Proud parents Annette and Gareth Hughes still have to pinch themselves whenever they gaze lovingly at their three children.
Because they were told there was little chance of them even having one child, let alone managing that and then following up with identical twins.
Annette was devastated to learn she had endometriosis, a debilitating condition affecting the uterus that had blocked both of her fallopian tubes.
And on top of that, she was diagnosed as being in early perimenopause at 34 – meaning her egg supply would be poor.
Even with IVF, doctors rated her chance of having a baby at less than 5%, dealing a crushing blow to their hopes of starting a family.
But HR manager Annette and university academic director Gareth, 41, refused to give up.
And looking at Efan, four, and six-month-old Betsi and Lili, Annette is glad they didn’t – despite the ordeal that they went through. It all began with a laparoscopy procedure to investigate why the couple were having no luck getting pregnant.
Annette says: “They pump dye through your fallopian tubes to check if there are any blockages. The consultant said they tried five or six times and there was dye all over the theatre floor – not a drop went through.
“My fallopian tubes were completely blocked. They suspected endometriosis. The doctor said, ‘If you want to have a family, you need to try now’, as I was 34 but had the egg reserve of a 45-year-old, and was told I was likely to go into an early menopause at about 40.”
In desperation, the couple, who live near Swansea and wed in 2012 after dating eight years, went ahead with IVF.
“We did loads of research, took about 30 supplements a day each, drinking all sorts of concoctions to improve egg quality,” says Annette.
“I was having reflexology and acupuncture – anything possible to try to improve our chances.
“I was willing to do anything. We lived and breathed it.”
Their luck was in. Despite Annette producing just five eggs – only one of which made it to embryo stage – she got pregnant and Efan was born on May 7, 2019, at 5lb 12oz. She says: “We were overjoyed. He was our miracle baby. We genuinely thought he was going to be our only baby, so we wanted to make sure we enjoyed every minute.”
Then Annette suffered with anxiety, what she now knows was postnatal depression. “I was struggling with my emotions, flying off the handle” she says.
After such a stressful time and Annette’s chances of conceiving again via IVF being so low, the couple decided to accept life as a family of three and make the most of their beautiful boy,
“We just decided to be thankful for the miracle we had because IVF would never work again,” she says. Then, in April last year, Annette began having strange symptoms, such as extreme emotions and dry hair and skin. She put it down to the early menopause doctors predicted and bought a hormone test kit to check.
“It said you had to do it on day four of your cycle. That was when I realised my period was late,” she says.
“I ordered a pregnancy test. Not because I thought I was pregnant but in the past I’d taken about 5,000 pregnancy tests always hoping they’d be positive, so it had become a habit to do them.”
Annette was so sure that she wasn’t pregnant she did the test on a break between work calls – and got the shock of her life.
“I was gobsmacked,” she says. “There was a massive, bold-as-brass positive line on the stick. I rang Gareth and just blurted out, ‘I’m pregnant’.”
Gareth was delighted but given how she had struggled after the birth of Efan, Annette was anxious.
“My mind was completely blown,” she explains. “Gareth was over the moon, but I was worried I couldn’t cope. We had just given away all the baby things. One minute, our life trajectory was on one path and now it was on another.”
Knowing she had blocked tubes, Annette feared an ectopic pregnancy – where a fertilised egg implants itself outside the womb. So she booked an early scan, which showed she was having identical twins.
Annette says: “I’d had a weird feeling the night before. I remember joking to my mum on the way to the scan, ‘I hope there is only one in there because I can’t cope with any more surprises!’”
Arranging counselling support, in case her depression returned, Annette prepared herself for motherhood again.
She went into labour at 28 weeks at Swansea’s Singleton Hospital, and the doctors managed to stop it twice before she gave birth to the girls via Caesarean section two weeks later, on October 3.
She says: “Betsi weighed 3lb 5oz and Lili 3lb 1oz. Their weights were really good for their gestation.
“Betsi had to be ventilated but Lili didn’t, so I got the first cuddle with her. With Betsi we could just hold her hand in the incubator.”
The twins were in hospital eight weeks before they were allowed home and they are now thriving.
Annette says: “There are no knock-on effects from them being premature. Efan is four now and is fascinated by them. I was worried about the impact on him, but he has been amazing. I couldn’t ask for more.”
The girls both have their own distinct personalities, which Annette is convinced they formed in the womb.
She says: “At the 10-week scan one of them was bouncing around in there and the other was just sitting there looking thoroughly bemused, which is pretty much their personalities now.
“Betsi is non-stop, doesn’t stop wriggling or moving, and Lili is much more laidback.
“Sometimes I wake up, look at my three children and feel I have just dreamt the whole thing. I just feel so blessed and grateful.
“There was a time I thought I would never be a mum and I still can’t believe I have got three children. It is a miracle that they are here.”
Fertility expert Mark Sedler told us: “Given Annette’s history of blocked fallopian tubes and her egg quality, it was highly unlikely that she would ever fall pregnant naturally.
“For her to do that, for it not to be an ectopic pregnancy and for her to have identical twins is very rare.
“It just shows that you should never say never.”
