Couple who spent more than 43,000 euros on IVF welcome triplets

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A couple who had spent more than 43,000 euros on fertility treatment have welcomed miracle triplets after their parents stepped in to fund one last IVF cycle.

Niamh and Jeff Quinlan, both 37, of Dublin, had given up hope of ever falling pregnant and had decided to look into surrogacy after spending their life savings on five failed rounds of IVF and years of heartache.

Niamh’s father and stepmother were devastated to see the couple struggling so much, so gave them the cash to fund one final fertility cycle. 

The treatment was a success and baby girls Molly, Chloe and Megan were born last December. 

Niamh said: ‘Life is pretty hectic now but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s the family I had always dreamed of. I have to pinch myself sometimes. We went through so many years where we thought we would never have one baby, let alone three.

‘I had given up hope of ever carrying a baby when my dad called me and said he’d put 7,600 euros (£7,000) in my account. I burst into tears at my desk at work. Even then, I thought it was probably going to be money down the drain.

‘I got the shock of my life when I found out I was actually pregnant with not one but three babies.’

The couple started trying for a family shortly after they married in 2016.

But after a year with no luck, they consulted a doctor, who recommended they try IUI, a treatment that induces ovulation, after discovering that one of Niamh’s fallopian tubes was blocked.

Niamh said: ‘It came as a relief, knowing that there was a solution, and we just assumed we would fall pregnant right away. But another year on, we were told we’d need to try IVF.

‘We put all our money into it and we thought, “this time, it will have to work” But I started bleeding within days. It was absolutely crushing.’

The couple underwent five cycles of IVF with each one ending in heartbreak.

After spending more than 43,000 euros (£40,000), they decided to put any money they had into funding a surrogate – thinking they would never fall pregnant.

But Niamh’s dad, Michael Foley, couldn’t bare to see his daughter missing out on her dream – and he and Niamh’s stepmother, Patricia, a midwife, convinced them to give it one more shot.

Michael said: ‘Niamh had always been such a wonderful mother figure, even when she was a little girl.

‘Niamh’s mother died when she was a teenager, but she’d always looked after everyone else so well – Patricia and I knew she and Jeff would make such wonderful parents.

‘It broke my heart to see my daughter having miscarriages and going through such a terrible time.

‘Of course, as a parent, you don’t want to interfere, but they had two embryos left and Patricia thought there was hope to go through one last try.

‘We discussed it one night and I put the money into Niamh’s account the next morning. I called her and said we’d gifted her some money, and it was up to her what she did with it – we didn’t mind if they didn’t want to go through IVF again. But it was up to her.’

Niamh said: ‘I just broke down in tears when dad told me what they had done for us. It was so unexpected. We decided to go for one last shot with our frozen embryos, but in my heart of hearts, I didn’t think it would work.

‘A few days after the treatment, my abdomen started to swell, which can be a side effect of the drugs, and I needed to go to the clinic to have it drained.

‘It had happened before so I wasn’t concerned. I just thought this cycle would go the same way as the others.

‘Jeff had an exam that day, and my dad had been staying at our house, so he and Patricia drove me to the clinic.

‘But when I came round from the anaesthetic, dad was beaming at me. They had done a test and I was pregnant. I broke down. It seemed so fitting that he was able to be the one to tell me.’

Medics told Niamh that the reason her belly had swollen was actually part of body’s reaction to extremely high levels of pregnancy hormone – caused by her carrying triplets.

She said: ‘When we went in for our first scan, I had an inkling it might be twins because of my high hormone levels. But when they pointed out three babies on the scan, I was gobsmacked.

‘There was a moment of pure joy, but then i just felt full of fear – it was such a high risk pregnancy, I still didn’t know if they would make it.

‘It was only once I brought them all home that I felt I could finally embrace that moment of complete joy.’

After an uneventful pregnancy, Niamh began to feel unwell at 30 weeks and went into hospital for a check up, where specialists told her the babies needed to be delivered immediately.

A team of 40 specialist doctors and nurses delivered her daughters at Coombe Women’s hospital, Dublin, on December 17, by emergency caesarean.

Baby Molly, born weighing 3lb 4oz, Megan, weighing 2lb 10oz and Chloe, weighing 2lbs 14oz, were all rushed straight to the NICU.

It was days before the new parents were able to hold their babies  and nine weeks before they were all able to come home.

Niamh added: ‘As they wheeled me down to surgery they warned me that the girls were very premature and might need to be resuscitated when they were born.

‘As each of them was born, I held my breath waiting to hear them cry. With each cry, I just felt a wave of relief flooding over me. The first cuddle I had with each of the girls was so special. It just took my breath away finally meeting them.

‘They were still very poorly but I knew they were fighters.

‘One day, Molly stopped breathing while I was holding her. A nurse rushed over and grabbed her from me and ran to get a doctor – it was the scariest moment of my life.

‘She was the first one to come home but ended up being readmitted to the Children’s hospital because of problems with her breathing.

‘At one stage one of them was in the maternity hospital, one was in the children’s hospital and another one was at home.

‘When they all finally made it home just before their due date in February, it was the best day of our lives.’

Due to Covid, doting grandparents Michael and Patricia hadn’t been able to see their granddaughters since mid March until they were reunited last weekend.

Michael added: ‘There is so much love in that household, it feels wonderful to go and be surrounded with such happiness. I am so glad I was able to help my little girl become a mother. My granddaughters are wonderful babies, we were so excited to be reunited with them.’

Niamh said: ‘I can’t thank my dad enough for what he did for us. It will be wonderful to tell the girls their special story when they grow up.’