woman’s Day magazine.

“It took me a long time to get my head around what was happening. But now I’ve come to terms with it, I’m excited,” she said.

While conceiving quintuplets is rare, Keevers’ babies are even more remarkable because she had no treatment to increase her fertility.

The two women, who live in Brisbane, decided to use the same U.S. company and the same donor who fathered their daughter, Lilly, now aged one.

They had been given 30 donor profiles to choose from and in the end they narrowed the person down to a 27-year-old dark-haired law student with good teeth and eyesight and a high IQ, although his identity remains a secret.

Nolan, who is from Ireland, had left home in 2008 and was travelling around Australia when she met Keevers and settled down with her.

The two women admit it is difficult to comprehend having to cope with five new additions to their family and at first they were also worried about the associated health risks.

Each baby, however, is above average size for multiple births with strong heartbeats, resulting in doctors agreeing the odds are in their favour.

The couple, who say the babies will born in a few short months, are contemplating the time when they will be going through about 70 nappies a day - and they’re planning to import a specially-made six-seater pram from America.

“People don’t know whether to congratulate us or commiserate. But we think it’s a miracle and couldn’t be happier,” Nolan added. (ANI)