Like all best friends, Mandy Rogers and Nicky Ogle have many things in common including giving birth on the same day in the same ward at Princess Margaret Hospital.

They have both endured the pain and grief of a miscarriage, they share the same rare blood group, and are currently enrolled on the same NVQ beauty therapy course at North Star College.

So one might consider it to be a natural progression when the two women became pregnant at the same time.

Mandy, 35, of Gorse Hill, is married to Paul, 32, the ex-ABA national heavyweight boxing champion.

She said: "Nicky and I hadn't both been planning to get pregnant, it just happened that way. We have both been through the pain and hurt of losing babies, we went through our pregnancies together, and we can now share in each other's joy."

The two babies Molly Rogers and Louis Ogle were born on May 16 and are full of beans.

Molly spends her time crawling around the floor and has started to pull herself up on the furniture. Louis, meanwhile, is content to lie on his back kicking his legs up and down.

Molly has no teeth yet. Louis has eight.

Nicky, 33, of Wootton Bassett, said: "They see each other about once a week and as far as you can tell with babies this age, they get on very well.

"They are always reaching out and touching each other and giving little cuddles."

Mandy and Paul had been undecided about having another baby, after Mandy nearly died last year following an ectopic pregnancy. She was seven weeks pregnant when she underwent emergency surgery, and lost the baby.

Nicky and husband Mike, 38, have also had their share of heartache with Nicky having two miscarriages before the birth of Morgan, now three.

Little Molly also has an older sister, Hannah, who is a few months older than Morgan. She affectionately refers to her baby sister as "Moo Moo".

Both mums say the older siblings have been fantastic with the new additions. Hannah loves to play and read to her little sister, while Morgan often attempts to join Louis in his cot.

The friends, who met through The Globe pub in Eastcott, plan to travel to Portugal for a summer holiday next year. It will be the first time abroad for Molly and Louis.

Nicky said: "We all get on very well together. Our husbands met each other at the pub and we sort of met the same way. It's great that Morgan and Hannah get on and now the babies are the same age. They always have a playmate."

The two women work part-time Nicky at Unimill Engineering, and Mandy at Npower gas but still manage to find time to attend college.

Mandy said: "It's a three year beauty therapy course and we have completed half of it. By this summer we hope to have reached level two."

And Nicky should have no problems since she practises her techniques on her husband.

She said: "I have a home salon and have been doing sugaring hair removal for about six years. Mike's been sugared before.

"And when I've done facials on him, he gets little bits of cotton wool stuck in his goatee."