A mother has explained how she refused to consider abortion when doctors told her that her triplets were not developing as expected.
Katie Johnson and her husband Patrick were told at a twelve-week scan that their babies, Oscar, Aurelia and Oliver, had life-threatening growth problems.
Doctors advised Katie to abort one or two of them to give the others a better chance of survival.
Refusal
She said: “There was a risk to all of them. Oliver was 25 per cent smaller than his brother, and the blood flow wasn’t getting to him properly. If Oliver died, Oscar could have died too.
“But there was no way that we could terminate one or two babies. We had to give them all a chance of survival.”
Katie and Patrick refused the abortion, and doctors then monitored the triplets closely.
‘Incredible gift’
At 31 weeks, doctors discovered the blood flow to Oliver had stopped and they performed an emergency caesarean section to deliver all three.
The babies, weighing 4lbs, 3lb 15oz, and 2lb 15oz, spent a month in hospital but have now spent their first Christmas at home with the family.
Katie said: “They have done incredibly well; we are so proud of them. Oliver has put on some weight, so he’s catching up with his brother now. The doctors expect the difference to even out at some point.”
She added: “It’s an incredible gift” that the triplets all survived, “and are here with us to celebrate their first Christmas”.