A ‘miracle’ Sutton Coldfield family are set to celebrate their first Christmas together.
It comes after a rollercoaster journey of infertility, failed IVF attempts, near death experiences – and now TV and social media fame.
The Wooldridge family from Walmley will be holding their first ever Christmas as a family of six, more than two years after their triplets were born against all the odds.
It will be a special day after a series of setbacks.
It will round off a big year which has seen them appear on ITV’s This Morning, a rocketing social media following with #TripleTheLook trending and a model agency contract.
They’ve also graced the pages of glossy magazines and daily newspapers which have featured the exploits of the triplets and older ‘bro’ Felix!
However, the journey to TV and Instagram stardom has been beset by difficulties. First the couple were faced with infertility.
Rebecca Wooldridge and husband David had started trying for a family back in 2006. After being unable to conceive naturally – which Rebecca described as a ‘tidal wave of infertility’ – they underwent four courses of IVF treatments.
Undeterred, they were booked in for a fifth when, just nine days before it was due to start, their son Felix was conceived naturally and born in 2013.
The couple immediately tried for another child but without success and had for one further go at IVF in Cyprus, where success rates are higher, according to their research.
They went for a ‘two-week holiday’ with IVF included. And immediately Rebecca had an ‘inkling’ she was pregnant.
“I started feeling ill straight away, so I knew when we were in Cyprus and felt fluttering,” she said.
“When I got home, I wouldn’t take a pregnancy test and waited the two weeks for a blood test. I was told the results were ‘massively high’. And was told ‘there’s a party going on in there’! The results implied it would be a multiple pregnancy. So I had an inkling.
“I went for a seven-week scan and they were talking about risk. They said ‘oh there is a third one’.
At the usual 12-week scan at Good Hope Hospital, Rebecca was referred to Heartlands Hospital as she had a ‘high risk pregnancy’. But everything was looking OK.
She received regular scans – at 18 and 20 weeks. Rebecca thought she had found out the genders. She said: “First of all we were told we were having a boy and two girls. We thought ‘fantastic’. We were thrilled – a playmate for Felix and two girls. But it didn’t matter as long as they were healthy.
“But at 24 weeks we were told we were having three girls.”
The triplets’ 40-week due date was December 28. But as it was a multiple birth, a Caesarean section had already been planned and was booked for November 24.
It was a difficult pregnancy and Rebecca was not well during it. Rebecca said: “I just don’t think there was enough room!”
At 29 weeks Rebecca had a bleed at home and was told to go to Heartlands to be checked. She was blue-lighted to Worcester as that is where they had a free bed.
But then the family’s life was almost ripped apart.
Rebecca said: “I went to get up but there was a balloon of blood on the floor. I managed to get to the alarm. I thought the babies were coming out. It was terrifying.”
Panic hit Rebecca. She was losing blood fast and had to be operated on immediately. She was told ‘the only way to save you is to get the babies out’.
Rebecca remembers the words she uttered before going under. “I looked at the woman and said ‘please save my babies’.”
She lost almost four litres of blood – adults have 4.5 to 5.5 litres but a pregnant woman can have 50 per cent more. It is probably what saved her.
Rebecca’s three daughters were born two minutes apart – but two were on the edge of life. The date was October 15, 2016.
Rebecca said: “Amelia and Bertie had to be resuscitated. Bertie is the oldest, then Amelia and Etta is the youngest. We call Etta ‘the battle axe’. She was the healthy one!
“Bertie was also ventilated – a machine breathed for her for two days. And then she went in an incubator which was oxygenated.”
Rebecca did not see her girls for two days.
The girls remained in hospital for 11 weeks. They spent five in Worcester and six at Good Hope Hospital’s special care baby unit.
Rebecca was discharged just a week after the birth, but four weeks later, Rebecca was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Every time I had a shower or was washing my face I couldn’t shut my eyes – because I would remember that woman’s face saying ‘Think of something calm, this is it now’, just before I went under. I thought I could die.”
Both Amelie and Bertie were suspected of having heart problems – PDAs (patent ductus arteriosus) or persistent opening between blood vessels from the heart. It is a common problem with premature babies as their hearts have yet to develop fully.
They also both were diagnosed with reflux – thought to be due to an under-developed digestive system, again common with pre-term babies. This delayed them coming out of hospital as they could not feed properly.
In Christmas 2016 – in theory the family of six’s first one together – Bertie and Etta had been discharged around December 20. But Amelie was still in Good Hope’s special care baby unit. She was discharged ‘symbolically’ on December 28 – her original term due date, but she was 11-weeks-old.
However, the triplets’ health problems continued in to the New Year.
So 2017 became about ‘survival’: looking after new born triplets, who were fed every three hours, ongoing health fears and PTSD caused by the terrifying birth.
