When Karen Gilbert learned she was pregnant with extremely rare identical triplets, she was stunned and delighted But, she said, doctors took a different view of her one-in-200million pregnancy and twice gave her an option to terminate it. They feared the three foetuses could take each other’s fluid and space and might not survive.
Later in the pregnancy she was told she could choose to keep only one or two of them. But Mrs Gilbert and her husband Ian were determined to have their three little girls. Now Ffion, Madison and Paige – who were born two months early on August 2 – have come home from hospital Mrs Gilbert, 32, said: ‘The pregnancy has taken its toll but now I’m taking my time to recover and get to know my three beautiful girls.
The doctors thought it could be up to three months before we could bring them home so we feel privileged to have them here with us Mr Gilbert, a 34-year-old business manager, said: ‘We couldn’t consider termination they were our babies. They were scanned every week to make sure they were growing fine.
Identical triplets occur when one egg splits in three, a one in 200million chance without IVF say experts. The couple from Pontypool, Wales, also have an older daughter Faye, aged three But medical professionals feared the rare birth and lack of space inside the womb could see the babies killing one another potentially killing one another.
They were concerned about twin to twin syndrome, when the babies take each other’s fluid or space and starve or cramp each other,’ revealed their father Because they are identical, they all share the same placenta and the same fluid They all grew and fought so quickly it was practically ripping Karen’s muscles apart But we couldn’t consider termination they were our babies. We were scanned every week to make sure they were growing fine At the last scan at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny Karen was in very serious pain. The doctors gave her pain killers but she started having contractions.
Karen gave birth at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, but we got transferred back for the ante natal care Admin assistant Karen, 32, who gave birth by caesarian section two months early, said the experience had been ‘crazy’ but added that she was looking forward to getting to know her newborn daughters It’s been crazy,’ said Karen, who has another daughter named Faye, three. ‘I still feel like someone’s going to tell me I’ve had my time with them now and take them away.
We got married, went on honeymoon to New York, and came back to find out we were expecting. At first we thought it was one, but at eight weeks I got some really bad pains. We thought it was a miscarriage but it turns out it was three babies fighting for space The pregnancy has taken its toll but now I’m taking my time to recover and get to know my three beautiful girls Their personalities are already starting to shine through and I can’t wait to get to know them better.
Now eight weeks old, the three girls are still tiny and weigh just six pounds – smaller than the average newborn At first they didn’t look real and you could pick them up with one hand,’ said business manager father Ian, 34, who added: ‘It was a bit of a shock Now we’ve got them home we are coming to terms with it. They are starting to feel like our own. We had a few scares during the pregnancy, especially when Karen fell top to bottom down the stairs.
Our three-year-old daughter Faye was in bed and I was at work. I came home to find Karen unconscious on the floor. I was petrified. I still can’t believe we made it throughWe were worried the hospital wouldn’t have enough beds and we’d have to split them up. It would have been horrible,’ added Karen There was also the worry that one would be ready to come home before the others. Luckily, we managed to keep them together.
Source:dailymail