Featured Image Credit: SWNS
Topics: Parenting
Callum Jones
A mum who once feared she'd never get pregnant had quintuplets thanks to infertility medication.
Hannah Merton, 23, and husband Jacob, 24, had been trying to have kids for three years but were unsuccessful.
The couple feared Hannah was infertile, so she took to medication to stimulate ovulation.
And the medication was more successful than they could have ever imagined as Hannah fell pregnant in October 2019.
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Doctors later provided the shocking news that Hannah and Jacob would be having five babies, who were born on March 5, 2020.
However, Philomena, Evangeline, Meredith, Gideon and Elliot were born prematurely at just 25 weeks old.
The couple were left devastated as after just three days, Meredith died following a fatal brain bleed.
It wasn't until a year later that the four children reunited at home, as Gideon was kept in hospital after suffering a collapsed lung.
Now, the four children are two years old, with Hannah now a stay-at-home mum.
While it is manic looking after four toddlers, Hannah says she 'wouldn't change it for the world'.
She said: "Having lots of children is scary, and it is crazy, but it is so much fun. I do have my hands full, that is true.
"But my heart is even fuller, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I suffered from infertility so I took medication to help me ovulate, and it worked better than we expected.
"We were told at the time I had a 1% chance of having triplets - nobody mentioned the chance of four, never mind five babies because it was so low.
Hannah also spoke about the chaos that four babies can unleash in a household, which she wasn't sure she could handle initially.
"Having four babies to look after is very messy - I'm constantly cleaning - and it's chaotic and crazy and loud.
"People are always making comments that I 'have my hands full' - and I do - there are definitely times I think 'how in the world am I going to do this?'.
"But it's so rewarding and so much fun, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
After giving birth to five premature babies, Hannah recalls when she saw them for the first time.
She said: "When I first saw them all, I was shocked, terrified and excited all at the same time.
"It was love at first sight but so scary seeing them attached to so many different tubes and monitors and wires."
By March 2021, Gideon was able to go home for the first time from hospital, marking the end of a remarkable journey.
Hannah said: "Bringing them home was amazing but scary, it was the first time each of them had not been hooked up to monitors.
"Suddenly not being able to see their heart rate and oxygen levels was nerve-wracking, but also exciting.
"It was the first time that we were the ones properly taking care of them."