After experiencing difficulties conceiving, Charlotte Parker and her husband Billy gave up on having children. They later discovered that because of their low egg count, reproductive medication was ineffective. Charlotte defied the advice of the physicians by getting pregnant and giving birth to her 7-kg son Lewis on September 6 of last year once they began considering egg donors. She then discovered she was pregnant once more, this time with three children, two months later. On August 4, three premature babies, Adam, Jamie, and Ella, each weighing 3 pounds and 8 ounces, were delivered.
All were kept in the neonatal unit of the hospital for more than a month. But Charlotte, 32, and Billy, 29 now have their magical cubs at home in Crawley, West Sussex.
Legal secretary Charlotte said: “It’s strange to think back to when we thought having children was impossible. Having four kids is crazy. There’s a lot of feeds with 26 bottles in 24 hours and then changing – that definitely makes the day go by quickly.”
When the initial tests revealed Charlotte would never be a mother, she was heartbroken. The specialist informed me that your egg count is really low, she remarked. IVF won’t work because it is so low. It’s vicious. It is as though our future plans have been stolen. It had no use whatsoever, so I promptly stopped taking it. I visited fertility clinics’ open days throughout the ensuing months to ask advice. I’ve been told by everyone that I have a poor egg count and that I won’t be able to conceive naturally.
But Charlotte and Billy were delighted when first Lewis and then the trio arrived to prove the experts wrong. The triplets were delivered by caesarean section at 32 weeks at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey.
Charlotte said: ‘Doctors say that a triplets is unlikely to be full term so I’m very pleased. They look tiny, like little dolls, but I immediately attached.”
Lewis is not at all perplexed despite being a little too young to completely comprehend that he has three new siblings. He enjoys approaching them, perusing their baskets, and speaking. The fact that we are all here as a family is amazing. We feel really blessed to have four happy and healthy children, and we are extremely delighted that we are all at home.
