TWO sisters beat the odds to give birth to their daughters on the same day despite being due weeks apart.

TWO sisters beat the odds to give birth to their daughters on the same day despite being due weeks apart.

Angela Payne and Kayleigh Crawford were due to have their baby girls nearly three weeks apart but the tots decided to make their appearance just 13 hours apart in the same hospital.

Their mum Jackie Hickman, 41, said it was 'amazing' to become a gran twice over on the same day after Angela, 24, had Isabella and Kayleigh, 21, had Lily last Thursday (NOV 12).

Mrs Hickman, who lives with husband Gary in Wivenhoe, said: "I got a phone call from Angela at quarter past midnight saying her waters had broken.

"Angela has a history of quick labours so I rushed over to the hospital and she gave birth to Isabella at 4.55am.

"The labour and delivery was quite normal but Isabella wasn't breathing and she had to be resuscitated.

"It was the longest ten minutes of my life."

She left the proud new mum and her partner Christopher at Colchester General Hospital and went home to get some sleep.

At about 7am she lay down for a snooze but just over an hour later she got another call - this time from daughter Kayleigh and husband Carl.

She said: "It was about 8am and I had barely got an hour's sleep because my adrenaline was still going and I got a call from Kayleigh.

"She had been taken into hospital two days before to be induced six days early because there was too much fluid around the baby.

"I jumped out of bed and rushed out in the same clothes I had on before.

"Lily arrived at 5.50pm. The birth was perfect."

Both girls arrived early with Lily due on November 16 and Isabella not due to make an appearance until December 3.

Isabella had to spend a few days in a special baby care unit but yesterday the new gran, who has five children of her own, was able to hold both tots together for the first time.

She said: "When I held them both in my arms it was just overwhelming.

"They are either going to be the best of friends or hate each other but it is pretty special."