A couple who were told they could never have children now have five – after they had miracle quadruplets.
Selina Torbett, 28, and Kev Ashe, 35, had their first daughter Myla through IVF treatment after years of failed fertility treatments, but with just two frozen eggs left, the couple were desperate to give her a sibling.
Now three years old, Myla has her work cut out playing with identical triplet brothers and her little sister – the result of the two ‘last chance’ eggs, one of which split three ways.
Selina suffered from polycystic ovaries and endometriosis, so always feared she would have problems with her fertility.
Doctors warned her she was likely to experience early menopause and would never conceive naturally.
The couple were even told by medics that they should abort the quadruplets because of high miscarriage risk, early labour and other complications, but Selina and Kev were desperate to give their babies a fighting chance.
Selina, from Winchester, Hants, said: ‘It is unbelievable. We had one little miracle – then we had four more.
‘It is exhausting and totally insane but we wouldn’t change it for the world.
‘We look at our family and feel filled with so much love.’
After three years of negative pregnancy tests and procedures such as ovarian drilling, where holes are made in the ovaries to help them release eggs, Selina was finally allowed to get IVF treatment on the NHS.
Selina explained: ‘We were trying all of those methods but nothing was working.
‘It was a very hard time. We both wanted a family so much.
‘We wanted to try IVF but at that time you had to be at least 31 to have it on the NHS.
‘When we had IVF, we went in thinking it wasn’t going to work – but it worked first time.
‘In October 2014, Myla was born. When she was a year old, we thought we wanted to try again.’
The couple had just three frozen eggs remaining, and went through two more years of trying for another baby, spending their savings for a mortgage on the costly treatment.
The quadruplets arrived 11 weeks early at 29 weeks gestation, being born on July 23 last year.
Now the three boys – Roman, Austin and Arlo – who Selina describes as ‘chilled out’, and their tiny sister ‘cheeky’ Raeya, who still wears clothes designed for a three-month-old, are set to turn one.
‘We got the boys bracelets with their initials on them so that we can tell them apart,’ Selina joked.
‘I have always longed for a big family but had accepted that wouldn’t happen for me – but our babies are proof that miracles do happen, and I feel so blessed.’