When Gini Kirkpatrick and Jenny McGirr became parents to triplets, it was after years of trying.
The couple had tried everything – four rounds of IVF costing £30,000, acupuncture, crystals and a blessing from a Buddhist master.
Even after eventually conceiving, their struggles were far from over – as their triplets were delivered at just 29 weeks, each weighing about the same as a Christmas pudding.
After 10 weeks in hospital, Mollie, Eden and Toby Kirkpatrick finally came home just a few days ago.
Gini, 40, who became pregnant in March and gave birth in September, says: “We didn’t think we’d ever have any children, but our wish has come true three times over.
“They are the best Christmas present we could ever have.”
Gini, a nurse at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, near their home in Cambridge and where the babies were born, had two embryos transferred on what the pair had decided would be their final IVF attempt.
She and Jenny, a global study manager at AstraZeneca, knew twins were a possibility – but were shocked when one embryo split into identical twins, resulting in triplets.
Jenny, 40, says: “I kept thinking, ‘Our house isn’t big enough! Our car isn’t big enough.’ In the blink of an eye we went from being the two of us to a family of five.”
Daughters Eden and Mollie had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome – a serious condition in which twins share unequal amounts of the placenta’s blood supply, meaning they grow at different rates.
Eden, Toby and Mollie were born within four minutes of each other on September 23, weighing 2lb 8oz, 3lb 2oz and 2lb.
They were rushed to ICU, and it was days before their parents could even touch them.
Gini says: “The early days were terrifying. The girls were on high flow oxygen and Toby was fully intubated.
“I’d poke my finger through the incubator for each to hold or put my hand on their head. I couldn’t even stroke them as their skin was so sensitive.”
Now home, the triplets need to be fed and changed every three hours and get through 175 nappies a week.
Gini says: “Their individual personalities are starting to develop. I’m in awe of the three of them.”
Now the parents, thankful for support from the neonatal team and charity Twins Trust, want to offer hope to others struggling to conceive and with premature babies and show “miracles can happen”.
And they’re planning a magical Christmas Day at home together.
Proud Gini adds: “It’s full on with three babies but we are so happy and thankful.”
- For more on Twins Trust go to twinstrust.org
Miscarriage and loss - but now she is here
Murielle Jayer and Anna Tippett felt their dream of becoming parents was just a fantasy until an IVF provider’s open evening gave them hope.
Heartbreak followed, with three miscarriages and a diagnosis for Anna of the gene mutation MTHFR, which affects how a baby absorbs folic acid.
At last the criminology and sociology lecturer became pregnant with twins – but sadly one was lost at eight-and-a-half weeks.
Thankfully, the other baby held on, and in January they welcomed “miracle” daughter, Elise.
Anna, 35, says: “We will probably be crying at Christmas because we feel so happy and so lucky.
“Just sitting at the table together with Elise there in her high chair will mean everything.”
When Anna and sales manager, Murielle, 35, from Reading, Berks, first got together in 2013, having a baby felt impossible for them.
Anna says: “I always wanted children but, struggling with my sexuality, I ruled them out, thinking that couldn’t happen for me. But there have been so many advances in human rights and gay rights. This gave us a chance to have a family.”
After attending an open evening with TFP Fertility UK in 2019, the couple decided to try IVF at Thames Valley Fertility Maidenhead, spending £35,000 in total.
The first three cycles, between 2020 and 2021, all sadly ended in miscarriage after a few weeks.
Anna says: “It started to feel like it was never going to happen for us.”
After their third miscarriage, tests revealed that Anna carried MTHFR.
So when, seven weeks into their fourth pregnancy, the pair discovered Anna was carrying twins she says it was “life-changing”.
The expecting mum took a high dose of folic acid and increased progesterone – but started bleeding.
She says: “I thought, ‘That’s it, they’re both gone’.
“We discovered we’d lost one, which was so sad, but we were incredibly relieved we still had one baby.”
The couple welcomed Elise on January 24, who was induced at 41 weeks and five days and delivered by emergency C-section weighing 10lb 6oz after a 36-hour labour.
The delighted mum says: “When I held her, it felt so surreal. She is a miracle.”
Wedding's off - for two very good reasons
Frankie Wakefield and Frank Fallon should have been newlyweds enjoying the first days and weeks of matrimonial bliss.
Instead they were in neonatal intensive care anxiously looking over premature twins Ezra and Theo, delivered 11 weeks early by emergency C-section.
Frank, 36, and seven-months-pregnant Frankie, 30, were set to tie the knot on July 30.
But a scan just two days before showed problems, and Frankie was taken in for an emergency delivery.
Both boys were born on July 29 to the sound of their parents’ wedding playlist, Ezra weighing 2lb 6oz and Theo 3lb, before being rushed to intensive care.
It was seven weeks before they could go home to Hanwell, West London. Now, the new parents can’t wait for their first Christmas.
Mental health service manager Frank says: “Being parents and enjoying Christmas with our twins means everything.”
He and children’s charity worker Frankie started trying for a baby in 2020, paying £15,000 for private IVF after fertility checks revealed Frank had a low sperm count.
One embryo was transferred, but at their eight-week scan the pair discovered it had split, creating identical twins.
Frankie says: “We were told there’s a three per cent chance of this happening. It was such a shock, but so exciting.” Doctors told them the twins were sharing the placenta, meaning there was a high risk of things going wrong.
When the 29-week scan thankfully came back fine, Frank and Frankie felt confident to go ahead with their wedding for 100 guests a week later.
But then another scan on July 28 showed Ezra was resisting blood flow, and a doctor said the babies needed to be delivered the next day.
With wedding plans on hold, Frank will be putting his energy into creating a Christmas to remember.
He says: “I am going to dress up as Santa Claus and the twins will be my little elves.
“It’s just going to be lovely to be all cosy together this Christmas.”
