After many years of trying for a baby, failed IVF and a miscarriage, Amy and Craig Sargeant could have been forgiven for fearing their dreams of having a family might never be realised.
But the childhood sweethearts remained determined throughout their battle – and Mrs Sargeant is now thought to be the UK’s first cystic fibrosis sufferer to become a mother to triplets.
The couple have been together since they were 14 and 15, staying committed even after she discovered she was living with the incurable lung disease and was at the time expected to live until just 30.
Keen to have children, they went for genetic testing when she turned 16 and were delighted to discover Mr Sargeant did not carry a cystic fibrosis gene.
Amy Sargeant is now thought to be the UK’s first cystic fibrosis sufferer to become a mother to triplets. Pictured here with Ronnie, Lottie and Tommie (left to right)
It meant they could start a family knowing that, while their children would be carriers of the gene, they would not have the condition themselves.
After their long struggle, they welcomed Ronnie, Lottie and Tommie into their lives at the start of last year.
Mrs Sargeant, 28, said: ‘We still feel like we’re in a whirlwind with it all. We had waited so long to have a family that it is almost surreal seeing the triplets. They really are miracles.’
Mr Sargeant, 29, who now cares full-time for his wife, said of the couple’s battle to have a family: ‘You do try to hold on to hope, but there were times during the seven years we were trying for a baby when it began to fade.
‘When we found out that not only was Amy pregnant but it was triplets, we jumped for joy. Of course we were nervous too, but when they were born our dreams were finally a reality. We were Mummy and Daddy.’
Mrs Sargeant said she knew her husband was the one from the moment at age 14 when she told him about her cystic fibrosis – a life-limiting condition which sees the lungs become clogged with mucus.
He proposed to her on Christmas Day in 2011 and, once engaged, the couple decided to try for children with the approval of Mrs Sargeant’s consultant.
But when they got married two years later in their home town of Carmarthen, south-west Wales, they were still childless.
Mr Sargeant said: ‘We were surrounded by our family and friends, but without the child we longed for. Still, Amy looked stunning. I promised to love her in sickness and health, and I stand by that.’
While having cystic fibrosis can make it more difficult for a mother to conceive, many have babies without needing fertility treatment. Mrs Sargeant appeared to be one of the latter, yet doctors couldn’t find a cause for the couple’s difficulties.
Ronnie came first, weighing 3lb 10oz, followed three minutes later by his sister Lottie at 3lb 13oz, and two minutes after that Tommie at 3lb 1oz
In 2015 they were approved for two cycles of IVF on the NHS. Mrs Sargeant said: ‘We were over the moon to find out we had been approved and, being naive, thought we would have a baby soon.’
The couple’s first round of IVF proved unfruitful and, while Mrs Sargeant became pregnant after their second cycle, heartbreak was to follow when she suffered a miscarriage at around five weeks.
‘We walked away from that hospital broken,’ she said. ‘To have something you had wanted for so long taken away in a heartbeat – it was so hard.’ The couple’s confidence was knocked, but they soldiered on and, after taking some time out to focus on each other, decided in 2017 to start trying again.
Unable to afford IVF privately they looked into alternatives and found intrauterine insemination (IUI), which involves directly inserting sperm into the womb.
While having a lower success rate than IVF, it is significantly cheaper at around £800 a time.
The Sargeants were among the lucky ones and in July that year a pregnancy test proved positive.
More amazing news came at Mrs Sargeant’s six-week scan, when midwives announced the triplets.
‘We’d wanted a baby for so long, and now we were having three. It was scary, but so exciting,’ said Mr Sargeant. ‘Amy was so strong, and from the moment I knew they were coming, I loved my three babies more than anything in the world.’
Mrs Sargeant had a relatively smooth pregnancy and on January 27, 2018, at Glan Clwyd Hospital in north Wales, the triplets arrived by caesarean section.
Ronnie came first, weighing 3lb 10oz, followed three minutes later by his sister Lottie at 3lb 13oz, and two minutes after that Tommie at 3lb 1oz. Being premature, the babies were tube-fed in hospital before going home one by one.
They are now healthy 18-month-olds and their parents are enjoying every minute – despite Mrs Sargeant’s continuing struggles with cystic fibrosis.
Currently doing well with a lung function of 63 per cent, she said: ‘Nothing is guaranteed with my health. I can be fine one minute, then pick up a bug and be really poorly. It can make things difficult, but we do our best.’
- Mr Sargeant has won the Partner’s Voice Award from baby charity Tommy’s for his blog sharing the struggles and highs of the couple’s pregnancy and life with the triplets (www.tommys.org).