Triplets born four years apart
LUCKY mother Lucy Powell stunned friends and family by having a single set of triplets – with a four-year gap between the eldest and youngest.
Incredibly they were all conceived at the same time through fertility treatment. One embryo was implanted there and then but several were frozen with two being later defrosted and implanted.
Thrilled
The remarkable trio have made Mrs Powell and husband Stewart’s family complete after a 12-year battle to have children.
They have been through two attempts at IVF treatment and suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage before the triplets were finally born.
Josie was born first in February 2012, and her siblings Freddie and Jessie followed in August 2016.
Mrs Powell, 41, a childminder and part-time pre-school teacher, lives in Evesham, Worcestershire, with Stewart, 43, who works in marketing.
She said yesterday: “It is amazing to think our triplets were born nearly five years apart. People can’t believe it when I tell them that they were all conceived at the same time.
“Josie couldn’t wait to meet brother and sister.
“Our family is finally complete after all this time and heartbreak.”
The couple tried unsuccessfully to have children naturally after getting married when Mrs Powell was 25.
Their first course of IVF treatment failed, but on the second cycle in 2010 she managed to fall pregnant.
But she suffered a miscarriage when she was 12 weeks pregnant.
Mrs Powell said: “That was a real low point for us. We were so devastated. But we were determined to keep on trying. We so wanted to have a her family.” They then decided to have a course of private treatment at Oxford Fertility clinic in 2011.
Doctors managed to create seven embryos. She had two put into her womb and five were put in the freezer.
Two weeks later she discovered that the treatment had worked.
Mrs Powell said: “I was thrilled. The first three months I was on tenterhooks in case anything went wrong.
“But luckily my pregnancy went smoothly all the way through.”
Josie was born at 7lb 11oz in 2012, much to the couple’s delight. After her successful birth they wanted to add to their family, so in 2015 they had another course of fertility treatment.
Doctors defrosted two of their frozen embryos and put them both back into her womb.
The couple were overjoyed when two weeks later she found she was pregnant.
A scan at six weeks showed that she was actually pregnant with twins, but doctors did not think the second would survive as the embryo was so small. However, much to the couple’s delight, the twin battled through.