A mother beat staggering odds of 200 million to one to give birth to naturally conceived identical triplets – doubling the size of her family overnight.
Shocked Katie Craw, 26, from Pentre Maelor, Wales, said she and partner Rob Ellis almost fainted when they were told their second child was actually three at their 12-week scan.
Usually triplets are non identical and are created when two eggs are fertilised and one goes on to grow into twins.
But Katie is one of just a handful of women in Britain to have identical triplets – known as monozygotic – where the fertilised egg splits into three after conception.
It makes miracle tots Tommy, Joshua and Eddie – born by emergency cesarean on February 9 – genetically identical.
Katie and Rob initially had to leave the tots’ hospital tags on in order to tell them apart.
Katie Craw, 26, from Pentre Maelor, Wales, staggering odds of 200million to one to give birth to naturally conceived identical triplets
artner Rob Ellis almost fainted when they were told their second child was actually three at their 12-week scan. Pictured are the identical triplet boys, Tommy, Joshua and Eddie
She said: ‘When I found out I was pregnant with three I thought “We can’t afford a big car or a bigger house.” It was a lot to take in.
‘But my nanna said to me things happen for a reason and these are the cards life has dealt you.
‘And now they’re here, I just feel like I’m in a bubble of happiness. They’re absolutely smashing.’
The couple already had a four-year-old son Jacob, born in 2015, and wanted him to be at school when they started trying for their second.
Luckily Katie got pregnant the second month of trying and they excitedly prepared to welcome a new baby brother or sister.
But Katie is one of just a handful of women in Britain to have identical triplets – known as monozygotic – where the fertilised egg splits into three after conception. She is pictured with partner Rob, the triplets, and their first son Jacob
The couple already had a four-year-old son Jacob, born in 2015, and wanted him to be at school when they started trying for their second. He is pictured with his younger brother’s scans
But going in for their 12-week scan at their local hospital, the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, they were about to get the shock of their lives.
Katie wasn’t as far along as she thought and was only actually at eight weeks’ gestation with not one but three babies.
Katie explained: ‘I’d started to fit into my old maternity clothes and was getting a bit of a podge so we thought I was a lot further along.
‘Within five seconds of the sonographer having the scanner on my tummy she asked me to take a deep breath in.
Katie got pregnant the second month of trying and they excitedly prepared to welcome a new baby brother or sister – but ended up with four little brothers. Jacob, Katie and the triplets are pictured
‘I thought she was going to tell me some bad news but she just came out with ‘I can see three heartbeats.’
‘I just knew she wasn’t joking. They kept saying to me you are taking this really well and I thought ‘I am not taking this really well!’
Katie added: ‘We were taken to a side room. I was crying and Rob was as white as a sheet.
The pregnancy went swimmingly, with Katie seeing her midwife weekly and being scanned every fortnight to make sure the little ones were developing properly. The triplets are pictured with Jacob
Miracle tots Tommy, Joshua and Eddie were born by emergency cesarean on February 9 – genetically identical
‘They said how rare it was but they didn’t know how rare at that point. They thought it was two eggs where one had split.
‘They told us about all the complications but they said you can still have three healthy babies.’
Two weeks later the couple returned for another scan where it was discovered that the babies each had their own sac of fluid.
Katie and Rob (pictured) were told there are often complications with triplet pregnancies, but the pregnancy went well. Rob is pictured with his four sons
The pregnancy went swimmingly, with Katie seeing her midwife weekly and being scanned every fortnight to make sure the little ones were developing properly.
But at 26 weeks, the consultants in Wrexham began to worry.
Tommy, who was the presenting triplet closest to the birth canal, looked like he wasn’t gaining weight.
Katie was given a steroid injection and booked in to see an expert in multiple births at Liverpool Womens’ Hospital 35 miles away.