At a party in 2010, Northampton resident Hannah Donaghue, now 29, and Royal Mail manager Ben Fagan, now 30, struck up a friendship. The outcome of their night together led in Hannah being pregnant for the third time, this time with three children. Neither was ready for what was to come.
However, even though they had only been dating for a short time when they learned she was expecting, they both agreed they were prepared to give their relationship and parenting a try. At 10 weeks, a doctor offered to terminate one of the triplets to give the other two a better chance of survival, but the couple refused.
At 32 weeks in October, the couple underwent a cesarean operation to deliver their adorable trio. Ben also has a daughter, Isla, from a prior connection, thus they currently make up a family of seven, including Hannah’s two daughters from a previous union. This is not the first time Hannah has gotten pregnant while using birth control, despite the shock of having triplets.
Hannah, a postpartum nurse for the Royal Mail who is currently on maternity leave, said: “The first time I became pregnant while taking the Pill, I thought I was simply one in one hundred unfortunate ladies. I’m not ready to start a family because I’m only 18 and live with my partner in a one-bedroom apartment.
But as soon as our now 10-year-old daughter Megan was born, I became a mother. My doctor altered my prescription, and I made sure to take it every day at the same time after that. However, two months later, I experienced a familiar throbbing pain and realized I had missed my period. Surely, this won’t happen again, right?
Thankfully, my mom was incredibly supportive and I was soon back in the labor room, where I gave birth to another baby girl, Charlie, now 8 years old. Not wanting to take any more risks, Hannah turned to the implant. But eight years later, she started having problems with it and went back to taking medication.
She said: ‘I broke up with my boyfriend at this point and didn’t want to meet anyone new.
Then Ben and I met and that night we went home together. After a few weeks I felt my body differently and went to the hospital to get checked. I lay on the table and the sonographer ran the scanner over my abdomen. “There was a heartbeat,” she said. “And the second one.”
I think I misheard her. How can there be two children in it? And there’s the third one,” she added.
Each of the three infants has its own placenta and amniotic sac and is identical to the others. She can therefore become pregnant while using the pill, and her body can also produce three eggs simultaneously. The physicians recommended a reduction at the 10-week ultrasound, but the couple didn’t even need to talk about it. They were all present.
At week 16, we found out we had two girls and a boy. Hannah’s pregnancy went smoothly until week 28, when the trio’s movements began to taper off. Doctors gave her steroids to help develop her lungs in case she had to give birth prematurely. She managed to hold out until she was 32 weeks pregnant and then doctors gave birth to sisters Ella Rose, Kasey and brother Lester. She said: ‘They are very small but they are very strong and we were allowed to take them home after 18 days.
Our family has more than doubled as a result of the triplets, and we are looking to downsize to a four-bedroom home as our current seven-person household cannot fit comfortably. However, we can be grateful for five small miracles because they were obviously meant to be.
