The chances of giving birth to twins increased by 72 percent between 1980 and 2018, but twins are still quite rare. About 33 out of every 1,000 births result in twins. What about identical twins? Approximately 3 or 4 out of every 1,000 births are identical twins, which is also quite rare. When 23-year-old Savannah Combs found out she was expecting twins, she was overjoyed. Then she learned something even rarer—both babies had Down syndrome. The news was emotional. Savannah and her husband, Justin Ackerman, knew some people might judge them because of their daughters’ condition.

But to Savannah, that made her daughters even more precious. “It’s very rare what they have, but they’ve been my little gems,” she told News4JAX. Savannah, from Middleburg, Florida, shares her journey with her daughters, Kennadi Rue and Mckenli Ackerman, on TikTok, where they quickly gained many followers. In one video, Savannah revealed she was advised to terminate the pregnancy because the babies might not survive. She chose to keep them and give them a chance. “Every prenatal appointment where they were alive was a blessing to me,” Savannah said.

When she found out both girls had Down syndrome, her husband was away at boot camp. Savannah was 29 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to the hospital and gave birth to her daughters. The identical twins, Kennadi Rue and Mckenli Ackerman, were born on May 12, 2021. The twins arrived two months early and spent several weeks in the NICU before coming home. “They’re called mono-di twins, which means they had their own sacs but shared the same placenta, so they are identical,” she explained.