A woman who was born with two wombs was shocked when she gave birth to twins with different skin colours. Jade Buckingham, 25, welcomed twins, Lanaé and Lavell, now four, in 2018 with "totally different" skin tones and doctors have no explanation as to why.
The twins - who formed from two separate eggs - grew independently in Jade's wombs and had their own umbilical cords and sacs. In February 2014, when Jade was 17, she suffered four miscarriages that required her to have a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure which clears the uterine lining after a miscarriage.
It was during the procedure that medics detected Jade had a vaginal septum - a partition that divides the vagina into two parts - which they believe she was born with. Doctors at Nottingham University Hospital, Nottinghamshire, said that the condition may have been a contributing factor to the miscarriages that Jade had experienced and told her that she might not be able to have children.
Jade, a carer, from Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, said: "I was distraught because I'd always wanted to be a mum. My own mum, Sheena, 42, said she'd be my surrogate if I needed, which was a lovely gesture, but I wanted to experience pregnancy.
''When I fell pregnant with the twins I was over the moon - but it was scary that they were both in different wombs. As newborns, they looked similar, but after a few months their different skin tone and features began to show through."
After a rocky start to motherhood and faced with the prospect it might never happen for her, Jade found she was pregnant just one year after the miscarriage. She welcomed her oldest son, Cairo, six, in February 2016, with her partner at the time. The following year in September 2017, Jade found out she was expecting twins.
Jade said: "I was, of course, over the moon because I was loving being a mum to Cairo. I'd always worried it might not happen for me and then to have him alive and well, it was everything I'd ever wanted.
''Due to my two wombs I had scans every two weeks to monitor the twins' development. It was at the first-trimester appointment at 12 weeks that I found out that the twins were growing in separate uteruses, meaning that they had formed from different eggs.
"I was quite worried at the time because of my condition and the previous miscarriages I'd gone through. The doctors said that I should treat my pregnancy the same as when I carried my son, which was a relief, and I appreciated the regular scans."
At 22 weeks Jade got the devastating news that one of the twins - her daughter Lanaé - had stopped growing.
She said: "The doctors said we had two choices, either I deliver both at 22 weeks but they might not survive or I carry on and my daughter might not survive. It was a horrible predicament to be in, but I knew I had to keep on going. I decided to carry on with the pregnancy and hoped both would be OK, it was such an anxious time.''
At 34 weeks, on April 29, 2018, Jade was rushed into hospital for an emergency c-section because she'd gone into early labour. After an hour in surgery, Lanaé was born at 4.44pm weighing 3lbs 10oz and Lavell at 4.45pm weighing 5lbs 2oz.
Single mum Jade said: "I was so relieved when they were both born and safe with me. Lanaé was born feet first and Lavell was born head first, from that moment I knew that they were going to be polar opposites, which they definitely are now.''
When the twins were first born their distinctive skin tones didn't immediately show, however as the months went on, Jade noticed the differences.
"When Lanaé's hair started to grow, I noticed that she had lovely dark curls and Lavell had blonde hair and a lighter skin tone," she said. "Sometimes when we're out and people ask about them, they don't believe that they're twins and sometimes I show them a picture of when they were born.''
With the ''happy and healthy'' twins now four, Jade said: "Lanaé is like a little doll and she's so lady-like, whereas Lavell is so boisterous with bags of energy. They have such a love-hate brother-sister relationship, but I wouldn't have them any other way."
