I became a mum-of-three overnight after five years of fertility struggles

A couple have revealed how after five years of trying for a baby they became parents-of-three overnight when they welcomed identical triplets through IVF.

Shannon, 29, and Ace Page, 28, from Wincanton, Somerset, who have been together for nine years, say they were initially "pretty relaxed" about conceiving when Shannon decided to come off her pill seven years ago. As the couple weren't actively trying for a baby at first, Shannon says she wasn't "too concerned" when nothing seemed to happen. But when they still hadn't had any success she made an appointment to go to the doctors.

"I did try hormones to increase ovulation for six months but they did not work either so the next stop was IVF," Shannon explains. "We really started to think we’d never be able to have children, even when we got approved for IVF we knew there was no certainty it would be successful." The couple started their first round of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment with the NHS and had their first embryo implanted at the end of March.

A couple of weeks later, Shannon describes feeling thrilled to see that the treatment had been successful. "That was my first positive test after having hundreds of negative tests," she recalls. The couple returned to the hospital for a scan after seven weeks and were told they were having twins. But on their ninth week scan the couple were left "shocked" when doctors told them there was actually another baby on the way. "I was in shock and a bit worried," Shannon says. "But I was happy."

The couple had started to document their pregnancy journey on TikTok @thepagetrio but paused posting updates to their account as at 17 weeks Shannon started to feel fainting quite regularly and following further tests the couple were told that one of the babies was taking more of the placenta than the other two and there was a chance they could lose one of the triplets. "We were advised by several people to terminate one or two of the babies to help one survive," Ace explains. "But we decided not go ahead with it and we are super grateful we made that decision."

At 19 weeks, the couple were told Shannon could go into labour in a week or two as her cervix had shortened and were asked to review their options again. But the couple decided to stick with their original decision and moved to Bristol at around week 23-24 of the pregnancy to be closer to the hospital in case she went into labour.

"We thought the babies were coming any minute," Mr Page said, adding they had spent nearly £4,000 on short-term rentals since then, between staying in Bristol and Gloucestershire. "We went from having all positive scans and all of a sudden it didn't seem like we had good news," Shannon recalls. "Every time we saw a doctor we didn't know what was going to happen."

Thankfully the three boys were delivered healthy at St Michael's Hospital, Bristol, on 6 October, at 29 weeks and 6 days, with Cruz weighing 2Ib7oz (1.1kg), Enzo 2Ib11oz (1.2kg), and Aljo 2Ib13oz (1.2kg). – and while Ms Page was still being treated post delivery, they were told they would be moved as they did not need St Michael's specialist care.

"I was in Bristol hospital and my babies were in Gloucester," Shannon explains. "Instead of enjoying the moment, we were trying to work out who was going to be with who. Over the next 12 hours we were all moved to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, so it was quite difficult."

The boys are currently still in the hospital receiving treatment. "They have all been lovely in Gloucester and we have our own room," Shannon says. "Cruz has had the toughest ride all of the three. He has had a few infections but touch wood he stays out of the ICU. They are primarily fed by a tube. It's not where you want your babies to be but we will get home soon."

The couple are hoping the boys will be able to leave hospital in time for Christmas, but in the meantime are adjusting to becoming a family of five overnight. "It is pretty crazy going from having no kids to three all in one go," Ace explains. "I don't think we have had the real experience of being parents but once we get home it will really sink in."

"Our priorities have changed," Shannon adds. "Once you have children you think about them first not about yourself anymore. Ace is happy he loves it. Today he was awake since six in the morning doing all the feeds. I'll be 30 next year and we've gone from having no children and almost feeling it may never happen, to having three before I'm 30."

Multiple births after IVF: the facts

On average 11% of IVF pregnancies result in either twins or triplets compared with 1-2% of natural conceived pregnancies. But according to a recent report from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) the number of multiple births from IVF treatment has reached an all-time low of an average of 6% (one in 20) of all IVF births.

Multiple births cause increased risk of health problems for patients and their babies, such as late miscarriage, high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, haemorrhage, still birth and neonatal death.

Although twin pregnancies after (IVF) are primarily dizygotic (when two eggs (ova) are fertilised by two sperm and produce two genetically unique children), there is also an increased incidence of monozygotic twin (when one fertilised egg (ovum) splits and develops into two babies with exactly the same genetics), and compared with dizygotic twins, monozygotic twins have a higher risk of complications and poor outcomes.

Though triplets are most commonly non identical or fraternal (dizygotic or trizygotic), it is possible for triplets to be identical (monozygotic), but identical triplets, are extremely rare.

Read more about parenting and birth:

• Why we chose to be one and done as birth rate falls to lowest ever (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)

• I had no idea I had two wombs until a scan during my second pregnancy (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)

• I gave birth to three supersized babies, one weighed more than a 10-person Christmas turkey (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)