Houghton couple feel 'blessed' following one in 200 million chance of giving birth to identical triplets

Alex and Amy Lindsay were left in “total shock” after attending their routine 12-week scan.

Amy, 31, said: “I was on the bed and Alex said he could see quite a lot of movement on the scan. That’s when the sonographer asked if there was a history of twins in the family and revealed there were two babies.

"We already have two little boys and so this was already a massive shock and so I tried to calm myself down.”

However, as the babies moved around on the screen there was further news to come.

Amy added: “It was then the sonographer suddenly gasped – you could tell even behind the mask. We were initially alarmed as we thought she’d noticed something wrong with one of the babies but that’s when she revealed there was another one in there.

"At that point I got quite emotional. The plan was this would be our last child and with two boys under four I wondered how we would cope – it was definitely a shock.

"I just kept thinking, I’ve only got two arms, how am I going to hold and feed them?”

Husband Alex, 33, added: “I remember telling my mother-in-law and she thought we were joking. She wouldn’t believe us until we showed her the scan.

"When we first found out it was a real shock, but we are a Christian family and feel blessed as children are a gift from God. This really helped us to get through what was a potentially dangerous pregnancy.”

And so on the morning of July 9, after 35 weeks of pregnancy, Amy was admitted into Sunderland Royal Hospital and babies Abel, Asher and Azariah were welcomed into the world.

Alex said: “There’s always a risk when having triplets but they were all really healthy and a good weight. Abel was 6lb 2, Asher 5lb 12 and Azariah 5lb 11.”

However, carrying a combined baby weight of close to 18lb really took its toll on Amy.

She said: “It was a high-risk pregnancy and so getting to 35 weeks and having such good weights – I felt really blessed. However it was very difficult by the end of my pregnancy. Even getting dressed was difficult and I was in pain just sitting down.”

Four months on, the greatest challenge comes at feeding time.

Amy added: “They’re very settled babies but the biggest challenge comes at feeding time when you’ve three babies all wanting to be fed at the same time. I’ve been breast feeding them but have been topping it up with bottle feeds which also allows me to get support from Alex and my mother.”

Alex said: “We are lucky we live in a four-bedroom detached house but space is an issue. We’ve had to move out our dining table and chairs to make more room.

"My friends keep joking that when the boys are older we can start our own five-a-side team.”

Amy and Alex are also parents to Elijah, 4, and Zion, 2.

Estimates vary, but the odds of having identical triplets are anywhere in the vicinity of between one in 60,000 to one in 200 million.

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