Besotted mum and dad Ali O’Leary and Chris Deasy cradle their tots after fate — and a very special date — brought them three bundles of joy.
The 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 triplets, just home from the hospital, were born eight weeks ago.
Their arrival lifted the 𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚗 of losing a child when Ali suffered a 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚐𝚎 at the end of last November. The child would have been due on August 2.
The triplets were originally on October 3. But they were born 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎ly – on August 2.
Super-cute Lenny, Ted, and Bruce are brothers for delighted four-year-old Georgia, who is pictured cuddling them.
And thrilled Ali, 32 said: “When I realised they had been born on the same day that the baby I lost was due, it was so emotional for us.
“I was initially upset that the triplets had been born early because they were so tiny and I blamed my body for not being able to hold on to them for longer.
“But then I realised that it was meant to be. We see them as a gift from heaven – and they are our three little miracles.
“It feels as though our previous baby was looking after them.”
Ali’s incredible story of hope, misery, and eventually unbridled delight began when she became pregnant late last year. Unfortunately, she miscarried while she was only five weeks pregnant.
Her hopes of starting a family were dashed… but only for a short time, as she became pregnant again in January.
Ali, from Dublin, admits she never imagined she would 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚒𝚟𝚎 so soon afterward. “It was a total surprise,” she says.
“We never expected it at all. I just did a pregnancy test because I felt unwell and I was getting pregnancy-like symptoms.
“I never imagined that I could have been pregnant so quickly afterward, but when I saw that it was positive it was such a 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚌𝚔.
“We went for an early scan at about seven weeks because I was so worried after the 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚐𝚎.
“I wanted some reassurance to check that the baby had a heartbeat.
“It was such a 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚌𝚔 at the time because doctors said they could see two heartbeats and told us we were having twins. My sister has twins, so I just laughed and said it ran in the family.”
Then came the next twist in this incredible tale. Ali was surprised to learn that there were three heartbeats when she returned for her 12-week checkup on March 15.
‘I couldn’t believe it,’ she explains. “The sonographer continued looking at the screen while running the scanner over my tummy.” Then they showed me that it was triplets, and there were three heartbeats fluttering on the screen, which confirmed it. Chris couldn’t say anything. I was just concerned about the size of my baby belly!
“The doctors said that two of the triplets were sharing one amniotic sac and they hadn’t been able to see that when I’d had the early scan at seven weeks.
“They had been able to see one of the heartbeats, but the other one was behind it, so they thought I was only pregnant with twins. But at the 12-week scan, the babies were bigger, so they could see all three of them.
“It was a 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚌𝚔 to go from thinking I was pregnant with twins, to being pregnant with triplets.
“I just wanted them to be born healthy – that was the most important thing after 𝚜𝚞ff𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 the previous loss. I wanted them to survive.”
Proud dad Chris said: “It was such a 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚌𝚔 when we found out Ali was expecting triplets – but we were overjoyed.
“For them, all to have been born on that same due date as the previous baby was due, is really remarkable.”
Ali was scanned every fortnight because the pregnancy was deemed high 𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚔.
“The doctors wanted me to try to hang on to them as long as possible because they were 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎.
“But I went into 𝚕𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚛 two days later so the doctors had to deliver the babies by 𝙲𝚊𝚎𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚗, on August 2.”
Ali was upset that they were nine weeks 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 and so very tiny at 3lb 9oz, 4lb, and 3lb 4oz.
She had 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎ly wanted to carry them for longer. Then she realized the significance of the date. Her little fellas really had been born on the same due date as the baby she had lost.
Ali says: “It was such a coincidence. We couldn’t believe it.
“The first baby had been due on August 2 and now the triplets had arrived on that date instead. I had felt so upset when I went into 𝚕𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚛 early.
“I felt as though I’d let the babies down and that my body hadn’t been able to cope with staying pregnant.
“But when I looked at the date and saw it was August 2 it made me feel much better.
“I knew that now there was a reason they had been born so early. It really was a gift sent down from heaven – and a triple one too.”
