Doctors told woman IVF wouldn’t work – now she’s having four babies naturally in a year
WHEN Charlotte Parker was told that not even IVF would help her conceive, she feared she’d never have children.
Doctors said her egg count was so low her only chance was to look for a donor.
But within weeks she got pregnant naturally and gave birth last September. She’s now expecting again ... and this time it’s triplets.
Despite the odds, the legal secretary will soon be the mother of four children within the space of a year – and all conceived naturally.
The 31-year-old said: ‘We doubted it would happen at all ... but to be pregnant again and expecting triplets is just incredible.’
She and husband Billy, a 29-year-old chef, had only talked about trying for a baby when a routine blood test and scan in 2015 revealed their worst fears.
Doctors said it was ‘extremely unlikely’ she would conceive without a donor.
Mrs Parker, who had been taking the Pill until then, decided there was no point continuing with it. ‘It was devastating,’ she said. ‘It felt like our future plans had been taken away from us – you think about buying a house, getting mar-
‘I didn’t think it was possible’
ried and having a family and it felt like that had gone. I came off the Pill straight away as there was no point staying on it.’
Despite being told IVF would be unlikely to work the couple, from Crawley, West Sussex, decided to visit private fertility clinics before looking into egg donors.
But the week before their first appointment, Mrs Parker was convinced by her husband to take a pregnancy test after she realised her period was late. She said: ‘I did and it was positive. I was shocked, we all were.
‘I just kept thinking “how can so many experts tell me what they did and within two months, I’m pregnant”. I didn’t think it was possible.
‘Because of what the doctors and consultants had told us, we hadn’t been trying or doing anything different or special.
‘Billy and I had a massive grin on our faces. I was confused but it was an amazing feeling.’
Their first child, Lewis, was born on September 6 weighing 7lbs. In December the couple decided they wanted to add to their family, but didn’t think they’d be so lucky again. To their surprise, an ultrasound scan in January revealed Mrs Parker was expecting triplets. She is due to give birth in eight weeks – a month before Lewis’s first birthday.
Mrs Parker said: ‘It means we’ll have four children under the age of one. My first thought was, what are we going to do? Do we have the space? When will we ever sleep?
‘But those are all logistical worries which are normal and we are just so happy. It’s hard to put the emotions into words, really.’ The couple are expecting non-identical triplets and have been busy preparing for the new arrivals by transforming their garage into a playroom for Lewis and his three siblings.
‘It is daunting but very, very exciting. We feel incredibly lucky,’ Mrs Parker said.
‘So many people are told similar things to what I heard and do not get the happy outcome they want, so we feel very fortunate.
‘We’re enjoying life as a family of three at the moment but we can’t wait to meet the triplets and become a family of six.’