A 22-year-old woman who was told by doctors she would never get pregnant naturally has revealed her joy at being Britain’s youngest mother of identical quadruplets.
Charlene Medlicott was informed by physicians when she was 15 that she would never be able to have children. However, five years later, she overcame the twenty-five million to one odds by giving birth to quadruplets.
Charlene, 20, was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries as a teenager, a condition which restricts ovulation and dramatically reduces a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant.
The news that she and her partner Mark Connaughton were expecting a child startled them, but six weeks into the pregnancy, the news that the baby was quadruplets came as an even larger shock.
Mark, 26, said: “It was a big shock to the system! To find out you’re having one is enough a surprise, but four is very different.”
Remarkably, all four were conceived naturally, in a quadruplet pregnancy which is considered to be very rare and potentially very dangerous.
The little girls were born healthy, which is even more of a miracle that all survived, although doctors advised Charlene to abort the two babies to give the other two a better chance of survival. .
The couple, who have been engaged since 2010, are having their four stunning bridesmaids christened at St. Michael’s Church in Madeley, West Midlands.
On December 11, 2011, Evelynn Lillian Julie and her identical twin Rosaline Anita Mae were delivered prematurely in the same delivery as Gracie-Lou Anne and her identical twin Amalia-Rose Rachael.
They all spent several weeks in neo-natal care before their parents were allowed to take them home.
Charlene said: “We have learned to deal with them very well – they are all very well behaved babies.
“When they want something, they cry, but after they get it, they just go back to sleep. But there will always be someone who wants something.
“You can tell they will argue when they are older – they already have little tiffs to get more attention.”
