A couple in the UK have welcomed their third baby in an IVF set of triplets – and the special thing is that each baby was born about 2 years apart.
Karen Marks, 36, and husband James, 38, from Taunton, had their first child, Cameron, almost five years ago, followed by second child Isabella almost three years ago. and just welcomed youngest baby Gabriella last year.
One thing that few people expect is that all three children are considered triplets, because they were conceived on the same day – and at the same time – through IVF, from the same batch of embryos. .
Karen said: “Some people go through IVF and sadly never have children, but we have had three, so we feel very lucky.
Gabi was our last embryo, so now she is our last child. I knew I still wanted to have another baby before having Gabi, so I told my husband that if it didn’t work out this time, we’d better save up to try again.
Now I feel complete, I am very happy. My heart is full.”
When Karen gave birth to Cameron on September 1, 2018, the couple froze their remaining embryos so they could add children to their family later. Then, Isabella was born on September 15, 2020 and Gabriella was born on July 3, 2022.
The couple married in 2014 and soon began to fear they might never have children after Karen was unable to get pregnant and was diagnosed with fertility problems. Karen explains: ‘We had been trying to conceive naturally for a year but nothing was happening, so we went to the doctor and they ran some tests.
I don’t ovulate regularly so that’s the main issue, but other than that there’s no reason at all – we don’t have any problems.
We had 5 embryos created. We had 2 miscarriages – I miscarried once in 2019 and once in September 2021, 1 month before we got pregnant with Gabi.”
Karen was sponsored for a round of IVF in 2017 at the Bristol Center for Reproductive Medicine, which was successful and she eventually gave birth to Cameron.
Even though Karen lost 3kg during a difficult week fighting Covid, baby Gabi remained strong and eventually joined the family fully, weighing nearly 3.5kg.
After a long journey to becoming a mother, Karen said she never hesitated to tell people that her baby was an IVF baby and hopes her experience will encourage others to try IVF if they are having difficulty getting through it. pregnant.
She added: “It’s been a battle and a journey, and while part of me believes there’s a reason we’re going through it, we’ve met so many amazing people along the way .
If you have exhausted all other options, then go ahead and do IVF. In vitro fertilization is very good. Don’t ignore or avoid it. This is the fertility treatment most likely to be successful, and it worked for us.”
Karen once dreamed of having four children, but feels extremely lucky to have three and believes her family is “complete” after Gabi was born.
“Cameron and Isabella love her. They’re really cute, they even fought over who got to hug the youngest, which was really sweet. Cameron’s the oldest so she’s doing really well, but Isabella is having a hard time.” I miss the time with my mother because she was extremely pampered.
James always said we would have 3 children – you get about a 60% success rate with IVF, so out of 5 embryos, he always thought we would have 3 children.
