Alex and Amy Lindsay, of Houghton-le-Spring, became proud parents to five little boys under the age of five
Parents Alex and Amy Lindsay were left in total shock when they attended their 12-week appointment expecting to see one baby – only to learn there were three on the way.
But now the couple, who already had Elijah, aged four, and two-year-old Zion, say they feel “blessed” after becoming proud parents to five little boys under the age of five.
Estimates vary, but the odds of having identical triplets are anywhere between one in 60,000 to one in 200 million.
The couple, from Houghton-le-Spring, welcomed their new arrivals into the world on July 9 at Sunderland Royal Hospital, after after 35 weeks of pregnancy.
Each baby was born a healthy weight, with Abel weighing 6lb 2, Asher 5lb 12 and Azariah 5lb 11.
Amy, 31, said: “It was a high-risk pregnancy, so getting to 35 weeks and having such good weights, I felt really blessed.
“However, it was very difficult by the end of my pregnancy. Even getting dressed was difficult and I was in pain just sitting down.
“They’re very settled babies but the biggest challenge comes at feeding time when you’ve three babies all wanting to be fed at the same time.
“I’ve been breast feeding them but have been topping it up with bottle feeds which also allows me to get support from Alex and my mother.”
Husband Alex, 33, added: “We are lucky we live in a four-bedroom detached house but space is an issue. We’ve had to move out our dining table and chairs to make more room.
“My friends keep joking that when the boys are older we can start our own five-a-side team.”
The couple had only planned to have one more child together and Amy began to wonder how she was going to cope with three newborn babies and two young sons at home.
She said: “We were initially alarmed as we thought she’d noticed something wrong with one of the babies but that’s when she revealed there was another one in there.
“At that point I got quite emotional. The plan was this would be our last child and with two boys under four I wondered how we would cope, it was definitely a shock. ”
“When we first found out it was a real shock, but we are a Christian family and feel blessed as children are a gift from God.
“This really helped us to get through what was a potentially dangerous pregnancy.”