Search

22 Oct 2025

'You couldn't write it' - Chaos and joy as Offaly woman gives birth to twins in her kitchen

Sarah Dooley gave birth to twin boys five weeks earlier than expected in her own kitchen surrounded by family and paramedics.

'You couldn't write it' - Chaos and joy as Offaly woman gives birth to twins in her kitchen

'You couldn't write it' - Chaos and joy as Offaly woman gives birth to twins in her kitchen

A family in Offaly welcomed two new additions on Wednesday, November 13 as twin boys were delivered in their family's kitchen!

Sarah Dooley unexpectedly gave birth to twin boys Tommy and Tadgh on the floor of her kitchen surrounded by her partner Michael, her sister Theresa who is a nurse, her mother and five paramedics.

Speaking on The Ray D'Arcy show, Sarah and Michael said that both the boys are doing well despite being born 5 weeks early. Sarah wasn't due to give birth until 19 December and so it was a big shock when her waters broke on Sunday.

Sarah said that she knew that the babies were well and truly on their way and that she wouldn't make the 45 minute car journey to the hospital in Ballinasloe, and so she instructed her sister to call an ambulance. 

READ NEXT: 'Bizarre' - NCT tester shocked as they find odd creature hiding underneath car

Sarah joked that while the contractions were kicking in, her two-year-old son Jack was "going around on a tractor between my legs!" While Jack was preoccupied with his tractor, his 11-year-old brother James was "shell shocked."

Sarah laughed: "You couldn't write it!"

Sarah delivered two healthy baby boys, with Tadgh weighing 5 pounds and 2 ounces and Tommy weighing 4 pounds and 14 ounces.

Michael said that they were "blessed" that both boys were born healthy and without any complications despite being five weeks early and twins.

Both parents praised the paramedics for their support throughout the process, saying "they were fantastic."

It just so happened that one of the paramedics was also by Sarah's brother's side when he sadly passed away just last year.

Sarah's brother James died on 20 October last year at just 37-years-old from cancer. When she saw Aidan, the paramedic who was also there for James' passing, Sarah said it brought tears to her eyes to see him under such different circumstances, "with one leaving and two more coming."

She said that the whole family felt James' presence at the joyous scene, saying: "James sent these two twins to me."

Sarah praised Aidan for his kindness and amazing work, commending all the paramedics for being "wonderful."

Thankfully, after visiting the hospital after the delivery, Sarah said the boys are perfectly healthy and she is "flying it."

Now the proud parents of four boys, Sarah joked: "On for the girl now Michael!"

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!


Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.


Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.