Triplets joy

GRACE, Archie and Isabelle O'Mara with their parents Rebecca Webb and Stephen O’Mara.

TRIPLETS Grace, Archie and Isabelle O’Mara have beaten 10,000-1 odds to come into the world.

The little miracles are so unusual because they were naturally conceived.

Proud parents Rebecca Webb and Stephen O’Mara, of Minor Street, Failsworth, are now preparing to welcome home their daughters and son after they have spent their first few weeks in hospital.

Grace (3lb 8oz), Archie (3lb 2oz) and Isabelle (3lb 7oz) were born prematurely just two minutes apart at Royal Oldham Hospital. They are the couple’s first children.

Rebecca (29) said: “They won’t be home for about six weeks but they’re doing really well. We’ve got so much to do and there’s three lots of everything to buy!

“Because they were premature we didn’t know how strong their lungs would be but they all came out screaming.

“I can’t describe the relief I felt when I heard that noise.”

The babies are now being cared for at the hospital’s special care unit.

Doctors had planned for Rebecca to have a Caesarean section at 32 weeks. But she developed pre-eclampsia and the decision was taken to deliver the children a week early.

Rebecca, said: “All the hospital staff have been great and I must give a special thanks to my obstetrician Dr Uma Ramalingam for delivering the babies and looking after us throughout the pregnancy.”

Rebecca, a former bank worker, has given up work to become a full-time mum. Stephen (28) will be working extra hard as a media rigger to keep the family in hundreds of nappies every month — which could cost more than £3,000 a year.

He said: “Everything went really well and we’re looking forward to getting them home.”

The triplets are the first multiple births in either parents’ family.

The Multiple Birth Foundation says naturally-conceived triplets happen once in every 10,000 births.

Dr Ramalingam, consultant obstetrician at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “Rebecca did very well indeed.

“I am very happy for her and wish the family the very best for the future.”