Oh, baby! Diary of a dad with triplets, aged 34 ¼

Alex Lewis, 34, is a father to triplet daughters and a son. Here, he reveals his family’s hectic life…

For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be a dad Thankfully, when I married my wife, Charlotte, in 2011 she wanted a family, too.

But it wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be, and it took years to conceive our amazing son, Henry, now three.

But the moment he arrived in August 2013, my life changed for ever. It was a feeling like no other, and I couldn’t believe he was mine. I spent every possible moment with Henry, telling him stories, going for walks and, as he grew up, going swimming and playing football together – he was my idol.

It wasn’t long before Charlotte and I wanted a brother or sister for Henry, and we tried – and tried.

Eventually, we made the difficult decision to spend our £8,000 savings on fertility treatment… and, remarkably, it worked! We hadn’t anticipated it working quite so well, though. At an early seven-week scan in October 2016, we were told Charlotte was carrying three babies!

We were dumbfounded, and I started shaking. We spent the next few months living in fear, never allowing ourselves to truly believe that all three babies would survive.

But at 33 weeks and six days, in April this year, Charlotte had a planned Caesarean.

Annabella Rose arrived first weighing 3lb 6oz, followed by her twin, 4lb 7oz Florence Violet. The baby from the second embryo, who was Lottie Bluebell, wasn’t as strong, so weighing just 2lb 14oz, she had to spend three weeks in neonatal care. But our babies were actually here!

In May, we were home and I started documenting our chaotic life on Instagram…

4 MAY

The girls are having one of their first baths, still with their feeding tubes and weighing no more than 10lb combined. Our miracles. Home life has become a military operation, a production line, and we’re learning lots. My ‘Triplet Dad’ rule number one: always make time for yourself, which, in my case, means taking our dog Reggie for a run.

6 MAY

Triplet Dad rule two: always

Alex and his wife Charlotte, 32, were shocked to find they were expecting three babies It’s a triple threat! Annabella, Florence and Lottie are the cutest handful