A childcare assistant who had nearly given up on her dream of becoming a mum has been celebrating Christmas with not one - but four babies.
Vickie O’Donnell, 28, said she wanted to have children 'for as long as' she could remember.
"Mum used to joke I’d be a teenage mum and everyone said I’d be the first of my siblings to have a family," she said.
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Vickie started going out with her partner Jamie when she was 13 and he was 15.
"We lived on the same street, soulmates then, just as we are now. Jamie loved children too and wanted his own," she said.
Vickie, from Abercynon in South Wales, wanted to have children by the age of 20. But there was a problem.
She was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries [PCOS], which meant it might be difficult for her to conceive.
"I was devastated and more than once I told Jamie, “You don’t have to stay with me"," she told The Mirror.
"I wanted him to be a dad and if it meant sacrificing our relationship, I thought he should have that chance.
"But he eased my fears, saying we’d get there in the end and if it didn’t happen, we could adopt or foster," she said.
As the years passed, Vickie was put on fertility drugs, some of which made her feel so sick she had to stop taking them.
"I took dozens of pregnancy kits and grew used to seeing them come up negative month after month," she said.
Vickie said: "One morning I did a test and left it on the windowsill without even bothering to check the result. What was the point?
"Later that morning I felt a bit dizzy and remembered the test. To my complete amazement, it was positive.
"I paced up and down, waiting all day for Jamie to get home from work to tell him in person. Once he realised I wasn’t joking, he was as excited as I was."
Baby Phoenix, their 'miracle baby', was born in August last year.
Vickie said: "It had taken us more than half a decade and plenty of fertility drugs to have Phoenix, so when I missed a period 11 weeks after giving birth, I thought nothing of it. I did a pregnancy test just in case – and it was positive!
"I’d expected Phoenix to be an only child and now I’d have two babies under one. But I was loving being a mum and knew I’d cope.
"The sonographer at my 12-week scan studied the images then turned the screen to show me and Jamie. “You’re having twins,” she said.
"I looked at Jamie, who had a big grin on his face. Although I’m a twin, I never thought I might have them myself. It was a shock, but a happy one. But as I stared at the screen, I could see something else.
“'What’s that?' I asked the sonographer.
"She studied the screen again. Then she said, “It’s triplets!”
Jamie’s face was as white as a ghost, and neither of them could believe it.
"From wondering for years if we’d remain childless, we’d have four kids under one. I kept thinking, “We’re going to need a bigger house!," Vickie said.
"By the time I was 16 weeks, I already felt like I was at the end of the pregnancy. My legs and feet were swollen and my back ached.
"I put on 5½st and was so big I was buying loose-fitting vest tops in a size 24. I’m usually size 10-12. If I stood sideways at the top of the stairs, my belly touched the other wall.
"It was hard to play with Phoenix because I couldn’t get down on the floor and carrying him up and down the stairs gave me a hernia. But I never complained because I knew it wouldn’t be for long and I would have three babies at the end of it.
"The doctors wanted me to get to 35 weeks before delivering the triplets, but when one of the babies stopped growing, I had a Caesarean at 33 weeks, seven weeks early.
"I was awake throughout and Jamie was at my side as we watched first Rhubie-Ann, Violet, and then Tarney being brought into the world – two girls and one boy. They weighed 4lb 5oz, 4lb 1oz and 4lb 2oz respectively.
"They were tiny, but not as fragile as I’d feared. I was able to hold them straight away, all three together, before they were taken for special care. Luckily, they did well and we took them home to my mum’s 16 days later.
"The triplets are adorable. They’re still small, so they sleep in one cot, side by side with Tarney in the middle."
