Stephan Davis tries to get his mother, Marla, to do his homework for him while his siblings play outside. Stephan is part of the oldest pair of twins, and the only boy. mwm

Marla Davis has dinner with four of her six children. Davis gave birth to three sets of twins without the aid of fertility drugs. mwm

Two of the three pairs of Davis twins--Stephan, Lilly, Audrey (background) and Erica--watch a video in their Caroline County home. mwm

Chris Davis and Erica take a peek at one of the youngest twins, Julia, after Chris gets home from work. The family includes three sets of twins. mwm

Marla and Chris Davis of Caroline County have been blessed, doubly, in the baby department. They're parents to three sets of twins.

By CATHY DYSON

Date published: 4/10/2005

When Marla Davis talks about her unusual family, she likes to mention how blessed she is.

Her children started sleeping through the night early on, and they've always done well on road trips. They're not picky eaters, for the most part.

"All my babies have been good," said the Caroline County mom. "I guess that's been my blessing for having so many at once."

As good fortune goes in the baby department, the 32-year-old mother has been doubly blessed, again and again.

She and her husband, Chris, have three sets of twins.

Read that again if you need to. It's not a misprint.

The Davises have five girls and one boy, all fraternal, all age 6 and under, all living in a three-bedroom house in Lake Land'Or.

Twins don't run on either side of the family, and none of the factors said to increase the odds of having multiples apply.

Marla isn't over 45, hasn't taken fertility drugs and doesn't live in Massachusetts or Connecticut, states that lead the nation in the rate of twin births.

She's merely--you guessed it--blessed with a body that produces more eggs than average.

"I apparently was made to have litters," she said, smiling.

A sense of humor comes in handy when you're changing 24 diapers a day, as the Davises were doing after the second set came along.

That was in August 2000, and Marla thought she was going to die.

Not really, but she was expecting a disaster.

She'd been so happy with her first pregnancy, when an ultrasound showed two beating hearts.

Chris picked her up and twirled her around. The couple was even more excited than when they first found out they would be parents.

Marla didn't have any problems with the pregnancy. Babies Lilly and Stephan were born in July 1998, and weighed more than 12 pounds, combined.

Marla managed to nurse them for almost a year. Chris got a better-paying job, with a company that cleans up hazardous waste such as oil spills.

When Marla got pregnant a second time, Chris started joking that an ultrasound would show the same results as before.

She didn't think it was funny. There's no way, she told herself. That would be like lightning striking twice.

Well, here's a jolt about bolts.

Date published: 4/10/2005