I gave birth to two beautiful miracle babies just months apart — but they aren’t twins

Talk about early to the party.

Karen Patterson, 36, and partner Lee Green, 37, are the proud parents of two healthy boys — both of whom arrived in rather dramatic fashion.

Hailing from Norwich, England, the couple were “over the moon” to learn that Karen was pregnant with their first child in October 2021. The duo had been together for four years, but had only been trying for a baby for two months.

At their 20-week scan at Norwich and Norfolk Hospital, they were thrilled to hear they would be having a boy in about another 20 weeks.

But just seven weeks later, Patterson noticed something was wrong.

“I noticed that I had a lot of discharge when I went to the toilet, so me and Lee thought it best to get checked out,” she told SWNS.

The couple rushed to the hospital, where they were given frightening news.

“After an eye-watering internal examination, the doctors told me that my water had broken,” Patterson recounted. “I was terrified because I knew this meant something was wrong.”

At just 27 weeks and two days pregnant, Patterson gave birth to Hunter Green on March 7, 2022.

The premature baby weighed just two pounds. The little family spent the next three months together in the hospital’s NICU as Hunter bravely battled sepsis, meningitis and chronic lung disease.

“It was the hardest time of my life,” Patterson said. “He had lumbar punctures, six blood transfusions and needed an oxygen mask for six weeks.”

But after weeks by his bedside, the couple were finally allowed to hold their son.

“I was finally able to hold him for the first time in 18 days, and I couldn’t even describe how that felt,” Patterson said.

Just five months after taking a healthy Hunter home on May 8, 2022, the new mother was “shocked” to discover that she was pregnant for the second time.

“We couldn’t believe I was pregnant so soon after Hunter as we hadn’t been trying, but we were really excited,” Patterson shared.

Green became so excited about his rapidly expanding family that he proposed to Patterson ten weeks into her second pregnancy.

“It was magical,” Patterson said.

Mom Karen was heavily monitored throughout her second pregnancy and told that everything was going “perfectly” during the first few weeks.

“It was tiring looking after a six-month-old while making sure my baby was healthy. But Lee and both our parents were the best support that I could have ever asked for,” she said.

“Knowing everything was going well with my pregnancy made it easier.”

But three months before her due date, Patterson began experiencing “sharp” stomach pains and checked herself into the hospital when she learned she was going into labor.

“I couldn’t believe that this was happening again,” she said.

Patterson was “devastated” to give birth to Jesse at 29 weeks on January 21, 2023.

After weighing in at just 3lbs, Jesse was taken to NICU where medics revealed he had a lower blockage in his bowels and would need an ileostomy bag.

“His blockage was causing him to throw up poo out of his mouth and nose,” the mother shared.

“It was heartbreaking and I desperately wanted to make everything better for him.”

The infant spent several months in the hospital fighting for his independence and was finally able to be brought home after 123 days.

“Hunter met his brother on his first birthday, six weeks after Jesse was born, and he’s been obsessed with him since,” Patterson said.

Fortunately, both babies, now aged one and 22 months, are healthy, “cheeky” boys who love to laugh and are practicing to walk their mother down the aisle this summer.

Along with raising her offspring and wedding planning, Patterson is training to run a half-marathon to raise money for Norwich and Norfolk Hospital.

“[The boys] are so close, and I am so excited for them to walk me down the aisle in June 2024,” the bride-to-be shared.

”I know I’m the luckiest mom to have such little champs.”