In a wonderful new chapter in their remarkable love story, the McKinnon family has instantly grown from three to five with the arrival of Violet John and Audrey Jill six minutes apart on Monday at Newcastle Private Hospital.

They are sisters for 2-year-old Harriett.

"They are all healthy and they are feeding well so it's all good," the former Newcastle Knights backrower, who was tragically left a quadriplegic following a tackle back in 2014, told the Newcastle Herald.

"You don't go into these type of things [extending the family] thinking you are going to get two but we are obviously very lucky.

"The birth was really good with Teigs - she was an absolute trooper - so it's more exciting than anything. Excited and relieved everything went so well."

McKinnon is hoping to have his whole family home by this weekend.

"They were born at 36 weeks so they'll just be monitored over the next five days and make sure they are feeding well and holding weight and hopefully, they'll be home on the weekend," he said.

McKinnon admitted there was a bit more stress involved this time than during Harriott's birth.

"For me, it was a different one because with our first, once Harriott was out, I was just kind of relieved but this time, that's sort of on hold because you know there is another one coming," he said. "And the second one is generally the more tricky one and there is a bit more stress there.

"It ended up being six minutes between births with Violet coming out first. Teigan held Violet and then Audrey came out. It was pretty amazing and like I said, Teigs was a real trooper.

"Harriett's just really excited about it all too."

Violet's middle name John is named after Alex's grand father while Audrey's middle name Jill is after Teigan's grandmother.

McKinnon is not too daunted by the prospect of looking after three girls under the age of three.

"There'll be a fair bit of help there from my mum and dad who are living down here now [from Aberdeen] and Teigan's mum will be down fairly regularly too," he said.

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