A mum fell pregnant with triplets after a one night stand with her ex-partner.
Charliann Broadhurst, 28, had a night of passion with childhood sweetheart Ryan Hill some weeks after splitting.
But Charliann, who has three other children with Ryan, was stunned to find soon after that her family was to double in size.
Yet the mum, who gave birth to two identical boys Cayon and Carter, and tiny Ryana in May last year, today said the unexpected pregnancy was "the best thing ever" for her relationship with Ryan.
Speaking from her home in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, Charliann said: "It’s a miracle. It was like someone wanted to bring us back together.
“It literally is a fairytale.
“I tell everyone I fell pregnant on a one night stand - it just happened to be with the man I already had kids with."
Charliann and Ryan had been dating since school and already had daughters Cassi-Lee, eight, Caira-Jae, seven, and Siena, five.
Despite splitting in 2018, they still shared equal childcare and on one visit, one thing lead to another.
Recalling the difficult separation, Charliann said: “He’s my childhood sweetheart and we’ve been together since we were 15 but at the time we were going through a really bad patch.
“Then I didn’t even think I was pregnant. I went to the doctors out of curiosity because I was feeling really unwell and he told me I was pregnant. My mouth fell open."
She soon discovered she was expecting triplets and she phoned Ryan, who “almost crashed his car when he heard.”
"He just went silent,” Charliann said.
“We literally couldn’t speak to each other for 12 hours as we were taking it in.”
After a "horrific pregnancy", during which the babies were at risk of deadly Twin To Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), Charliann had an emergency caesarian at Nottingham City Hospital at 33 weeks.
“I actually thought Ryan was going to miss it,” the mother admitted.
“There are two hospitals in Nottingham and he was in a rush to get there and went to the wrong one.
“I’d had my epidural and was lying on the table crying ‘Where is Ryan?’ He was on loudspeaker in the theatre and all the surgeons were directing him to the hospital.
“But he made it in time.”
The triplets were born at 12.31pm on May 31, 2019.
But they all had an infection and had to spend days in hospital.
Charliann now though spends eight hours a day breastfeeding and has to buy everything in threes - the tots have three cots, three high chairs and each outfit has to be bought three times.
Mealtimes and bath times are, she says, a “military operation.”
She said: “That time between the elder kids coming home from school and bathtime is a military routine.
“And when I say military routine I mean a conveyor belt. It’s like ‘Change nappy 1-2-3’.
"It’s so hectic. I wouldn’t even invite someone in for a cuppa at that time.
“I like to keep things clean too and that’s another thing that stresses me out. My life is cleaning, cooking, washing, doing errands, having to get their stuff for school.”
