Mandy Allwood was expected to give birth within 24 hours to her second child since octuplets she was carrying died, her publicist said yesterday.

Ms Allwood, 33, was admitted to hospital yesterday while celebrating the first birthday of her baby daughter, Color.

Her partner Paul Hudson, 39, drove her 120 miles from their home in Solihull, West Midlands, to London's King's College Hospital, according to publicist Kizzi Nkwocha.

They had been at home with their daughter and friends when the contractions started, he said.

Mr Nkwocha said the couple did not know the sex of their unborn baby.

They decided to have the baby at King's College Hospital because they built up a close relationship with staff there after losing all eight babies two years ago.

Mr Nkwocha said: ''She knows the hospital staff and they know her needs. They are the best in the business.''

Ms Allwood's bid to become a multiple mother ended after she refused to abort some of the foetuses to give those remaining a better chance of survival and lost all eight at 20 weeks.

Meanwhile, a woman has given birth to twins - just eight months after having a first set.

Mrs Tracey McKeown, 28, only discovered she was pregnant again 72 hours before the births after going to her doctor complaining of stomach and back pains.

Mrs McKeown, of Viewpark, Uddingston, gave birth to a boy and girl - weighing 1lb 14oz and 1lb 9ozs respectively - four months prematurely on Christmas Eve.

The infants are now in a special baby unit at Bellshill maternity hospital where they are likely to remain for some time.

Mrs McKeown and husband Dennis, 30, a bakery worker, already have twins Ryan and Denise as well as a son Mark, 10.

The first twins were also born prematurely - three months early - when they arrived in April.

The new babies have been named Nathalie and Daniel.

qVolunteer twins are wanted to help in a study of the effects of alcohol on brittle-bone disease in women.

Researchers at the St Thomas' Hospital, London, believe that their work can provide better advice to women on drinking.

It is already known that excessive drinking is a major cause of the brittle-bone disorder, osteoporosis, in men. Now it is thought that moderate drinking may, however, confer benefits, as is the case in heart disease.

The St Thomas' study aims to test this assertion in a project involving some 1500 pairs of identical women twins.

From this group the research team hopes to select around 150 pairs to aid their work.

Project director Dr Tim Spector explained that generally twins have similar drinking habits due to genetic, social, and environmental factors.

He added: ''We need more volunteers as ideally we are looking for twins where one is a non-drinker and the other is a moderate drinker . . . which is unusual.

''Using twins is a novel way of exploring the effects of drinking that avoids confusion from other social and lifestyle effects.''

Adult twin volunteers - identical or non-identical - are asked to contact the twins' hotline on 0990 770099.

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