A couple are still in shock after defying odds of up to 200 million to one to fall pregnant naturally with identical triplets.
Emma Lennon, 31, and her 32-year-old partner David Hopkins had given up hope of having children after trying for two years.
But they discovered they were expecting three identical daughters in the extremely rare monozygotic pregnancy.
Emma didn’t even know she was pregnant and had only opened her own hairdressing salon just days before she found out at seven weeks.
She is now 21 weeks pregnant and being watched closely by medics
in Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co Louth, where she could give birth in just seven weeks.
Emma, from Bettystown, Co Meath, already has a 10-year-old girl Kacey who can’t wait after wishing for a baby sibling for so long.
The couple had been trying for a child for two years and tests couldn’t find any fertility issues.
Emma said: “I was undergoing treatment for pre-cancerous cells which were picked up by smear tests so thought that might have affected my fertility. We accepted we may never have children.”
She only found out she was pregnant at seven weeks last Halloween and went for a scan at 11 weeks and three days in Our Lady Of Lourdes.
Emma added: “We were staring at the screen when the sonographer said there were two little souls in there.
“We were surprised but not shocked because my dad was a twin and my uncle and aunt are twins and David’s nan is a twin so they run in the family.
“But then she spotted baby number three and David keeled over.
“He was on his knees, pleading with the sonographer to stop counting.
“It turns out the monozygotic pregnancy isn’t hereditary at all.
“It was just a spontaneous thing that my egg split in three and the identical girls are all sharing the one sac and placenta.
“It’s a super rare pregnancy, especially as it happened naturally.
“I think the odds are anywhere between one in 60,000 and one in 200 million.
“The doctors are saying the triplets may be born at 28 weeks but because the pregnancy is going really well, I’m hoping to hold on to them for a little bit longer.”