Just nine after being home Amelie stopped breathing in her mum’s arms. David called an ambulance – and in desperation Rebecca dropped her back and she took a huge breath. She went in the ambulance with her dad, but on the way she stopped breathing again and had to be resuscitated.
While her daughter was on her way to A&E, police knocked on Rebecca’s door. They were checking on the welfare of her other children – in case they had been mistreated.
Amelie was rushed to intensive care in Stoke and put in an induced coma – her lungs could not cope – a normal cold nearly killed her.
Bertie too was ill, her blood oxygen levels were low. She was taken to Good Hope and then rushed to Heartlands’ high dependency unit. The tiny tot had to be resuscitated and she spent six more weeks in hospital.
Rebecca said: “I buried my head and let everybody get on with it.”
Back home, Bertie was still not right. She had stopped feeding and was losing weight.
After advice from the health visitor, Bertie was taken to Birmingham Children’s Hospital (BCH). She was diagnosed with an enlarged heart and liver, and the first stages of chronic lung disease. She had emergency heart surgery and was in hospital for another month.
But the heartache continued in 2017.
In July – all the triplets caught chicken pox. And Amelie was found to have large lump in her neck which Rebecca feared was cancer. The lump was growing fast and it became life-threatening, due to the speed it was growing in her airway.
This time Amelie was taken to BCH. She had an MRI scan under a general anaesthetic. The doctors said it could be a cyst, but could be cancer. Amelie was booked in for surgery in January this year.
Christmas 2017 was already under a cloud with fears for Amelie. But then both Amelie and Etta were rushed to hospital by ambulance on Christmas Day as their breathing had deteriorated. Thankfully both recovered.
Rebecca was given anti-depressant - Sertraline -to cope with her PTSD. And it was that drug that changed the course of the family’s life – in an unexpected way!
Rebecca said: “I was doing a lot of online shopping. Buying outfits for the girls, a lot for when they got older. But it got out of hand. I realised I was buying because I didn’t have any fear of the consequences of spending. Sertraline had reduced those inhibitions. I had got all of these clothes because of PTSD!”
Rebecca started her Instagram channel – Mummy to Triplets and Bro – in December 2017.
“I had bought all these clothes as a coping mechanism,” Rebecca said.
“I had come so close to losing them, I wanted to dress them nicely. I had been buying sizes ahead.
“Then I thought was going to lose Amelie. And had that fear.”
Then came Amelie’s operation in January. She was diagnosed with a benign second branchial cleft cyst – a congenital defect that had been there from birth.
Rebecca had EMDR therapy to help her overcome the trauma. She was referred by Sutton charity, Acacia Family Support, and had the therapy at a surgery in Walmley.
Rebecca also started a blog, charting her experiences from infertility, to IVF to the horrors of her childbirth and children’s ongoing health problems. ‘Triple the Look’ was launched in January this year, and was soon picked up by the national press – Closer, Hello and Reveal magazines. And Holly Willoughby’s Daily Look on This Morning saw researchers get in touch with Rebecca about her Triple the Look trend on social media.
The family went to London and were given the VIP treatment in April this year. It was the first time they had gone out for a meal together.
Rebecca said: “Holly and Phil were lovely.
“We had a nice dinner, it was one of the first times we had taken the girls out in public. During RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) season we had to keep the girls in and that’s from October to April. Up until they were two, we avoided going out.
“We really started celebrating being a family. It felt like the start of something. It was just fabulous.
“Something lovely has come out of Triple The Look.
“The Instagram page went from 3,000 followers – by the end of that day it was 24,000!
Rebecca added: “It started out of PTSD. I never thought I would be able to dress my daughters like this.
“People started saying ‘can we send you this’ - hand-made products, small businesses that we have been able to help promote. And some of the bigger companies too.
“People follow the Instagram page and say they ‘like seeing your family’.
“Since This Morning it has grown organically to more than 36,000 followers.”
Rebecca was invited by Giovanna Fletcher – a blogger, actress and podcaster, and wife of McFly popstar Tom Fletcher, to feature her Next collection on Triple the Look.
The triplets’ dad and Rebecca’s husband David, 50, said: “The priority with this was my wife. Like any husband you bottle it up and bury it and just get through it. I used to come back from work, go to sleep for an hour-and-a-half and then take over from Rebecca.
“The Instagram page lets me see what the family have been up to while I am at work. It’s a fantastic memory board as well.
“I don’t remember anything being enjoyable about the last two Christmas’s. This year I just hope to get up in the morning, do the presents and see a bit of family.”
And what next?
Rebecca said: “I still feel nervous. Bertie still has further heart surgery in the future. She is still an outpatient and still has a hole in her heart.
“I hope the blog helps people – from those with fertility problems, to having premature babies and those with depression.
“But we are really hoping we have a drama free Christmas this year!”
To follow the exploits of the triplets and Felix and or to find out more about Rebecca's story you can visit her blog, Instagram page, Facebook site and YouTube channel!
