A WESTBURY couple have thanked staff at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol and Bath RUH for their assistance in supporting the birth of their rare identical triplets who were born three months early.
The three boys, Marc, Harrie and Jake, had complications before and after their birth last May but are healthy and progressing well now. Their parents, Chris Jenkins and Vanya-Lee Ashdown, have thanked the health workers who worked tirelessly to ensure the continued health of the triplets, despite setbacks before and after their birth.
Chris said, “We had some fantastic people help and support us including the team at St Michael’s and the RUH at Bath. There was a great deal of support for us in every avenue we had to go down. All the boys had sepsis early on, and had bleeds on the brain, so it was fantastic for someone to help us navigate through this – thank you so much to the staff that helped us.
“The boys were born 12 weeks early at St Michael’s. Very early on we were made aware that it was triplets, and we were sent to the foetal medicine unit where we were under their close observation. Throughout the pregnancy we were told some truths – it’s very rare that naturally conceived triplets were sharing one placenta.
“We would go to them for a scan to check heart beats and if there were three, we would be like brilliant – they’re all alive, let’s now see how they grow and evolve to see if there’s any other issues.
“We just kept holding out for this magical 28-week mark, anything after that would be a bonus. As it happens, they were born on the 28-week mark as on the day before, scans showed that one of the flow rates through the umbilical cords was not right and that was an indication that the placenta was not being as efficient as it should be.
“They then made the decision to take the babies out, which was 100% the right thing to do – another day or so and we could have lost all three of them.”
Since their delivery, Chris and Vanya-Lee have been on a hectic ride of caring for the boys through health concerns, alongside the tiredness of any new parents – times three!
Chris added, “In the nicest way, when people ask us how we’re doing, you just don’t know until you’ve been through something similar. It has been the toughest thing that either of us have faced.
“We were trying for one and obviously we’ve ended up with three and it was like crikey – we need to change our plans.”
Chris joked, “I had just finished the extension on the family home – and it’s a case of do I need to extend the extension?”